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This situation in front of me felt like a dream, no, it was really dreamlike so I was slow and stupid for playing along all this time, but only after hearing the director yelling did I realize that this was reality.
But the slippery warm blood flowing between my fingers still felt vivid.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why my life, which was supposed to have ended in the Duke of Elrad, continued in this way.
Perhaps God took pity on me for not being loved by anyone until the end and gave me a chance.
‘Even though I came back to my helpless eight year old self…’
“Lia, what are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you going to eat your bread?”
I was deep in thought and didn’t even eat the bread I was holding, so Emily, who was sitting beside me, asked.
A voice mixed with nervousness and anticipation for some reason.
Seeing Emily unable to take her eyes off the bread I was holding, a bitter smile came to my lips.
“Emily, do you want to eat this bread?”
“Yes? Ah, no! Lia also needs to eat!”
“I’m not very hungry today. So you can eat this, Emily.”
“Really? Can I really eat this?”
Feeling relieved by Emily’s reaction, someone suddenly intervened.
“Hey! If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me. You’re short and weak, so you can eat a little, but I’ll have to eat more.”
When I turned my head at those ridiculous words, Thomas, the largest and oldest in the orphanage stood proudly.
“Don’t make me laugh. Why are you eating mine?”
“Whaㅡ? What?”
Thomas may have never imagined that I would come out like this, who was usually scared and quiet, so his face turned red at the other children’s gaze, staring at him while his mouth was stiff and couldn’t answer.
“Why are you talking back? If I say so, I will eat it! Do you want to get in trouble?”
Then he approached me with one arm moving threateningly.
It looked like he’s going to hit me straight away, but I raised my chin instead.
No matter how big he was, he’s among the starving children who grew up unable to eat as much as they wanted.
I wasn’t scared at all of that 10-year-old kid, he’s not an adult man.
“Don’t make a fuss.” Then a dark gray-haired boy in one corner said.
It was Jack, a boy of the same age as Thomas.
“Why is this parasite interfering?”
Thomas, who was usually very jealous of the handsome appearance of Jack, glared at once.
The fight was when he shook his head to say that he was not big enough.
It was when he shook his head, saying that the size of the fight was not everything.
“Don’t let your guard down! And I’ll eat this!!”
Thomas, who approached before I knew it, sticks out his tongue, grabs my bread and hurriedly runs away.
“That little bastard!”
I screamed and tried to follow him, but Emily quickly caught him.
When I looked around, all the children were looking at us, as if it was strange that I confronted Thomas.
Even Jack…
Feeling very embarrassed by their sudden gaze, I sat down coughing.
Not knowing that I would regret not chasing Thomas all day long.
Growl~
While sitting crouching and cleaning the floor with blisters on my hands, I held my stomach.
Ugh! I was so hungry.
“I should’ve followed that bastard…”
After saying that, I heard someone clicking their tongue.
“Then why did you yield your bread for nothing?”
It was Jack, sitting on the window sill and wiping the window.
“What did you just say?”
I’m already hungry, so why was he picking a fight?
When I threw the mop I was holding and stood up looking straight at him, Jack paused and continued.
“If you hadn’t yielded the bread from the beginning, none of that would have happened.”
“Then is it my fault?”
“Yes.”
“Hah!”
Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with what Jack said, but it only made me more angry.
It could be embarrassing getting angry at a child when I know I’m older, but I couldn’t stand the anger because my mind seems immature because of my young body.
Besides, I know well what kind of adult Jack would become when he grows up, so I thought that now might be the only chance to win a fight against him properly.
‘Are you rushing in?’
(T/N: Lia meant that if he’s going to attack.)
In a moment when I was seriously contemplating…
“Huh?”
I looked down at my hands in amazement.
Half of a black bread from the morning breakfast was placed in my hand that had been holding the mop a while ago.
“Huh? Are you giving me this…?”
“If you don’t want to eat it, throw it away.”
“No, Don’t-! I won’t throw it away!”
Why would you throw away food? No matter how hard the black bread was, once it goes into the stomach, it’s all the same.
“Jack, you’re also… You’re a good kid, aren’t you?
I stared at Jack, shouting to myself, the immutable truth: ‘He who gives food, is a good man!’
Then Jack squinted and said,
“You… You’re a little weird today.”
I was startled by those words.
Although Jack and I were from the same orphanage, we hadn’t talked to each other that much.
But how did he know that I changed?
I was so excited that I changed the topic in a hurry.
“But why are you giving me this?”
There’s only one meal a day in the orphanage, so I’m sure you saved it for later, but I don’t know why you gave me this bread.
“The growling sound of your stomach is so loud that I’m going to die, so please be quiet.”
“Oops!”
This time, as I glanced at Jack to say something as rebuke, I just stiffened.
Through the window, a man and a girl were walking into the front yard of the orphanage, covered in white snow.