After entering a small room, located in the back of the orphanage, Hannah told Leo to sit in Seiza on the ground and began scolding himâŠâŠ in Elandic.
The room was simple, but clean, like the rest of the orphanage. There was a small bed located on one of the roomâs corners, and small round table by itâs side, with a cup and a bottle of wine resting on top of it. And on the other side of the room, there was a desk, with sewing utensils on top of it, and by itâs side there was a small bookshelf, filled with old books.
This is Hannahâs room, or more precisely, â The Preaching Room ,â a place were every orphan entered at least once in their livesâŠâŠ or in Leoâs case, every time he messed up.
âWhat do you think my orphanage is!? A warehouse!? You canât just keep dumping your personal belongings here! And donât forget to reply my letters, I was worried!â
âUuuuuhâŒ, Iâm really sorry⊠. â
âReally!? Youâre sorry!? Then donât forget to reply my letters! And if you canât send a normal letter, then just send an encrypted one!â
âB-but I wrote several letters⊠I even asked Kai to send them for me⊠. â
âSeveral letters!? Two or three letters per month isnât enough! It wasnât just me that was worried about you, Bruno even tried to sneak out of the orphanage with SEVERAL knives, saying that he needed to go save you!â
âHuh!? S-save me from what!?â
âFrom a prince that wanted to kill you! But thatâs not the point! I wonât let you return to the orphanage if you donât convince Leena to stay with her grandparents!â
âA-and how am I supposed to convince her!?â â Said Leo, while pouting.
When Leo signed the contract, he asked Leena to explain everything to Hannah and her parents, since their daughter was lending her body to a complete stranger. But if Leo managed to escape from the academy, the two would return to their original bodies, and then go their separate ways from there, after all, they werenât friends⊠just business partners.
And because of that, Leo thought that even if his identity was exposed, he would be able to run away and hide in the orphanage⊠but now, his hopes were crushed by Hannah.
âI donât know how youâre going to convince her! But think what would happen to her grandparents if their precious granddaughter went missing! They would be sad right!?â
Not only her grandparents, but Albert, Oscar, Bianca, Natalia, and even Kai, they would probably miss âLeonora,â too.
(Uuuuuh, I forgot about them⊠Hannah is right, theyâll be sad if I simply disappearâŠ)
Seeing that Leo was finally reflecting on what he almost did, Hannah sighed, sat on her bed, crossed her arms and saidâ
ââEven if Leena is okay with it, I wonât let you hurt her grandparents. From what I know, theyâve been searching for their daughter for years, and now theyâve finally found their granddaughter, so itâd destroy their hearts if you simply disappeared like that.â
âHmmm, you sure know a lot about the Harkenberg family, right HannahâŠ?â
âWell, I donât know much about them, just what everyone knows. The Harkenbergâs started out as a family of knights, but they managed to rise in power and became a Marquis family. The current head of the family, Leenaâs grandfather, is a War Hero, and his wife has a lot of connections with other noble families.â
âOhhâŒ, so Leenaâs grandparents are really awesome!â
Leoâs eyes were shining, he always admired War Heroes, and now his âGrandfatherâ was one of them too.
âHaaahâŒ, thatâs why Iâm worried, these two have more political power than the Emperor himself. What would happen to you if they find out youâre not their granddaughter, just an orphan working for her, in her body. They could easily kill you and it wouldnât matter to them, after all, youâre just an orphan⊠. â
ââŠâŠâŠ . â
Certainly, itâd be a problem if Leenaâs grandparents found out that, she was just a selfish bi**h that wanted to enjoy her freedom and didnât really care about them.
But thatâs exactly why Leo wanted to change back to his original body. Leo is Leo and Leena is Leena⊠well, not exactly âLeena,â sheâs now Leonora, so someday sheâd need to face her family, her noble friends, and tell them the truth.
ââŠI know itâd be unfair with Leenaâs grandparents if I simply disappeared, and I know that Leena is just running away from her responsibilities⊠but theyâre her family, not my family.â â Said Leo, while looking down with a faint hint of sadness on his face.
Hannah then grabbed Leoâs cheeks with her hands, lifted his head, and saidâ
ââYou donât need to do what I asked right away, it might take years to convince Leena, but if you ever need my help, you know where to find me, okay?â
The director of the Hannah Orphanage is a really strict person, but she treats every single one of the orphans as her own grandchildren. When they do something wrong, sheâd become a demon and scold them, and when they do something praiseworthy, sheâd smile and say they did something good.
And even though Hannah is getting old, sheâs still stronger than most of the boys at the orphanage, so everyone is scared of pissing her off.
âUn⊠I donât know if I can really do it or not⊠but Iâll at least try to convince her⊠. â
âWell, if youâre willing to try, then Iâll let you off with just the scolding this time⊠oh, right! I forgot to tell you! Emily noticed that you were acting a bit strange, so Bruno told her about your deal with Leenaââ ( Tl/n: Her real name is Emilia, but since we already have someone with the same name in the story, I changed her name to Emily)
Emily is one of Leoâs friends, so she knowing about his deal with Leena was actually a good thing. Hannah then stood up from the bed, walked over to her wardrobe, grabbed a change of clothes for Leo, since she told Kai that theyâd be changing right now, turned around and waited for Leo to finish changing.
ââEmily then told Marcel and Anne about your deal with Leena, but I managed to stop them before they could tell someone else. And right after I told them that I didnât know when youâd be back, they became a bit sad.â
Marcel and Anne were Emilyâs best friends, however, Leo never really talked with them that much, but it should be alright to trust them with this information, since Emily is his friend.
When Leo finally finished changing his clothes to an old trouser and a shirt, Hannah turned around and saw a cute little girl dressed in an oversized shirt with big sleeves.
âSay Hannah, were you sad too, wheââ
But before Leo could finish his phrase, Hannahâs fastest head chop hit him right in the forehead.
ââOw! W-what was that for!? Didnât you say youâd let me off with just the scolding!?â â Said Leo, with small tears in the corners of his eyes.
âWere you even listening to me this whole time!? I was worried about you! So of course I was sad!â
Hannah paused for a moment, sighed, and resumed the conversation.
âAt first, the other kids treated Leena like crap because she was lazying around all the time, but now theyâre all calling her Aniki.â
ââŠâŠHuh!?â
Leo had to admit that Leena was smarter and cooler than him sometimes, but to go from âCrapâ to âAnikiâ in just 3-4 months was a bit too fast even for him.
âThe five of them, including Leena, are out right now, but theyâre probably working on their shop for the festival.â
âWell, thatâs fine though⊠but what are they selling?â
âFrom what I heard⊠I think they will be selling artificial flowers.â
Leena probably stole Leoâs âOnii-chanâ title from him, but if she was working hard on earning money, then he wouldnât complain.
*CreakâŒ* ( Tl/n: This is supposed to be the sound of a door opening)
(Oh, I think I heard someone entering the orphanage, maybe itâs Leena?)