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“Heinri, acting cute is prohibited for the time being.”
“Eh?”
Clean, clean—
I mentally washed my eyes to remove the bean pods from them. And, bling bling, my eyes sparkled! I tried my best.
In the meantime, however, Heinrich’s beautiful face was fast approaching me.
“Sister, I’m good at picking apples, so I’m the coolest person in the world, right?”
I forgot my resolution in one second and nodded vigorously.
“Yes! Of course!”
‘……Oh my god, I am too weak towards Heinrich.’
How could I objectively catch the culprit?
But… If Heinrich really did that…
‘I’ll be the only one who can stop him.’
I had to fix it.
‘Besides, Heinrich is a tricky kid! Such a character is not educationally correct.’
I said sternly with my eyes wide open.
“Heinri, I always say this right? I hate kids who do bad things.”
“Oh, of course.”
Heinrich answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“That’s why I’m holding back bad things to be loved by my sister.”
…That’s right. The Heinrich we see today had my influence.
Maybe he didn’t do that because he didn’t want to be hated by me. It would be nice if that was the case…
“Sister.”
Then Heinrich leaned towards me and hugged me. He lowered his eyes that were embracing the cold dawn, and slowly closed his eyes.
“Sister knows well, right?”
“Yes?”
As usual, I stroked the boy’s hair that was as shiny as a snow-covered silver aspen.
Heinrich opened his eyes thinly and whispered.
“How much I love you.”
“……”
It sounded more sincere because it was a confession where he couldn’t even look at me.
“Therefore…”
“……”
“I will definitely become a ‘good Heinrich’.”
Biting his lips, Heinrich whispered in a determined voice.
It was not a promise to me, but rather a strong commitment to himself.
‘Our Heinrich. How great would it be if you did.’
Then Sislin wouldn’t hate you, and you would only have a happy ending.
‘Heinrich, do you know that your happiness is my greatest wish?’
I replied with a bright smile.
“I love my baby the most too!”
“……”
Heinrich’s face grew redder and hotter. Oh my, it’s going to explode like that.
“I know that well even if you don’t say it.”
“Really? Then I won’t say it anymore…”
“That’s not it! Say it as often as possible! Every day, every day!”
It was when Heinrich was shouting, “Revoke what you said about not saying it in the future, revoke it!”
A child as small as a baby acorn ran up and said,
“Heinrich, Miss Mislin is calling!”
Heinrich replied in an annoyed tone.
“Why is she bothering me?”
“Some terrifying villain made all the apple trees in the orchard bald!”
Heinrich’s eyes narrowed, and his expression basically said ‘I’m that villain’.
“I’ll be back soon, so wait for me, sister.”
“…Yes.”
Heinrich grumbled that it was bothersome, claimed the seat next to me, and left the classroom.
“Whew…”
Only then did I exhale.
***
After a while, the next class started, but Heinrich did not return.
Well, it was the apple farm that Miss Mislin loved. Heinrich picked more than 100 apples from that farm, so he deserved to be scolded.
There were children like Julien who only took one.
‘…But he will be back soon, right?’
However, contrary to my expectations, Heinrich did not return, and I gradually began to worry as break time passed and the next class began.
‘What’s going on? The questioning seems to be longer than usual…’
Was there a reason to have such a long questioning just because he picked too many apples?
It was when I was deep in thought.
“Look at this!!!”
“Oh, you surprised me!”
Suddenly, a large teddy bear brooch appeared in front of me.
‘The teddy bear is right in front of me.’
“Hehe, it’s cute. Annette!”
The owner of the bear was Reina.
A 9-year-old child who awakened quite early and recently went to socialization training.
“Isn’t this a cute teddy bear?”
A girl with blueberry-colored hair and eyes of the same color smiled lovingly with her eyes gently folded.
‘Like a giant blueberry with a bright smile… Cute.’
The big blueberry, no, Reina put her hands together and said with a dreamy expression.
“I went to socialization training and got a present from Baron Bibibo! He’s going to adopt me soon.”
“Wow, that’s great Reina!”
‘If it’s Baron Bibibo… Doesn’t he have a good reputation?’
They were good people to be Reina’s parents.
Although nobles adopt children from the Forest to set them up as trophies, there were many families who raised them with affection after adoption.
If it’s Baron Bibibo, Reina would be loved.
‘Huh?’
The bear’s eyes were bright, and when I looked closely, I saw that they were made of sapphires.
“Hey. It’s very expensive. This.”
“Huh? Really?”
Reina looked at the teddy bear with a happy face.
Marianne, who was watching from the side, had just approached. She usually had a blank face, and she now spoke with her characteristic quiet face and tone.
“…A bear with this eye color… Legendary rare teddy bear…”
“Wow, I see!”
‘Children, don’t you all know it’s a jewel?’
It seemed that the mystique of the ‘legendary rare teddy bear’ was more appealing to babies than the capitalistic thoughts that jewels incite.
The children quickly gathered like clouds and congratulated Raina.
Robert, with wheat-colored hair and healthy tanned skin, asked;
“Did Reina’s prospective parents give you a present for the first time?”
Reina shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s right!”
“Wow, that’s a really precious thing.”
“Yeah! I’ll cherish it!”
‘If it’s a sapphire bear, it should definitely be cherished. Hah. That’s two months’ worth of living expenses for the nobles in the capital.’
I nodded, thinking a little cynically.
Of course, there were things that were valuable even if they were not expensive.
For example, like this one.
I took a shiny, pretty apple from my pocket and smelled it.
“Hmm.”
The refreshing scent of apples eased my tension and made me feel good.
‘Haha. It’s my baby’s first gift.’
I liked the feelings contained in this apple.
The pure and kind heart that picked the prettiest apple and yielding it without hesitation.
‘…Why did such a good and innocent Sislin have to suffer?’
It wasn’t that Sislin wanted much.
It wasn’t that he was greedy, wanting to enjoy something large.
All I wanted was for Sislin to come out of the dark cave and to live a normal life, just like the other children.
Not shivering in the cold and not sleeping. Walking under the bright sunlight.
That was it.
‘…But why is even such a basic and ordinary thing so difficult for Sislin?’
‘Some people think unhappiness is the default.’
Misfortune was embedded in fate, so just being normal required a lot of effort.
I had seen people like that often in my past life.
To be honest, I also belonged to that kind of people, so I was even more concerned. I know a little bit about that kind of life.
‘Sislin is too young to get used to misfortune.’
A life full of unhappiness since birth…
My heart ached as if it was on fire when I thought of Sislin, who must have suffered all this while.
“……”
It was when I was holding the apple and having gloomy thoughts.
“Annette.”
A soft voice came from behind like a spring breeze. There was only one person in this world who called my name in such a voice.
I turned to the boy, still holding onto the apple.
Then, as if I was never depressed, I smiled warmly.
“Sisl, thank you so much for the apple. You know, I think this apple is the prettiest in the world!”
Then, Sislin playfully curved his eyes, and his red, friendly eyes looked at me calmly.
The boy said to me;
“Then I’ll call Annette ‘Apple’.”
“Ugh, why am I an apple?”
I asked, and immediately realized.
“……!”
‘Did he call me apple because this apple looks the prettiest in the world?!’
My face turned red because I was flustered. As expected, the obsessive Gwanggong sprout…! He was saying everything despite being an 11-year-old.
I roughly stammered out gibberish .
“…I’m not an apple, I don’t like any of it, so call me rambutan or dragon fruit…”
When I attached some odd-looking fruit to it, Sislin grinned.
After clearing my throat, I quickly stored the apple away carefully.
Then I started thinking inside.
‘Should Sislin be aware of the situation?’
Since, technically, this was something that happened to Sislin.
A little devil was trying to drive him out of this Forest.
‘It doesn’t make sense that the party involved doesn’t know. But…’
Wouldn’t it hurt too much?
I looked at the boy, and recalled the slight trembling in my arms.
(TL/N: reminder, Sislin trembled when he faced the viscount.)
I couldn’t predict Sislin’s reaction if I were to tell him the truth.
Then Sislin asked me first.
“Do you have something to tell me, Annette?”
“Yes?”
He seemed to be keenly aware that I was hesitating on something.
“…Oh, uh.”
‘I have to say this. Please don’t get hurt too much.’
I took a deep breath and quietly started speaking.
“Sislin, listen to me. It is no coincidence that Viscount Puterio came here.”
“……”
“Someone deliberately gave the Viscount your location so that he would bother you, as well as the location of the hideout to the madam.”
“…What?”
Sislin’s red eyes trembled with deep emotion.