Chapter 8

Favored by the youngest princess, everyone is now fixated on me (Chapter 8/247)

To my shock, the director was colluding with the kidnappers, regularly bringing children to be sold at the slave market.

Those large men who had visited the orphanage with Diana a few days ago must have been part of the kidnapping gang.

My eyes burned with rage.

“I won’t let this go.”

Shaking with clenched fists, I barely managed to regain my composure and took a random stack of papers from the desk.

I used magic to immediately start duplicating the ledger and transaction records.

I planned to take the original in case of any unforeseen situations and leave the copies in the safe.

Though they would revert to meaningless paper over time, a brief deception would suffice.

‘Elard Duke will be here soon.’

Thanks to the abundant mana, the copies were made much faster than I expected.

‘Come to think of it, I need to figure out why my mana suddenly increased…’

“Cough.”

Suddenly, blood gushed from my throat.

Using too much mana at once was too much for my weak body to handle.

Despite the overwhelming fatigue, I quickly raised my hand to make the blood droplets disappear, to avoid leaving any evidence.

At the same time, I stumbled and fell to the floor.

As I feared, my mana was depleted, and my hands and body began to tremble, but my eyes, fixed on the evidence, shone brightly.

* * *

“Are you being lazy again, you scoundrels!”

I was barely holding back the urge to tear everything apart, remembering the night a few days ago, when the director’s voice suddenly came from downstairs.

“Scoundrels?”

“It’s nothing! I wasn’t talking about Dana.”

Seeing Diana innocently repeating the director’s words, I quickly said, feeling a bad premonition.

That night, the director, who had gone out for drinks as usual, returned to the orphanage before midnight, looking as if he had seen a ghost. Then he suddenly started looking for Diana.

Thanks to my repeated warnings, Diana didn’t make a loud noise or whimper when she faced the large director.

Knowing how much Diana usually feared the director, I gently kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear after the director left, telling her to hold on a little longer because her father would come to save her soon.

According to my memory, the duke would visit tomorrow.

Thinking that she just needed to hold on a little longer, I got up, hoping the day would pass quickly.

“Dana, I’m going to clean up, so just rest for a bit.”

* * *

“Elard Duke, no way… No, it can’t be. Right, that’s it. She doesn’t have silver hair, it’s light gray!”

My hand, which had been mopping the floor for a while, paused at the director’s agitated muttering as he paced around the room.

Then the director sharply called out to me.

“You. Bring that gray-haired girl from yesterday.”

“…What?”

“Do I have to say it twice?”

With a fierce glare, the director scared me into quickly running out. My heart was pounding wildly.

‘Should I run now? No, I can’t miss the duke!’

Biting my nails nervously, I suddenly stopped.

Come to think of it, the director had shown interest in Diana in the past.

He even locked her in the attic the day before the duke arrived.

At the time, I thought it was just a punishment for Diana not adapting to the orphanage.

〈You must say you know nothing, no matter what you hear!〉

The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning when I remembered the director’s words to the children in the courtyard before the duke arrived.

He already knew.

He knew he was involved in kidnapping Elard Princess and that his life would end if this was discovered.

Feeling my breath catch in my throat, I looked up to find myself in front of the bedroom door.

“Dana?”

I thought she would be sleeping, but Diana was standing by the bed and started sobbing when she saw me.

“Onni….”

“Why, why are you crying?”

Confused, I quickly approached, but Diana stepped back and continued crying.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s okay. I’m here.”

It’s okay, it’s okay.

After saying this a few times in a calm tone, the child finally stopped crying.

Relieved, I could finally see the situation clearly.

“Ah….”

Diana’s wet clothes and bed sheets.

Realizing she couldn’t hide it anymore, Diana fidgeted and sniffled.

“Dana… you need to rest.”

“It’s okay.”

“I can’t….”

Seeing her resist my comforting words, I realized the clever and perceptive Diana had already noticed the poor conditions of the orphanage.

“Onni, I’m scared.”

Diana, who had been fidgeting, finally bowed her head.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, I picked her up.

“Just what are you doing! Are you mocking me?”

The door burst open, and the director, who had climbed to the second floor, glared at us with a menacing look.

My heart pounded wildly.

When I first joined the guild, Terentium was a shabby bar in a dangerous back alley where I received commissions.

Nobles, low-ranking knights, mercenaries, and commoners all came and went, and it was common for large men like the director to cause trouble.

I tried not to show it, but I was very scared.

Fortunately, the headquarters later moved to a café in a bustling area due to the master’s whims, and I no longer had to face the threat of large men, so I had forgotten this fear.

Perhaps I thought I had overcome it. What a foolish thought.

“O-Onni….”

Startled, I stiffened, and Diana called out to me.

But I didn’t have time to respond.

The director, who had spotted Diana, reached out to her. It was the same situation as before.

Back then, I couldn’t intervene, but this time was different.

I quickly hugged Diana and curled up like a hedgehog.

“Ugh.”

But the one who let out a short groan was not me.

Opening my eyes in surprise, I saw Jack’s gray hair in my field of vision.

* * *

“Hic….”

How much time had passed?

Startled by the small sniffles from the side, I opened my eyes and quickly realized where I was in the dark.

It was the attic, the place the orphanage children hated the most.

I thought Diana wouldn’t be locked in the attic this time since she hadn’t upset the director, but I was wrong.

The reason she was locked up was because she was Elard Duke’s daughter.

I felt ashamed for not realizing it sooner.

“…Dana.”

“Onni!”

As if she had been waiting, the child clung to me. Her sobbing voice distorted my expression.

Feeling a lump in my throat, I tried to steady my voice to reassure her.

“Dana, remember what I said. Your father will come to save you soon.”

“Mm.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Mm. Onni, I trust you.”

Her kind words made my eyes burn.

I was grateful and moved that this child, whom I had only known for a short time, trusted me so much.

“Right. Dana, wait a moment.”

After patting the child’s back a few times, I quickly checked my mana.

Due to the lack of proper rest and meals after using magic yesterday, my mana was barely detectable.

I knew my body was in bad shape, but I managed to raise my hand and create a small flame.

Soon, I could see the girl’s face, covered in tears and snot.

And then.

“Jack….”

Seeing Jack, who seemed to have lost consciousness, my words caught in my throat.

In the past, Jack had protected Diana from the director and ended up locked in the attic with her, but this time he seemed to be more seriously injured.

‘It’s all my fault.’

I…

I came back from death.

Feeling a terrible urge to cry, I quickly regained my composure when I noticed the flame at my fingertips was much smaller than before.

From Jack’s condition, it seemed he had been unconscious for at least a day.

The Elard Duke must have arrived at the orphanage by now.

After a thorough search, they would likely find this attic.

“I can’t wait.”

I didn’t want these children to be trapped in the darkness for even a second longer.

Just then, the flickering flame, which had been barely holding on, finally went out.

Without hesitation, I turned toward the window, which I had noted earlier when the flame was lit.

“Ugh.”

No matter how many layers of boards were blocking the window, I couldn’t easily remove them with my bare hands.

But even as my delicate fingers bled from the splinters, I couldn’t stop.

When a small board finally came loose, a thin beam of light entered, and a glimpse of the outside world became visible.

Realizing what I was doing in the darkness, Diana turned pale.

“O-Onni. Blood, blood….”

“It’s okay. I’m fine….”

Comforting the bewildered Diana, I gathered my strength again.

After removing enough boards, the hole in the broken window was exposed. It seemed that any noise would carry outside clearly.

But my brief hope was quickly dashed.

No matter how loudly Diana shouted “Daddy!”, the outside remained silent.

“It can’t be….”

The empire’s top knights, who could handle auras, were supposed to be here.

I believed they would notice the noise and commotion.

Feeling anxious, I habitually clutched my necklace and muttered softly.

“I have to go myself.”

The only one who could set everything right was me.

Looking down from the window to gauge the distance, my heart raced.

In my previous life, I could have landed easily from this height.

But now, I was too weak.

If I was lucky, I might only break a leg or an arm, but if I was unlucky, I could die.

‘I want to live.’

Despite the mess I had made, I still wanted to live.

It was the only desire that seemed to be etched in my mind.

In the end, I decided to take the final risk.