Chapter 3
“Rio, I told you before. If someone bullies you, don’t just take it.”
Selena pressed an ice pack on Leotis’s bright red, swollen cheek. Leotis blinked his jet-black eyes like polished obsidian and quietly answered.
“Okay.”
His gentle gaze was like a baby bear’s, and Selena let out a sigh inwardly.
He was too kind and soft. That’s probably why others thought it was okay to keep picking on him.
Selena decided to give him a firm warning this time. She didn’t want something like this to happen again.
“If you keep staying quiet, people will keep thinking you’re easy to mess with.”
She furrowed her brows, pretending to be angry.
“I’m sorry, Selly noona…”
Leotis’s shoulders drooped, and his eyes welled up with tears. Selena panicked. She only meant to scold him a little, not make him cry.
‘How am I supposed to scold him when he looks this cute? Besides, it’s not even his fault to begin with.’
It wasn’t wrong to be kind and gentle. The ones at fault were the kids who ganged up to bully him.
Selena patted Leotis gently and told him it wasn’t his fault. She didn’t want him to keep getting bullied, but she also didn’t want to force him to change his warm, sweet personality.
“It’s okay. If anyone bullies you again, I’ll deal with them for you.”
Selena clenched her fists and declared. Leotis smiled faintly at her words.
“You’re going to protect me forever?”
“Uh… forever?”
Selena couldn’t answer right away and hesitated.
‘Not forever… Once you turn sixteen, I’ll have to let you go to the female lead.’
She swallowed the answer that came to her mind and gave an awkward smile.
“Anyway, Rio, look! I brought cookies. Let’s eat together.”
Selena pulled out the cookie pouch she had secretly hidden in her pocket to change the topic. But Leotis wasn’t so easy to distract.
“Noona, aren’t you going to answer my question?”
His black eyes, which couldn’t reflect her image, stared directly at her. Even though he couldn’t see anything, Selena felt overwhelmed by the intensity of his gaze and looked away.
“Noona…?”
“Oh, yeah! Sorry, I was just spacing out. What did you say again?”
Leotis didn’t ask again. The darkness that had briefly passed through his eyes faded, and he gently closed them. Instead of repeating his question, he shook his head and held Selena’s hand.
“I can’t live without you, Selly noona. So don’t leave me.”
His voice carried a deep obsession that didn’t suit a child, and Selena momentarily lost her words.
‘Don’t leave me.’
Those words hurt.
It pained her to realize that the only person this little boy could depend on was just one girl his age.
His moist eyes slightly lowered, and his trembling voice full of pleading. How could anyone reject such a pitiful little child?
Without even realizing it, Selena replied,
“Why would I ever leave you? Rio, I’ll never abandon you.”
“Never ever?”
“Yeah. Never. I’ll stay by your side until you don’t need me anymore.”
“Then, that means you’ll stay with me forever.”
Leotis grinned and held out his pinky.
“Promise.”
This time, Selena didn’t hesitate and hooked her pinky with his.
‘He’s going to meet the female lead and be happy anyway. I won’t even matter to him by then.’
It was a promise that wouldn’t come true.
But if this little promise could give Leotis a few happy memories, then that was enough.
After stamping their thumbs, the two shared cookies happily. Selena smiled warmly as she watched Leotis munch beside her.
‘I never planned to get this close to Leotis.’
How did things turn out this way?
Selena recalled how it all started.
Selena.
She wasn’t from this world. She had transmigrated from South Korea. Just like other typical fantasy romance novel protagonists, she ended up inside a novel after an absurd death.
Once she became Selena, the first thing she did was try to guess the title of the novel she was in.
But for a while, she couldn’t figure it out.
‘No way… I became a character that doesn’t even get a single line?’
Selena wasn’t the main character in a happy ending, nor was she a villain fated to die.
The novel she had entered was titled “In This Life, I’ll Be Happy.”
Just like the name, it was a healing story where the female lead walked a smooth path and reached a happy ending.
She couldn’t remember every detail since it had been so long, but there were three things she remembered clearly:
First, the Tryce Orphanage, where she now lived, was where the male lead, Leotis, spent his childhood.
He had a miserable childhood—neglected by the director and bullied by the other kids because there was no support funding coming in.
Second, Leotis lost his sight due to a cursed black gemstone eye. But the truth was, when he met someone with the power of purification, his gemstone would regain its true color.
Third, Leotis possessed the only healing power in this world. After meeting the female lead, who had purification powers, he eventually became the Grand High Priest of the empire.
So what role did Selena play in this?
None.
She didn’t even appear in the original novel. Not even as a side character.
A healing story where everyone walked flower paths… and she wasn’t the female lead, not even the female lead’s friend, not even a named extra?
At first, she cursed the god who threw her into this world. But not long after, she changed her mind.
‘Honestly, being an unnamed extra is way better than suffering like a villainess who tries to change her doomed fate.’
Since she had never been mentioned in the novel, it meant her future was completely free. Being born as an orphan without parents was a bit disappointing, but Selena made up her mind.
“I’ll create my own future.”
Even in her past life, Selena didn’t have it easy.
Born into a poor family as the eldest daughter, she had to juggle school and chores.
This life was the same—no wealth, no connections. But at least, she didn’t have a family to guilt-trip her and hold her back.
And she had something else—knowledge about future events in this world.
“If you know what’s coming, you have a better chance at success.”
She just needed to survive until she was old enough to work and earn on her own.
To do that, she had to turn this messed-up orphanage into a safe haven where she could live peacefully until adulthood.
Tryce Orphanage. The director, Sophie Elenion, ran the place purely for money.
She established the orphanage just to collect government support, never caring for the kids and using all the funds for her own luxury.
While Sophie enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, the kids starved every other day.
Just like the novel described, the orphanage’s conditions were horrible.
When the annual royal inspection rated the orphanage as substandard, their government support was cut in half. Furious, Sophie began taking it out on the children even more.
“I don’t care about pleasing the director. But to secure my basic needs, I need the nobles’ donations.”
With no support from the state, their only hope was noble sponsorship. But Tryce had no “gemstones” that nobles wanted.
“It’s okay. If this plan works, we won’t need a gemstone to catch the nobles’ attention.”
Selena quietly waited for the right moment.
Thankfully, that moment came sooner than she thought.
From morning, things were hectic. Today was the day nobles would visit the orphanage.
The director called Selena while she was wiping windows.
“Selina, you’re eight now. You can run errands, right?”
‘My name is Selena, not Selina.’
She couldn’t believe the director didn’t even know her name. No wonder they failed the royal inspection.
‘She’s the one who caused the funding cut, yet she keeps taking it out on us.’
Selena replied while grumbling inside.
“Yes, teacher.”
There was no point correcting her name. Whether the director knew it or not didn’t matter.
“Go to the bakery at the crossroads and buy two wheat buns and one cookie set.”
The cookie set was clearly for serving the nobles. The wheat buns were probably lunch for the kids.
‘With the money for that cookie set, we could’ve had soft white bread for a whole week…’
Selena opened the pouch the director gave her.
‘Huh?’
Inside were just two silver coins.
She didn’t know all the prices in this world yet, but she did know how much wheat buns and a cookie set cost. Two silver coins weren’t enough to buy everything.
“Teacher, I think this isn’t enough money.”
The director scowled at her in response.
“Act pitiful when you go. If you don’t bring back everything, you won’t eat today.”
‘Did she really just say that to a kid?’
Selena was speechless.
So that’s why she didn’t go herself—she wanted to use a child to get sympathy from the shopkeeper and save money.
Selena was angry but hid it and answered politely.
“Yes.”
“Be back in 30 minutes. If you wander or come back late, I’ll lock you in the reflection room all day.”
“Yes.”
Holding the pouch tightly, Selena stepped outside the orphanage.
