Chapter 2
“…!”
At Clois’s words, the ministers’ faces turned pale with shock.
“I’ll leave the rest to you. I’m going back now.”
He stood up and turned away, clearly no longer interested. The ministers also rose and bowed deeply.
As he walked out, Clois spoke to the Minister of State.
“Make sure there are no issues with that child’s admission. You’re in charge.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Clois left immediately. He even dismissed the attendants who had followed him.
On his way back to his quarters, he thought about what he had just done.
Even to himself, it was a strange move.
He had gone out of his way to admit a child he had no particular interest in.
‘But… what was her name again?’
After walking for quite a while, Clois suddenly realized he didn’t even know the name of the child he had selected.
He stopped for a moment and let out a short sigh.
‘What does it matter anyway?’
He had only chosen her as a warning to the ministers whose conduct displeased him. She wasn’t someone he intended to care about.
Clois turned his head and looked down the long, dark hallway.
‘Tiresome.’
Maybe it was because he had spent the whole day listening to talk about children.
He felt more drained than usual.
Changing direction, he no longer walked toward his chambers but instead headed to the one place within the palace where he could truly rest.
The place where his wife and daughter were buried.
As he walked, he thought—
Was there any reason to continue living in a world where he had nothing left to love?
When the Minister of State returned to the meeting room, the other ministers quickly crowded around him with urgent questions.
“Who is that child?”
“What did His Majesty say? Did he mention anything about adoption?”
They looked worried, fearing a commoner child might have caught the emperor’s favor and surpassed their own children.
The Minister of State suppressed a sigh and replied.
“No. He merely told me to take care of it.”
“And nothing else…?”
“Nothing. He didn’t even ask for the child’s name. Let’s just resume the meeting.”
Relieved to learn the emperor held no real interest in the chosen child, the ministers sighed in unison.
As the room returned to its noisy state, the Minister of State looked at the admission form in his hand.
Seven years old. Female.
“Let’s see… her name is…”
He slowly read out the carefully written letters.
“Ivy Elden.”
“Wow…!”
Ivy’s mouth dropped open as she looked out the carriage window at the enormous imperial palace.
“It’s amazing…”
She stared in awe for a long while before finally turning her head, embarrassed by the amused glances of the others seated across from her.
Next to her, the director of the orphanage held Ivy’s hand tightly and said,
“It really is incredible. I could look at it all day and never get tired of it.”
Ivy’s face lit up.
“Right? It’s so beautiful and majestic—it makes my heart race!”
Excited, Ivy turned back to the view of the palace.
‘It’s even more breathtaking than the books described.’
She remembered the travelogue she had read over and over again. It described the capital city of Lancet like this:
[The Imperial Palace. The holiest and most beautiful place in the thousand-year-old city of Lancet. The palace itself is like a vast city. Deep within its heart resides His Majesty, the sole royal of Harkia.]
As she recalled those words, Ivy couldn’t help smiling.
The imperial palace.
The very place where the emperor himself lived!
‘I can’t believe I actually get to go in there. It’s like a dream.’
She couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from twitching upward in glee. But then, the man sitting across from her and the director scoffed as he looked them up and down.
“You must be from the countryside. Take it all in while you can—who knows if you’ll ever get to see the palace again?”
At his words, the orphanage director straightened her back proudly and spoke in a dignified voice.
“Thanks for your concern, but our Ivy will be living in the palace from today. There’s no need to rush, is there, Ivy?”
“Yes!”
Ivy answered with a big nod, and the man openly sneered.
“Living in the palace? How? Do you even know what kind of place this is? If some scammer promised you a palace job, you’ve been had—”
“We’re not here to work. Ivy was accepted into the Gifted Institute.”
The director lifted her chin proudly as she spoke.
“The Gifted Institute?”
The man’s eyes widened at the mention. Seeing his reaction, the director looked even more smug.
Ivy couldn’t help but laugh at how happy the director was, as if it were her own success.
‘She was even more excited than I was.’
A week ago, the orphanage in Elam City where Ivy lived received a letter from the palace.
Ivy had been accepted into the Gifted Institute and was to report there by a specific date.
“Really? You got into the Gifted Institute? Oh my goodness! This is amazing! I knew it, Ivy! You’re the smartest girl in the world!”
The director, who had been doing laundry, dropped everything and ran over without a care for her dirty clothes. She hugged Ivy tightly and jumped up and down with joy, waving the letter from the palace.
Seeing the director so happy made Ivy just as happy.
She was the one who had rescued Ivy from a terrible place when she was five.
It made Ivy feel proud to know she had become a source of joy for the woman who had saved her.
‘And… now the other kids might get a little more food.’
There were things she couldn’t say aloud, so Ivy swallowed her thoughts.
The orphanage in Elam City wasn’t in great shape, even though the townspeople helped when they could.
The director took in as many abandoned children as possible, so resources were always stretched thin.
They had to conserve everything. The garden behind the orphanage was always planted with edible crops to last the year.
When she wasn’t at school, Ivy worked there too—pulling weeds, catching bugs, and tending the plants alongside the other children.
Still, it was hard to keep up with the growing kids’ appetites.
“I want more food!”
One morning, the children had fought over a single potato.
That day, Ivy saw a notice posted on the school wall:
[Admission Notice – Imperial Gifted Institute]
The notice had been posted in every upper-level school in the empire by royal decree.
As Ivy read it, her eyes gleamed at the fine print near the bottom:
[All living expenses will be provided by the Gifted Institute for the duration of enrollment.]
‘If one less mouth to feed helps the director, that alone is worth it.’
Of course, the promise of learning more difficult and advanced subjects than her current school was also appealing.
‘And I heard graduates of the institute can get really good jobs.’
Most graduates were hired by the imperial palace, or became professors at the Empire’s top academic institution—the Academy.
She didn’t know how much money those jobs paid, but surely it would be more than an orphan from Elam could ever hope to earn.
‘If I make enough money, I can help the director too…’
Ivy glanced at the director, who was still going on and on about her, beaming with pride.
‘I’ll become someone who can really help.’
But if she said that aloud, the director would surely scold her and say not to worry about such things.
So instead, she had said she wanted to study more—and submitted her application to the Gifted Institute right away.
In truth, she had hoped to be accepted, but didn’t think she really stood a chance.
The entire empire was abuzz about the opening of the Gifted Institute, and the rumors spread fast.
Every noble family and wealthy household was doing everything they could to get their children in.
There was no way a commoner, especially one from a small-town orphanage, could possibly make the cut.
That night, after submitting the application, Ivy sat alone by the window and made a wish.
‘Mom, Dad. Please let me get into the Gifted Institute.’
As a shooting star streaked across the sky, she quickly made her silent prayer.
She normally avoided thinking of her parents. Even thinking their names made her throat tighten painfully.
But this time, she wanted it so badly, she couldn’t help calling out to them in her heart.
She didn’t even know if they were alive. Maybe they had abandoned her because they didn’t want her.
Even so, Ivy had wanted to cling to someone—anyone.
Please let me get accepted into the Gifted Institute.
So I can help the orphanage.
And when I grow up into an adult… let me find my mom and dad.
I want to meet them.
