chapter 03
“I was finally born into a good family, survived an incurable illness… and now I might die because of monsters?”
It was so hard just to be born into a family where I didn’t have to overwork myself. And parents who came to my room every day and hugged me with love? That kind of thing wasn’t common. At least, not in my experience.
“Hmm…”
My favorite character in the story had successfully stopped the monster, but ended up dying in the process. Wasn’t there a way I could help stop the monster earlier and also save him?
“If only he had survived, the kingdom wouldn’t have gone down such a destructive path.”
He was a legendary knight and a national hero, but he died a pointless death because of poison he was given as a child. If he had lived, the kingdom probably wouldn’t have fallen.
I played with my little fingers and wrote his name on a piece of paper.
Schroitz Procyon
Honestly, it was a name I had thought about thousands of times since being reborn into this world. Before dying in my previous life? I must’ve thought about it tens of thousands of times.
“…But how do I even get to him?”
I fell into deep thought. Schroitz was the strongest person in the world, but his past was terribly tragic.
“Right now, he should still be in the slums…”
Originally, he was the legitimate son of a well-established noble family. The problem was his father—he was absolute trash who cheated on his wife while she was pregnant. And when the woman he was cheating with got pregnant, he tried to replace his wife with her.
And how did he do that?
“Your mother had an affair. You are not my son.”
He falsely accused Schroitz’s mother of cheating. In the royal capital, noble families—often called “Tower Houses”—have unique inherited abilities. But Schroitz didn’t show any signs of his power until he was five.
Using that as an excuse, his own father kicked him out. Though he couldn’t completely throw Schroitz away because of social scrutiny, he still banished him to a dangerous area called the Red Zone under the pretense of military service. Usually, this was where failed heirs were sent.
“Even though he was the one who fed him the poison…”
Exactly. Schroitz’s insane father had been giving him special drugs mixed in his baby food to suppress his powers from the time he was a baby. But that truth only comes out much later, after Schroitz rises from a discarded child to the top general of the military through a series of major events.
I let out a sigh.
Eventually, the drug that suppressed his powers starts to wear off. But the real issue was the father’s mistress.
“Trash attracts trash.”
Because the father didn’t outright kill Schroitz but only banished him, the mistress grew anxious. She secretly bribed the family steward to poison Schroitz bit by bit. That poison built up in his body. Later, while saving the male lead from a crisis, the built-up poison kills Schroitz.
Now picture this:
Schroitz stands in the cold wind. The monsters have crossed the border, and the military has declared a full emergency.
Just earlier, he had saved a rookie soldier from a monster’s attack. His arm was broken during the rescue, but he didn’t care. What truly hurt was the spreading pain from the dark marks on his chest. The poison that had tormented him since childhood was now paralyzing his arm.
He knew he would probably die here.
It wasn’t that he clung to life. But… maybe it would’ve been nice if it had lasted a little longer.
“Commander…”
A teary voice called from behind him. Schroitz sighed. The rookie he had just saved was circling around him instead of retreating as ordered.
“Return to your post.”
“But…”
“Didn’t you join the military because you wanted to live?”
“I… I…”
“You’re too young to die.”
He let out a soft sigh and said:
“That means don’t die. You weren’t born just to die.”
That last line might’ve been something he was saying to himself.
Remembering the smile Schroitz had just before dying, I suddenly felt a wave of heat rise to my head.
“Those bastards…!”
“Ah, Miss, why are you crying all of a sudden?”
One of the maids asked me with a trembling voice.
“Are you hurt?”
“No… It’s just… the unfairness of the world…”
I couldn’t exactly say “I’m just mad as hell,” so I rephrased it.
“I was feeling… angry…”
The maids all widened their eyes at my words. Then they squealed and hugged me tightly.
“Our young lady speaks even better than the young master already!”
“Where did you learn such difficult words?”
“Could she be a genius?”
I felt a little shy as the maids laughed softly. I always told myself to speak more like a child, but because I still remembered my past life, grown-up words sometimes slipped out without me realizing.
“Still, please don’t cry, my lady.”
The maid who was hugging me gently wiped my cheeks with a soft handkerchief.
“If you cry, the lord and lady of the house will cry with you.”
“Then… I won’t cry…”
“You’re such a sweet girl.”
I couldn’t speak long or fluently yet. My vocal cords responded a bit slowly, so my speech was also slow. But I wasn’t worried. I was getting better little by little, and I believed that by the time I turned fourteen or fifteen, I’d speak just as well as others.
‘Now that my body’s mostly better…’
Since my condition had improved quite a bit in the last few days, it was time to go see Shuloitz. I knew I should probably still be resting, but bad things would happen to him too soon.
‘He’s probably already taking the poison… He must be in pain, and there’s no one he can talk to…’
The more I thought about it, the more my heart ached. I had to go see my beloved favorite character now. I clenched my small fists with determination.
****
“It’s noble!”
“A noble’s here!”
I could hear people murmuring through the open windows of the carriage. I had purposely opened the glass windows and curtains to listen better.
Peeking out from under the curtain, I looked at the outside world. It was filled with grey and gloom—this was the slums. More specifically, it was one of the darker districts on the edge of the capital known as the “Red Zone.”
Not only were the people here poor, but the lack of law enforcement also made the area full of illegal activity. No wonder there were shady-looking thugs standing around. But those small-time gangsters were easily intimidated by the sight of a fancy carriage and noble knights.
‘I’m glad I could come.’
There was an orphanage in the Red Zone that was sponsored by the Lefebvre family.
‘I was so worried I wouldn’t be allowed to visit…!’
To get permission to visit, I had to think hard and plan carefully.
First, during my daily tea time with my parents, I casually mentioned hearing rumors about corruption at the orphanage. I made it sound like something I’d overheard somewhere. Since I was once seriously ill, my parents were very soft toward me and didn’t take my words lightly.
Because of that, an inspection team was soon planned to be sent to the orphanage our family supported. As soon as I heard that, I clung to my mother’s leg.
“I want to go! Please, let me go…!”
I said I wanted to go help other kids since I was getting better now. I told her how lucky I was to have such loving parents, and how sad it must be for kids who were sick and had no one to take care of them.
My mother, surprised by my sudden plea, looked emotional.
“Our little Blan is just too kind.”
She even smiled and joked about how I sounded more mature than Enricor (my older brother). After talking with Father all night, she finally agreed to let me go with the inspection team. Officially, I went using the name of a distant noble branch.
“Please step down, my lady.”
As I stepped down from the carriage with the footman’s help, a large, proper-looking orphanage came into view. Its name, “Unfading Spring,” didn’t match the corruption happening inside.
“W-who might you be? Which noble family are you from…?”
The orphanage headmaster clearly hadn’t expected a noble carriage to stop here. He ran out, flustered, looking at me with a panicked face.
“It says… 100 kids live here… but why are there so few babies?”
“W-well, that’s…”
“And the food amount… is this it? Is that all babies eat?”
“Actually, the kids ate a lot at breakfast, so…”
I stared up at the sweating headmaster with big eyes.
“Liar.”
“……!”
I could tell. They were clearly involved in accounting fraud, keeping double records, and doing every kind of corruption they could. But of course, I couldn’t say it outright. I spoke in the most childlike way I could.
“My brother said… something about bun… bun-sik? Anyway, he said that.”
One of the family’s inspectors standing behind me added:
“She must mean ‘accounting fraud’. Did the young master explain that to you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did he also mention something called double bookkeeping?”
“Yup.”
“Then this will be easy to explain. It seems they’ve been splitting one proper meal into seven small ones for the children.”
It was funny how the inspector reported everything to a child like me, but this world had strict social hierarchies.
The accountants sent from my family were extremely capable. Honestly, they looked like grim reapers with pens and paper.
The orphanage quickly turned into chaos. I glanced between the account books they brought and the frightened children peeking around nervously.
Originally, my goal was just to see Shuloitz. But seeing the skinny and poorly kept children in person made my heart ache. Just how much of the Lefebvre family’s donations had they stolen for the kids to end up like this?
