Chapter 50. Sunflower (4)
“Why is the meal portion under the required amount?”
The woman scribbling quickly on the paper in her hand asked sharply.
At her knife-like gaze, the little body trembled and stammered out an answer.
“M-my s-stomach! It hurts!”
“Hmm… seems like your stomach can’t handle it. Should I reduce the dosage again….”
Muttering, the woman continued jotting things down rapidly.
Meanwhile, the child fidgeted nervously, tugging hard at the rough checkered clothes she wore.
“Next. Number 22.”
“Yes! Number 22! Slept seven hours today!”
And so, one by one, their turns passed.
Peeking around nervously, she saw that in the dreary room, young girls stood lined up in a row.
All of them wore the same dull brown checkered clothes as her.
Even at a glance, she was the smallest and youngest among them.
“Number 29!”
There were only ten children. From Number 20 to 29.
After calling up to 29, the woman left the room.
Only then did the children, who had been stiff with fear, slump down.
“Haa… but at least no one got scolded today. Right, Number 21?”
While she stood there shrinking back, another girl approached her warmly.
“Y-yeah…” she mumbled gloomily.
“B-but I almost got in trouble… because I couldn’t eat much….”
“It’s fine! You’re still little, that’s why! I was the same until two years ago!”
Number 2* said cheerfully. Judging from her height and way of speaking, she always claimed she was two years older than her.
Though, since both were orphans, neither knew their exact age.
“R-really?”
Glancing around again, she noticed the other children had all slumped to the ground without care.
That’s what happened to everyone here.
At first, they smiled brightly, but after being summoned by the “adults in hats” a few times, they would eventually stop talking, lie down quietly, and then…
They’d all disappear somewhere.
“Don’t worry! I’ll keep helping you.”
But Number 2* was different.
She always smiled brightly and looked after her. To her, the girl resembled the big yellow flower she once glimpsed beyond the wall—
The flower that looked so much like the sun.
“Hehe… thanks.”
She blushed shyly and lowered her head.
She held a dry twig and dug at the dirt.
Now that her fingers and height had grown a little, she could handle this sort of thing by herself.
“Yard exercise time” was always very short.
Locked in a dim room most of the time, it was their only precious moment to feel sunlight.
She should have enjoyed it as much as she could, but today, she simply had no strength.
It’ll be my turn soon….
As soon as exercise ended, the “hatted human” would come and drag her to the “injection room.”
Sighing heavily, she just kept scratching at the dirt.
“Number 21!”
“H-huh?”
A bright voice called, and she lifted her head weakly.
Far away, Number 2* was running over, her face still full of that sunflower-like smile.
“What are you doing! If you don’t run now, you’ll have to sit in the room the whole time!”
Panting, she held out her hand.
She stared at the hand for a moment before drooping her head again.
“Not today….”
“What’s wrong! …Ah, is it because of the ‘injection’ later?”
“…”
She didn’t answer, just stabbed at the dirt.
“They’ve been increasing the dosage lately, so it hurts a lot, right? Don’t worry. In two years it won’t hurt as much!”
“…Liar.”
“It’s true! I’m older than you! Don’t you believe your big sister?”
“You’re lying!!”
She suddenly screamed.
“Hey! What’s going on over there!”
The hatted guards near the wall immediately barked.
Startled for a moment, Number 2* quickly smiled and waved her hand.
“It’s nothing! Hehe!”
Then she crouched beside her.
She kept her eyes glued to the ground, desperately holding back tears.
She was probably eight, maybe nine already—too old to cry like a baby.
“What’s a lie, huh?”
Number 2* asked gently.
Her soft voice only made the tears harder to hold back, so she spat out something mean instead.
“You’re not really my sister anyway! …And you’re barely taller than me now.”
“Does it bother you when I call myself your sister?”
“…We’re both orphans, we don’t even know our real ages….”
By now, she was nine—or close enough. Old enough to know things.
Nothing Number 2* said could truly comfort her.
Watching her hang her head, Number 2* spoke softly.
“Hey.”
“What.”
Ignoring her sulky tone, 2* leaned close and whispered.
“This is a secret, okay….”
She forgot her anger and leaned closer.
“The truth is… I actually have a name.”
She gasped. Not a number?
“Really? What is it?”
“Hehe, it’s a real secret. I’m… Reina!”
“Reina?”
“Yeah. I don’t remember clearly, but I think my mom called me that.”
Reina said proudly.
She was amazed.
“Wow! That’s amazing!”
Her mom’s memory….
But soon her face fell.
“I don’t have anything like that….”
“That’s okay! We can make one up right now!”
“…A name?”
“Yeah!”
She faltered.
The only words she knew were desk, bed, injection, meal, body temperature…
“I don’t know anything….”
“That’s fine. I’ll help you!”
Reina declared confidently.
Unlike her, who had been dragged here very young, Reina knew many things.
Maybe it was true she was older.
“…Sorry. For being mean. I know you’re the older sister.”
Her stunted height was probably from the injections. The hatted adults often said the children’s growth was delayed.
“It’s okay,” Reina said kindly.
“Now then, what should your name be….”
The two of them put their heads together.
But even with Reina being older and remembering a little of her mother, she didn’t know many names either.
In the end, they used the few words they knew and made one up.
“How about… Ilena!?”
“I-I like it.”
She swallowed nervously.
It was her first time ever having a name.
In fact, it was her first time ever owning something that was hers.
“Hehe, from now on I’m Reina, and you’re Ilena.”
“Mm… I-Ilena….”
She spoke her new treasure carefully.
“Exercise time over! Everyone back inside!”
“Number 21! This way!”
A cold voice struck her back.
“…Ilena, come back safe.”
Even Reina couldn’t do anything now.
Reina waved with a worried face.
“Mm. Reina.”
She clenched her small fist.
Someone had just called her by her name.
Just that alone—
It felt like she had been reborn into the world.
She was no longer an orphan, no longer Number 21, no longer a meaningless digit doomed to vanish.
She was Ilena.
“Ilena!”
“…Huh?”
Through the haze of memories, Iago’s face slowly came into view.
Ilena furrowed her brow against the pounding headache and barely answered.
“I… ago?”
“Haah. Are you okay? You scared me half to death, collapsing like that.”
Iago shouted in his usual voice, ignoring the stares around them.
“I collapsed… ah! Reina!”
Her senses returning, Ilena whipped her head around.
Reina lay on the ground, bloody and alone.
“Ilena?”
Ignoring Iago’s confused call, Ilena ran toward her.
She couldn’t let her die like this.
The memories of her childhood screamed at her as if she’d lived them all over again.
Reina must not die.
Desperately lifting her up, Ilena shouted anxiously.
“Iago! W-we have to treat her! Call a doctor!”
“I… lena?”
Reina, pale-faced, lifted her gaze to her.
“B-believe me….”
“I do! I believe you now! My memories came back!”
“What?”
Already pale from blood loss, Reina’s face turned whiter with shock.
“H-how much?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ilena snapped harshly, not answering her question.
If Reina had told her everything from the start, none of this would’ve happened.
Seeing her covered in blood tore Ilena with guilt.
She couldn’t stop recalling the image of young Reina, smiling at little Ilena with that too-small body.
“They weren’t… good memories. I thought it was better to forget, if I could….”
“Tell me. I’ll believe you now. Why did you come here? Why did you do this?”
Pressed by Ilena’s fierce voice, Reina hesitated, then burst into tears.
“The Crown Prince… he told me to bring you back to the North. If I failed, I was to kill you and bring back your corpse… I couldn’t do that….”
“What?”
“I thought… it would be better if I came instead of someone else….”
Her vision began to blur, likely from the blood loss.
Even as her face was drenched with tears and her body with blood, Reina gave one last sunflower-bright smile.
“Because… because I’m your sister. I have to protect you.”
