MEBS | Chapter 004

Chapter 004

The breeze brushing against her cheeks was cold enough to herald the start of winter.

“Let’s go inside and clean the frame quickly.”

Freya was walking, clutching her shoulders with her hands, when she heard a strange sound. It was clearly the groan of someone in pain.

“Who’s there…?”

Freya approached and saw a boy collapsed at the back gate of the orphanage, unable to even cross it.

He looked like he had been brutally beaten—his clothes reduced to tattered rags, and blood oozing from him.

Despite his horrific state, his blond hair shimmered under the sunlight, and a faint fragrance wafted from him.

‘Since he’s still groaning, he must not be dead yet.’

Freya struggled to turn the boy’s body over, groaning herself.

“My God…”

Freya swore she had never seen anything so beautiful in her life, as if the Goddess Diana had sent him.

His small face, with closed eyes, looked like… “like a cake, pure white and beautiful.”

She hesitated for a moment in front of the injured boy. She hated being burdened with troublesome tasks.

‘What if I get punished for causing unnecessary trouble?’

The mere thought of Sophia’s beatings made her stomach churn with fear.

“But… I don’t want to see a child this beautiful die in front of me.”

In this orphanage, several children who had lived with her had already been buried.

After hesitating, Freya went to Sophia and recounted what had happened with the boy she found. Sophia was indifferent, but as soon as she saw his face, her tone changed.

“It seems I must take care of him. This is part of my mission: to care for suffering and lonely children.”

Her serious words stunned Freya, but she couldn’t help but think:

‘…Care for whom, exactly? What empty talk.’

She herself had never received any care from Sophia.

“He’ll be okay… right?”

Freya watched from a distance as they carried the boy away. She wondered if she had done something foolish, but she quickly shook her head.

“…I’m drowning in my own worries; how can I worry about someone else?”

Life and death were both in the hands of the Goddess Diana.

Freya returned to her work, vigorously wiping the dust between the stairs and the frame with her rag.

* * *

Sometimes, time stagnated like stale water, and sometimes it rushed by like an arrow. A year passed, and both big and small changes occurred in the orphanage where Freya lived.

“An order has come from the imperial palace to remove everything that pollutes the streets.”

The imperial decree struck the beggars and street vendors first.

Sophia went mad when she heard the news.

“Then what are we supposed to do? We have so many mouths to feed!”

The orphanage was outwardly known as a charitable institution for orphans, but inside, it was rife with corruption.

Only a tiny fraction of the empire’s subsidies went to meals that resembled pig slop.

Heating was reserved solely for Sophia’s and the director’s rooms.

The rest went straight into the director’s pocket.

And it didn’t stop there; the profits from the thefts and begging forced upon the children were entirely plundered.

Because of the decree, the children suddenly stopped going out to work, and anxiety spread among them.

Lottie, who always clung to Freya, asked her, “Freya, doesn’t it feel strange not going out to work?”

“…I don’t know.”

But Freya couldn’t give Lottie what she wanted. They weren’t family.

‘We’re just a connection that could break at any moment.’

Even so, it was hard to ignore Lottie, who had grown so attached to her. So, she quietly dropped a piece of the donut she had hidden.

“Sister… is this for me?”

Lottie smiled innocently as she held half the donut, and Freya replied coolly, “I don’t know. Maybe it was just lying there.”

In truth, she had picked it up from Sophia’s leftovers, but remembering Lottie’s love for food, she kept it. She had no intention of explaining.

Freya searched for a quiet place to knit, wandering the orphanage until she reached the top floor. The cramped building was packed with idle children confined without work, so she couldn’t find a place to rest.

“Here, no one will find me.”

The attic of the orphanage was rumored to be haunted.

Look at all this dust—ugh.

She climbed the rickety stairs, dust scattering onto her hands. The creaking of the wood was loud, but she continued upward.

She pushed open the small wooden door and squeezed her body through with difficulty. The interior was darker than she expected, and her eyes began adjusting to the gloom.

“It’s so dark… can I even knit here?”

When Sophia could no longer send the children to beg, she brought them manual tasks like sewing and knitting. Even the youngest children had a mandatory quota, and those who didn’t meet it were deprived of food.

“I can’t see well.”

There was a small window, but it was covered with a thick layer of dust. Freya sat anywhere, feeling the floor with her hands.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a faint light on the opposite side.

“A ghost…?”

But she didn’t care. She feared the living, not the dead.

Then, a soft voice was heard: “I’m not a ghost.”

Focusing, she saw strands of yellow hair like canary flowers.

‘Oh… it must be the boy I saved before.’

She had been so preoccupied that she had completely forgotten about him. Suddenly embarrassed, she muttered softly, “Sorry if I disturbed you. I’ll stay a bit to knit and then go down.”

She lifted her tools slightly to show him.

“It’s fine if you stay here.”

“…”

His broken voice was steeped in loneliness.

It was clear he hadn’t yet adjusted to life in the orphanage.

‘If he stays like this, things won’t end well for him…’

Sophia hated children who didn’t know how to flatter or curry favor. Imagining his beautiful face marred with scars, her heart sank.

‘But… what does that have to do with me?’

In this place, just keeping herself alive was hard enough.

So Freya continued working with her hands in the dark.

If she didn’t finish her quota, she’d be deprived of food.

Knitting was tedious and exhausting work. Still, Sophia said the orphanage’s products were highly popular.

‘Because they’re made by the hands of miserable children.’

People bought them at high prices out of pity, earning praise as virtuous. Freya imagined the small hat she was knitting would meet the same fate, and a strange feeling washed over her.

‘…A miserable child.’

People sometimes called her fierce, sometimes pitiful. And that’s what she hated.

‘It’s really infuriating.’

But suddenly, she realized the boy opposite her was silently watching her movements.

‘What’s this? It’s like he’s not even there.’

She didn’t like Lottie’s clinginess, but she also wasn’t comfortable with his excessive silence.

“And you, what are you doing here?”

Unable to bear the silence any longer, she spoke first. It wasn’t out of curiosity but because she found it strange that she had never seen a boy with such features before.

“Cough… cough…”

He was so weak, coughing heavily, that she only heard his answer after a while.

“I help Miss Sophia with her work.”

“Wow, that’s really impressive!”

So he didn’t go out to steal or beg. But when she recalled Sophia’s grim face, she wondered if that was truly worth admiring.

“But… are you really okay?”

She felt embarrassed after asking.

Here, no one cared about others’ health. Those who got sick withered until they died. A doctor was only called for Sophia.

“I’m fine now.”

Then silence fell again.

Freya thought begging was easier than knitting. Being confined to make hats didn’t suit her.

‘I feel like my fingers are freezing.’

As she neared finishing a hat, the daylight began to fade behind the window.

“Has it gotten this late?”

She had to hurry to reach the dining hall. She hastily gathered her tools.

“If I’m late, I might not even get soup.”

But suddenly, she heard ragged breathing from the other side.

The window’s light illuminated the boy lying in the dust.

He looked utterly exhausted.

“What? Aren’t you actually sick?”

Despite saying he was fine, it was clear he wasn’t.

What a worrisome boy…

Just like the first time, it was hard to turn her back on him.

She took off her worn shawl and draped it over his body, then hurried down.

The creaking of the rickety stairs echoed loudly in the place.

* * *

The state’s policies changed much in the orphanage.

Sophia tried sending the children to beg in secret, but the results were poor.

“I said I don’t know those children!”

Those she acknowledged were fined, so she denied them.

She temporarily tried selling handmade products like knitting and patching, but they didn’t generate much money. The orphanage’s situation grew worse day by day.

Then, Shaylo, who lived in the capital, began visiting more often.

‘Oh, please, Master Shaylo… don’t abandon me.’

His terrifying voice haunted her, and she was always crying in his hands.

But no matter what she did, the orphanage’s conditions didn’t improve.

In the end, Sophia dismissed the maid who worked for her, and Freya took her place.

‘…What a ridiculous situation.’

Freya wasn’t pleased about taking on the role of a maid in addition to knitting. Since childhood, she had never heard a kind word from Sophia, only receiving harsh beatings and being starved for the slightest reasons.

‘And now I have to help her with her grooming too…?’

She ground asbestos powder, clenching her teeth in frustration.