MEBS | Chapter 005

Chapter 005

“Stir it thoroughly so the honey mixes well with the powder.”

Sophia’s voice was laced with irritation.

Sophia was the one who actually ran the orphanage, but in the end, it belonged to Shaylo.

She knew that if she didn’t produce impressive results, this place would soon be taken from her. There was a dark bruise between her eyelid and cheekbone, likely from a blow she received from Shaylo the previous night.

“The bruise around my eye must be well hidden.”

As Sophia nervously chewed her long nails, Freya grew tense in turn.

‘I might get beaten senseless if I make the slightest mistake.’

At times like these, Sophia was extremely irritable and tolerated no errors.

With trembling hands, Freya applied the powder, then smeared a mixture of honey and pigment on her lips.

In the mirror’s reflection, she saw the boy huddled in the corner of the bedroom—the one Freya had saved.

He was sitting there, reading thick papers and writing something.

‘He said he helps Sophia with her work…’

But there was nothing enviable about it.

It seemed the boy spent most of his day like this. He didn’t mingle with anyone or speak.

Looking at him, Freya was reminded of the cat that lived near the storage shed in the orphanage courtyard.

The yellow cat gleamed under the sun with a reddish hue.

At first, it wouldn’t let her come near, only accepting scraps of bones or small pieces of fish she found discarded on the road before quickly disappearing.

“Come here.”

As soon as Sophia spoke, the boy crawled to her weakly.

She tossed some papers at him.

“Sort them all before I return.”

She treated the boy not as a human but as an animal.

He ate off the floor and slept curled up.

‘I feel uneasy.’

It was certain that if he had been left in the courtyard, he would have died, but his life in Sophia’s room was hardly better.

When Sophia left for an urgent matter, the boy returned to his corner.

His pale face was even paler from lack of sunlight.

Was this the responsibility of the one who saved him? Perhaps it was just excessive curiosity, but Freya couldn’t ignore him.

“Hey, come here.”

She called out to him, but he showed no reaction. She wanted to get him out of this room saturated with Sophia’s perfume and venomous tongue.

She raised her voice again, and the boy set the papers down and lifted his head.

His eyes held a distant, unfocused glint.

“…….”

“Let’s go to our attic.”

The word “attic” seemed to appeal to him, and he stood up.

The two slipped away cautiously until they reached the attic.

Freya sat down and pulled out a piece of paper that had wrapped a biscuit.

A few days ago, in a rare moment of good mood, Sophia had given it to her.

The paper was soaked with the biscuit’s grease, and as soon as she opened it, a sweet aroma wafted out. She tore it in half and offered it to him.

“Eat this.”

But the boy didn’t reach for it quickly, appearing hesitant.

Freya understood that well.

In this place, no one was kind without a reason.

Perhaps in his eyes, she was no different from the others in the orphanage.

“No need to hesitate.”

She decided to be straightforward.

“I’m the one who saved you from the courtyard. So you can eat this biscuit.”

But she added to herself that she wasn’t sure if what she did was right or not. She extended the piece to him again, and the boy approached, sat down, and slowly reached out.

“Oh, so you’re the savior.”

His voice was slightly different from before, but Freya dismissed it as her imagination.

“Maybe. I don’t know if I’m really a savior.”

“Your name is Freya?”

Contrary to her expectations, the boy showed curiosity toward her.

“Yes. And what’s your name?”

“Call me… Lus.”

Freya thought it was a fitting name for a boy who resembled the cat she had once seen. From that day when they exchanged names, the two began to grow closer little by little.

“That’s your name.”

Lus knew how to read and write, and he taught her bit by bit whenever they had the chance.

“Lus, how do you write your name?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Through him, Freya heard news of the outside world.

He said many wars had occurred and that in the Morsiani Empire, there was an aging king with two heirs to the throne.

“So the heir will become the next king?”

Freya asked, tilting her head, and Lus clenched his fist, a vague expression crossing his face.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be, but it’s not certain yet.”

“Mmm, I see.”

But Freya didn’t care who would wear the crown, the first prince or the second. All she saw before her was Lus, with his soft hair the color of cake.

“Even if I don’t know, I think you’re more beautiful than both of them, Lus.”

In Lus’s sparkling eyes, Freya’s own gleaming eyes were reflected.

Even Freya, who didn’t fully understand the meaning of beauty, saw that Lus was truly beautiful. Perhaps that’s why even Sophia couldn’t bring herself to hit him.

But the compliment didn’t sit well with him. He furrowed his beautiful brows and spoke seriously, “Being called beautiful isn’t a compliment for a boy.”

“A boy? You?”

Freya laughed heartily and rolled on the floor. To her, Lus looked like an eight-year-old child, utterly adorable.

“Lus, I’ll be thirteen soon.”

A deep confusion appeared on Lus’s face, and he let out a heavy sigh.

“Freya, in truth… I have special circumstances.”

He seemed about to say something, but he suddenly dropped his head.

Freya found it amusing and decided to tease him.

“Sure, sure. Let’s say you’re actually a hundred years old but under a spell. Right?”

“Freya… how did you know?”

He raised his head and looked at her seriously, making her laugh even harder.

“What’s that, Lus? You still believe in things like that? How cute.”

She thought that, despite knowing how to read, he was still just a child like Lottie.

When he got angry, he looked like a puffed-up cat. That cat that would suddenly appear at the sound of her footsteps, with golden hair like Lus’s.

“Soft…”

While imagining the cat, she instinctively reached out and patted Lus’s head.

‘Lus is really strange.’

Even in the orphanage’s tattered clothes, he seemed dignified.

His golden hair shimmered in the darkness, and his large eyes added to his aura. Freya studied him and shook her head to herself.

“Freya, what’s that look?”

“You’re exactly like a cat.”

“You mean a beautiful cat?”

His voice was low, but he seemed uncomfortable. Freya quickly withdrew her hand and apologized, “Sorry. If that was rude.”

“If it’s from you, it’s fine. I feel like I’m being purified.”

“Purified…?”

She didn’t understand the difficult word, and Lus smiled faintly in the dim light.

Since some time ago, the orphanage’s children had been disappearing one by one.

The emptiness at the dining table grew each morning, stirring Freya’s anxiety.

Where had all those children gone?

‘What in heaven’s name is happening?’

She realized she hadn’t seen Lottie in days.

That girl who used to annoy her by hovering around her—her disappearance worried Freya. Though she rarely dared to question Sophia, she finally mustered the courage.

“Aunt, where’s Lottie?”

While Freya was fastening a necklace around her neck, Sophia struck her hand with a fan.

“How would I know?”

Freya lowered her head and finished Sophia’s grooming in silence.

There was nothing else she could do.

“After breakfast, have the girls line up against the wall.”

Sophia ordered, and the thin girls lined up.

She walked among them, inspecting their bodies.

She touched their cheekbones, waists, and even their chests.

It was humiliating, but no one dared object.

“All of them are scrawny… what use are they?”

When she reached Freya, she frowned.

True, she had Freya help with her grooming because of her skill, but she had never liked her. Her mysterious eyes were bothersome to her.

“Has your monthly cycle started yet?”

“What…?”

Freya didn’t understand the question and repeated it like a parrot. Sophia passed by with a mocking smile, then ordered some of the girls to be taken away with a man.

‘It feels like something bad is about to happen.’

Freya could swear that what awaited them wasn’t good. She saw a girl slightly older than her being led out of the orphanage and trembled.

The dining rooms, once packed with children, were now completely empty.

‘Will the day come when they take me to the capital too?’

Having been born and raised only in this place, Freya feared the outside world. Most of the people she met on the begging streets had shown her no kindness.

‘But Sophia and Shaylo aren’t any better.’

When the orphanage’s heavy doors closed after the children left, Freya found herself alone in the hall.

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