Chapter 6
“I can’t hand the child over unless it’s at least this amount. Absolutely nothing less.”
“…That’s an awfully large sum. I could pay it considering it a donation, but honestly, it feels like I’m being scammed.”
“If you don’t like it, then forget it. We have nothing to lose.”
She could feel the small hand she was holding trembling.
Unlike his bold attitude earlier, the little boy had turned pale and couldn’t even open his mouth.
Seeing that he didn’t even dare look the director in the eye, it was obvious what kind of things he had suffered until now.
“Let’s leave right now. I don’t want you in the same space as someone like that.”
“Wait a moment! The payment hasn’t been settled yet. Where do you think you’re going?”
“Money? If that’s what you want, here. Take as much as you like.”
Clink.
When the director received the heavy pouch filled with gold coins, his face immediately bloomed with delight.
“Please come again, customer! If you want children like this, we can get as many as you need.”
There was not a trace of shame on the face of the man who had probably committed such atrocities for decades.
Looking at the director’s eyes gleaming with greed and desire, Renia made a decision.
“Kid, there’s no one else in this building besides him, right? It’s strangely quiet.”
“Yeah. The director’s vault is here. No one except customers is allowed inside this building.”
“Really? That’s good to hear.”
With a gentle smile, Renia took the child’s hand and left the director’s office.
And shortly after—
“Ah—Aaaah! Someone help!”
BOOM!
With a tremendous explosion, as if a bomb had gone off, a pillar of fire shot into the air.
The child stared at the director’s office engulfed in flames, then looked up at her with a stunned expression.
“T-That… was that your doing, noona? How did you even…?”
“So you finally called me noona. I’m quite touched.”
Renia smiled as she gently stroked the child’s blond hair.
The strands felt like golden silk wrapped around her fingers.
“Stop patting my head all the time. I’m not a little kid.”
“Hm. You don’t like it?”
“…It’s not that I hate it.”
The boy’s cheeks turned red as he shyly lowered his head, accepting her touch.
Behind them, flames roared and surged, but to the two of them it felt as warm as candles on a birthday cake.
“Oh right, I forgot something important. Kid, what’s your name? I’m Renia.”
“Rakan. I don’t have a last name.”
“Same here. Well, technically I made one up to sound fancy.”
The surname Crestian was something she had given herself when she escaped the orphanage.
She still clearly remembered her parents’ real surname, but she had no intention of keeping the name of the people who sold her to the back alleys.
“Later, I’ll give you an amazing last name too. It might change a few times along the way, but I’m sure you’ll like it.”
“Your words are hard to understand, noona. I think I get it… but I don’t.”
“You don’t have to understand right now. I’ll teach you slowly, one thing at a time.”
“Okay.”
As the child nodded, she could see a small but strong seed of trust forming in his eyes.
Renia did not yet realize how deeply her actions had moved the little boy, who was leaving the underworld for the first time in his life.
Later
“Wow! Is this really our room? It’s huge!”
“Don’t run around too much, Rakan. Dust isn’t good for your lungs.”
“Oh my! Look at this bed! It’s so soft! Is there jelly inside or something?”
After returning to the room, Rakan ran around nonstop.
Ten minutes after he started jumping on the bed, Renia finally tried to stop him—but the extremely excited boy had no intention of slowing down.
Let him do whatever he wants. He’ll get used to it eventually.
It was the first time in his life he had experienced such a comfortable environment, so it wasn’t strange that he was excited.
Eventually, she decided to give up and let him enjoy himself.
It was a bit noisy, but since they were occupying an entire floor of the hotel and the soundproofing was excellent, there was no worry about the noise leaking outside.
“So soft beds actually exist. That’s amazing.”
“I thought the same thing when I was your age. It reminds me of how hard things used to be.”
“But what exactly are you, Renia? Not just anyone can stay in a room like this. Honestly, when I first saw you earlier, I thought you were just some ordinary person from the underworld.”
“Hm… well… it’s a bit of a long explanation.”
“That’s okay! I’m not sleepy. I can listen carefully!”
Seeing Rakan’s eyes sparkling with curiosity, Renia sighed lightly and began explaining about herself.
Her explanation was thorough and honest.
Even if he was a child, she couldn’t just brush things aside with lies.
Since she had brought Rakan into her life, she intended to explain the situation clearly and let him choose freely.
“So you want to go to the capital and become the heir of a duke’s family, right? And the reason you want me to pretend to be your son is because of that.”
“Exactly. You understand quickly, Rakan.”
“What? That sounds way easier than I thought. I was worried for nothing.”
Rakan shrugged casually.
It turned out that he had actually been trained in various things since childhood with the intention of eventually being sent into a noble family.
From speech and gestures to etiquette and education—across a surprisingly wide range of areas.
Considering that most underworld children learn codes before letters, he was quite an unusual case.
“That’s why the other kids hated me. Sometimes they made me eat separately just to teach me table manners. I still remember the first day I cut steak. After that, I went hungry for two days.”
“…You must have gone through a lot.”
“Well, it’s all in the past now, so it doesn’t matter! If it’s pretending to be a noble kid, I’m confident. So… I can stay by your side now, right?”
His large eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of staying with her.
For some reason, the sight made Renia feel a little sad, so she gently patted his head again.
“Of course. I should be the one thanking you for staying with me.”
“Why are you thanking me? You give me food and money. That’s weird.”
“It’s not weird at all. The adults who told you that were wrong. I’ll teach you properly from now on.”
Rakan tilted his head as if he didn’t quite understand, but he didn’t argue.
“It’s getting too late. Let’s sleep. Otherwise we’ll oversleep tomorrow.”
“Okay… Can I sleep with you, noona? I sleep pretty quietly.”
“Of course. Let’s wash up and go to bed.”
The two of them fell asleep together in the same bed and didn’t wake up until nearly noon the next day.
After coaxing the whining child hugging his pillow to eat breakfast and asking the counter to bring clothes for him, Renia suddenly felt as if she had truly become Rakan’s parent.
Single my whole life, and now I’m suddenly raising a child.
It’s ridiculous… but strangely, it doesn’t feel bad.
