Deborah asked while applying ointment to the wound on the boy’s forearm.

“So why were you getting beaten up?”

“How rude. Why are you asking about that?”

The boy sneered, pursing his lips. Deborah said with a troubled expression.

“I’m sorry.”

The boy who didn’t expect Deborah to apologize frowned.

“You apologize for the strangest things.”

“Isn’t it not a big deal?”

“It is a big deal.”

“Really?”

Deborah, blinking her eyes, focused on the wound again and said.

“Anyway, I’m good at apologizing. I’m the type of person who finds it easy to apologize.”

Deborah knew well that there were people who found it difficult to apologize. But Deborah was good at both admitting her faults and swallowing her grievances.

“It’s one of my few good points.”

“Isn’t it a flaw?”

The boy said mockingly. Not expecting to hear such words, Deborah blushed and smiled awkwardly.

“Hmm. Maybe it could be a flaw.”

“……”

The boy turned his head with a displeased expression and asked.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I was avoiding the police?”

“No.”

Surprised by Deborah’s unhesitating answer, the boy looked slightly shocked before turning his head.

“……Thought you might say something about me being rude?”

Hearing the voice carried by the wind, Deborah replied without stopping her hand applying the ointment.

“No. I think I know why you did it.”

The police didn’t look too kindly upon boys in shabby clothes wandering the streets.

Because of poverty, or for other reasons, the number of children not properly protected by their parents who made a living by pickpocketing had rapidly increased.

So the police rounded up all the noticeable children and sent those whose guardians didn’t come to prove their identity straight to reformatories in distant lands.

A few years later, the law would change and the reformatories themselves would disappear, but until then, reformatories were common.

There were also frequent cases of children who caused a disturbance because they didn’t want to go to reformatories being tried and sent to prison.

“It would be troublesome if you were misunderstood by the police for no reason.”

“It’s not a misunderstanding.”

Deborah’s eyes, which hadn’t left the wound, turned to the boy.

“Didn’t you hear what that guy was shouting earlier? I wasn’t just beaten up for no reason.”

“Huh?”

The boy smiled sharply like an ice pick at Deborah, who had a blank expression.

“I stole that guy’s money.”

“Really?”

Deborah asked back. The boy stared at her black pupils and quietly clenched his fist.

“Yeah. I really stole it.”

The boy’s voice trembled slightly. The boy bowed his head deeply, hoping Deborah wouldn’t notice.

And he pretended not to as he waited for Deborah’s next words. He could easily imagine what Deborah would say.

She would surely say something obvious like why did you do such a thing.

But Deborah said something that deviated from the boy’s expectations.

“I see. Ah, now that I think about it, I think that man earlier was saying something about why you stole his money.”

Deborah’s voice contained surprise, but no contempt, fear, or bewilderment.

Wondering if it was just her voice, the boy quickly raised his head, only to see Deborah’s face not much different from before.

That innocent, clear, and yet mature face.

“But why did you steal it?”

“……Is that what you’re curious about?”

The boy said, frowning. Deborah, inwardly worrying why he was scrunching up that pretty face, said.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But stealing money is wrong. You probably know that well.”

Deborah, who spoke casually, frowned at the wound that seemed to have been caused when he fell.

“This won’t do with just one application.”

Deborah, who couldn’t take her eyes off the wound, carefully applied the ointment and continued speaking.

“I’m sorry, but could you come again tomorrow? I’m worried it might scar if left alone.”

“……”

The boy didn’t give any answer.

‘I thought he would complain about it hurting like before, but he didn’t make a single sound of pain.’

Deborah thought that perhaps the reason the boy wasn’t answering was because he was enduring the pain.

‘If so, I should apply it as quickly as possible.’

Deborah quickly and thoroughly applied the medicine to the wounds on the boy’s face.

After applying ointment to all the visible wounds, Deborah’s eyes fell on the forehead hidden by the hat.

Since there were wounds all over inside his clothes, there were likely wounds in the area covered by the hat too.

“Can I look here too?”

As Deborah moved her hand towards the hat, the startled boy jumped up.

This time Deborah was surprised too. The boy looked down at Deborah, who had widened her eyes and placed her hand on her pounding heart, then clicked his tongue and quickly ran away.

“Huh? Wait……!”

Deborah belatedly called out to the boy. But the boy didn’t look back. Left alone in the alley, Deborah muttered.

“He’s gone.”

Deborah recalled the image of the boy enduring an adult man’s kicks while tightly holding onto his hat to prevent it from falling off, and tilted her head back.

“Ah. I guess I touched something I shouldn’t have.”

Deborah regretted it. If she met the boy tomorrow, she would apologize……

‘No. Will he even come tomorrow?’

The boy hadn’t answered Deborah’s words earlier. He even left angrily like that.

‘……I should have at least given him some ointment.’

Deborah let out a deep sigh.

The next day, Deborah went out to the back alley. She only encountered a few servants from nearby mansions, but didn’t meet the boy.

‘I felt like I was being watched, but when I went to check, there was only a cat.’

It seemed the boy indeed wouldn’t come to find Deborah.

Nevertheless, unable to give up, Deborah headed to the back alley whenever she had time, just in case.

But until all her colleagues who had gone to their hometowns returned, Deborah couldn’t meet the boy.

‘I shouldn’t have touched his hat then……’

Deborah repeated the useless regret over and over again.

“Deborah! Come here for a moment.”

Just as Deborah was walking down the corridor in front of the kitchen, the chef called her.

As Deborah trotted towards the kitchen, she showed her a basket full of bread and explained.

“This is the leftover bread I’ve been collecting lately. It’s quite troublesome.”

“Couldn’t we share it with everyone?”

The chef shook her head.

“No way. If the head maid finds out there’s leftover bread, she’ll make a fuss about not managing inventory properly. Without even understanding the ecosystem of the kitchen. As they say, food is either left over or not enough!”

Deborah chuckled softly as she watched the excited chef.

“But we can’t secretly throw away precious food either……”

The chef, trailing off, said with a pitiful expression like a rain-soaked cat.

“I’m sorry, but could you take care of it, Deborah?”

“I think I’ll get caught right away……”

“Ah, I’m not asking you to keep it a complete secret. I just hope you’ll handle it as quietly as possible.”

At the chef’s earnest request, Deborah reluctantly took the bread basket and went outside the mansion.

Fortunately, she didn’t encounter anyone, but she was worried about what to do with it.

‘I can’t sell it either……’

Just then, there was a commotion in the alley.

Peeking over, she saw small children sniffling at the back door of another mansion, and a maid standing with her hand on her forehead.

“Why do you only come to our mansion and make a fuss? Think we’re easy?”

“Th-that’s not it.”

“Enough. We have nothing to give you, so try knocking on the door of an even grander mansion! If you dare, that is!”

The maid who had shouted angrily closed the door, and the children froze like rocks. The sound of sniffling echoed in the alley.

“Children.”

Deborah called out to the children softly. To the startled children, Deborah showed an awkward smile and waved her hand.

The children looked around cautiously before gathering the courage to approach Deborah. To those children, Deborah showed the bread basket and said.

“This is leftover bread from the mansion. Would you like to take it? It’s still good to eat.”

“Is, is that okay?”

The children asked in surprise. Deborah nodded and said.

“Yes. And if it’s alright, could you come by here at this time occasionally? I might not be able to give you something every day, but I think I could sometimes.”

“Thank you! You’re an angel, miss!”

The smallest child among them said with a tear-stained face and a smile. Deborah stroked the child’s head and shook her head.

“No. I’m just an ordinary person not much different from that person just now.”

The children looked at her with eyes that couldn’t understand what Deborah meant.

Deborah looked at the children’s faces lovingly and said.

“It’s just that God loves you and used me, that’s all.”

With that, Deborah handed over all the bread to the children. The children ran off, looking back at Deborah several times.

Deborah waved her hand until the children disappeared from sight.

“Phew.”

Deborah stretched and was about to return to the mansion. But then she felt a presence from the opposite corner.

Deborah recalled the cat she had met before. It was a small, thin, pretty cat with golden eyes.

“Kitty?”

Deborah smiled brightly and poked her head around the corner.

But instead of a small cat, there was a boy larger than that, standing with a startled face.

“Y-you scared me!”

The boy shouted, covering his reddened face with his arm. Deborah’s surprised eyes soon softened into a gentle smile.

“It’s been a while! Have you been well? How are your wounds? Are they all healed?”

Deborah asked happily, as if meeting a friend after a long time.

At her smile as radiant as sunlight, the boy’s scrunched face slowly relaxed.

The boy felt pain somewhere inside his body. As if he had bumped into something hard.

At that time, the boy didn’t understand at all why his body hurt like this, but years later, he came to know exactly why he had felt that way then.

It was love.

That feeling of his whole body tingling and aching was love.