Ermedillin decided to discard the prepared speech.
She carefully stepped down from the stage and knelt in front of the children.
Then, locking eyes with each one, she said,
“You’re not alone. I will never let you be.”
At Ermedillin’s words, the younger children cheerfully answered, “Yes!” while the older ones nodded and shed quiet tears.
Finally, it was time to dig.
The children seemed delighted to be part of such an event, their steps filled with enthusiasm.
Some even moved their arms and legs in tandem; seeing this, Ermedillin broke into a small smile.
Children with shovels stood in turns on the orphanage grounds.
They gripped their shovels tightly, following a chant.
And then, from a nearby bush, came a horrifying scream unlike anything of this world.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Meanwhile, at a different location, around the same time.
Valierre was quietly sipping tea at a coffee house near the orphanage.
Having become a countess, she contemplated going to a highend salon but chose this coffee house to get news of the orphanage groundbreaking ceremony first.
Her face was glowing, not just because she had become a countess but also because she was expecting news she had long waited for.
Although time felt excruciatingly slow, she decided to enjoy the moment.
The electrifying moment when her victory was confirmed.
“Countess! There’s big trouble!!”
As expected, an extremely excited maid screamed as she rushed towards her.
“What’s this ruckus? Can’t you move calmly?”
Though she was scolding with her mouth, a slow smile began to spread across her lips.
“Well, well! At the orphanage ceremony…… huff…… pant……”
The maid, who had run over in such a rush, couldn’t even complete her sentence as she caught her breath.
But Velia, in an exceptionally good mood, decided not to scold the maid.
“That…… there’s a ceremony or something…… The Count…… Her Majesty the Queen’s father, I mean……”
“Count Fransuar?”
“Yes! The Count is dead!! And in a terribly gruesome way!!”
“What?”
At that moment, the teacup hanging from Velia’s fingertip weakly dropped, leaving a dark stain on her lavish gown.
‘What?’
The screams were so desperate and pitiful that they raised goosebumps on the arms of everyone attending the ceremony.
Looking toward the sound, a man emerged from the bushes, endlessly vomiting blood.
Though his appearance was otherwise neat, his entire body was covered in mud as if he had been overturned in a heap of soil.
“Aaaaaah! This can’t be! It can’t!”
The man barely managed to pull his collapsing body in a certain direction.
Towards his daughter Ermedillin, who was visible nearby.
“What’s going on……”
Recognizing Count Fransuar, Ermedillin immediately turned her head to look at Pellio.
Pellio simply stared at Count Fransuar, his expression unchanged despite the terrible sight.
“You, you dare……”
The Count tried to say something more, but a cruel curse soon rotted his lungs and vocal cords, and he quickly collapsed into a heap of dark ashes.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!!!”
At the Count’s fall, the orphaned children and the surrounding crowd, who had been frozen for a few seconds, began to scatter in all directions, screaming.
Of course, Angri and Ermedillin also evacuated in case of any accidents.
Initially, Angri had wanted to ask Ermedillin what had happened, but seeing her spacedout expression, he decided not to question her.
As soon as they reached the palace, Angri gave orders to his steward to find out what had happened.
Ermedillin returned to her quarters without a word, her face frozen like a doll.
When she returned to the Queen’s quarters, she saw Pellio waiting.
“Leave.”
“What?”
“Everyone, leave.”
Sensing the unusual tone in Ermedillin’s voice, Runi and Mago immediately exited the room.
“What happened? I assume you knew?”
Ermedillin sank into the nearest chair, not even looking at Pellio, as she asked.
“Yes, I knew.”
“Is that why you confidently suggested performing the ceremony?”
Ermedillin bit her lower lip and gave a hollow laugh.
“I witnessed the Count leaving his blood on the orphanage grounds. To kill him definitively, he himself had to use his blood to cast a curse spell……”
“So you’ve been tracking Count Fransuar’s whereabouts ever since returning to the capital?”
“Yes, ever since we returned to the capital.”
“Did you sprinkle that contaminated soil from the orphanage grounds onto him?”
“Yes. I sprinkled it the moment he activated the curse spell. The orphanage grounds had already been purified as a precaution.”
“Ha.”
Another hollow laugh escaped Ermedillin’s lips.
She had always known she would have to deal with Count Fransuar at some point, but not like this.
She didn’t want to do it through someone else’s hands.
Especially not through the hands of Pellio, who was certainly averse to such actions, both practically and morally.
“Thanks to you, a great disaster has been avoided, for which I am grateful.”
“It’s nothing. I simply did what had to be done.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me in advance? Why did you proceed with this behind my back?”
“…….”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
