The thought that this child might be the one I was looking for flashed through my mind, but it was only for a moment.

I couldn’t remember exactly what Ted’s younger sibling’s face looked like in the original story, but there was one clear fact.

‘The reunion scene between Ted and his sibling was moving. Ted’s sibling had been waiting for him all along. It means they knew they had an older brother.’

Ted, a poor little boy, loses all his family and is left alone with his younger sibling. He leaves his sibling on the street for a moment to find food.

It was his mistake.

Ted’s sibling got lost and disappeared into the crowd.

‘Still, blue eyes are not that common…’

While I was thinking, the child stopped walking. I hesitated for a moment at the debris of stones scattered in front of me.

“We’re here, this is it.”

I raised my gaze to look at the orphanage in front of me. It was by far the most dilapidated and cramped ruin in this street.

“…What a frightening place.”

As the maid sisters had said, the orphanage was terrifying enough to make my legs tremble just by looking at it.

The large, half-collapsed stone building was little more than debris that could barely shelter from rain.

I struggled to open my mouth and asked.

“Are there… still children living in this orphanage?”

“…It’s closed down. The children have scattered.”

“Ah…”

“The person you’re looking for is a child, I suppose.”

“Yeah, a baby!”

At this point, everything was back to square one.

The boy who had been looking at me gripped his basket tightly and whispered softly.

“…I see.”

Seeing the boy who somehow looked lonely, I felt sorry for him.

I know well from similar experiences, but at times like this, it’s best to fill them with sugar instead of hasty comfort.

“Do you want to eat this?”

I took out a few candies from my pocket and held them out. The boy’s eyes widened, and he smiled refreshingly as if disarming his wariness.

“Th-thank you.”

The child, who was eagerly crunching the candy with his exceptionally white teeth on his dark face, looked happy for the first time today. As if feeling the need to say something in the quiet atmosphere, the child carefully spoke to the maid sisters.

“Um… When you were telling off those thugs earlier, it was really cool.”

“It was nothing.”

While saying it was nothing, I looked at the maid sisters whose shoulders had risen a notch, and then at the boy.

Somehow, my heart ached.

A child abandoned by his family, living alone in these ruins.

Anyone who saw such a child would want to lend a helping hand.

So I should help a little more.

After all, it’s not like I’ll lose anything by helping.

“Sister.”

“Yes, Lady Sien.”

I narrowed my eyes and said.

“Can’t we take this baby with us?”

Maybe it could help in finding the knight’s sibling who had lived in the orphanage.

“What?”

The boy’s eyes rounded.

I looked at him, who was like a puppy, and smiled slightly.

“Aren’t you lonely by yourself?”

“…Pardon?”

At the mention of loneliness, the boy’s eyes wavered like a ship hit by a storm.

As I stared into his eyes, I thought that this boy must have been fighting loneliness for a long time.

Smiling playfully for no reason, I blurted out the next words.

“Well, I mean, weren’t you bored?”

“W-well… I was f-fine.”

“Come with me!”

This child who lived in the orphanage might be able to provide clues about the knight’s sibling.

‘If this child wants, I could even get him a job as a young servant in the Mirmode family.’

I smiled at the child.

A nameless little child who had lived alone in the orphanage.

“Yes. I-if I can be of he-help.”

He put his hands behind his back and blinked. The corners of his mouth were vaguely turned up, as if slightly happy.

But there was a slight discrepancy in his words. I shook my head firmly towards him.

“It’s okay if you can’t help!”

“…Pardon? But…”

“Children should always be happy!”

“Happy…”

The child nodded, lowering his head as if smiling was awkward for him.

Then he carefully approached me.

As he moved, there was a thud as the basket hit his leg.

“I’ll give you lots of yummy things!”

With those final words, I saw the boy’s bright-toothed smile.

And so we cheerfully headed towards the front of Pelrod Street. We were able to comfortably exit the street because the maid sisters had taken care of the thugs.

‘The time I promised to meet with the knight is approaching.’

Before the hunting competition ended, he and I had promised to meet ‘tomorrow at 3 PM, in front of Pelrod Street.’

And now it was 2:50 PM.

A maid who was looking at the distant street narrowed her eyes and spoke.

“Could that person riding the horse be the knight?”

“The knight…”

The boy muttered in a trembling voice. I looked up at him and carefully asked.

“Why? Do you know him?”

“Yes. They’re… great people. I… wanted to become a knight too.”

Most children in the slums would dream of escaping the slums.

It was an unusual dream for a slum child, but I didn’t question it further and just nodded.

“I hope you can become one.”

As I finished speaking, Ted’s horse stopped right in front of the street.

He threw off his helmet and approached me. Strangely, his expression looked urgent.

It was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t find his sibling right away, but it couldn’t be helped.

I looked up at him with my head held high and asked brightly.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find them yet. Let’s go look quickly!”

“…Lady Sien Mirmode.”

“Hm?”

I glanced at him carelessly and was startled.

His eyes were bloodshot.

And the beautiful knight’s gaze was fixed on the boy beside me.

“…Who are you?”

The boy looked at him with an icy cold face before stopping next to me.

“I don’t have a family.”

I couldn’t understand what was going on.

In the precarious atmosphere that felt like standing on the edge of a knife, I kept rolling my eyes trying to grasp the situation.

It had been a long time since the brothers had reunited, but they couldn’t fight in front of Pelrod Street.

We left Pelrod Street and headed to the next block over.

I hurriedly used ten of my spare bib handkerchiefs that the maid sisters were carrying to wipe the child’s face and body.

It’s not really a waste.

Because that’s not what’s important right now!

Instead of a touching brotherly reunion, Ted and Ted’s brother were now arguing with raised voices.

“I’m sorry, listen. I didn’t abandon you.”

“…No, you did. That person abandoned me.”

The boy’s face was filled with anger and hatred.

“I… I kept looking for you.”

“Liar. I remember everything, how you left me in that filthy street.”

Ted’s pain-filled gaze turned to the boy’s shrunken left hand.

He sighed deeply, rubbing his face. The boy looked at him and asked in a voice filled with hatred.

“But you… became a knight.”

“Back then, we were too poor… I couldn’t find you. I’m sorry, Acid.”

The boy’s hate-filled eyes looked at Ted in front of him.

“Don’t call me Acid. I don’t have such a name.”

It seemed there had been a misunderstanding between the brothers, but since the novel didn’t go into detail about an extra character’s family history, I felt at a loss.

‘I thought they would hit it off right away when I brought them together.’

I held my forehead as I watched their conversation revolving around me.

I, not being the holy protagonist Melodia, didn’t have the ability to bridge the deep emotional gap between the two brothers.

“What should I do?”

As I watched the small boy who kept trying to hide behind me, I sighed deeply and searched my pocket. Sweet chocolate came out of my pocket.

“Here, chocolate.”

“Th-thank you.”

Like a puppy recognizing a stranger as its mother, the boy kept leaning towards me.

Seeing the boy who clearly seemed to be wary of him, Ted’s face contorted as if about to cry.

He looked so pained that I carefully asked.

“…Ted, did you abandon your brother?”

“Absolutely not. I’ve been looking for him all along. On purpose… to find you, I kept… staying here. I couldn’t go anywhere else, I just kept…”

Seeing his desperate gaze, I nodded.

Having read the novel, I could understand how much Ted cherished and loved his brother.

But the boy didn’t seem to know.

This was definitely a scene that wasn’t in the original. In the original, Ted’s brother found his family thanks to the saint and was happy. He was always joyful, saying it was happiness found by the saint…

‘There’s a misunderstanding now.’

At this moment, the boy was trembling.

If I left him in Ted’s hands, this boy would be frightened and wary all the time.

It might hurt him even more than being in the orphanage.

Although I usually don’t interfere in family matters, considering their personality differences, they needed time.

I took a deep breath and said.

“Listen, both of you. I’ll give you an alternative.”

At my words, their confused gazes fixed on me.

I sighed deeply and thought.

“Baby, do you want to live with me? Just for a while.”

“What do you−”

“Ted, don’t you think it’s better to give Aci− I mean, your brother some time to think?”

Even as I spoke, I wasn’t very confident.

Would this child choose me, whom he just met today, or his only family that he had lost?

“I…”

Acid swallowed hard once.

I, feeling tense along with him, unnecessarily licked my lips once.

His gaze looked at Ted and me in turn.

I held the boy’s hand tightly and got into the carriage.

What had happened earlier flashed through my mind like a brief panorama.

The boy had chosen me over Ted.

And he had snapped at Ted not to call him by his name.

The child, hurt by his family, had closed his heart so tightly that he would follow a stranger rather than his own brother.

Ted surprisingly gave up on reclaiming his brother easily.

He just looked at me with a gaze half ambiguous and half full of trust, saying only, ‘Please take care of him.’

Rather, it was I who became impatient and asked him.

‘Ted.’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you really not regret it?’

To my question, Ted seriously said.

‘…Please take good care of my brother. If you do that, I am yours.’

I nodded and answered.

‘I’ll love your brother very much. This isn’t because I want to make you my ally.’

But I couldn’t wait for long.

I didn’t have much time. I had a clear deadline of one month. Unless there was a way to delay Axel’s arrival, that is.

‘Still, Ted, come to me within 2 weeks.’

At my words, he gave a subtle smile and bowed his head deeply.

‘…I’ll think about it and keep it in mind. One thing I can promise−’

‘Yes?’

‘Is that I will never forget what happened today.’