“Ivanno? What kind of friend is he?”

Mia heard the name of a friend who happened to come today to learn the violin from Nia.

“Yeah. Just an ordinary friend. Nia, you’re not ordinary. So, learn a lot.”

“……. ”

Upon this, Mia’s eyebrows twisted oddly.

It was because memories of noble children she met when adopted by the viscount came to her mind.

Back then, she genuinely considered them friends, but due to their jealousy, she ended up sitting on the streets, so she had deep-seated mistrust.

However, if the child Nia introduced with such a smile was friendly, wouldn’t it be okay?

‘Nia, who knows nothing about nobility, must be learning a lot from this friend. He seems quite reasonable and well-behaved.’

Mia, who had suspicions about Lucia before, tried to think positively for now.

At that moment,

“Marquis, the young lady of the Verna Marquis family has arrived downstairs.”

“Oh, really. Please come down.”

While the children were talking, Herbert, who had been quietly reading the imperial newspaper, straightened his stiff waist.

They descended to the reception room.
Following behind Herbert, Mia felt a bit nervous when the door of the reception room opened.

Upon reflection, she realized that it was the first time since then that she had to deal with noble children.

Unconsciously, Mia examined Nia’s friend with a wary gaze.

An impressive child with flaming red hair met her gaze, appearing somewhat reserved compared to expectations, but holding a large box that seemed like a visit gift.

“Ivanno!”

Nia, upon seeing the child, immediately started running towards him.

However, Ivanno stopped her like an adult, extending his palm and saying, “Nia, not so fast. Shouldn’t you greet the big adult of this mansion first?”

“……Yeah!”

Fortunately, the child was teaching Nia awkwardly, just as Mia expected.

‘It worked out well. I’ve truly found a good friend for Nia.’

Only now, Mia breathed a small sigh of relief and relaxed her guard.

If only it remained at this level, Mia thought that her past dreadful experiences wouldn’t happen to her younger sibling.

But then, at that moment.

“The second of the Verna Marquis family, Ivanno Im.”

The child abruptly presented a somewhat clumsily wrapped gift box.

“Our second one meets your second one, isn’t it right, Nia?”

“Oh, oh yes. Thank you. …But why does it feel so light?”

As Herbert turned the empty box upside down, what fell out were cookie crumbs.

Upon closer inspection, the child’s mouth was covered with cookie crumbs.

“It’s too far here. Ivanno was hungry.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s right….”

There was nothing to say to a child who claimed to have eaten because he was hungry.

Herbert turned his eyes with nowhere to go to the butler and handed him the empty gift box.

Nia, sending a gaze of admiration to Ivanno’s shamelessness, couldn’t help but feel a sense of something going wrong as she watched the situation.

‘What Nia considers ordinary… What on earth is it?!’

After traveling for a couple of hours, they arrived at the Gerachi Marquisate.

Even as they ventured into the deep forest from there, a small village finally came into view in the distance.

However, the strange thing along the way was that, despite the absence of black contamination, there was no trace of crops in the dry fields.

Only crows were gathered, picking at the soil without a single grain of rice.

‘Something’s odd. After the harvest, there should at least be rice husks.’

With such doubts in mind, Lucia arrived at the center of the village where the orphanage was located.

As soon as she descended in front of the large oak tree representing the village, the villagers’ gaze poured upon her as they observed the unfamiliar stranger.

And soon, groups gathered, whispering and murmuring about her.

Although she deliberately arrived unexpectedly, the luxurious carriage seemed to have already become a topic in this small village.

Within those peculiar glances, Lucia, who entered the orphanage building, was a bit surprised.

Already, there was someone standing near the door, waiting to welcome her.
“I am the director of Gerachi Orphanage. Welcome. Are you here to adopt a child?”

“……Ah, yes.”

Lucia didn’t need to pretend. She was recognized exactly as she was, with her purpose understood. The woman, who seemed to conceal her age with excessive makeup, started scanning the foreigner with her eyes. Soon, she revealed a yellowish grin, clearly displaying a greedy gaze as she inspected the jewels adorning Lucia’s body.

That openly greedy look seemed to imagine something as it confirmed the jewels on Lucia’s body.

“Well then, let me escort you to my office. Please follow me.”

Lucia began to lead her down a narrow corridor. The orphanage building in the square had two floors, and it felt like a cramped commercial building, probably due to its proximity to the street. It was a small village, so naturally, the scale would be small, but what differed from expectations was that it appeared quite clean.