BRRC CH 50

Chapter 50 – The Child Who Knows Too Much

Summer in the North was short but intense.

Under the blinding sunlight, Sharon Abner was sorting through paperwork when she suddenly set down her quill.

From the half-open window came the sound of young, chirping voices.

“Mika, when are we going back to Evehill?”

The voice had become familiar over the past few weeks.

The children from the orphanage again, Sharon thought.

And judging by the tone, it was probably Lulu—the youngest among them.

Sure enough, another girl’s voice answered.

“I don’t know. Miss Anne said we should wait.”

“But how long do we have to wait? We’ve been here for ten nights—and even ten more nights after that!”

“Dummy! This place is way bigger and prettier! We should be happy we can stay longer!”

“But I just…”

“…”

“I just thought… maybe we can’t meet our mom and dad here…”

Sharon’s eyes narrowed slightly as she listened.

The sound of crickets filled the silence that followed.

“…You’re right, huh?”

“See? This isn’t where we wait for our parents. Karien said this is Lia’s… uh… house of ‘who-guards’? Or something like that.”

Sharon quietly moved closer to the window, the voices becoming clearer.

“But a ‘who-guard’ isn’t family! Karien said Lia doesn’t have parents yet.”

That reminded Sharon of something similar she’d overheard before—when the children had asked Annelia who her mother was.

“I don’t have a mom yet,” the little girl had answered.

A faint frown formed on Sharon’s face.

Outside, the conversation went on.

“I didn’t know that… but you made me remember something, Lulu.”

“What?”

“Bruno said that we’re waiting for our moms and dads here now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! So we can find them here, too!”

“Wow, really?!”

Sharon’s gaze drifted back to her desk.

The documents she had been reviewing were actually lists of possible adoptive families for the Evehill children.

She had promised Miss Anne that if Anne would work as the mansion’s nanny, Sharon would personally find families for all the orphans.

“Yay! Then it’s Ansinia!”

The word “安心이야” (I feel safe) came out clumsy and incomplete but was full of innocence.

“So that’s why we’re not going back! That’s great! We can eat yummy food and still wait for our parents here!”

“Right, right. Now go away; I’m picking pretty stones.”

“Let me help pick too!”

For a while, only the faint sound of bugs filled the air again.

Then Lulu spoke once more.

“Mika, I have another question.”

“…Again? What now?”

“Then is Lia waiting for her mom and dad here too? Like us?”

Sharon’s attention sharpened again.

“Hey! Lulu, don’t say that in front of Lia.”

“Why not?”

Mika lowered her voice.

“Because Lia can’t get adopted anymore.”

“What? Why not?”

“She’s already here. Once you come here, you stay until you’re grown up.”

“What…?”

Lulu gasped softly.

Then she whispered, almost afraid to ask,

“She’ll grow up… without a mom or dad?”

“Yeah.”

“You can… become an adult even without parents?”

“Oh, come on!”

Finally, Mika shouted, her patience gone.

Lulu squeaked and ran off.

It would’ve been a cute scene to most, but Sharon didn’t smile. She stood still by the window.

From outside came Mika’s muttering voice.

“Lia’s such a dummy. If she weren’t so smart, she could’ve had parents by now.”

There was a dull clack—Mika had picked up a pebble and thrown it at the wall.

“She’s too smart. That’s why she gets ‘who-guards’ instead of parents.”

Who knew where she’d heard it, but in her childish way she’d come to her own conclusion:

Annelia was too clever to be adopted. She got a guardian instead of a mom and dad.

“Ugh, she’s so stupid. Smart, but stupid. Super stupid.”

Sharon stayed frozen until Mika’s footsteps finally faded.

***

“Done studying for today!”

Annelia closed a thick book with a loud thud.

Arwyn smiled warmly. “Good work today, Lia.”

“Yup! I did great, didn’t I?”

She stretched her small arms high, then jumped off the chair with boundless energy.

Arwyn quickly followed.

“How do you even read all that?”

The book she’d been studying was written mostly in ancient script that even scholars struggled to understand.

“My brother said even famous academics can’t read that one easily.”

“You just do it!”

“‘Just do it?’”

“Uh-huh. You read about nineteen hours a day for, um…”

Annelia tilted her head, thinking hard.

“…maybe ten years? You can’t miss a day; you have to be consistent…”

Then she suddenly clamped her mouth shut and looked at Arwyn with a guilty expression.

“…But I’m super smart!”

A bright, shameless smile spread across her face.

“So I can read just a teeny-tiny bit!”

“I see.”

“Yup!”

Arwyn nodded.

And then it hit him.

Lia really is a genius.

Even seasoned scholars struggled with those texts—but she could already read some of it, and she had just turned five.

And then there was her medicine.

She’s the one who made Lubarina and Lubawen.

Arwyn still remembered how shocked he’d been when he first heard.

A little while ago, Lia had been gravely injured.

She’d needed the Florentia flower, a rare herb used to prevent infection from deep wounds.

But it was almost impossible to get.

I was so worried back then…

But it turned out all that worry was useless.

Because the ridiculously smart Lia had created her own medicine—by herself.

***

“Told you she’s amazing.”

His older brother had said that proudly, shaking his head in disbelief.

Arwyn had been stunned.

When I first heard she was my brother’s benefactor, I didn’t believe it.

He had even been suspicious.

Because Arwyn had been sick for a long time.

My brother became a researcher at the Abner estate and used their funding to finish my medicine.

It sounded like a fairy tale.

He hadn’t just been sick—he had been dying.

When their parents passed away and his brother left to find a cure, Arwyn thought that was the last time he’d ever see him.

He still thinks I’m a kid, but I understood everything.

Patients always grow up faster.

But then—

“Arwyn! What are you doing? Let’s go!”

“Ah—coming!”

Arwyn immediately followed Annelia, his thoughts breaking apart.

Come to think of it, when he’d first come to the mansion, it had been the same.

He’d seen the “benefactor” from his brother’s letter—

That little girl?

She was supposed to be four years old, but she was tiny, with soft baby-fuzz cheeks and messy silver hair that shimmered like moonlight.

I can’t believe it. That little thing?

How could a child like that possibly make his brother into an Abner researcher?

At first, Arwyn thought his brother must’ve been lying.

But his brother never lied—especially not to him.

Maybe it’s a trap?

What if Duke Abner had forced him into some sort of contract?
What if the little girl were just a distraction to lower their guard?

So Arwyn had decided to play along, smiling sweetly.

***

“Nice to meet you. I’m Arwyn.”
“My brother told me you’re my benefactor.”
“I hope we can be friends, Annelia.”

He knew he was handsome.

And he knew his bright smile usually worked on people.

Most adults melted when he grinned.

But Annelia—

“Arwyn, is your face a weapon?”

“…What?”

“Be honest, you smiled like that so Mrs. Marenes would give you extra cookies, didn’t you? Right?”

She saw right through him! Instantly!

And that wasn’t even the best part.

“I like you, Arwyn.”

“You… like me?”

“Uh-huh! Because you’re smart and good at social skills! You’re going to be great when you grow up!”

She was being friendly—but somehow, he always ended up feeling like he was the one being handled.

Why do I feel like I’m being outsmarted by a five-year-old?