IBDEML 21

 Chapter 21

“That child. How much is that child?”

Watson checked Medina and spoke politely.

“That child is from Class 1. She is not a child who is sold.”

As if telling them not to covet her, Watson’s eyes turned sharp.

The temperature difference in her treatment of Class 3 and Class 1 made Viscount Phillips gasp softly.

“What if I follow the proper procedure and adopt her?”

“I am sorry, but you do not meet the adoption conditions, my lord.”

“…….”

It was a polite but very direct statement.

Viscount Phillips’ aura became sharp, but Watson did not step back.

Class 1 and Class 2 children must be sent to carefully selected good adoptive homes.

That was Watson’s pride, and at the same time, it was necessary for the survival of Sunflower Orphanage.

“Dear.”

As the confrontation continued, Viscountess Phillips pulled his arm.

It was a sign not to cause trouble.

Viscount Phillips frowned, then looked at Medina with lingering regret, and even moved his gaze to the two boys beside her.

After seeing their faces, Viscount Phillips’ eyebrows twitched slightly.

“May I ask the name of that black-haired boy?”

“…….”

Watson stayed silent, remaining alert.

“I am not trying to adopt him. I just feel like I have seen him somewhere……”

“I am sorry, but I cannot tell you. Such information is only given to people who are scheduled for adoption.”

Even when Viscount Phillips’ face twisted in anger, Watson’s attitude remained firm.

“Where did I see Chester before?”

Chester had lost all memories except his own name when he first came to Sunflower Orphanage.

Because of that, Watson also did not know his past.

‘Are they trying to trick me? To lower the price?’

Having seen many people try to reduce the price by saying meaningless things, she did not think deeply about it.

Instead, she tried to send Viscount Phillips’ couple away quickly.

Finally, Viscount Phillips spoke in dissatisfaction.

“……I will come again later.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Although she said that, Watson made a decision inwardly.

From today, Viscount Phillips’ couple would be banned from entering Sunflower Orphanage.

The man’s gaze was simply too unusual.

She also felt uneasy about him paying special attention to Medina.

Meanwhile, after leaving the orphanage, Viscountess Phillips looked up at her husband.

“Why are you like that? The child named Lopez we saw earlier is also of very high grade.”

“Don’t you understand? That little brat’s appearance is very similar to the daughter the Emperor is searching for.”

Only then did Viscountess Phillips let out a small exclamation.

“……Ah, now that you mention it.”

Sunflower Orphanage was located in a very remote place.

Especially because they did not welcome outsiders, rumors from outside rarely reached there.

But people in the capital knew.

The current Emperor had a daughter who was born when he was still a crown prince, and he was desperately searching for his lost daughter.

Because of that, the Emperor spared no support for orphanages within the empire.

Hoping that his daughter might be somewhere among them.

If she really existed, he wanted her to live comfortably until he could find her with that support.

“We can make a big profit using this.”

The Emperor publicly promised an enormous reward to anyone who found his daughter.

So they had no intention of telling others.

No, rather, they had to catch the opportunity first.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the little girl was truly the Emperor’s daughter……

If she was not, they could simply sell her at a high price.

That girl was as high-grade as Lopez, perhaps even higher.

‘If there is even a one in ten thousand chance that she is the real daughter, the Emperor will owe me a great favor.’

Viscount Phillips, dreaming of a higher position, raised the corner of his lips.

“But the orphanage director won’t hand her over.”

“We have to bring her secretly.”

His eyes swayed with greed.

Kidnapping a child was not a difficult matter.

“So why did you ask about the black-haired child’s name earlier?”

“Didn’t he look similar?”

“Similar to who?”

“To Duke Ortega.”

At that moment, Viscountess Phillips’ eyes widened.

It was only for a moment, but now that she thought about it, it was indeed very similar to Duke Ortega’s childhood.

“I heard he lost a child……!”

“It must be the Duchess of Ortega’s scheme anyway. If that child is really Chester Ortega, the son of Duke Ortega, then the Duchess’s face will be worth seeing.”

“What will you do?”

“First, find out how he ended up here. And if it is true…… sell the information.”

Viscount Phillips could not hide his greed while looking at Sunflower Orphanage, where gold and jewels seemed to be hidden.

Klein and Chester came looking for me.

Without Medina too. I wondered why.

The two of them stood in front of me with a terrifying momentum and asked quickly.

“Hey, are you going to be adopted?”

“Are you going to be adopted?”

Then Arden quietly grabbed the hem of my sleeve from behind.

He had been staying beside me since that night after returning to the dormitory, afraid that I would escape alone.

If Bill had followed noisily, Arden stayed quietly close to me.

Klein and Chester’s dissatisfied faces turned toward Arden, so I quickly shook my head.

“No, I’m not going.”

“Then why are there rumors like that……”

“It’s just rumors.”

Seeing the two of them who seemed mentally complicated, I politely asked.

“Now that you’ve checked, can you go back to your class?”

Klein shouted in a disappointed voice.

“What! Are you dividing 1st Class and 3rd Class?”

It’s not me who is dividing them.

More importantly, that’s not why this is happening.

“It’s class time.”

Behind me, the grim reaper seemed to be coming, but can’t you see him, kids?

“Klein, Chester!”

Carrington’s angry voice made Chester and Klein flinch at the same time.

“You should come during break time.”

You should attend class during class time.

I waved my hand to them, meaning they should go now.

Tears gathered slightly at the corners of the eyes of the two being pulled by the ears.

“Teacher, please pull them gently. It hurts……”

At my request, Carrington said coldly with a stiff face.

“You shouldn’t interfere with what the teacher is doing, Lopez.”

Chester and Klein looked at me with complicated faces while being dragged away by Carrington.

That evening.

Click.

After Watson left the director’s office and disappeared down the corridor, I quietly moved my hidden body.

Since Viscount Phillips’ couple had come, it meant that they would come too.

To properly welcome them, I had to prepare too.

Standing in front of the director’s office, I groped the floor.

‘It was definitely where I hid the key in ……’

Found it!

Lifting a particularly shaky floor tile revealed a hidden key.

It was the emergency key to the director’s office.

I checked my surroundings and used the key to unlock the tightly locked door and infiltrated the director’s office.

‘I have to find the ledger!’

I planned to obtain money illegally earned by the director to fund my way back to my world.

‘I roughly know the road now, so I just need money.’

Actually, it was Megan who found the ledger in .

Megan stepped forward because she could not bear seeing children treated like objects by Watson.

‘Since things have turned out like this, I should find the ledger and give it to Megan too.’

She will use it more efficiently than me.

‘The safe should be around here……’

Recalling the story from the original work, I pressed the book titled Child Psychology.

Then the bookshelf opened, revealing a safe.

I focused on the outside sound, checking whether someone was coming, and entered the password.

This was the number that Megan accidentally learned in the original story.

‘0827’

The interesting thing was that the password was Watson’s own birthday.

Judging from it, she must have set it believing this place would not be discovered.

Beep.

Click.

The password matched and the safe opened.

Inside were quite a lot of expensive jewels.

I looked at the jewels carefully.

Then I took out a thick book carefully stored at the bottom of the safe and opened it.

There were records of the money’s source, people involved in corruption, and all of the director’s past activities written densely inside.

‘From evidence of embezzled support funds…… there are so many.’

It was more impressive that it had not been discovered until now.

‘With this, the director will never be involved with children again.’

I took the ledger and several jewels, then closed the safe.

‘I can’t carry everything at once. I should slowly move them out whenever I have time.’

Just as I finished my business and was about to restore the scattered items to their original places,

“Tsck. Didn’t I tell you not to accept Viscount Phillips’ couple!”

“I have rejected them several times, but they keep requesting visits.”

“Threaten to put them on the blacklist.”

Carrington and Watson’s voices rang loudly from the corridor.