IBDEML 23

  Chapter 23

Lopez, who was wrongly hit by the stray fist, flew through the air and felt depressed.

‘The timing was terrible.’

It was fortunate that she took the hit instead of the two children, but it was not intentional.

‘What were they doing standing right in front of him?’

Lopez looked at the three children who were crying while watching her fall and sighed with pity.

‘This is clearly a childcare story, but aren’t the children getting hurt too much?’

“Hey, Lopez!”

“Lopez…!”

At that moment, Lopez saw the two people running toward her and suddenly stood up, not wanting to be supported.

Then Klein and Chester who were running were startled.

‘Ah, I feel dizzy because I suddenly stood up…’

Her head was ringing and her cheek hurt too much.

“Hic… Lo, Lopez…”

Seeing Medina crying, Lopez ignored the pain for a moment and picked up the bat she had dropped.

Seeing Lopez sway, Chester snatched the bat from her and shouted sharply.

“What are you doing in such a dangerous way!”

“I called Teacher Carrington!”

Lopez ignored Chester’s words and shouted at the man.

Although the bat was taken by Chester, she still had something left.

Thinking quickly, Lopez pushed Klein and Chester aside and ran forward.

As she expected, the masked kidnapper thought that a child’s body attack would not be a problem, so he stood still.

Then Lopez bit the man’s leg with all her strength.

Crunch!

“Ah! You little brat!”

Lopez tightened her teeth and frowned hard.

‘I knew it.’

She knew Carrington would be late.

The man tried to pull Lopez away quickly, but she immediately pinched the inner side of his thigh hard.

“Aaagh!”

Perhaps because she twisted it hard enough to leave a bruise, the man finally let go of Medina.

Lopez still clung to his leg and shouted toward the children.

“What are you doing! Take Medina and run!”

If they could just hold him until Carrington arrived…

Klein bit his lips while tightly holding the desperate Lopez.

“I can’t leave you behind!”

“I can hold on until the teacher comes…!”

But before Lopez could say anything, Chester suddenly approached from behind and hugged her tightly.

“I won’t leave you alone.”

Then he ran while carrying Lopez.

Watching the situation, Klein paused for a moment, then grabbed Medina’s arm, who was swaying.

“Medina, hurry!”

“Hic, y-yes!”

“You guys, stop there!”

“Hey Klein, Chester. Sorry, but can you call Teacher Carrington loudly?”

Because I am already disliked by the teacher.

Lopez added sadly.

Klein, looking at her pitifully, shouted loudly.

“Teacher Carrington!!”

“Klein?”

“Over here!”

Carrington immediately reacted and ran toward the voice.

As soon as the kidnapper saw someone who looked like a guardian, he ran away.

Carrington ran again to catch him, and the four children headed straight to the orphanage.

Lopez, who was quietly carried in Chester’s arms, called him when they were almost at the orphanage because she could not bear it anymore.

“…Wait, Chester. Wait a moment.”

Hearing her call, Chester stopped and put Lopez down.

Then, after checking her face, he trembled slightly.

“Lopez, you….”

Blood was flowing from Lopez’s philtrum.

Startled, Chester hurriedly covered Lopez’s nose with his hand.

But Lopez rejected it and pushed Chester away.

“I feel dizzy.”

Klein grabbed Lopez’s arm and pulled her toward him.

“Hey, lean on me.”

No, that’s not the problem right now, kids.

“Medina also collapsed.”

She gestured for them to quickly take Medina, who had already fallen to the ground, back.

“I can walk alone.”

“I will support you.”

At that moment, Arden suddenly appeared beside her and lightly supported Lopez.

“Arden?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Looking at Lopez who was badly injured, Arden muttered softly,

“You told me not to hurt myself… But is it okay for you to get hurt by others?”

Biting his lips as if he was upset, Arden looked down at his hands.

The ugly-looking wounds were healing.

Thanks to someone.

But that someone now appeared badly injured in front of him.

“Absolutely not… That was because I tried to avoid that.”

Arden tightly held Lopez’s swaying hand and moved his lips, but in the end he closed them without saying anything.

He didn’t know what words could properly express this feeling.

Then Lopez carefully asked Arden.

“Can I lean on you for a moment?”

“Yes. I will take you there safely.”

When the warm voice and warmth were felt, Lopez unconsciously leaned heavily on Arden and fainted.

Arden lightly lifted Lopez who fainted in his arms.

The thin and emaciated Arden was stronger than expected.

Klein and Chester, watching Lopez with worried eyes, glanced at him with very displeased expressions.

‘She wouldn’t lean on me…’

The two children had complicated feelings while supporting Medina, but they could not erase Lopez from their minds.

Lopez was not only bleeding from her nose but also from her head.

Her cheek was swollen, so among the four children, she was the most seriously injured.

She seemed to keep getting hurt because of things related to them, which made them even more concerned.

‘…Wait. Why do I keep worrying about her? I like Medina.’

The two children quietly denied the rising question.

But their eyes still followed Lopez.

Lopez’s long eyelashes trembled, and after a while, her eyelids lifted.

Blinking a few times, Lopez turned her head and met Arden’s eyes.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

Arden followed her words and carefully grabbed her sleeve.

Then, when Lopez tried to stand up, he quickly supported her.

Only after leaning against the bedhead did she notice the children surrounding her.

Gale awkwardly gave Lopez an unnecessary excuse.

“They didn’t listen even when I told them to go back.”

“Is Medina okay?”

Gale looked proudly at Lopez, who asked about Medina before her own condition.

“Medina is fine except for being shocked. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, but I think my face feels a bit heavy.”

When Lopez tried to touch her own face, Klein and Chester suddenly stood up and blocked her hand.

“Don’t touch it!”

“You applied medicine, so it’s not allowed.”

Arden, who was suddenly pushed aside after staying still, frowned.

“Then where is Medina?”

“She is sleeping on the bed next to you.”

Ah.

Lopez quietly placed her index finger between her lips, signaling the children to be quiet.

Shh.

Seeing that, the three children flinched.

They found Lopez’s action quite cute.

Each of them turned their heads to hide their expressions.

“I want to see a mirror.”

“…Wouldn’t it be better not to look?”

Gale carefully suggested, but Lopez ignored him and stretched out both hands asking for a mirror.

She was so stubborn that she looked like she would get up from the bed immediately if they didn’t give it to her.

“Hey, why a mirror! You, you, you look like a, a, a hu, human mess! R-right?”

Following Klein, who was stuttering seriously, Chester also nodded.

It seemed she really did not look like a human.

“I think I should see it.”

Facing Lopez’s firm attitude, Gale reluctantly handed her a small mirror.

Her face reflected in the small mirror had one cheek so swollen that her eye was almost buried.

After checking her face, Lopez said only one line.

“My face grew another one.”

“Pfft!”

Gale and the three children crouched, trying to hold back laughter.

Regardless of the reactions around her, Lopez was still focused on looking at her face.

It seemed she was hit hard.

Her hand was also bandaged.

“You probably hurt your hand when you fell. Don’t use it for a while.”

“…It’s my right hand.”

Telling a right-handed person not to use the right hand was like telling them not to eat.

Gale comforted the stunned Lopez.

“The teacher will help you, so don’t worry.”

“What happened to the kidnapper?”

“We decided to strengthen the guards.”

Gale spoke cautiously.

They had not caught the kidnapper, but the director already knew who the culprit was.

And she was away meeting the Viscount Phillips couple.

But there was no need to tell all of this to the children.