Chapter~05
I had a very ordinary-looking face, with common brown hair and brown eyes.
However, perhaps because of the color of my hair and eyes, the atmosphere of my face was completely different from what I saw in the mirror.
Somehow, my eyes seemed a little smaller, and my nose seemed slightly flatter.
At first glance, I wasn’t pretty, but if you were being generous, you could say I looked somewhat cute.
When I returned to the guild, the executives who saw the portrait I was carrying each added a word or two, saying how much it resembled me.
I laughed and asked if that was really so.
Deep down, I felt as though I had finally come to know myself.
But the strange feeling of unease still wouldn’t go away.
So when the Master happened to pass by, I impulsively asked him.
〈Master. I look like I have brown hair to you too, right?〉
〈…….〉
He didn’t even answer.
I couldn’t properly see his expression, but he probably looked utterly dumbfounded.
At the time, embarrassed that I had asked such a strange question, I hurriedly left.
But strangely enough, now I desperately wanted to know what his answer would have been.
—
I found it ridiculous that I had been so distracted by a child casually calling me pretty, yet my cheeks still felt hot, so I impulsively kissed Diana’s soft-looking cheek.
Diana burst into laughter, apparently ticklish.
It was astonishing to see Diana, who was so lovable that not only the famously cold-blooded Duke of Elrad cherished her dearly, but even the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of the Bellus Duchy, the rulers of the duchy, had volunteered to become her godfather and godmother.
The famous young lady who would later receive overprotective affection from her doting older brothers, countless proposals from renowned young nobles, and even a knight’s oath from Jack, one of the Empire’s Three Great Knights, was now lying on this old bed in a shabby orphanage.
Diana pointed with her tiny finger.
What she was pointing at was the necklace hanging around my neck, a bead necklace with a mysterious reddish hue.
I had been wearing it since the day I was abandoned in front of the orphanage.
It was like a talisman, something I had never once taken off.
I had treasured it dearly for a long time, thinking that perhaps it had been left behind by my parents.
Diana pursed her cherry-like lips and stared intently at the bead without even blinking.
For a moment, it seemed as though the mysterious light inside the bead was spinning rapidly.
I suddenly froze and quickly grabbed the necklace in my hand.
A sorrowful voice escaped my lips.
I had discovered a crack running through the necklace.
I had never shown this object to anyone if I could help it, not even the director, because I was afraid someone might take it from me.
I had treasured it as though it were a part of my body, wearing it around my neck so constantly that I sometimes forgot it was even there.
I had no idea when it had become cracked like this.
The necklace had been precious to me because I thought it might be an important keepsake that could one day help me find my parents.
But ten years had passed without anything like that happening.
Although I had worn the necklace all my life, I suddenly felt that it was useless.
Even so, I had no intention of throwing away the only valuable possession I had, so I bitterly tucked the necklace beneath my clothes.
—
While we were eating, Diana tilted her head and stirred the watery soup, which contained almost no solid ingredients, with her spoon.
Trying to avoid the gazes of all the children gathering around us at her innocent words, I hurriedly tore off a piece of hard bread.
Fortunately, Diana didn’t think too deeply about it and simply put the bread I handed her into her mouth.
She wasn’t eating the soft white bread or luxurious food she would normally have eaten, yet seeing her enjoy it so much made me proud.
Especially because her plump white cheeks moved along with every chew, making her incredibly cute.
The way she opened her mouth to accept the food even made her look like a baby bird.
There was just one problem……
The appetite of the small and adorable four-year-old was far greater than I had expected.
Diana stared glumly at the soup bowl that was already empty, then slowly turned her head toward my soup and bread.
Looking into her sparkling eyes, I simply couldn’t bring myself to tell her that there was no more food.
She must have been very hungry, just like yesterday, but I was mentally an adult, so surely I could endure it.
Thinking that, I pushed my bowl toward her.
But I overlooked one important fact.
No matter how adult my mind was, my body was still that of an immature and weak child.
I-I think I’m dying!
It hadn’t even been a few hours since the meal ended, and I was genuinely at the point where I could barely breathe.
I felt like a complete idiot for confidently packing even a water container because I had planned to do laundry and fetch water.
I had never imagined that my stamina would be this poor.
‘Come to think of it, I had a bad feeling from the moment we entered the forest.’
I had barely walked a few steps before I felt myself running out of breath.
I couldn’t even properly sense the mana in my body, so I felt that if I used magic here, I would really collapse.
While my vision spun, Diana, who had far more stamina than me, jumped up and down while pointing toward the lake.
Once we finally reached our destination, I wanted to collapse on the spot and rest, but I forced myself to keep going and drank some water by the lakeside.
Then I carefully cupped my clean hands and brought them to Diana’s mouth.
Perhaps she had been thirsty on the way there, because Diana gulped down the water I gave her.
After Diana had drunk her fill, I sat her down on the soft grass beside the lake and reminded her,
Diana obediently nodded.
Perhaps she remembered the other children playing house in the orphanage yard by crushing grass, because she imitated them with her tiny hands.
I smiled at the sight and took a deep breath.
Breathing in plenty of cool water and the refreshing air of the forest made me feel much better.
Then I stared solemnly at Diana’s dress before starting to scrub it vigorously.
A short while later, I had more or less finished the laundry.
After wringing it out as hard as I could to remove the remaining water and shaking it vigorously, I heard a burst of giggling.
Diana must have grown bored playing house by herself and had come over beside me without me noticing.
Tiny droplets of water had splashed onto her face.
Feeling proud of her reaction, I shook the clothes even more vigorously several times.
She didn’t seem to get tired at all and continued giggling.
I was about to laugh along with her innocent expression when a sound suddenly reached my ears.
I put a finger to my lips and whispered.
The clever child followed suit, putting her finger to her lips and whispering,
I stroked her hair, praising her, then slowly turned toward the direction of the sound.
—
As expected.
The owner of the battle cry was Jack.
I had no idea that he had been training his body from such a young age.
We hadn’t been close in the past, so I had never known.
I quietly hid behind a tree and observed Jack practicing sword swings with a tree branch.
It wasn’t every day that one got the opportunity to watch the training of someone who would later be known as one of the Empire’s Three Great Knights.
‘Even though he probably hasn’t been properly taught, his movements are honest without a single bad habit.’
He was young, and nobody was forcing him to do this, so it would have been natural for his posture to become sloppy.
Yet Jack maintained his correct form with such stubbornness that it was almost palpable.
Was it the combination of this determination and his talent that would eventually turn him into a Sword Master?
I admired him inwardly.
After all, being born with mana in the first place was a blessing.
Mana was a fundamental requirement not only for using magic but also for manifesting aura.
I had heard that nobles possessed more mana than commoners, and that those from prestigious families or among the high nobility tended to possess even greater quantities.
Come to think of it, Jack and I had both been born with uncommon talents.
At that moment, Jack stopped moving and sighed, his face clearly showing annoyance.
I instinctively flinched and pulled Diana close, pressing myself against the tree.
My talent was perfectly suited to concealing my presence, so I was confident that Jack, who was still young and couldn’t properly control his mana, would never notice me.
—
‘That’s what you call hiding? Are you an idiot? Do you think hiding your body is enough?’
Jack slightly turned his head and was dumbfounded.
Perhaps she had done laundry at the nearby lake, because the hem of a dress that hadn’t been properly hidden fluttered beside the tree.
Seeing Ria’s clumsy behavior, Jack sighed and spoke.
Ria slowly stepped out from behind the tree and asked in a flustered voice.
Jack unconsciously frowned.
Yesterday, she had suddenly acted so boldly that she surprised him, and today she was being as foolish as usual.
‘How is someone like her going to survive in this harsh world?’
Even the way she covered her mouth in surprise looked foolish.
Jack sighed deeply once again, then suddenly frowned as he looked at Ria’s small hands.
Ria was a girl and two years younger than him, so it was natural for her hands to be small, but……
‘They’re way too small.’
Once again, Jack found Ria’s body, the thinnest and smallest among all the children in the orphanage, deeply displeasing.
She barely ate enough as it was, yet she was so foolishly kind that she kept giving her food away.
Jack suddenly asked in a sharp tone.
Diana, who was standing beside them, blinked her large eyes in surprise.
