Chapter 7
Leonhardt’s hand, which had been anxiously brushing against her face, suddenly froze.
He looked down at Lilietta’s tense expression and noticed that her body was trembling ever so slightly.
Lilietta was afraid of him.
At the same time, every muscle in her body was taut, ready to attack him at a moment’s notice.
What kind of life has this child lived?
Leonhardt slowly withdrew his hand and took a small step back.
Only then did the stiffness leave her shoulders.
Even if I tell her we’re family and that she’s safe… it won’t mean anything to her right now.
After carefully considering his words, he spoke gently.
“Rita… for now, let’s go back to your room. Can you stand? Would you like me to help you?”
“I can get up by myself.”
Though her face was deathly pale, Rita stubbornly refused.
Supporting herself against the wall, she slowly stood.
Her slender arms trembled violently.
Leonhardt fought the urge to simply pick up his unsteady little sister and carry her.
Instead, he silently walked aheadā
Deliberately slowing his pace.
Back in the guest room, Rita sat on the sofa.
Leonhardt asked her to wait for a moment before leaving.
When he returned, he was carrying a tea set.
He poured two cups of warm tea, let Rita choose one first, and then deliberately drank from the remaining cup himself.
Realizing why he had served the tea that way, Rita let out a faint sigh.
“You don’t have to go this far to reassure me. I know you wouldn’t poison this body… Lilietta’s body.”
“Knowing something logically and accepting it instinctively are two different things.”
Leonhardt took another sip before continuing calmly.
“Everything here is unfamiliar to you. Naturally you’re on guard.”
“So… I hoped even something this small might help you relax.”
“…”
His unexpected response left Rita speechless.
She had mistaken an innocent person for a monster and nearly attacked her.
Being locked up somewhere wouldn’t have been surprising.
Silently staring into her teacup, she slowly drank.
The warm, slightly bitter liquid flowed down her throat.
Her tense body gradually relaxed.
Leonhardt didn’t rush her.
He simply waited in silence.
After finishing her tea, Rita brushed back her sweat-soaked bangs before speaking first.
“Um… the maid…
Is Hannah okay?”
“She’s fine. She was frightened, but she wasn’t hurt. I’ve sent her to the physician, so you don’t need to worry.”
“…You’re not going to interrogate me? After what I just did?”
“There was a reason, wasn’t there?”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t do it on purpose.”
“…That’s true.”
“Then that’s enough.”
Checking his pocket watch, Leonhardt set down his empty cup.
“Rita, I still have work to finish, so I should be going. I’ll come back this evening. For now, get some rest. If you need anything, pull that bell cord over there.”
Seeing him rise as though he truly intended to leave, Rita asked in confusion,
“You’re really not going to ask why I acted like that?”
“If I ask…
Can you answer?”
“…It’s not a simple story.”
“It doesn’t have to be simple.”
“In fact, I’d rather hear every detail.”
“I thought you said you were busy.”
“My work isn’t more important than you.”
He quietly sat back down.
Rita stared at him in disbelief before finally managing to say,
“Leonhardt…
You do know I’m not your real little sister…
Right?”
Leonhardt hesitated.
He had intended to pretend otherwise until she realized the truth herself.
But what had just happened had made one thing painfully clear.
Lilietta had grown up under circumstances far beyond anything normal.
I suspected as much from the moment I first met her…
But it was even worse than I’d imagined.
She must have lived in an environment where surviving meant doubting everything…
Where even the smallest threat demanded immediate violence.
In that case…
Rather than pretending not to know…
I want to reassure her somehow.
After rubbing his lips thoughtfully for a long moment, he finally spoke.
“Rita…
To be honest…”
“…”
“I believe…
you really are Lilietta.”
“I already told you I’m not.”
“I know.
And because you insist you’re not, I decided I should respect that.”
A faint, bitter smile crossed his face.
“But no matter how I look at you…
All I can see is Lilietta suffering from memory loss.”
“That’s only because of this body.
Don’t misunderstand.”
“Rita.”
His eyesāso much like hersālooked directly into hers.
“What’s your earliest memory?”
“I told you.
I was wandering around as an orphan.”
“How old were you?
What exactly do you remember?”
“I’m not sure how old I was.
I just remember thinking I’d starve to death if things continued like that…
Then I met someone.
That person asked whether I wanted to become their child.
I was starving, so I accepted.
That’s my oldest memory.”
That person had been the Archmage Pascal.
After that, Rita became one of Pascal’s children and underwent brutal training alongside the others.
Everything before meeting him was hazy.
Whenever she tried to remember…
She recalled only hunger clawing at her stomach…
The unbearable stench…
Bone-deep terror…
Agonizing pain…
Nothing else.
Compared to life as an orphan, even Pascal’s hellish training felt bearable.
At least I never starved after becoming one of Pascal’s children.
So stop asking.
I don’t want to remember my childhood anymore.
“Do you understand now?
I was just another ordinary orphan.
There’s not a single happy memory from that time.
Please don’t ask anymore.”
Despite her obvious reluctance, Leonhardt pressed on.
“What about before that?”
“…What?”
“Before you became an orphan.”
“A newborn couldn’t possibly survive alone.
Don’t you remember the family that raised you?
The place where you grew up?
Nothing?
Only wandering?”
“What are you trying to hear, Leonhardt?
I’m really not Lilietta.
I don’t remember living in a luxurious castle like this.
I don’t remember you.
But I remember starving.
I remember digging through piles of garbage.”
Without warningā
An old memory surfaced.
Watching children protected by their families.
Feeling envious.
The stench clinging to her body.
Monster entrails stuck to her skin.
Blood-slick hands covered in wounds.
The heavy gun her tiny hands struggled to lift.
She remembered another childā
Clean, neatly dressedā
Crying to their mother because Rita looked filthy and frightening.
She remembered that mother instinctively embracing her child…
Shielding them from the little girl carrying the gun.
She had stood there…
Watching them for a long time.
Unable to look away.
Because she envied them so much.
Emotion surged within her.
“Family?
I don’t know!
Why would I remember people who abandoned me?!”
For an instant, sorrow flashed across Leonhardt’s face.
Then he answered calmly.
“I understand not wanting to remember painful times.
But if you truly can’t remember your family at all…
If you believe you were an orphan from the beginning…
Then I’d like you to consider another possibility.”
“What?”
“What if you lost your memories?”
“If it wasn’t mere coincidence that you arrived in this world inside Lilietta’s body…
Then perhaps…
The family you’ve forgotten…
Is us.”
“Perhaps…
Coming back to your homeland simply returned you to your original body.”
As he spoke, he reached into his coat and placed something on the table.
“Rita…
I don’t know how things worked in your world.
But in this one…
A soul possessing someone else’s body isn’t something that happens easily.
There are rumors of black magic capable of doing such things…
But if that had happened…
Something would always feel different.”
What Leonhardt placed before her was a small matchbox.
A flat brown box edged with gold leaf.
It looked old…
As though it had weathered many years.
“A different person inside?”
He smiled faintly.
“Rita…
I don’t believe I’d fail to recognize my only little sister.
If your very essence had changed…
I would have noticed.”
He gently slid the matchbox toward her and stood.
“Just think about it once.”
“The possibility…
That you’re the real one.”
“…!”
Rita remained frozen until Leonhardt finally left the room.
The possibility that I’m the real one…?
She had never once considered it.
How could she?
This was an entirely different body.
What does he even see in me…?
After hesitating for a while, she carefully picked up the worn matchbox and opened it.
Inside was a tiny card with a dried four-leaf clover attached.
I found it!
Big Brother Leon, good luck passing your exam!
Round, childish handwriting surrounded the faded, cracked clover.
The card carried the scent of time…
And cherished memories.
Had Lilietta given this to Leonhardt?
Had he really kept it all this time?
For over ten years?
“…”
Rita stared at it silently.
For some reason…
An overwhelming sense of nostalgia washed over her.
Warm.
Tender.
Familiar.
Like unfolding an old letter.
Something deep inside her heart stirred.
Yet…
No memories came.
It was like trying to see through thick fog.
Frustratingly empty.
“You are Rita.”
“An orphan I took in.”
“You have no parents.”
“No family.”
Instead, another memory surfaced.
The hooded Archmage Pascal rested a hand on her head and saidā
“Now then…”
“You’re about to vividly remember just how hungry and miserable your life has been until now.”
“Be grateful to me…”
“For taking you in.”
Looking back on it now…
Those words carried a strangely unsettling implication.
