Chapter 10

Blink, blink.

Her tear-filled eyes blinked a couple of times.

“…Is Mewony a good giwl?”

The mumbled question seemed to be hesitating about something.

‘I wonder what that little head is always thinking about so busily.’

Contie’s hand ruffled her white hair once again.

“Yes. You’re a good Marshmallow.”

“Good Marshmallow…”

The mumbling child’s face suddenly turned resolute.

“Put me down, pwease.”

“You want me to put you down?”

“Yes.”

The child patted Contie’s arm and looked toward Ricky, saying,

“Because Mewony is a good giwl, I’m going to help Wicky.”

* * *

‘Right, I have to help him.’

Because I’m the only one who can help Ricky.

My ‘Authority of Restoration’.

If I use it, I should be able to fix his medicine perfectly.

After being set down from Mr. Oliver’s arms, I headed toward Ricky.

However, now that I was actually about to use my ability, hesitation arose.

‘Is this really the best choice?’

My second life.

In this life, I had resolved not to use my ability no matter what.

In my second life, the one thing I absolutely wanted to keep to was not using my ability.

If I use my ability, I will be put in danger again.

This damnable ability will drag me down again. But-.

‘If I don’t use my ability, Ricky’s sister will…’

Amidst the confusion of being caught between a rock and a hard place, I clenched my fists tightly.

“Bwother.”

At my cautious call, Ricky’s eyes met mine and then dropped.

His soulless eyes looked exactly like a fish out of water.

A fish completely dried out, looking as if it would die at any moment.

“…Lina. Our Lina.”

“Bwother, you’we bleeding fwom youw hands.”

Opening and closing his mouth.

Ricky’s hands, who was blankly calling out ‘Our Lina’, were covered in wounds.

There were even places bleeding here and there.

It seemed he had been scratched and cut by glass shards while trying to gather the crushed medicine somehow.

Looking at those hands made the bridge of my nose sting again.

‘Ah, I feel like I’m going to cry again.’

But let’s hold it in.

I can’t cry.

It was when I was roughly rubbing my nose with my fist.

“Is that… Epaitos?”

The murmur came from behind.

The uncle, who had been staring at the crushed medicine, clicked his tongue and said.

“You managed to get your hands on something so damn hard to find. Even if I tried to get it again, it would take years…”

Oh no.

‘So it’s a medicine even an investigator would find hard to get.’

If it takes years just to get it again, that’s a problem.

Before we could even get the medicine-.

‘Lina might not be able to hold on.’

What do I do.

What should I do.

I kept fiddling with my pale hands.

‘Is it right to use my ability now?’

There might be another way to help besides using my ability.

Let’s think. If I think about it, something might come to mind…!

However, the very next moment.

“Help me…”

At Ricky’s pleading voice, my heart sank.

Ah.

‘What am I doing right now?’

In a situation where every second counts, what am I agonizing over?

Whether to hide my ability, or to fix Ricky’s medicine.

If I have to choose one of the two-.

‘Of course I have to help Ricky.’

Yes, of course I should.

Ricky is an immensely precious person to me.

One of the few precious people in my entire life.

The person who made Bramchois a paradise.

The person who gave me a brief moment of happiness in a life filled with nothing but misfortune.

In my past life, whenever I was exhausted and struggling, I would think of Bramchois.

Sister Jeanne, Ricky.

Though their faces might have been hazy, I never forgot the warm hearts they showed me.

Whenever I wanted to give up on everything, that warmth lifted me up.

So.

“Bwother.”

At the small call, his blurred gaze turned to me.

I looked into his tear-filled eyes and smiled brightly.

“It’s okay. Don’t cwy. I’ll help you.”

“…You’ll h-help?”

“Yeah. Do you twust Mewony?”

“Melony…”

“Yeah. I’m Mewony. Twust only me.”

I pounded my chest and crouched down.

‘Maybe this is a foolish choice. I might regret it someday.’

But even so, I can’t just turn a blind eye to Ricky’s misfortune.

I don’t want to make him an outsider.

I, more than anyone, know how painful it is to live in this world as an outsider.

‘I hope… Ricky doesn’t live like I did.’

May he live a long, healthy, and happy life with his family.

I reached my hand out toward the medicine fragments Ricky had gathered.

At the same time, a strange pattern began to bloom.

It was the mark of my ‘Authority of Restoration’.

“W-What is that?”

“Isn’t it an ability?”

Grr.

‘As expected, they recognize it.’

I had hoped they might not recognize it.

Well. It’s very well-known that a unique mark and light appear when using an ability.

They say that once you reach a certain level, you can use abilities without a mark or light, but my body was only four years old.

I hadn’t even used my ability except to check if I had one.

‘In the end, I used it in front of so many people.’

Sigh sigh.

I let out a sigh but didn’t stop channeling my power.

My ability operates based on imagination.

First, I arranged the parts of the broken object in my mind like a puzzle.

And then.

‘Reassemble!’

Fwooosh-.

Within the flashing light, the shattered glass bottle and medicine pieces began to squirm and move.

The pieces, finding their places here and there, regained their original form as I continued to imagine.

Phew.

‘It’s harder than I thought.’

After being kidnapped in my past life, I had used my ability countless times as a test subject, but this was the first time it was this exhausting.

It seems a child’s body can’t fully accept the ability.

But.

‘I have to do this no matter what.’

No matter what!

Gasp, huff. Ragged breaths burst from my mouth. My forehead and back were already drenched in sweat.

How much time had passed like that?

The flashing light and mark began to fade.

At the same time.

“…Look at that.”

“I-It was definitely crushed, but it’s perfectly fine?!”

It was as they said.

Where the light had faded, the glass bottle and medicine lay restored to their original state.

Looking perfectly fine, as if it had never been broken.

The medicine was even inside the glass bottle, just like before it broke.

‘…Thank goodness.’

It’s truly a relief.

I wiped the dripping sweat and picked it up.

“Here, Bwother.”

I told you to trust Melony, didn’t I?

At my goofy smile, Ricky stared at me with an incredulous face.

“Melony…”

I placed the medicine bottle firmly into his trembling hands.

“I guaranteed it, didn’t I? Wina will get bettew.”

Tears streamed down Ricky’s face.

“Than-Thank, *sob*. Thank you, Melony. You… you’re my hero.”

“Aigoo. A gwown-up bwother shouldn’t cwy.”

As I patted his shoulder, Ricky smiled faintly.

Thank goodness.

‘He’s back to his usual self.’

That alone was enough reason not to regret it.

Of course.

“Oh my. This is getting a bit too interesting?”

I did feel a twinge of regret for a very short, very bwieeeef moment at the voice from behind me, but.

“A new type of ability.”

Flinch.

“A Marshmallow that will go down in history.”

Flinch.

Aw, what do you mean history.

Heh, hehehe…

I turned around, flashing the most dopey smile I could muster.

They say you can’t spit on a smiling face.

Though I’m not sure if that applies right now…

‘Since it’s not like I committed a crime.’

I’m still worried about my safety after getting out, but that’s a matter for later.

So the only thing to worry about right now is.

“That, that’s, um…”

The fact that I deceived all these people.

That I hid the fact I had an ability and pretended to be a normal child.

‘Because adults hate liars.’

Back when I lived in the orphanage.

I once broke a dried-up flower pot in the hallway.

I was so scared of getting scolded that I tried to secretly hide it.

“Children who lie must be punished.”

“You wicked, cunning little liar. A child like you will just grow up to be a con artist! Even the gods must regret creating a child like you!”

I was caught red-handed by the drunk director.

The teachers who heard the news gathered and vented their anger on me.

I could only tremble and repeat the words, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘In the end, I got beaten terribly that day.’

I was forbidden from having dinner and even locked in the punishment room.

At the terrible memory surfacing, I gripped my skirt tightly.

I struggled to hold back my fading smile.

“Mewony was w-wong.”