I knocked on the door, calling her name once more.
“Mary, I’m coming in.”
“Ah, My Lady?”
Only then did Mary’s voice drift from the inside, and shortly after, she opened the door at a terrifying speed and stepped out.
However, upon seeing the man beside me, she called out to me again with a look of surprise.
“My Lady…?”
“I’ll explain the details later. Where is the child?”
“He’s inside.”
“Is that so?”
I entered the room.
Immediately, the child rushed toward me.
“Bell!”
“Oh my, you! Whose name do you think you’re calling so casually?”
At Mary’s scolding tone, the child’s face instantly withered, and he looked at me pitifully.
I tenderly stroked the child’s hair and smiled to show him it was alright.
Then, looking at Mary, I spoke.
“Mary, it’s fine. I told him to do so.”
“But My Lady…!”
I shook my head slightly, signaling her to stop.
In any case, today was the last day the child would call my name.
Mary looked as if she had more to say, but she immediately shut her mouth at my word.
“Lady?”
At that moment, the man who had been waiting outside called for me.
With an “oh right” expression, I opened the door wide.
It was a gesture inviting him to come inside.
The man named Eden strode into the room.
Perhaps due to his stature, the room somehow felt full the moment he entered.
Suddenly, the child grabbed my hand and tightened his grip.
“Bell…”
He called out to me in a tiny voice.
It seemed he was quite frightened by the presence of a strange man.
I bent down to match the child’s eye level and took both of his hands in mine.
“This person is someone who will help you.”
“Pardon…?”
“He rescued your younger siblings as well.”
After saying that, I straightened my back and looked at the man.
“This is the child. The ‘Number 5’ that those children spoke of.”
“I see.”
However, as the man approached the child a bit more, the child remained on guard and hid himself behind the hem of my dress.
“He is not a bad person. He is someone who will help you all.”
I explained again and tried to lead the hiding child to stand by my side.
However, despite being a young child, his strength was so great that he did not budge.
“It seems you will have to come along. I will escort you back once we arrive at the inn where the children are staying.”
“Ah… yes, let’s do that.”
Judging by the child’s state, it seemed I would have to go with them to the inn.
“Let’s go, to meet your siblings.”
When I said we were going to see his siblings, the child nodded and softly grasped my hand.
Perhaps because he had grown accustomed to holding my hand, the child took it without hesitation.
I held his hand back, thinking his behavior was quite cute.
The three of us set out toward the inn where the children were staying.
The two men were not very talkative.
Of course, I am not the talkative type either, so aside from a few occasional words between the child and me, silence continued to accompany the three of us.
After walking for some time, we arrived in front of an unfamiliar building.
“This is the place. This is the inn where the children are staying.”
“Yes, well then.”
I let go of the child’s hand and bent down just as before to meet the child eye-to-eye.
This time, I took his shoulders with both hands and began to speak.
“Listen to me carefully. This person here will look after you and your siblings from now on.”
“…Pardon?”
For some reason, the child looked up at me with a look of considerable shock.
“You all will be going to an orphanage this person knows well. He says many children rescued from circuses like you are there.”
“….”
“Once you go there, you won’t have to live a wandering life like this anymore. You must stay well. Understood?”
The child did not answer my words.
The child’s face hardened stiffly, but I feigned ignorance.
I shrugged my shoulders and stood up. Then, looking at the man, I spoke.
“I have my own way to go, so I’ll leave things here. Please promise me that you are someone I can trust, and that my trust is not misplaced.”
“I promise you.”
Of course, I didn’t blindly trust people based on a few words, but somehow this man felt reliable.
Though one shouldn’t trust people based on appearances, my intuition was telling me so.
“Yes. Then I will trust you. And I can go back with my escort knight. So, could you call my knight for me?”
“Then please wait a moment. Let’s go inside.”
However, despite the man gesturing for the child to enter the inn, the child did not move from his spot.
I nudged the child’s back and gestured with my head for him to follow the man inside.
Yet, the child still did not budge.
“What is it? Do you have something to say to me?”
“…You bought me.”
“Hmm?”
“You bought me. So, weren’t you going to take me with you?”
“Eh? That is…”
“What does it mean that you bought him?”
As unexpected words flowed from the child, I struggled to hide my fluster while pondering how to respond.
Meanwhile, the man was staring at me with eyes full of questions.
“Well, you see…”
I don’t know why I suddenly felt cornered when I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I soon spoke with a clear conscience.
“I told you I saw the child being beaten by circus members while passing by, didn’t I? I ended up handing money to those people in order to save the child.”
I gave a brief explanation of the situation to clear the man’s suspicion.
“Bell.”
The child called me and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward him.
It felt as if he were telling me to look at him instead of the man.
“Can’t I go with you too?”
“What?”
“I’ll be good. So please, take me with you. Yes?”
I looked down at the child with a troubled expression.
“That is not possible. I am not going home. Therefore, I cannot take you.”
I had no choice but to turn away from the child’s desperate expression.
“And I never intended to take you with me from the start. I’m sorry, but this person will look after you and your siblings better than I can. So you must be obedient. Understood?”
“….”
The child now just hung his head low without responding to my words.
Then he suddenly looked at me, and his eyes were brimming with tears.
“Please call my escort knight.”
Since this was no longer a matter I could do anything about, I chose to leave the place quickly, turning away from the child’s face.
The man took the child into the inn, but even then, the child continued to stare at me with sad eyes until the end.
