“I adopt a child.”

Proclaimed by the imperial killer, Duke Erhard Schuetz.

The orphanage teachers swallowed their breath.

What the Duke said was clear.

A child who is barely breathing with a face excited by the heat.  That the child was the son of the dead Duke of Kleider.

There were two dukes in the empire.

The Duke of Shuetsu, the ruler of the battlefield, and the Duke of Kleider, the center of commerce.

Separately, the two huge forces were even close friends.

They didn’t know if the two families were united, they could have as much power as the imperial family.

But about 10 years ago, the Duke of Kleeder and his wife died in an accident.

It was a carriage accident.  The carriage fell off the cliff of the monster and swallowed up the peacocks and his bloody son.

The Duke of Shuetz, with all his might, scoured the north, and eventually found the duke’s corpse and a piece of clothing believed to have been worn by a child.

The monster fell from a sparse cliff.  The child must have died.

However, the Duke of Schuetz has been searching the empire in search of the son of his deceased friend for more than 10 years.

‘By the way, that son must be that boy!’

The orphanage teachers were truly desperate.

To make matters worse, the child was suffering from high fever.

He was just the right timing to misunderstand.

If he knew he would do this, he would treat him well, deep regret came.

While the teachers confess their belated self.

“……… .”

One girl quietly watched their confusion.

‘He finally met you.’

As in the original novel, Duke Shuetsu found Damian.

It was the moment when the male protagonist escaped from the abuse he had received for a long time and met a new family.

‘It’s a good thing to find it safely.’

I almost missed the timing.

It was because of the disgrace to the director and because Damian suffered from a high fever that was not in the original.

Still, since they met safely, Lee Dae-ro wouldn’t be kicked out of the orphanage because she was a child who harassed the male main lead like the flow of the original.

He paid back on behalf of the male protagonist and even revealed the teacher’s evil deeds.

The most fortunate thing is……

‘I kept my promise to let him meet his family.’

It was when the girl’s mouth was drawing a smooth line.

“And.”

The peacock’s finger pointed at the girl sitting next to Damian.

“That kid next to me. That kid is also adopted.”

The escort knight who was guarding the back of the peacock asked.

“Are you going to be a foster daughter?”

Then the peacock’s red eyes touched the girl.

“No. She’s going to be my daughter-in-law.”

“Yes?!”

At that moment, everyone in the room opened their mouths.

It was the same with the girl.

‘Daughter-in-law? Your daughter-in-law?’

Nonsense.

Damian’s wife was due to appear in a very distant future.

She was a place where the villain Jo Moo Rae-gi couldn’t lose.

I was just trying to change the future by being driven out to the streets.

‘His daughter-in-law!’

So Eli, silently despaired with her mouth open.

🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸

I was the 1st student in an orphanage in St. Territory, at the very end of the empire.

My mother was the most famous thief in the empire, and she died after being caught trying to steal the things of a countess.

After my mother died, the director reaped me, who was alone.

However, I didn’t feel particularly grateful to the director.

Because the director pampered the children.

Even a few nursery teachers were distant relatives of the director, so you will know how badly the orphanage was without telling them how much it was.

“The children are in good condition.”

“Our orphanage puts children first.”

So when I heard that, I was a little angry.

The director held a lie in his mouth without blinking an eye.

Because he had to look good to the nobles.

The empire took several victories in wars big and small, putting several lesser nations at its feet.

So, the director brought only moderately smooth orphans, washed them clean, and fed them ‘just enough to look good’.

“That child would be nice.”

The nobleman chooses the child he likes, and it ends.

The adopted child was able to eat and live well under the support of the nobles.

Sponsoring war orphans was the easiest way to show the world the seeds of the nobles’ capital and generous hearts.

‘It’s a formal word.’

Knowing the level of operation of this orphanage, I did not believe it.

It was because of what the director said while bringing me to the orphanage.

“Oh, pretty kid. Why are you crying here?You don’t have Mom?”

“……… .”

Then I didn’t say anything.  It was true that there was no mother.

The director brought me to the orphanage.

It was because he liked my appearance, but there was something the director overlooked.

My mother was a famous thief who shook the empire.

‘She was caught stealing my stuff from the famous Count, and she was hung from her neck, and She died.’

Who was the one who took the thief’s daughter as a foster daughter?

It was the day when he returned to the orphanage after being destroyed for the third time.

“Well, why are you doing this?”

Suddenly, the wheel of the carriage broke, and I bumped my head.

And at that moment, I realized.

That this is the world in the book.

I lived in a different world than I am now.

It’s a world where objects can be made on their own with just the touch of their hands, and people can easily call them.

In my previous life, I worked to concretely realize such a business and idea.

I think I liked it quite a bit when I saw those scenes come up clearly amidst the hazy memories.

Since I realized my previous life, should I say it was a good accident?  It was unknown.

‘But there is one question.’

Of those many books, why is it that I remember only the contents of the novel clearly?

I can’t even remember the title of this novel.

Anyway, it was a good thing for me to know the future.

“Greetings. This is a new friend I’ve been with from today.”

Today, the director brought a new child.

But his expression was infinitely crumpled.

‘I guess I lost the game again.’

I was a gambling lover, but seeing that kind of expression all the time, he seemed to be poor.

‘It would be beneficial to myself not to play games without odds.’

I thought so and looked down.

The child had all of his clothes, where he was lying, and had a body thin enough to see the skeleton.

The short hair that came down to the shoulder was telling me how unmanaged the child was.

Most of the time, in such a place, the children were constricted and noticed.

However, the child in front of his eyes looked unruly or embarrassing.

That’s a little strange, it was time to stare.

“His name is Damian. Damian.”

The moment the director said the child’s name, my heart pounded.

“Damian is a weak child, so don’t bother him and get along with him. I don’t allow fights between children’s.”

The director’s voice, adding Moore, went away like a tinnitus.

Damian. I know that kid’s name.

‘You are finally here,’

I clenched my fist.

A child who has never forgotten since when I remembered this place in a book.

‘Damian.’

That child is the male protagonist who will defeat the emperor in the future, and I was the number 1 villainness Jo Moo Rae-gi , who was expelled from the orphanage to torment male protagonist.

The life of the male protagonist, Damian, was truly sloppy.

Damian’s father, Duke Kleider, was the top figure in the small empire.

The materials he made at the top were enough to be supplied to other countries beyond the empire.

The royal family was the center of the empire, but the center of commerce was the climber.

The center of the empire was not the imperial family, but the Klaider family.  Accordingly, the emperor finally decided to get rid of the thorny climber.

Duke Cider was responsible for all operations at the top, and he thought that if he killed him, everything would fall.

The emperor’s plan came true the day Duke Kleider went out with his wife and newborn son.

It was to meet his close friend, Duke Shuetz.

The Shuetz family was another duke.

The only two dukes in the empire, they might be able to check each other, but the two families were close to each other.

  If there is a difference, unlike the Duke of Kleider, the Duke of Schuetz did not have profound exchanges with other families.

A killer on the battlefield, set in a manor in the steep northern part where a bunch of monsters appear.

No one could approach it quickly.  Because of this, the only person that the Duke of Schuetz believed was the Klider who went to war with him.

However, before meeting with a friend for the first time, Duke Klaider died suddenly.

It was a carriage accident caused by the emperor.

Duke Shuetz he was on a high cliff, and there were testimonies from attendants that the coachman was in poor condition on that day.

It was truly an empty death.

It fell on a cliff and even a place infested with monsters, so there was no way to be safe.

However, the Duke of Schuetz, with all his might, scoured the north and found the duke’s and his wife’s corpses, as well as the pieces of clothes that his child believed to be wearing.

When the top state of the empire died in an accident, the nobles who coveted the top of the clider reached out.

However, the will of Duke Kleider was found.

As if he had predicted such an accident.

It was written like this inside.

‘I entrust all of the family’s property to my only friend, Erhard.’

  So the Duke of Schuetz took over the top of behalf of his friend.

And, with anticipation, he wandered in search of the Duke of Kleider’s child.

There was one known characteristic of the child.

Black hair and the wall that resembles a climber.

  But that was it.  The child fell into a forest full of village water.  He couldn’t be alive.

However, like the male protagonists in the novel, the child survived.

‘And now, he’s in front of my eyes.’

I looked through Damian standing next to the director.

From the moment I realized this was in a book, I used to imagine Demi’an’s face from time to time.

His childhood was briefly described.

[Before being adopted by the Duke of Schuetz, Damian lived as a slave.  He was like a beast.]

‘…….But I didn’t know it would be this much.’

The unmanaged bushy head of the rock covered more than half of the face, and the skinny body that was not 11 years old gave a dark feeling.

Honestly, it wasn’t a likable impression.

“We are already overflowing with children, but he is bringing children again.”

At that time, someon murmured, groaning.

Carsen, the oldest in our  orphanage.

Carsen wanted an adoption more than anyone else, but no nobleman wanted him.

Unable to overcome his sense of inferiority, carsen harassed other children.

13 years old.  It was the Marge line of the age to receive the choice of the nobility.

In other words, it meant that carsen’s evil deeds had reached its climax.

  “Sure. It looks sneaky. ”

“I think your mouth will increase, so the rice in our pond will be reduced.”

“That kid, I don’t like it.”

  “Shall we take a look at our hands?”

crowds struck carsen’s words.

‘You’ll regret that.’

It’s not another kid, Damian.

Although he is now here as an orphan, the Duke Shuetz is looking for a child with a light in his eyes.

After searching through the empire, Duke Shuetz visits this orphanage, and notices the evil deeds that had been poured into Damian.

The Duke holds the director responsible, and carsen and his group, who helped harass Damian, are expelled from the orphanage.

“Ellie, are you going to join me?”

And among those groups, I was included.

  I, 13 years old like Carsen, watched when he and his group stole the director’s food or stole money without the knowledge of the teachers.

The director also pampered us, so there was no guilt.

In addition, if you helped Carsen and his group, you could get food from time to time and eat it.

‘Ellie’ became such a group as Carsen, and followed him and put all her energy into harassing the children.

-is the story in the original novel.

  As’Ellie’ now, I didn’t want to bully the kids.

Most of the children in the orphanages here lost their parents in the war.

Except for a few children, all were nice and pure.  Why torment innocent children.

  Our interests are established only when we harass the ledger.  Nothing more, nothing less.

“I do not want to.”

“Why are you refusing only when you do everything else, only in this case?”

When I refused firmly, Carsen kicked his tongue as if he didn’t deserve it.

When he said that, something annoying always happened.

“Just. he look weak.”

So I used to always go over and say this.

It was then.

Demian and my eyes met through his hair.

I felt the inside of the wall covered by the shadow staring at me accurately.

Did he here what I say?  My body trembled without my knowledge.

But the child staring at me didn’t even show a little fine movement.

He just stands like a doll.

At that time, the director clapped his hands a couple of times as if to concentrate.  The subtle tension was broken.

“Then, I’m going to have to prepare dinner now. Go to the place where each one is in charge.”

At the words of the director, the children walked out of the room as if they had been waiting.

Some went to the kitchen, some to the dining room, and some to the warehouse.

Damian was still looking at me until the moment the children were scattered.

“Ellie, aren’t you going?”

“Huh? Uh… I have to go. Let’s go.”

I took the rushing child’s hand and exited the room.

Somehow, my chest seemed to be stabbed.

I looked back without knowing.  There was no carsen group among the children who were moving away.

Carsen’s harassment will begin today.

According to the original, I would have been there too…….. .

  If I pretend I don’t know this way, I can avoid the bad ending.

However, oddly enough, I continued to look at it.

  Was it because of eye contact a while ago

‘It’s just….. because of my mood.’

I tried to pretend I didn’t know Damian’s gaze that came to mind.

How long have I been making up my mind.

I sighed.

A tightly closed visit seemed like an insurmountable barrier today.

“I’ve seen countless numbers of people who are ruined and ruined.”

I muttered and glared as if killing a handle.

‘What is the eye contact?’

I sighed again and knocked on the door.  It was deliberately made to listen.

When I opened the door, carsen was looking this way with a surprised face.

Whether he thought I was the director, the embarrassed expression quickly returned to his original condition.

“What, Ellie? You surprised me.”

“What are you doing here?”

“What’s up. It’s a freshman training,”

Carsen said, squeezing his chin lightly.

As I moved my gaze to the side, I saw Damian with swollen cheeks.

“……… .”

I clenched my fist without knowing it.  I have seen many children who have been beaten, but this was the first time I had such feelings.

  “Can I tell me something interesting?”

Carsen laughed and said mischievously, whether he had read my gaze.

“I thought this kid was a girl, but he was a boy.”

“What about that?”

“Isn’t it fun? A boy has such a pretty face?”

“Well. I think it’s better than your face.”

“What?”

“It’s a joke, kidding.”

Deliberately speaking with a wide smile, Carssen was upset, but could not refute.

“Well, what do you like about a girlish face?”

I suppressed my desire to kill myself.

Even those who listened to Carsen’s attitude were tantrums, but there wasn’t even a bit of fine movement in Despair.

“…….. .”

He was just as still as a dead man.

“Why are you here? I was getting bored now.”

Then Carsen asked, looking at me.  I responded lightly.

“The director is looking for you.”

“What? That devil grandfather? Why?”

“Well, he looked around and asked where you was.”

Chet, on my side, Karsen, with a short tongue, released Damian’s fat.

A crowd of Karsen passed me by.

  I confirmed that they were completely gone, then closed the door and approached Damian.

“……..there.”

“…….. .”

  “OK?”

Damian wiped the blood off his face with his sleeves without looking at me.

  He was even ignorant because his brushing touch was rough.

“Hey, then it hurts!”

I quickly pulled out the ointment I had in my pocket.

It was an item that was secretly stolen when I hid in the director’s room.

It was made from expensive herbs and had higher resilience than regular ointments.

“Apply this. It’ll make it less painful.”

Then he stopped suddenly as he brushed his face roughly.

The boy slowly lowered his hand.

  Damian, staring at the ointment in my hand, touched her lips.

“……… I do not need.”

“What?”

“You don’t need it.”

It was a time when I cried out at the stern rejection.  A soft voice flowed through my lips, where the scab was sitting.

“Before you heal anyway, hit it again.”

“……… What?”

“They hit me again.”

Damian’s voice was filled with resignation.

I forgot to say what to say, and he only spoke.  Damian spoke without a bit of distraction.

“So I don’t need this either. I’ll be right again even if you treat it anyway.”

The boy who said that looked very embarrassed.

I heard it and couldn’t say anything.

It will be right anyway, so there is no need for treatment.

With just a few words, I could feel what kind of life Damian had lived.

Resistance leads to another violence.  An easy way to subdue violence was resignation.

  Such a young child already knows that.

Somehow, I felt like my neck was tight.

“…….It’s still better than not applying it.”

I forcibly held the ointment in Damian’s hand.

“Apply later. It’ll reduce the pain.”

I could have said better things.  Like an idiot, I could only do this kind of consolation.

I left the room without ever hearing Damian’s answer.

Was Damian looking at me?  I wasn’t confident to see a face that resembled me.

It was time to eat.

  Children brought soup that didn’t taste any good because most of the water was made, bread that had been made too old, and salads that had died out of their breath.

When I moved the cart, I looked around, but Damian was not visible.

“Was he still in the room?  It’s time to eat. ”

“What are you doing? Come on, don’t carry the bowl?”

At that time, the nursery teacher couldn’t stand it and pinched me.  I quickly caught my eye.

“Sit quietly and eat. Quietly. It is forbidden to talk during meals.”

At the teacher’s words, I quietly lifted the tableware.

It may sound ridiculous, but our children in orphanages learned aristocratic manners and social skills.

It was to save the troubles of the nobles to teach.

Thanks to this, the orphanage could be evaluated as excellent by the high people, and the director took great pride in this.

In the midst of only the rattling sound resounding.

I couldn’t eat much and put my spoon down.

Even looking around, Damian couldn’t be seen.

‘Was he going to skip a meal?’

It’s dinner now. If he skip this meal, he’ll have to starve until tomorrow.

‘If it’s not that……..’

“Ellie. Are you not eating bread?”

Then Tommy, who was sitting next to me, whispered, pointing to the bread I hadn’t eaten yet.

“If you are not going to eat it, can I eat it?”

I glanced at the bread once and whispered.

“No, I can’t.”

“Yeah, but you’re not eating.”

“I’m going to eat it, so don’t touch it,”

Tommy pouted at my resolute answer.

I would have made concessions normally, but today there was a separate owner.

Of course, I don’t know if the child will eat it or not.

When the meal was over, it was time to clean up.  The children were busy cleaning up the dishes they ate, the supervisor, and the utensils that the nursery teacher ate.

The place I was in charge of today was the kitchen.  But I didn’t head there.

After entering the orphanage, I carefully opened the door.

There was nobody in the dark dark bedroom.

‘If it’s not here, where did he go?’

  “What are you doing here?”

  I turned to a familiar voice. Carsen was looking down at me.

“What are you doing in an empty room with no one?  Looking for a ghost?”

Carsen threw an uninteresting joke.

“No. I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

“Hey. You don’t have anything scary.”

Carsen nodded as if it was worth knowing.

“Do you want that child to be more scared than you?”

  “That child?”

  “I mean the one who came in today.”

Suha Ha Na, who was behind me, replied to my question.

“I secretly heard the director talking, and he said he was a slave before coming here.”

  “He caught a monster in a dark place.”

“It’s ridiculous. How does that little boy catch a monster?”

They giggled, as if telling a funny joke.

Instinctively, I had a bad feeling.

“Why? Are you interested in him too?”

Carsen frowned at his eyes, thinking I was interested.

This kid was like this.

I was terribly tormenting the children who showed good feelings for me.

Some were okay, but on occasional bad days the children couldn’t escape the violence either.

“No,”

So I shook my head.

“I’m just here to see if Betty is there.”

“Yeah?”

  “Yes, besides, it seems that the child is in the warehouse. I saw it on the way.”

“But the shed was told by the teachers not to go. Besides, it’s locked up. How does he get into it?”

“He used to go in with his assistant teachers?”

“What?”

“There are a lot of delicious things in the warehouse. Maybe you’re trying to secretly give him something delicious?”

Then Carsen’s face distorted.  I was pretending not to know.

“It wasn’t at the restaurant before. I’m trying to give it aside. Look, he didn’t even work as soon as he came.”

“…….. .”

“Isn’t it because the director cares about it?”

The reason Damian didn’t work was because of Demian’s owner.  The director was only temporarily in charge of Damian, and he couldn’t carelessly enslave other people’s slaves.

‘But Carsen doesn’t know that.’

And the fact that the people in the warehouse now are teachers who came to enjoy secret meetings without the director’s knowledge.  I said with my eyes shining to inspire Carsen’s action.

  “You said he caught a monster, right?  He must be very good at skills, That is really cool!”

“What?”

Also, when I showed interest, Carsen opened his axe.

“No way! How is that weak kid strong? He couldn’t move in front of us!”

‘People say they saw it.’

I tilted my head, swallowing the back words.

  “Then Carsen is stronger?”

“All, of course!”

He raised it up and shouted quickly.

‘It’s simple,’

I pulled out the bread I had hidden behind.  Carsen screamed like a crucian crucian carp on the bread rolled out.

“What is this, why is this?”

“Just.  I am full……… .”

You like this.  right?

As I said so, I leaned my upper body towards Carsen.  Carsen’s face began to blush little by little.

“Well, I’ll eat something like this… well.”

Carsen wandered away, coughing away and moving away from my side.

  It was clear to go to the warehouse.

I looked at the idiots moving away and moved quickly.

  When I opened the window, a cold wind ran over my face.

It was hard to get my feet soaked in the covered snow, but it was patient.

He hid himself in a tree, killing his footsteps.

  “I mean, I’m alone here eating delicious food.”

In the distance, Carsen and his group were seen creeping inside.

And not long after that, I heard the raging screams of angry nursery teachers.

Warehouses are places where children are not allowed to enter.

Because all the groceries were there.

“You are all trying to do stuff again! you’re like these troublemakers!”

” No!  Because there must be a child here…….!”

  “It’s noisy, these guys! Then what’s the bread in your hand?”

“This, this is ……! ”

Carsen’s face turned white.

Before long, Carsen and his group were taken to the teachers.

  ‘This will happen when you lose your mind to the tasteless bread.’

  “dummy.”

After a lot of laughs that I had endured, I got up.

The disturber disappeared.  So, it was time to find the protagonist.

‘But he wasn’t even in the room.’

As I pondered, I thought of Carsen’s words.

“He caught a monster in a dark place……..”

The most familiar thing to the child was darkness.

So, maybe.

I looked toward the dark snowy forest behind me.

The lamp shook, making a rattle in the cold wind.

Even adults were reluctant to enter the forest covered in darkness.

What about the pouring snow and cold wind?

‘I’d rather not have it.’

I went forward with earnest hope.

But my thoughts were correct.

  Shortly after entering the forest, Damian was seen sitting against a tree.

He crouched and stared blankly into the darkness.

There were no cloaks or blankets to cover the body.

“……..Damian.”

I approached Damian’s side.  Until then, Damian didn’t look at me.

“……..If you stay here, your body will freeze. Stop and get up.”

“…….. .”

  “You were caught by those kids and teachers. You’ll be no able to sleep comfortably today.”

“……… .”

“Besides, you haven’t even eaten.”

He kept silent as if He couldn’t hear my call.

Chewing my lips, I bent my knees and made eye contact with Damian.

The faint light of the lamp turned his black hair red.

“This is a bodily injury.”

“…….. .”

“How hard is it to suffer from a cold?”

Then Damian looked up and looked at me.

The boy’s eyes were seen through his bangs, slightly distracted by the wind.

His gaze looking still.  It was a time when I stopped without knowing.

“They’ll come back anyway.”

A soft voice flowed through the dry lips.

“What?”

  “Even if you get caught……That’s all. Come back.”

“…….. .”

“I’m comfortable here,”

Damian said, looking back into the dark.

I had to keep my mouth shut.

There was also such a content in the original novel.

After being adopted by Duke Shuetz, Demian was described as having excellent swordsmanship from the time he was formally taught.

The Duke asked Damian if he had ever learned a sword, and Damian had no choice but to learn a sword to live in the dark.  ‘Replied.

I thought it was alluding to a gloomy growth process.

But I was wrong.

This could not be expressed as a mere tragedy, this child put himself in deep darkness.

Because it’s comfortable.

It is also because of that holding the sword.

  The hand that held the lamp ran into strength.

‘Where’s the person who wants to win alone.’

Something inside of me seemed to be boiling  Even though there was no object in front of my eyes, I wanted to say how it could be.

I shook my head as I looked at the darkness beyond the lamp.

“No, I don’t have it now. Even if I come back, it will disappear soon.”

“……… .”

  “I promise. I risk my life.”

At the last words, Damian looked at me with a bit of amazement.

+

But it wasn’t wrong.

When the Duke of Schuetz comes to find Damian, Carsen and his group are driven out of the orphanage.

According to the original story, I would be mixed with them.

So it wasn’t a lie to say I would risk my life.

  By the way, Damian’s expression looking at me was a little weird.