{Ps : I already said that this is not my original work

I do not own this novel}

「Crown Prince Axelferion- The Fris Empire was slaughtered and the victory was won. Who is the ‘Annette’ he is looking for? 」

As I was reading the newspaper, my pupils shook.

The headlines contained the news of the crown prince’s victory, but in fact, it was not surprising that he won.

Because the crown prince was such a powerful person – one with magic powers.

It was surprising, however, that the only reason for the war was to find a woman named Annette.

‘Wasn’t it money?’

In the article it was written:

As soon as the crown prince, who was not originally interested in war, heard that Annette was hiding in the Fris Empire, he swept the continent at once.

Gulp, wahh–

Saliva pooled.

Because…

Because I was the Annette the fearsome prince was looking for!

But below that was another formidably shocking headline.

「The next Tower Lord, Grand Duke Heinrich, put a reward of 5.8 trillion gold on the older sister he lost when he was young. 」

“…Crazy.”

That was as good as a one-year budget for a huge empire.

“Who bets the state budget as a reward…?”

Who was this? It was Heinrich, the scoundrel I raised as a younger brother.

It wasn’t just that. I found an even more disturbing article beneath it.

「According to the available information, Larva declares war on Delphi, “You touched the bakery, so I will destroy the three tribes”」

‘Are you going to destroy the three tribes just for touching a bakery?’

They touched a bakery…?

As the owner of that ‘bakery’, I really want to stop you, Kyle.

The three of them, really.

“They’re out of their minds…”

It was when I was talking to myself as if I was tired of it. The door opened with a heavy bang.

The moment I looked back in surprise, I had no choice but to freeze immediately.

The man who took on the role of a new ‘door’ in place of the one blown away was about 190 centimeters tall and had shoulders broad enough to fill the door.

His muscular chest, which was exposed under the thick collarbone, was so wonderful that there was nowhere to place my eyes.

‘Why are you opening your shirt again?’

Regardless of my doubts, he began to walk towards me with graceful yet beastly movements.

The moonlight slanting in an oblique line illuminated his body unrealistically.

His armor-like chest, countless scars, and stomach clearly split along the shape of his muscles.

(T/N: in case it wasn’t clear, the latter part of the sentence is describing abs hahaha.)

The atmosphere was raw enough that it almost felt barbaric.

The man approached me and lightly supported my chin with his long index finger.

“You are here, Annette.”

Finally, under the moonlight, the man’s face was revealed.

Under his black hair that was like the night when no one was out and around, were eyes that were red to the point of being scary.

I muttered his name like a moan.

“Sislin…”

He was the crown prince of this country, Sislin.

The one I just read about in the newspaper.

As if answering my call, Sislin rolled his eyes and smiled. It was clearly a smile of madness. He whispered;

“I thought I was going crazy because I missed you. Annette.”

‘Excuse me, but it looked like you had turned enough already (?), Your Highness.’

(T/N: the ‘(?)’ is in the raws.)

Clang–

Then something cold touched my wrist with a metallic sound. Crazy, it was shackles.

“Now if you want to run away…”

Broad shoulders leaned towards me. As I instinctively breathed in, I could feel the man’s strong body scent.

“Cut off my wrist and run away.”

The cruel red eyes that followed the shackles attached to us flashed brightly.

Thump thump. That was when my heart started beating fast.

Whoosh–

Suddenly, a wind blew. I quickly looked out the window and found a man sitting on the window sill.

A handsome man with dazzling silver hair was relaxing in the pouring moonlight.

“…Heinrich?”

“Sister.”

He jumped in. The noble purple eyes were still beautiful even though I had not seen them in a long time.

‘How did he find me?’

The last time I saw him, those pretty eyes were full of tears…

Now, Heinrich had a mature gaze, and his smirk and charming hands were completely a grown man’s.

Like flowing water, he approached and hugged me like when he was an 11-year-old boy, and buried his head into my back.

“I missed you.”

A hot whisper pierced my heart.

“…Why didn’t you keep your promise? Sister, you decided not to leave me behind.”

Every time he uttered in a pained voice, my skin kept tickling.

“Heinrich…”

Heinrich raised his head and looked sideways down at my cheek and whispered in my ear.

“Lies are a bad thing.”

The long purple eyes were bent innocently and cruelly.

“What punishment should be given to a child who has done something bad?”

Hmph! That was the moment when I hardened my body. A damp voice came up from my feet.

“Owner.”

“Oh!”

What! I was surprised for a moment and looked down to see a handsome man kneeling at my feet.

‘When did you appear, Kyle!’

The man, with curly brown hair and green eyes, was wearing disheveled, tilted glasses.

I hadn’t seen Kyle in a long time. To explain, should I say he’s a little guy who always lingered around me?

Kyle was a regular customer of our bakery.

“Owner, please.”

“…!”

‘Kyle, please put ‘bakery’ in front of ‘owner’. If you use such an unconventional abbreviation, people will misunderstand you!’

He grabbed my ankles with his big, pretty hands and kissed the top of my feet.

“Please stay by my side forever. Please, please.”

He lowered his long eyelashes and whispered with his red lips.

Like a soft deer, he was infinitely obedient.

But, him, him…

‘According to the available information, you are the leader of the killers of Larva!’

‘I know you’re a scary person even if you pretend to be obedient in front of me.’

‘How can there be no normal person among these three?’

I suddenly had a reality check and the corners of my lips twitched.

“Annette, I can’t release these shackles until I die. No… I can’t even let it go even if I die.”

“Sister, you know right? I love you.… forever…”

“Please be with me for the rest of my life, my owner.”

With these three obsessive maniacs clinging to me, I thought with blurred eyes.

‘How did all three of them go crazy?’

I was starting to worry about my future being entwined with these obsessive maniacs, but now I actually needed to look back on my past.

The reason why these three obsessive maniacs couldn’t eat me and made me anxious must have been from the past.

So maybe… It seemed that all incidents started from that day.

Just ‘that day.’

The day I first met Sislin.

* * *

In the night when everyone was asleep. That night, I was hiding in the kitchen.

It had already been a week. To meet Sislin, I put a savory cheese bread on the counter and waited.

‘Huh? He came out!’

Mmph–

I covered my mouth as I watched the little hand fumble for the bread.

‘He finally showed up… I’m so nervous.’

As soon as the little hand found the bread, he hid like a busy squirrel.

And after a while, the sound of eating bread ‘munch munch’ was heard from behind the hidden counter.

‘Cute…!’

My heart was pounding very hard. It was the moment where I would finally meet the boy for the first time.

Until now, he was just a character in an ‘obsessive maniac’ novel, a synonym for obsession, madness, and decadence. Of course, he was only 11 years old now.

‘You should approach it as quietly as possible.’

Although he was still a child, he was a high-level Awakener who had already realized his abilities, so his five senses were as sensitive as a wild beast.

Munch munch.

When the sound of eating got pretty close. I cautiously reached out and revealed myself to the child.

“… Hey, hi?”

“…”

Finally, the boy raised his head.

Black hair tangled like a chimney cleaning brush.

Frightened red eyes hidden by bangs, but it’s so pretty.

He had dark soot all over his clothes and cheeks.

It was certain.

This boy was Sislin.

‘Ah, more than I expected…’

‘Really much more.’

‘You are so cute!!!’

I squeezed my lips to hold back my inner scream.

Heuk, he looked like a dirty little wolf.

I cautiously reached out and opened my mouth, fearing that the boy might be surprised.

“My name is Annette, let’s get to know each other—”

“……!”

It was then. The boy turned around like a cautious wild animal and went into the cabinet under the countertop.

“Ah! Wait a minute!”

I stretched out my arms straight away, but my arms were short because I was just a child.

‘Damn it.’

Meanwhile, the little beast went into a small hole in the lower compartment and disappeared. In the place where Sislin had left laid bread that had barely been bitten a couple of times.

“…He should’ve taken the bread.”

I was so upset that I muttered so. He must have been hungry.

It had been three months since Sislin awakened his powers and was trapped in the mansion’s cave.

This mansion was also called ‘Forest’, and in the forest, children who awakened their abilities like Sislin often appeared.

The characteristics expressed in Sinlin during awakening were extraordinarily sensitive hearing, sight, and smell…

It was from then. The boy hid in the cave to avoid the noise, the smell, and the scary things in the world.

This mansion was originally renovated from a site where a small tribe lived, so there was a cave as an emergency passageway.

‘Adults can never get in.’

Not only that, even if children could enter, it was easy for them to get lost in the cave maze.

The boy hid there, so no one could find him.

A sigh leaked out.

“I can’t believe he barely comes out at night and steals food.”

It was a much worse environment than expected.

And, in a little while, the madam would set a trap for beasts at the entrance to catch this guy. Then he would seriously injure his ankle.

‘I have to rescue you.’

It must be lonely and scary, but I couldn’t leave you alone like that anymore.

When I saw it with my own eyes, it became even clearer.

“Okay, I’ll do my best.”

But the next day, Sislin did not appear.

Even though I purposely prepared a sausage that smelled amazing.

The next day too.

And the following day as well.

For several days, not a single hair of the boy was seen.

For a week, every day he starved, my stomach burned black.

‘Ah, it’s finally here!’

To my delight, I saw a small hand carefully picking up the oat loaf.

That hand looked just as sensitive as a snail’s antenna, so I didn’t move and opened my ears this time.

Fortunately, there was the sound of rustling and eating.

‘I should be quiet.’

‘Please fill your stomach and go.’

I quietly held my breath and waited for him to finish eating.

I felt like I became an anxious mother cat watching a stray pick a can and secretly eat from it.

In the end, I missed the right time to talk to him. Still, the feeling of relief that the boy had eaten and had a full stomach calmed my heart.

For a week like that, I waited, listening only to the sounds of Sislin eating.

I also changed the menu daily.

Cheese bread, sausage, fruit, stew, salami and so on.

‘He has to gain 10kg of flesh first.’

He was too skinny, like a skewer. In such a state, it was unbelievable that he would grow up to be 190cm tall later.

Then one day, I accidentally placed barley bread on the edge of the counter.

Tuk–

As usual, his hands, which had been moving in search of bread, shook a little as if he was bewildered.

“Haha.”

The moment I saw it, I laughed without realizing it and he was startled. Fortunately, the boy did not run away.

Reluctantly, I slowly revealed myself.

Even if I hadn’t talked to him, wouldn’t he have known I was there?

It must have smelled like a human.

Sure enough, Sislin didn’t avoid me even when he saw me. However, unlike before, he ate a little bit of bread.

Within a week, the boy became even more skinny, and my heart ached.

“……”

I sneaked up to the boy. Like a giant trying to stand next to a very delicate and fragile flower.

But when I sat next to the boy, we were about the same height.

For a while, without saying a word, I waited for the boy to eat.

The boy looked at me and ate bread without making a sound, whether he was hungry or not. Still, he couldn’t hide the cute movement of his cheeks because he was chewing.

‘Be still. My heart.’

I finally carefully asked the boy.

“Hey, are you Sislin?”

“Do not talk to me.”

The boy’s voice was rough because he had not spoken for a long time, but it was a beautiful voice that was enchantingly pleasing.

I blinked and asked belatedly.

“…Why can’t I talk to you?”

“I am a dirty kid.”

A dark shadow fell over the boy’s red eyes.

“If you talk to me, you will get dirty too.”

“…….”

Ah…

My heart ached terribly at Sislin’s unexpected response.

What the heck had that little boy been hearing… so that he would talk like that?

We were at an age where we should only be happy without worrying.

I needed to say some pretty things.

“No, you’re not dirty at all. Later, you will become a better and higher person than anyone else.”

I looked at Sislin and smiled brightly on purpose.

“That’s what I believe.”

“…….”

For a moment, Sislin forgot to eat the bread and looked at me blankly. Then, his ears became as red as ripe berries.

‘Ah, what a pitiful and cute child.’

This cute and adorable child… You mean he would grow up to become a terrifying obsessive maniac?

‘I can’t believe it at all, Writer.’

Wasn’t it too dark of a blackening?

When I thought of Sislin as an adult, it was almost at the level of a child’s rotting!

‘Dangerous. It’s very dangerous.’

I realized once again the enormous danger of the novel I possessed.

* * *

The novel I now possessed had the exhausting BL genre.

Titled .

It was an extremely erotic novel with all kinds of triggering elements such as coercive s*x, confinement, kidnapping, and assault.

(PLEASE take note : (1) Though they call her ‘Sister’, they’re not actually siblings, no ****** here!)

Episode 2: Sislin and Heinrich

The main characters Sislin and Heinrich met for the first time at the mansion.

The mansion was called the ‘Forest’.

A kind of secret nurturing institution that collected orphans of unknown origin and worked to awaken their abilities.

The worldview was such that magic and abilities were very rare, and nobles were willing to donate huge amounts of money to adopt children with abilities.

For a child with abilities would become a trophy that would make the name of the family shine.

In the novel, children raised in the ‘Forest’ were called ‘Trees’.

In this forest, an ancient shaman gave his life to cast a powerful spell, which unleashed the children’s potential, awakening them.

However, this powerful and useful witchcraft often had side effects.

After becoming an adult, the more ‘awakened’ and greater the ability, the more abruptly one would lose their intelligence and go astray.

It was okay when one was young, but it meant that it would be difficult as an adult.

‘That’s why Sislin and Heinrich suffered.’

In that novel, my favorite was the main character, Heinrich.

A boy who was born from the body of a lowly courtesan, but inherited the genius and magical talents of his noble father.

He was the best tree in the forest.

‘Even his face was pretty!’

However, this beautiful talent with purple eyes and silver hair was arrogant and engrained with a sense of entitlement from being abandoned.

In addition, the trauma of hearing his father say abusive words like ‘You were born from a dirty body’ made him pursue the extremes in cleanliness.

Heinrich’s father was the one who threw away the courtesan who was with his child like a used tissue.

To such a duke, Heinrich was just a foreign object in his life.

This boy, who had been abandoned even when the umbilical cord was still attached, drifted to and fro and flowed into the ‘Forest’ when his mother, who raised him alone, died.

In the process, Heinrich’s trauma got progressively worse, and his ‘pursuit of cleanliness’ became even greater.

‘By the way, Sislin was acting like a beggar…’

When he first met Heinrich, Sislin’s condition was truly miserable.

He had soot from living in a cave, and he looked like a black dusty ghost. Besides, his feet that were caught in the trap were rotting from an infection.

Heinrich felt physiological discomfort the moment he saw Sislin.

So the first thing he said was,

“Dirty.”

–It was this.

Since then, this savage Chihuahua had been terribly tormenting Sislin.

‘He earned his own keep.’

The readers accepted Heinrich’s pitiful narrative, saying that his personality could be crooked, but…

In the eyes of the young obsessive maniac, he was just a cub who he needed to get revenge upon.

‘Heinrich was pretty bad.’

I was surprised by his personality of stepping on a crippled, sore foot, to the extent that I thought it was acceptable for him to be beaten a few times later with blurry eyes.

However, there was a secret , in which Sislin actually had the blood of the imperial family.

Sislin, who later became a member of the royal family, framed Heinrich for treason.

And he left him with nowhere to go and tormented him viciously almost to the point of deboning.

‘It was really miserable and pitiful…’

There was not a single peaceful scene, so when a peaceful moment between the two came out, readers had to juice it and read it as if licking a yogurt lid.

(T/N: meaning, to savor it/ enjoy it to the utmost/ make the moment last ^^)

‘I was also a giant Hurom.’

(T/N: 휴롬 is a Korean juicer brand. She’s saying she’s basically a juicer for such moments haha.)

However, no matter how much juice was squeezed, it was difficult to see the journey of Sislin, who gradually evolved into a crazy bastard.

‘Please stop. Stop…!’

It was the days when I fell asleep crying, wetting my pillowcase with tears, because my dearest character was pitiful.

Then all of a sudden I got into the novel!

“Isn’t it too rushed…”

I muttered to myself.

“Annette, do you have any questions?”

Then the teacher who was conducting the class in front of me asked with a smile. Oh, I forgot it was class time.

I could see the twinkling eyes of the children looking back at me. From 4 to 12 years old, the ages of the children participating in group classes varied, but they all had one thing in common.

All of them were so cute…! They were like blackened quail eggs.

I smiled and shook my head.

“No, Sir.”

“Then, shall we end the class here?”

“Yes!”

The children shouted as they raised their cute fists like small egg potatoes.

...* * *...

Lunch time after class.

Today’s menu was warm lamb stew, soft cream bread, and colorful strawberries and blueberries.

“Annette! After all, isn’t group class with kids fun?”

On the other side, Sasha, who was eating blueberries till her lips were stained purple, asked me.

‘You are a child too. Sasha.’

“Classes by age are difficult. They teach me difficult things every day…”

I replied heartily to the sullen Sasha.

“I didn’t find it difficult.”

“Oh! Because Annette is smart!”

The forest had a well-planned curriculum to nurture great trees.

Basic etiquette so as to be adopted by a noble family, as well as history, culture, geography, alchemy, magic formula, etcetera.

Fortunately, I was a model student and good at studying.

‘Although, I have no awakening ability.’

Of course, the most important thing in the forest was not studies, but abilites.

Like me, I couldn’t even be a ‘Tree’, I was just a ‘Weed’.

That’s how extras were.

“Instead, you have magic, Sasha. If you eat a lot of rice, your magic power will increase. So, let’s eat.”

“Oh, really? Yes!”

Persuaded by nonsense, Sasha began to eat bread.

In the meantime, I secretly wrapped the cream bread in a handkerchief and laughed slyly.

‘Hehe. I should bring this to the baby.’

By now, Sislin would be in the cave without a single light.

When I thought of that scene, my heart ached.

In the novel, he was a terrible maniac, but in reality, he was just a lonely and sick boy.

‘Besides, he was much cuter than expected!’

Just like the first time I saw young Heinrich in the forest, I fell in love with young Sislin.

‘The future should be bright for both of them.’

So, my current goal could be summarized in two.

Make Sislin comfortable in the forest just like the other children.

Get Heinrich and Sislin to get along.

‘If they get to know each other when they were young, wouldn’t there be zero catastrophes in the future?’

Could this waste turn into sweet water?

I smiled and pleasantly imagined.

...* * *...

That night.

I sneaked into the kitchen and knocked on the counter.

Tok! Tdok-dok, tok!

This rhythmic knock was a secret hand signal that Sislin and I recently created.

We had become pretty friendly lately, to the extent we made this.

Of course, this was due to my constant effort. I brought Sislin food every day, and talked to him, who was blunt and gave short answers… etcetera.

‘It was a time of hardship.’

But fortunately, he seemed to have opened up a little bit of his heart. Very little. Like an ant poop.

Shortly after the hand signal was heard, a young wolf-like boy cautiously emerged from the lower cabinet.

Through his thick black hair, his pretty eyes gleamed like rubies.

“Annette.”

“Sislin!”

My face suddenly brightened. I ran quickly and held out the cream bun in my hands.

“Do you like this? I brought it specially. I wanted to bring two, but there was no bread left today. I’ll definitely bring two next time. Come on, eat!”

I chattered out of joy, but somehow, Sislin was strange.

He did not even eat the bread he had received and he was sweating.

‘Why are you doing that?’

When I looked closely, his ankles were all red and the flesh was so torn that I could see the bones.

For a moment, my heart pounded.

“…Aren’t you hurt? How did you get hurt?”

“It’s okay. It’s nothing.”

Sislin tried to hide the wound by pulling down his short pants.

“It’s nothing? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“No. It doesn’t hurt.”

Lies.

Even with those legs, did he come crawling because I called him?

‘Definitely. He was caught in the trap set by Madam Mimosa.’

My heart ached at the thought that he must have suffered alone.

He didn’t want to get hurt, so he hid from the world… But you got hurt again, Sislin.

‘It is a hellish fate…’

Sislin.

As with the main characters in novels, Sislin had a past that was as twisted as Heinrich’s.

His mother descended from the Mephisto family with ancient demonic powers.

The emperor, Sislin’s father, loved her deeply, and the two had a child.

Some of Mephisto’s children were born with a ‘dark ability’, and it was a rare and powerful ability that could only come out over several generations.

However, this ability was also a curse in itself.

It made daily life difficult by making the senses heightened, and instead of giving one a strong power, the devil played a prank and threw the child into a mountainprison.

It was not known whether that statement was true, but for one thing, Sislin’s childhood was unhappy.

His mother was murdered, and he himself was secretly abandoned.

After that, he came to the forest after undergoing numerous events such as a circus troupe, being abused, and a slave auction.

‘The child’s eyes are too deep and dark.’

He must have lived in an environment where it was impossible to say that he was sick.

As I thought about it again, my hands grew tense.

“Sorry. Annette.”

As if it was the boy’s own personal sunset, the red jewel-like eyes headed towards the floor.

“Angry. I make people angry.”

“…”

I couldn’t answer anything, so I held my breath for a moment.

‘It’s not that he was bad, it’s the adults who got angry enough to be disheartened by an 11-year-old that were bad.’

“Sislin, I’m not angry.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I will only say nice things to you!”

I smiled brightly.

Sislin asked as if he could not understand.

“Why?”

“Because you’re pretty?”

Speaking slightly brazenly, Sislin looked at me with red eyes between strands of black hair.

Then, along with a faint smile, he let out a soft voice.

“You are the pretty one, Annette.”

For a moment, it felt like my face was going red for some reason, so I countered it with gibberish.

“…What? I’m not pretty at all. It’s weird.”

“You’re pretty.”

“There’s really nothing you can’t say.”

Even a common comment made my heart flutter when a ‘Gwanggong’ said it. Even though he’s 11 years old!

(T/N: 광공 Gwanggong is a type of character that usually appears in BL. These days, regardless of genre, it has become widely used as a term to call characters who are madly obsessed with their relationships.)

Of course, Annette, whom I possessed, was very pretty.

Blonde hair shining sweetly like honey.

A girl with bright green eyes as fresh as a sprout in spring.

However, Sislin did not seem to simply mean that my face was pretty.

So, what did he mean…

It sounded very sweet. To the point where my heart was tickled.

Hmm! Embarrassed for nothing, I cleared my throat and got up from my seat.

“Where?”

“I’ll bring you some medicine to fix your leg!”

To be exact, I was going to steal it.

To be able to make me, known as the best model student in the Forest, steal. It was all because he looked cute.

But considering it was my first time, it seemed that I had a gift for stealing.

Without anyone knowing, I sneaked into the infirmary and I really succeeded in stealing the healing potion.

I rubbed my nose and felt proud of myself for nothing.

‘My awakening ability might be strengthened.’

Of course, if I got caught by Madam Mimosa like this, I would become powder.

Madam Mimosa was the woman in charge of the Forest, and although she was usually kind, she became very strict when the Trees violated the rules.

Not only that, but she was also ruthless enough to use a trap to catch Sislin.

Of course, it must have been a decision made under the judgment that if she left him alone in the cave, he would die.

‘Still, not everyone can set a trap for a child.’

It meant she was not an ordinary person.

I lowered and made myself as small as possible, and passed the hallway quietly like a hamster stealing seeds.

“Sislin, I brought it!”

Kneeling in front of the waiting boy, I opened the potion without hesitation and poured it on his ankle.

Then something amazing happened.

New flesh quickly sprouted out in front of my eyes, the exposed bones were hidden, and the wound healed without a trace.

“Wow…!”

‘I’m so happy… In the original story, he missed the treatment period and became limp.’

It was only later when he was reinstated in the royal family that he was treated by the priests and healed. But that was after having suffered numerous injuries throughout his childhood due to his leg.

Now Sislin didn’t have to go through that… I felt proud because I felt like I had protected the little boy in front of me.

I asked with a smile.

“It really doesn’t hurt, now?”

“Yes.”

Sislin nodded calmly, but appeared to be a little moved.

“It really doesn’t hurt.”

When I saw that figure, I felt like my stomach was full for no reason, so a smile came out of my mouth.

This was good.

Holding the boy’s hands tightly together, I said,

“Sislin, you can’t keep living in a cave, can you?”

Originally, I planned to monitor the movement of Madam Mimosa and move Sislin at a safer time…

After what happened today, I decided that he could no longer be left alone in danger.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“…….”

I smiled brightly, shaking a blanket.

* * *

Sneakily, with cat-like steps, we went out into the hallway.

Sislin, covered in white blanket from head to toe like a ghost, grabbed my hand and followed me.

“Stuffy.”

“…Shh! Be patient.”

Walking around at dawn was a violation of the rules.

‘If she catches us, both of us will die.’

In particular, Sislin had already broken more than 7 rules.

It was obvious that the stern Madam Mimosa would relentlessly pick up the rod and discipline him.

‘Now he has barely opened his heart…’

If he went through something like that, there would be no turning back.

Maybe he wouldn’t want to get out of the cave forever. Since the trap had already become useless because of me, a more terrifying method would emerge next time.

Perhaps a cruel method that was not even in the original.

‘Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine!’

‘We won’t be caught.’

However, Sislin suddenly stopped walking.

I grabbed his hand and whispered urgently.

“What’s the matter? Let’s go quickly.”

But it was then.

A voice that was cold enough to slice my head off flew from behind my back.

“You two there. Where are you going, sneaking around like a mouse in the middle of the night?”

“……!!!”

In an instant, my heart almost exploded.

I turned around slowly in a cold sweat.

At the end of the dark hallway, Madam Mimosa stood, holding a sharp whip and a hellfire-like lamp.

“It’s Annette.”

Madam Mimosa walked slowly toward us, who had hardened like ice, and lit the area around us up with the lamp, followed the area around the ghostly blanket-covered Sislin.

Her golden eyes under the bright red blonde hair looked down at us coolly. Some saliva sprayed slightly as she spoke.

“Annette, what’s a model student like you doing? You must be well aware that walking around at dawn like this is against the rules.”

“Hello, Madam.”

I barely greeted her as I usually do.

“Who is this child?”

Madam Mimosa swept the scary whip with her palms, and glanced up and down once, up and down at the ghost covered with a blanket.

Then she slowly lifted the end of the white blanket with a stick. At that moment, I shouted while hugging Sislin.

“It’s Haley!”

Haley was a 9-year-old child, fearful of ghosts, who lived together in the Forest.

“Haley needed a break at dawn, but couldn’t go to the bathroom. She’s afraid of ghosts, so I’m going with her.”

“……”

“If she dresses up like a ghost like this, the ghost will think he is its friend and pass her by. Right, Haley”

I said to Sislin with a smile.

“…….”

Sislin, covered with a blanket, nodded slowly.

‘Please eat it up.’

I smiled at Madam Mimosa with the face of an innocent, well-spoken model student.

Madam Mimosa looked at me with sharp eyes without saying a word, as if trying to determine the truth for a moment.

It felt as if the cold gaze from those golden eyes was stabbing the back of my head like an arrow.

Thankfully, the harsh whip was soon lowered. Softly, the blanket came down to Sislin’s ankles again.

“Next time, make sure you go to the bathroom before bedtime.”

“Yes! I’ll take care of him, Madam.”

Only after hearing my gentle affirmation did Madam Mimosa turn back.

It was only after her figure had completely disappeared that the power slowly drained from her body.

“Whew…”

‘I almost died.’

If I hadn’t prepared an excuse just in case and had Sislin wear a blanket, it would have been a disaster.

‘She believes that I am a model student.’

I wondered again how Madam Mimosa would react when she found out that I stole the potion and hid Sislin.

It was something I didn’t want to imagine for too long.

* * *

“Stay here for a while.”

I brought Sislin to an unused room in the mansion. It was originally a bedroom, but as the number of students decreased, it became an empty room.

There, the bedding I brought and food that can be eaten for a relatively long time (dried meat, dried fruit, bread, etcetera) were prepared.

(T/N: This, and all subsequent brackets within sentences are in the raws.)

“…Here.”

“This is your room, Sislin. No one will come in here.”

I lit the candles. It wasn’t proper lighting, but it created quite an atmosphere.

“I’ll bring you some new clothes tomorrow.”

How pretty would he be if he wore clean clothes? He was pretty even when he’s dirty like this.

‘I want to bring him back to the Forest right now.’

Then there would be no need to hide, and he could enjoy quality food and sleep. He could also make friends.

‘But it’s still too much.’

The reason was ‘water trauma’.

Sislin was afraid of water.

Because he was being bullied so badly in his previous place (to the point that he couldn’t even speak with his own mouth), fear was imprinted to the point that he couldn’t even wash himself properly.

He was afraid that if he put water in the washbasin, someone would grab his head and press it down.

But Madam Mimosa would not understand his pitiful situation.

‘He would be beaten harshly for breaking the rules.’

Because it was like that in the original.

So I had to prepare at least that in advance before he could join the Forest.

‘I am still thinking about how to help him overcome the water trauma, but…’

Sislin, who was checking the room, quietly asked me, while I was meditating on this and that.

“Did you prepare all this?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Why? What did he mean by ‘why’?

“Why are you being nice to a dirty boy like me, Annette?”

Sislin had a genuinely incomprehensible expression. Like a child who had never been favored in his life.

For a moment, the dark shadow in the boy’s red eyes made his heart ache.

“Someone who is so nice to me…”

“…….”

“There was none.”

My heart pounded at Sislin’s belated, very soft mumble.

It was as if I had seen a section of the world this boy lived in, which was bound to be hell due to the curse of Mephisto.

I smiled as I patted Sislin’s head softly.

“Now, only good things will happen.”

“…….”

His red eyes flickered quietly. Like a bare branch brushed by the warm spring wind.

“Go to bed early today, I have to go back now. If I am gone too long, I will be suspected, right?”

While walking through the door, I belatedly looked back on him.

“Yes! Tomorrow, I will introduce a really important person.”

I smiled broadly.

* * *

Sislin, who was left alone, rested his hand on the bed Annette had been sitting on.

With the tip of his finger, he felt the warmth left by the girl.

It was his first time. To receive such a favor and kindness…

In the dark and lonely universe where no one was there, a small star seemed to have twinkled and rose.

Only one star was so bright and pretty.

When Annette, with her hair sweet as honey, smiled warmly like the spring sun, Sislin kept wanting to be a great person just as she said.

“Now, only good things will happen.”

That sweet whisper… Thoughtful touch and smile.

Everything about the girl remained like a clear fingerprint on his lonely heart.

Lowering his long eyelashes, the boy tried to pronounce her name softly with his red, parted lips.

“……Annette.”

It was a name that made the tip of the tongue sweet after calling it for some reason.

* * *

I woke up early in the morning.

Today was the day Heinrich returned to the Forest after two weeks of ‘socialization training’.

I ate dinner and sneaked out, diligently de-staining and polishing the Sislin until Heinrich returned.

That picky chihuahua looked at Sislin and said, “Dirty.” In other words, so as not to set up the future ‘shackles’ or ‘ruin’ flag.

‘First impression is important… First impression.’

I couldn’t wash him up with water, but I was able to brush his teeth, wipe him meticulously with a wet towel, and comb his hair.

‘…Oh my god. Just by doing that, he smells good?!’

Sniff, sniff.

I put my nose towards Sislin and sniffed him.

“Nonsense. This is a Gwanggong buff.”

“…What is a Gwanggong?”

At Sislin’s innocent question, I hurriedly said, “It’s nothing” and gave him new clothes.

Sinlin changed into new clothes and looked like a soft baby beast.

‘Heuk. My heart.’

Now, he would never, never, ever say something like ‘dirty’!

After a while–

Heinrich looked at Sislin suspiciously.

I introduced them confidently.

“It’s a new friend! Say hello, Heinrich.”

‘Fufu. He isn’t dirty, right?’

“…”

Heinrich slowly looked at the boy with his characteristic arrogant eyes, then stood tall, and as he was looking— he stopped.

At the hands of Sislin and I that were tightly held together.

Soon, Heinrich contorted his forehead and shook his head.

“He’s dirty. Savage.”

‘…It looks like it’s ruined.’

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