Chapter 58
Daphne and the Orphanage
Misha stood in the center stairwell of the orphanage, looking down at the orphaned children huddled around the extinguished brazier.
—Buchatter, thank you for your generous support. May you have a peaceful journey…
—Oh, I plan to stay for about a week. I want to assess what the orphans truly need. By the way, what are the names of those two boys?
—The child you’re looking for is Kisha, and the other one is Misha.
—Ah, I see. You care for older children as well. That’s surprising.
—As you know, their background is…
The director seemed overjoyed by the massive donation from this new benefactor. However, the mention of a week-long stay caused a slight crack in his expression.
—What lovely names. They sound like the names of cosmetics brands.
—Haha. It’s a name given by an anonymous sponsor.
The red-haired woman who had been staying for a week was also there. And the gray-eyed maid sitting next to her.
Daphne, the red-haired woman, appeared to get along remarkably well with the orphanage children. She bathed them herself, she sent the driver and maid to buy clothes and dress them in new outfits, and held some of the girls in her arms and read them stories.
“She’s beautiful.”
Kisha, who was going down with his wooden sword on his shoulder, added a word. Misha frowned.
“Snap out of it, you fool.”
“She doesn’t seem like a noblewoman.”
“She’s obviously a noble. What else could she be?”
“No way. She’s a princess, clearly.”
Kisha, who couldn’t stand pretty girls, muttered.
“Hey, it’s all an act. Noblewomen are so pretentious, smiling at the fan one minute and cursing the next.”
“Is that so? I don’t know.”
While Misha grumbled in dissatisfaction, Kisha made up his mind to impress Daphne. He began twirling his wooden sword dramatically on the staircase, hoping she’d notice.
Misha felt that he was trying to act cool, so he squinted and glared at his bloodless brother.
“There’s a tree on your leg! Is that a painting? When do the flowers bloom here?”
“Uh-oh! Is it the curse of the oak tree monster? Doesn’t it tickle?”
Daphne’s body was poked and prodded by the little girls, who called her a big, pretty doll.
Their babbling made Daphne giggle uncontrollably.
She didn’t seem offended by the curious prodding of her scars, but seemed to be trying to think of something to say. Kisha nudged Misha’s side and scowled.
“Hey, she’s smiling even though they said it was the curse from the monster, that’s pretty. She doesn’t seem particularly offended, right?”
“You’re insane, shut up.”
Misha shoved Kisha roughly, as if he was going to push him off the stairs.
“It’s just a wound that doesn’t bloom, and I’m actually….”
Daphne willingly told her about how much fun she had in the ballet company, and how she had an accident when she was a few years old. The impressionable children were all swayed.
Even Misha visibly flinched but quickly masked his reaction with indifference as he continued to observe her.
“Bada, remember all the people like her before?” Misha muttered.
“Call me by my new name, Kisha,” replied his brother. “I like it, so stick to it.”
“The name means something ridiculous. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Well, I’m not a guy, remember?”
Kisha winked mischievously. Misha clenched his teeth in irritation. Then he turned his gaze to the noblewoman again.
Sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated her fiery red hair, making it blaze brighter.
“Brother! Don’t stand there, come and sit down. These cookies are really delicious.”
“Do you have a prince? Do you have a knight, miss?”
“I don’t need a prince or a knight? I just need a bodyguard and a secretary.”
“What’s that? I don’t know, but it sounds cool!”
Daphne glanced at Misha and gave him a sly wink.
‘That woman and Kisha. They’ll be so good together. She doesn’t need someone like me.’
Misha thought bitterly, turning his head away. He decided to leave and head for the backyard garden. Before he could take a step, the director appeared suddenly, gripping his wrist tightly. Kisha, startled, froze.
“Misha. Come to the director’s office.”
“… Yes.”
Daphne wiped the expression off her face in an instant.
Her golden eyes followed Misha until he disappeared from view.
*
Misha opened her eyes, dazed. She was on a couch that smelled of dust.
“Where are the kids?” he asked groggily.
Kisha sat cross-legged at a table nearby. Misha slowly looked around, and it was quiet, as if no one was in the orphanage, which was supposed to be noisy even in the evening.
“Daphne left today. She didn’t take me. She didn’t take anyone.”
“…….”
“The kids cried themselves to sleep in their rooms.”
“…….”
“What are we going to do now?”
Kisha’s voice was dissatisfied. Misha thought he knew it, and he stretched his upper body. Every muscle in his face ached.
“What do you mean? It’s not like new sponsors ever changed anything.”
“But nobody else ever stayed for a whole week and played with us,” Kisha shot back.
Misha looked at Kisha with an expression that said, “What do you want me to do?”
“Oh, come-on. We should have gone with her when she asked us. It would be better to live as a servant and take care of the princess than get beaten to death here.”
“Then why don’t you come with her? I’m done being someone’s servant.”
“That’s what she said. Daphne said she’d hire us, pay us like everyone else. Said she’d give us vacations and a surnames.”
“She’s lying. What last name would a lady like that give us?”
“Slave.”
Kisha looked annoyed. She wished she could have just abandoned him and gone on her own, even though he wasn’t really her brother, but it didn’t seem human to leave someone who was called in every other day to be beaten.
“I should have told Daphne. I should have just said it.”
“If someone heard, they’d think you were the one who got beaten.”
“Why do you have such a narrow view of the world? That’s why you get beat up. Why don’t you at least talk to Daphne?”
“Bada, you haven’t even spoken to her, so why call her by her first name? Nobles don’t like that.”
“I don’t care who hears me, I’m a slave. Look at people as people, not ranks, and I’m Kisha, not Bada, and I’ve earned the opportunity I’m giving us both, so why the fuck do you keep kicking it down the road? Do you have a sense of entitlement?”
Kisha nervously ruffled her curly red hair.
“You think you’re the real winner when you didn’t even win first place fair and square…”
“…….”
“Bada, do you think you’ll be okay if they find out you’re from Libyan?”
“I don’t want to beat people up, so just shut up and go back to sleep.”
“Listen carefully. If anyone finds out that you and I are protecting each other, that girl will be in danger too.”
A runaway slave of the Empire, with a lily-branded iron on the back of their neck, and an orphan of war criminal pirate origin.
There was no way Daphne didn’t know where they came from, and to take them in and raise them knowing that was treason against the people of Secradion.
“Why do you think of others when you were beaten so badly? We came first.”
“You started a war because you were so much ahead of your time? You stupid egoist.”
“Looks like this asshole hasn’t gotten his ass kicked yet.”
Kisha pursed her lips, then pulled a box from under the table and placed it on Misha’s leg. Misha didn’t touch the box, just stared at her like as if asking what it was.
“Daphne told me to give it to you.”
Misha tilted his head and opened the square lid.
Inside were a bunch of paper roses. The children had been folding roses out of red paper for a while, and they had apparently put them all in.
Misha’s expression turned sour. As he absentmindedly groped the paper roses, something cold, hard, and small touched his fingertips. Misha picked it up. A T-tag dangled from the silver handle.
<Gift♡>
“Uh….”
It was a gun.
*
The gun had already passed into Kisha’s hands. They were quietly arguing in the hallway leading to the director’s bedroom.
“Hey, Kisha. No murder.”
“Murder? Does that bastard look human to you? To me, he’s just a monster, and I’m getting revenge. You spent years being beaten.”
“Daphne gave it to me. It’s my choice.”
“Oh, I’ve never seen a gun before. Let me fire a few rounds and I’ll give it back to you.”
“You bastard! I’d rather you kill him with a sword!”
“That guy sold all the swords with my name on them!”
Despite their similar height, Kisha’s arms were longer than Misha’s because she practiced swordsmanship and other sports. Misha was instantly furios
“You, you’re right, you didn’t buy it, so what’s the big deal? Let’s just live casually.”
“I don’t know about anything else, but Libyans cherish treasures and families very much. And you’re my brother.”
“Just because we have the same eye color, how can I be brothers?”
“We even have similar names now. Even if we don’t have surnames.”
Misha hesitated at Kisha’s serious words.
“I’ll go first.”
Kisha quickly ran away. Then she immediately opened the bedroom door and aimed the gun inside. However, the director didn’t look at her and was still lying on the bed.
He feel something fishy.
Kisha left Misha behind and moved a little closer to the man, then shook her head.
“Misha, this thing is already dead?”
“What?”
“This…”
Kisha pressed the button on the lamp on the bedside table, illuminating the room. Kisha, who was never surprised by anything, gasped.
“Hey. Ugh. It looks like a nightmare. Ugh, don’t look at it.”
“I want to look too, ugh.”
Misha tilted his head in disgust and gagged at the sight of the director’s corpse. Then he glanced at the coffee cup on the nightstand.
A few hours ago, Misha was in a corner of the director’s office. I remembered Daphne coming into the director’s office and holding out an envelope with a gift.
—It’s tea from the east. They say you can sleep well if you drink it before going to bed, really well.
‘So that’s why she gave him tea,’ he thought.
Misha quickly realized who had arranged all this and giggled.
“There’s gasoline and a lighter here….”
“Hey.”
“What?”
“After all you’ve been through, dying peacefully with poison is a bit of a luxury for this asshole.”
Kisha muttered with a cold face. Before Misha could stop him, he covered the director’s face with a pillow and pressed the trigger several times.
