“Oh, my!”
The woman covered her lips as if she was surprised by my words.
With her by my side, I stared at the children’s clothes. Although it was not colourful and distinctive, by touching the fabric of the clothes I could tell that it was comfortable for children to wear, even when they are working or playing.
“Did you make these clothes yourself?”
When I asked, the woman replied.
“Yes, among the fabric rolls that came in, the ones that are unequal in size are made into clothes for children and sold. But it’s not selling well as you can see.”
She laughed as if she was ashamed.
I thought of the children as I touched the clothes. I thought all five children could wear this size. I think that Rodi’s might need a little trimming to fit however. I’ll do it when I go back.
Feeling determined to go back soon, I nodded and said to the woman.
“Please wrap all these clothes.”
“Yes?! All of them? It would be 15 in total.”
The women blinked fastly out of surprise, but I didn’t care.
The clothes of the children I saw in the morning were too big for their body and shabby.
All of the clothes they were wearing were dirty and worn out, so they had to be thrown away. So 15 pairs of clothes were not that many for 5 children.
When I was not shaken by the amount of money, the woman took the clothes out of the hanger one by one and began to wrap them.
I looked at her back and recalled the children.
‘Finally it’s not a waste of money.’
Besides, I originally planned to buy the children’s clothes.
‘I wonder if they are going to be happy?’
I thought deeply for a moment on how to give the clothes to the children. Should I give them as a gift or not?
Ugh, I can’t think of any way to give these clothes to the kids! While the woman was packing the outfits, I was internally worrying as to how to give them the clothes. I thought it might be best for Jack to give them the clothes…… I wanted to give them to the children myself but sadly…… While I was lost in thought the woman finished packing. She then handed me several bags with the clothing in it.
“Here you go, the total amount for all of the clothes is 1 gold coin.”
“……What?”
I blinked as I had been preparing several gold coins just in case.
For 15 pairs of clothes it’s only 1 gold coin? In won it’s 6,000 per pair, isn’t it too cheap?
Not knowing the market prices here, or the market price of children’s clothes, I was puzzled whether this was the right amount. Because I think it’s too cheap!
As if she could read my mind full of worries, the woman smiled shyly and said.
“It’s made of leftover fabrics that’s why the price is low. I am also grateful that you are buying my clothes instead of buying luxurious clothes from the other stores.”
“I don’t think that is a fair price, you work hard to sew so I think it deserves a fair price.”
“But…”
“I want to at least pay a fair price for what my children will wear.”
“……I see. The original price is three gold coins.”
The woman said like she had no other choice. I smiled and gave her three gold coins.
The woman took the gold coins with a strange look on her face. I wanted to reaffirm her, who still seemed insecure.
“I am sure my children will love these clothes. In the future they will wear them often, so don’t underestimate their value to only be worth 1 gold coin! “
“……thank you.”
The woman bowed deeply to me.
I glanced over at the business card attached to her.
[Clover Fabrics]
“I’ll come back again to buy clothes for my children, Mrs. Clover.”
Her eyes grew bigger when I said her name. Clover, who soon realised that I had seen her business card, bowed her head.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to prepare more clothes that children will love.”
“Thank you and good luck.”
“Goodbye!”
I left the store while listening to Clover’s goodbye behind me.
My hands were as heavy as when I entered. With a gold coin bag and paper bags.
I paused to look down at the bags. They were full of cute and pretty clothes. They will be good for playing and other activities because of the comfortable fabric and the perfect size.
I felt better. After collecting the bag of clothes for the children, I started walking faster. I still had many places left to vist today.
I looked all over the market. When I returned to the carriage, I was completely exhausted.
When I brought back a huge amount of shopping bags, the Coachman, who was waiting, was surprised.
” Lady, I’ll hold it for you.”
“Thank you.”
Without hesitation, I gave my shopping bags to the coachman and got on the carriage and sat down on the seat.
“Ugh, I feel so tired……. ”
When I looked up information about Sielra in the director’s office it said she was 26 years old. With such a young age, I was surprised at how weak she was.
I rolled my eyes and saw the shopping bags filled the seats next to me.
After leaving Clover’s store, I bought daily necessities and groceries, children’s school supplies and toys, and some simple clothes for me to wear.
Looking at the list, it seems like it’s not that much, but I spent as much as 20 gold coins in a day. The amount was not small.
‘When I get back to the orphanage, the first thing I must do is renovate it. Come to think of it, there was only one table in the dining room. It doesn’t make sense that there is only one table in the kitchen and the dining room.
Not to mention that the chair in the dining room was also broken. And the table was so dirty and messy too. Should I buy a refrigerator first? Wait, do they even have refrigerators in this world? ……Well, I certainly hope there is something similar.’
There were so many more things to buy. I’ll buy the rest at once later. “The orphanage is called “Sielra orphanage”. After telling the coachman about my destination. I sat back comfortably. I looked at the shopping bags with happy eyes.
‘I hope that they will like it. Come to think of it Ren and Rodi both have good sense when it comes to choosing things and clothes. Jake Purite also seemed to know a lot, so I am certain with this they will be happy.’
Wouldn’t that change their perspective about me a little? Well, come to think of it, what did Chloran like?
…… Wait. It’s no use of thinking too much I think because Chloran’s favorite is what Ren’s favorite is. Therefore, if I manage to get Ren’s favor, Chloran’s heart will naturally follow.
‘If I do this……’
Wouldn’t I be able to live safely after making the children independent?
If I survive and help them to become independent, then…… I want to stop running this orphanage and live my life. Because I’ve always been tied up in an orphanage. Now that I’ve got a new and different life……
So let’s raise the children well until they are fully independent.
My eyes began to close. When I opened my eyes and looked, there was still some time left to reach the orphanage……
So I slowly fell asleep.
Little did I know what would be awaiting me at Sielra’s orphanage.
***
“Lady, we’re here. ”
“Oh……”
The coachman opened the door and the sound of the door opening woke me up. As I turned my head in half-asleep, I could see the darkened landscape of the orphanage.
We arrived…?
“Thank you for the ride.”
“I have a lot of luggage, so I’ll carry it inside myself.”
As I struggled to unload my luggage, the driver stepped up and started to speak. I looked at him with reassuring eyes.
I’ve been cold to him all day because of the gaze I saw when I met him for the first time.
“Lady, I’ll carry it inside for you.”
“Alright, thank you.”
I would have refused if the luggage wasn’t havey so, I decided to accept his help.
My body was too stiff. Because of that I could only carry a shopping bag.
I opened the door and went inside and turned on the light while the coachman moved my luggage to the entrance.
The lights on the ceiling turned on with a sound, like sparks.
However, unlike in Korea, electricity did not flow through the lightbulbs here. There was no electricity in this world. Instead, there was a special ore called Mana Stone that replaced the electricity here.
‘I should buy some new mana stones too.’
And so there was one more thing added to the ever-growing list of things I needed to buy.
Listening to the sound of the driver putting down the luggage behind me, I went up to the second floor for a while and stood in front of the children’s door. My heart was pounding with tension.
‘I have to knock if I want the clothes to be delivered to the children!’
“Hey, Jack, are you in there?”
Standing at the door of the boys room’s door, I spoke in a quiet voice.
But there was no response. This time, I knocked and raised my voice a little.
“I have something to say. Can you please spare me a minute?”
It was quiet.
The complete silence made me feel strange.
I turned around and knocked on the door of the girls’ room this time.
“Ren, are you in there?”
But there was no response here either.
I put down my knocking hand. And without making a sound, I opened the door carefully. I thought maybe they were sleeping.
But……
“……there is no one here.”
There was nobody inside. The blankets were laid in ways that made it look like they were in their beds.
I opened the boys room’s door without hesitation this time. And it was empty, too.
‘Where are they?’
There wasn’t a single child in any of the rooms.
‘Was there an event in the novel?’
I tried to remember in my head quickly.
However, no matter how much I tried to think about it, there was no part where all of the children escaped so suddenly. There was only a time where Chloran and Ren escaped, without the others.
“Lady, I have moved all your luggage…….”
“Coachman, I need your help!”
Running down to the first floor, I hurriedly grabbed the driver who was about to leave after moving all my luggage. He looked at me with puzzled eyes.
“The children escaped. They wouldn’t have gone far. Please help me find the children. I’ll pay you with extra money.”
I could feel the driver looking at me in embarrassment, but I left the orphanage after asking him for help.
‘The contents of the novel have changed.’
