“Yes? Ah yes. Going!”
The men left quickly.
As they grew out of sight and were no longer visible, I took another look at the child as a whole.
I didn’t smell like I washed it often, but the clothes I was wearing were worn out.
And it was clear that she had been kicked by men earlier and rolled on the floor.
Come to think of it, I have never heard a child’s voice.
‘Can’t you speak?’
It could have been, so I made eye contact with the child and opened my mouth while opening my lips precisely.
“Are you hungry?”
He even pretended to eat with his hands and asked the child.
“….”
But the child still had no answer.
“Do you have…Are you unable to speak?”
I asked with a cautious voice and expression.
“…no.”
Then, finally, words came out of the child’s mouth.
It was the voice of a boy who hadn’t yet gone through puberty.
“Your voice is pretty, but why didn’t you answer me?”
“….”
The child closed his mouth again.
‘Wow, it’s hard.’
I thought I knew why he was like that, so I carefully pulled his hand, deciding to be more patient with him and walked out ahead.
Fortunately, the child followed me without saying anything.
I turned the road to the inn and headed back to the street where the festival was in full swing.
It seemed to me that I should buy the child clothes to wear and food to fill his stomach.
As I was walking slowly, I suddenly felt strength in my hands.
I looked back and saw that the child had stopped and stood still.
“What’s the matter?”
“Where… are you going?”
I guess that’s what I’m curious about now.
However, the expression on the child’s face when he asked about it was dark.
“It’s a festival now. Go and fill your stomach with delicious food and buy new clothes to wear.”
“….”
He was an uncharacteristically reticent child.
Of course, not all children are talkative.
Still, the words started to open little by little to see how comfortable I am now.
“Don’t you really want to go?”
“Why….”
“Huh?”
“Why…Did you buy me?”
“That….”
In fact, if you ask me why, I have no answer.
It was a very impulsive choice for me too, so I couldn’t come up with a good reason.
“You signaled me to come and save you.”
So I just answered with a half-heartedness.
“…yes?”
“Wasn’t it? Is that right? You must have looked at me asking me to save you.”
I could see that the child’s expression was instantly colored with absurdity and bewilderment.
The child looked at me with a face of disbelief, but I just smiled and walked away.
“What is your name?”
He immediately turned around and asked for the child’s name.
“…I have no name.”
However, the words that came out of the child’s mouth were quite Shocking.
Without a name, can a person have no name?
I tilted my head inwardly and asked again.
“You don’t have a name?”
“Yes…There is no name, but there is a number.”
“Number?”
“Yes, in the circus they are called by number. I am…It was number Five.”
“Five times…I see Age is? How old are you?”
“I do not know….”
It was strange that I didn’t know every question.
“Since when have you been in the circus?”
Somehow, the mood was set to interrogate the child, but some information was needed to hand the child over to the orphanage.
So I asked the question, keeping the line as best as possible so that the child would not be offended.
“One month…I think it’s about enough.”
“One month?”
So you’re saying you made a one-month-old child walk on a tightrope?
It’s a really vicious place.
“Then where were you before? orphanage? How did you end up joining the circus?”
“…Actually, I don’t remember very well.”
“You don’t remember well?”
“Yes, I have been with the circus ever since I can remember. I don’t remember anything before that….”
Judging from the child’s words, it seems that he was caught by a circus troupe after wandering around with no memory.
“I see. Are you hungry? Let’s eat first. What do you like?”
“I do not know….”
“So, do you like skewers? Would you like some skewers?”
When I said I didn’t know, I immediately remembered the sausage I ate earlier.
Not because it was free, but because it was really delicious, so I wanted to let my child know the taste.
The child gave a slight nod, and together we headed to a skewer shop with a large pot.
“Welcome. Uh? Are you here again?”
The owner with a good impression remembered my face.
A lot of people must have come and gone here, but he was a man with a really good memory.
“See you again? The sausage I ate earlier was so delicious that I want to feed it to this child as well.”
“Our sausages taste amazing. Now, let’s see.”
The owner looked around the big brazier, picked up the same sausage I ate earlier, and held it out to us.
“We are here. Here you are.”
But there was not one sausage, but two, and he gave one to the child and gave the other to me.
“I’m OK. I ate earlier, so that’s enough.”
I was highly discouraged.
It was embarrassing to come back even though I knew it was free, but I couldn’t eat it again.
“Then would you like to try something other than sausage?”
“Yes? No!”
Despite my words that it was okay, the owner held out a skewer with a thick chunk of meat to me this time.
“Now, don’t hesitate and try it. I am happiest when I see my customers enjoying their food.”
As if that was really his only happiness, the owner smiled as he raised his mouth.
It seemed that it was not polite to decline any further, so I was soon handed the skewer in the owner’s hand.
“Thank you. I will eat deliciously. Porta Devia.”
And this time, I smiled slightly as I told him what he had told me first.
“Porta Devia. Enjoy your meal too.”
“Thanks…do.”
The child nodded in thanks, and the owner left with a smile on his face as he returned to the other guests.
“Let’s go too.”
“However….”
“Huh?”
“What does ‘Porta de bia’ mean?”
“‘Porta Devia’ is a traditional word from this village, and it means that today is the happiest day of your life.”
For some reason, feeling proud, I explained it to the child, recalling the memory I had heard from the owner.
“Today is the greatest happiest moment in my life….”
“Isn’t that a good word?”
“…yes. Porta Devia.”
The child’s eyes seemed to twinkle for a moment as he muttered in a small, barely audible voice.
I found the child’s appearance quite cute and gently stroked the child’s hair.
However, as if surprised by the unexpected skinship, the child looked up at me with his eyes wide open.
“Oh sorry. Were you offended by my silent touch?”
“No, no…Dirty….”
“Am I dirty?”
“No! Because I, I’m dirty….”
“Why are you dirty? You are not dirty at all.”
To show that it wasn’t really dirty, I grabbed the child’s hand.
Then, although he had held hands before, his body flinched as if he was not used to this kind of skinship.
“Let’s go.”
I carefully grabbed the child’s hand to go back, but the child didn’t Budge.
So I looked at him with a questioning expression, asking why, and he had a hesitant look on his face.
“Why? What do you have to say?”
“The name…what?”
At the child’s question, I tried to spit out my real name so naturally for a moment, but then I shut my mouth.
And during the trip, I opened my mouth, remembering that I had told Mary and William to call me Bell instead of my real name in order to disguise their identity.
“I am Belle.”
“Bell….”
A smile came to my lips as I watched him chew and chew my name silently.
“Then do you really want to go now?”
“Yes.”
We dug into the streets again.
Each held a skewer in each hand and walked down the street holding each other’s hands.
It felt like I was out to play with a younger brother I didn’t even know existed.
Looking around the street, I saw a clothing store in front of me.
The clothes I’m wearing now are so worn out that I thought I’d send them off in new clothes before taking them to the orphanage.
So I forcibly dragged the still hesitant child into the room and bought a suit that fit the child’s body.
I felt it from the first time I saw it, but the child was very beautiful.
I was sure that if I grew up a little more and the lines of my face became clearer, I would become a tremendously handsome man.
When I put on a new green outfit that seemed to suit a child with such a pretty appearance, her appearance came to life even more.
I finished the calculation with a satisfied expression, not hiding my proud feeling.
It was late at night when I left the clothing store.
The crowds on the streets that had been crowded until just now were less and less visible.
It seemed that everyone went home today to enjoy tomorrow’s festival.
I think I’ve done everything I need to do now, so I took the child and headed to the inn.
We were trudging along quietly, without speaking to each other, but I could feel the eyes watching us from behind.
And now, not only the gaze, but the footsteps were getting closer little by little.
When I felt completely close, I turned around and quickly hid the child behind my back.
“You….”
Familiar figures stood in front of me.
Two were people I had seen before, and the other two were people I had never seen before.
“Hehe, see you again.”
The huge man I saw earlier said with an eerie laugh.
“What is going on?”
“That’s it….”
The man dragged on his horse.
I glared at them without lowering my guard.
“Uh? What are you number 5? Did you buy new clothes?”
The tallest man among them looked at the child behind my back and spoke to him.
“I asked what was going on.”
“Ah, that’s what it means. No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think it’s selling number 5. Oh, number 5 is the number that calls that guy over there instead of his name.”
“What?”
I felt the child who was holding my hand startled at the words of the tall man.
“Number 5 is quite useful, so I’ll have to get it back.”
I almost burst into laughter at the sight of the man who spoke shamelessly without blinking an eye.
“You think the calculations are finished?”
“The calculation is over. But we are not saying that we will give you money back.”
‘You know what I mean?’ I added, and the man looked at me with a mean expression.
“Therefore….”
I swallowed the anger boiling over the lowly people and opened my mouth.
“You mean you’re going to take the child away from me?”
“It is. Ah, now you can talk a little bit.”
The four men’s legs were slowly moving.
“And I saw earlier that there was a money bag….”
As expected, it was true that he made a sly expression when he saw my money bag earlier.
“Put the bag of money down on the floor and obediently give me the child, and I’ll send it to you.”
“What?”
It was absurd.
Who is letting someone go now?
“Looks like an aristocratic lady, but we’re not that shameless. So, just give us your money and your child and we will send you safely.”
The more I listened, the more spectacle it was.
“I’ll give you a chance. Go back as if nothing happened.”
I gave them one chance to run away.
To be honest, with Belita’s abilities, it wasn’t difficult to deal with four guys.
However, I was in front of my child and I didn’t want to make things too big on a day like today.
“Puhahaha! Aigo girl. What can you do alone, Mrs. Do we bar I mean, I’ve already figured out that the young lady hasn’t been
accompanied by an escort since a while ago.”
The big man laughed at me and the rest of the guys laughed along with him.
“So, how can a noble person go around without an escort? He doesn’t know how scary the world is.”
It just didn’t seem like the words would work.
I turned around slightly and nodded to the child to stay back.
But the child just looked up at me with anxious eyes and did not Move.
‘Are you okay.’
I said it’s okay with my mouth and let go of the child’s hand.
Then the child took a step backwards little by little, and after falling off to some extent, I turned my head again to stare at them.
“Are you really not going?”
I asked a question, but I didn’t want to hear an answer.
I first stepped back, slightly increasing my distance from them.
Then he fixed his eyes on the large one at the very front of them and carefully fiddled with his hand to start a fire.
At first, as I stepped back, the composure soon disappeared from the faces of those guys who watched me with a look of disdain on
what I was doing.
It’s because the hem of the big guy’s jacket started to catch fire.
“What smell is this- oh!”
He sniffed for a strange smell and searched for the place where the smell came from. Only then did he realize it when the fire on his clothes spread out of control.
“What, what!”
“What fire!”
They hurriedly moved to put out the fire.
I stared at the redhead who was flirtatiously teasing herself to put out a colleague’s fire beside him.
Then, in an instant, it stuck to his hair.
“Ugh, whoops!”
The red thing on his ugly face burned so brightly that I couldn’t tell if it was hair or fire.
“Help me!”
One was rubbing his head on the floor trying to put out the fire, and the other was rolling on the floor trying to extinguish the fire that had eaten up his jacket.
The other two men just stared at the scene in dismay.
I watched them for a while with a sneer and gently crossed my fingers.
Then the fires that seemed to never go out soon disappeared without a trace.
Their faces and expressions were quite funny.
“Can I do more?”
At my words, their faces turned white with horror and fear.
“Ugh! Oh no!”
“Sorry!”
“Okay, I was wrong.”
“We have committed a mortal sin!”
At the same time, the words of blame came out of their mouths.
Then, before I even had time to open my mouth again, I ran away.
I was afraid to follow them and retaliate until the end, but I soon gave up.
Judging from their words earlier, it seemed that they were only aiming for money and children, not intending to harm me.
I just watched them run away.
And when they were gone, I approached the child who had been motionless the entire time.
“Were you scared?”
A look of uneasiness was evident on the child’s face.
I felt the heart of a child who must have been afraid that I would be forced to give up myself without doing anything, and that I would return to the circus again.
I gently stroked the child’s hair.
Rest assured, it meant that nothing would happen.
“It’s too late. Let’s go!”
I looked up at the dark sky and saw that the moon had already tilted a lot.
I grabbed the child’s hand again and hurried my steps.
However, after a few steps, the footsteps of the child who had been following me quietly stopped suddenly.
“Why?”
I asked the reason and looked at the child, but his expression was
even darker than before.
“What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
There was no way something had happened in a short while, but I asked the child just in case.
“At the circus….”
“At the circus?”
“There are other children besides me….”
Oh, I bet.
Since the child’s number was 5, it was certain that there were at least other children numbered 1 through 4.
“There are four more, but they came in before me.”
The child’s speech was slow, but I listened slowly.
“I don’t think it will. Looking at the situation, I can’t just run away like this….”
I could immediately understand what the child was saying.
The guilt of having escaped alone hit the child.
“Since it went like that, if I don’t go, I’ll probably get beaten up instead of me.”
The child was telling me he was going back to the circus.
“Are you going back?”
“…Yes, the kids are smaller than me, so it would be hard to bear if they were beaten.”
“You have a chance to get out there. But are you going to give up that opportunity yourself?”
At my words, the child’s eyes shook mercilessly.
However, as if he had already made up his mind, his shaky eyes soon showed resoluteness and nodded cautiously.
“The circus troupe said they would leave here early in the morning tomorrow. So if you want to leave together, you have to go and join us now.”
‘Why are you so stupidly nice?’
As we talked earlier, the child had only been with the circus for a Month.
However, he was worried about the children he had spent that short time with, so he was about to blow up his once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to be free.
It’s frustrating, but it’s not that I don’t understand it, so my heart is a little confused.
“Thank you. I will never forget the grace that saved me.”
The child’s head bowed deeply and then came up.
After that, I turned around and walked, and the distance from me was getting farther and farther away.
Looking at the back of the child, I thought about what to do.
I wondered if I had no choice but to let my child go like this, or if there was anything I could do now.
After making a quick decision, she immediately ran and grabbed the child’s wrist.
“Wait for a sec!”
The child looked at me with surprised eyes.
“I will help you.”
“…yes?”
“Let’s go to the inn first because I’ll take the kids out of the circus. I have my escort driver at the inn. So, let’s go to the inn first.”
It seemed that the child would not be convinced if I did not explain the reason in such a lengthy manner.
So I spewed out the words without stopping.
“…But it is too dangerous.”
“Didn’t you see what I was doing earlier?”
“Saw….”
“I’m only telling you, but I’m much stronger than that. So don’t worry.
And like I said, I’m not going alone. He’s my escort knight, so of course he counts, right?”
I tried to explain from a child’s eye level.
I wondered if being strong would be the most convincing thing for a child.
“But Belle, oh, oh, sorry.”
“Are you okay. You can call me Belle.”
I felt sorry for the child who was taken aback by the fact that he called me the name I had taught him earlier, so I gave him a smile
saying he was okay.
“So, I don’t know why Belle is helping me like this, and I’m not sure if she deserves this kind of favor….”
Why am I helping this child so much?
In fact, even I was a little suspicious of why I was doing this now.
Maybe I could just pretend I didn’t know, pretend I couldn’t help it anymore.
Our relationship ended here, and I could have ended it by rationalizing myself that I had done enough.
But that feeling quickly disappeared.
The pain that had taken root in me to that extent, the pain in my heart, led me to help the child.
My past life before coming here had made it impossible for me to do that.
I was an orphan abandoned by my parents since I was born, and that was the biggest pain and sadness I couldn’t handle in my life.
And from the time I reached the age where I could think and expect,
I always prayed.
I hope that someday the parents who gave birth to me will come to visit me.
Come pick me up Or maybe someone other than my parents would bring me out of this terrible loneliness.
There were countless times when I hoped and hoped for that, so I bought a child from them in an instant.
Wouldn’t that child feel the same way as me, wouldn’t he want someone to save him…I said.
From a child who desperately wanted anyone to hold my hand, I became an adult who would hold the hand of a child who wants to be saved.
That’s why my heart kept whispering not to leave that child alone.
And it was finally telling me there was still work left for me to do Again.
Therefore, all of these things were done for that child, but on the other hand, they were also a way to make me feel at ease.
“Well, why?”
I smiled warmly and leaned down to meet the child’s eyes.
“I like you. Because you are pretty.”
“Am I pretty?”
“Huh. You are really pretty And you’re like someone I know So yes.”
“Who…?”
“There is, the person I loved the most.”
Because no one loved me, I loved myself more than anyone else.
“Come on, let’s go. We must hurry to save our friends.”
When I arrived at the inn with the child, Mary was standing in front of the door looking impatient.
And as soon as he saw me, he ran in haste.
“Miss!”
“Merry.”
“My lady, where have you been? You don’t even say anything! He kept looking for a lady!”
Mary got excited and pushed me on.
“I went to the streets because it was a festival. Sorry, did you find a lot of me?”
Her entire face was covered with sweat.
Sensing how desperate Mary was for me, I apologized to her.
“No. I want you to come back safely. I was really worried.
Perhaps….”
Unable to speak, Mary bit her lip.
It seemed that I was not wrong, that I had a bad imagination.
“What about Sir William, by the way? Are you sure you went out to find me?”
“Of course. The lady is gone, but what kind of escort knight can stay still? But I’ll be back soon. They were supposed to come to me on the hour and tell me the situation.”
And scaring me to speak, the sound of the horses’ hooves made the ground tremble.
“Looks like you’re coming.”
As she said that, Mary’s expression turned slightly red.
“Miss!”
William came quickly to our side, grabbed the horse’s reins, and called out loudly to me.
“Sir William.”
I deliberately opened my mouth with a calm expression as if nothing had happened.
“Girl, where the hell have you been? I was worried because I couldn’t find it even though I searched the entire area.”
“I heard it was a festival, so I went to the street.”
“Then you should have told us and come with us. If something goes wrong, my lady, I….”
William murmured, unable to finish his words.
“Sorry. I wanted to come and go quietly alone.”
I replied with a shy smile.
“I’m glad you’re okay. That’s it. However….”
William’s gaze was not on me, but on the child next to me, and
Mary’s gaze also reached the child.
“Ah, this is the child I brought, I will explain the details later. There are more urgent things right now.”
After giving a brief summary of what had happened, I told William what we should do next.
“So you’re saying that there are kids this age in the circus and you’re going to rescue them?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“But, lady, wouldn’t there be a big fuss if the children were taken
away blindly?”
“Probably not. I don’t think circuses have children legally.”
“If it’s not legal….”
“I think they kidnapped or forcibly dragged children wandering on the streets.”
“No, then shouldn’t those bad guys be reported to the police?”
Mary’s voice was mixed with anger as she interrupted William and I’s conversation.
“Police?”
“You’re right. I think it would be better to report it to the police and prevent such a vicious circus from operating.”
William agreed with Mary’s words.
‘I heard and saw it. Why didn’t I think of the security guard?’
After listening to the two of them, I wondered why I hadn’t thought about the security guard from the beginning.
I nodded.
“That’s right. I’ll report it to the security guard.”
“Yes. Then the security guard will take care of the children’s
Behavior.”
Since I was with my child for a short time, I must have accepted the situation too emotionally.
I realized that I almost did it blindly, without thinking at all about the problems that followed.
It was a moment when I felt fortunate to have a competent knight
and maid.
“Then let’s do it. Mary is with her child at the inn. Sir William and I will go to the police station.”
“Yes, lady.”
“I-I want to go with you too.”
However, when I said that I was leaving him, the child begged me to go with him.
The eyes of the child looking at me were full of anxiety.
“It would be better to stay here. I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I can’t take you. Stay calm while things work out.
Understand?”
But I couldn’t take the child where it might be dangerous.
I had no intention of taking the child in the first place.
That was the reason he brought the child to the inn.
So I said to the child with a firm but reassuring expression.
“Because I will save all your friends. Do you believe me?”
“Yes….”
I gently stroked the obedient child’s head.
And William and I went straight to the police station, and even after we arrived, I didn’t reveal my identity just in case.
However, I counter-threatening, saying that I am a noble lady of the capital and that I would definitely go to the capital and make an issue about this.
As if that word had worked, the officials moved incredibly fast and rushed out to find the place where the circus troupe was.
William and I followed after the security guard.
After following the police, fortunately there was a barracks for the circus troupe in an empty lot in the corner of the village.
It seemed that he hadn’t left yet.
Dozens of security guards stormed the barracks in an instant.
They dragged all those who were sleeping in the barracks outside.
I was watching the situation from a little distance.
But it was strange.
According to the child, there must be four more children, but among those who came out, there was no figure that looked like a child even after washing their eyes.
“What?”
Gracias 💕