After sending Ayla away, Byron observed the area where she was kneeling.
Even though he held on to Cloud, who was trying to take the child, he didn’t say anything.
“Master, do you have something to say to me?”
Cloud couldn’t bear the awkward atmosphere and quickly opened his mouth.
“ Strange!!!!”
“What do you mean?”
“You saw it too. When I told her to kill Roderick’s son, she hesitated to answer. Have you ever seen that child throw a tantrum at my command? It’s suspicious… You must have noticed something, right?”
Byron rested his chin on his left hand and tapped the bridge of his nose with his index finger, lost in thought.
No matter how much he thought about it, something bothered him. The expression on her face was very similar to the expression on her mother’s face.
He felt a deep sense of disgust as if he were seeing something terrible.
Of course, Byron even loved Ophelia’s facial expressions like that. Wasn’t the way she showed off arrogantly so cute?
But Ayla was different.
He didn’t ‘raise’ that child like that. He made her love and follow him unconditionally. But that child had an expression that resembled Ophelia’s.
‘Is it because of my mood?’
It could have been a simple misunderstanding. Ayla had grown up a lot recently and was shedding her childlike appearance. He had also mistaken her for Ophelia when he was drunk a few times and had been dumbfounded.
Yes, he could have passed it off as a misunderstanding.
‘But it still felt uncomfortable somehow.’
Byron took a sip of a strong drink with a nervous look.
“So, what do you think? You are the one who has seen that child up close, right?”
“Well… I guess killing a newborn was something that bothered her. Girls of that age are usually soft-hearted.”
He simply said, ‘She hesitated because she was concerned about harming innocent young lives.’
It wasn’t an unreasonable story. After all, she was a girl, and she had been shown many times to like cute animals and pretty clothes.
“Yeah, that might be possible.”
Byron nodded at Cloud’s opinion. However, this did not mean all the small doubts inside his heart disappeared.
“Watch closely. Make sure the child isn’t thinking nonsense.”
So he planned to use his most trusted subordinate to monitor Ayla.
Everything went according to a perfect plan.
“Yes, my Lord.”
Except for that, his loyal subject was already deceiving him.
* * *
Scott and Debbie were living in a place very far from the world.
It was deep in the mountains, a place where no trace of human touch could be found other than the couple’s house.
Her husband, Scott, would occasionally hunt small animals or catch small fish from a nearby stream, and his wife, Debbie, would cook them deliciously with vegetables grown in the garden in front of the house.
It was a simple, but peaceful, and happy life.
Scott and Debbie didn’t always live in such a remote place.
Although it was a small rural town, there was still a time when people got along with their neighbors and lived like everyone else.
Scott, a carpenter, was known for his dexterity with his hands, even in the neighboring villages. Since his income was not bad, his family of three, along with his only young son, Whis, could live without worrying about food.
But their happiness did not last long.
One winter, Whis, who had been suffering from Pneumonia, passed away.
The frustration of the couple who had to bury their young son in their hearts was beyond words, but they overcame it with their love for each other and tried to live a new life.
Unfortunately, the misfortune did not end there. Due to the betrayal of a friend he firmly trusted, Scott found himself in debt overnight.
They could no longer stay in their beloved hometown and had to leave the village with only their clothes.
So they wandered from place to place to avoid debt collectors, eventually built a house deep in the mountains, and lived alone as a couple.
They settled in this quiet spot because they were frustrated with human interactions after a trusted friend was betrayed, and they didn’t want to deal with anybody.
Then, for the first time in decades, an unexpected guest came to them. One night, a woman’s voice was heard knocking on the door of the couple’s cabin when no one was looking for them, asking for help.
“Help me… Is anyone there?”
The couple, who had lived by only hearing each other’s voices for over 20 years, looked at each other’s faces. They looked like they were trying to check if they were hallucinating.
The couple soon confirmed that there was no problem with both of their hearing and carefully opened the sturdy door Scott had made in preparation for attacks by wild animals.
Of course, he held a crossbow in his hand, used for hunting deer and rabbits.
“Who are you?”
“Can you take care of me for just one night? I have a young daughter with me.”
When Scott looked out through the crack in the door, a mother and daughter in thin, shabby clothes were standing there.
The weather had become mild enough for spring flowers to bloom and fall at the bottom of the mountain, but as it was halfway up the mountain there, the nights were still cool. It was easy for a weak child to get sick if they stayed out in the open with such thin clothes.
The couple, who, for some reason, thought of their long-dead son, Whis, invited strange guests into the house. They wanted to find out why they were wandering deep in the mountains at such a time of night.
Debbie served her fragrant herbal tea picked from the mountain and asked about the situation. The woman hugged her daughter’s shoulder and started talking.
“My husband died, and while I was running away from my debtors, I ended up all the way deep into the mountains. I couldn’t even get my clothes with me, and I only ran away with my daughter.”
The red-eyed woman said that, and she buried her face in her handkerchief. It was truly a pitiful situation.
It was as if she were looking into the past of a couple who had to leave their beloved hometown and settle there.
“Oh my… It must have been a lot of trouble.”
“Is there somewhere you can turn to? Relatives or acquaintances?”
When the loving couple comforted the woman and asked this, the woman bit her lip and opened her mouth.
“My older sister lives in the village beyond this mountain… I wonder how hard it must be for me to get there with my child. The road is also rough. Even if we go, I don’t know if she will be able to help us.”
The woman stroked her daughter’s silver hair and spoke as if lamenting.
And the couple who heard the story of her situation exchanged glances. It was because they felt sorry and wanted to do something to help.
“We will take care of the child if necessary, so how about you meet your sister first?”
“It’s because we’ve been kicked out for something similar in the past, so we’re worried.”
The woman looked hesitant at the couple’s proposal.
“That…”
“Ah, I guess it’s a bit weird to leave a child with someone you’ve never met before. But we’re not strange people.”
Scott and Debbie seemed to think that the reason for her hesitation was that it would be a bit difficult to leave a child with a stranger, and they expressed how harmless they were.
However, perhaps that was not the reason for the woman’s hesitation, as she looked at them with a puzzled face.
“That’s not it…”. I was worried that I was causing too much trouble. I would be very grateful if you would take care of it.”
“No, was that the reason? In that case, you can stop worrying and come back comfortably. After all, we make a living from the crops we grow, so it doesn’t cost us money just to talk, and the kid is very kind and gentle.”
Debbie said, looking warmly at the little girl who was sitting quietly watching her mother.
It was not that she was, but the girl looked very neat and quiet. Although she looked calm for her age, it didn’t seem like she’d be in trouble because, at first glance,
And above all, she was very pretty. Her rare silver hair and mysterious blue eyes made her look like a fairy from a story they had heard from their parents when they were young.
It was the first time Scott and Debbie had ever seen such a pretty girl.
“Then… … Please do me a favor. I’ll come pick her up right away, so just for the time being, I have to pay for food, so please order something. My child has sharp fingers, so she will learn quickly.”
“Hey, What…! Do you think we’re so mean that we make our customers do work?”
Scott waved his hand and stubbornly refused, but the child’s mother did not break her stubbornness, saying that was not the right thing to do.
“That way, the child will feel at ease too. Right, Ayla?”
“Yes, Mom.”
As the woman gently rubbed her daughter’s back and asked, the girl named Ayla nodded and spoke for the first time.
Her voice was so calm and pure that it was so beautiful that the couple looked at the child with pride as if Ayla were their blood niece.
“Well, you must be tired, but I’ll get you to bed immediately. Just get some sleep for a little while. That way, you’ll have the stamina to go on the long journey.”
Debbie quickly prepared a place for the mother and daughter to sleep. It was a hastily made bed made of dry grass, but it was still a decent place to sleep, thanks to the soft fur mattress placed on top.
The couple looked at the mother and daughter sleeping while hugging each other affectionately and clicked their tongues as they lamented how something so sad could happen to a mother and daughter who were so close.
The couple’s eyes were a mixture of pride and pity for the mother and daughter.
Scott and Debbie turned off the lamp and headed to their bedroom.
That night, the couple had no idea how painful it was for Ayla to go through that, having to name her rival her mother, who was never even her mother and falling asleep in her arms.
