Chapter 6

Karsen's face turned beet red.

He had just realized that Ellie had deliberately lured him into the warehouse.

"Ellie, you...!"

Karsen and his gang approached Ellie.

"How could you do this to me...!"

Karsen reached out and grabbed Ellie's shoulder. Just as Damian instinctively stood up,

"What's going on here?"

The sharp voice made the children turn their eyes toward the door.

It was the teacher who had caught Karsen and his gang in the warehouse last night.

He had come up because the children hadn't come down even after the bell had rung for a while.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing Karsen holding Ellie, the teacher's face hardened.

"You still haven't changed your ways!"

"No, no, sir! Ellie started it first!"

"She called us stupid! It's Ellie's fault!"

They shouted in panic, but the teacher didn't believe them.

Quiet Ellie versus the troublemakers.

It was obvious whose words were more trustworthy.

"Hey! You all heard it, right? Speak up!"

The flustered Karsen urged the children to answer.

However, the children tightly closed their mouths and shrank back.

They refused to answer.

Ellie always preferred to be alone, but when the children approached her, she treated them kindly.

When Karsen and his gang were bullying her, she would often step in to draw attention away from them.

The children liked Ellie. They wouldn't say anything that would harm her.

"Damn brats...!"

Karsen gritted his teeth. Sensing the hostile atmosphere, the teacher pulled Karsen aside angrily.

"Speak sensibly! Your habit of resorting to violence is why the nobles don't pay attention to you!"

"It's true, sir. We went to the warehouse yesterday because of Ellie!"

"Please believe us!"

Their voices were tinged with emotion, as they truly felt wronged this time.

The teacher frowned and looked at Ellie.

"Ellie, is it true?"

Ellie, who had been silent, slowly spoke.

"Karsen kept saying strange things, so I just rebutted him."

Like a hurt child, she looked sad and spoke cautiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Damian was very sick yesterday. He had a fever."

Damian?

The teacher's eyes narrowed, then he recognized the boy in the back and nodded in understanding.

"Then what?"

"So, I was going to get medicine... but Karsen kept saying that the teachers had gone to the casino."

The teacher fell silent.

It was true that they had gone to the casino.

"The teachers wouldn't go to a casino late at night, leaving the children behind."

"That's... true."

"Right?"

Ellie lowered her eyes and teared up.

The children's gazes turned to the teacher. His face showed confusion.

Now it was time to drive the point home. Ellie said,

"By the way, sir, was the warehouse door open last night?"

"What?"

"I locked it at the end of the day as the principal asked. I definitely left the key in the principal's office, so it couldn't have been open."

"That... is..."

The teacher fell silent.

He had taken the key to the warehouse without the principal's knowledge to meet another teacher secretly.

Reading his confusion, Ellie said with a gloomy face,

"I must have lost the key. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's fine. Don't blame yourself—"

"No, it's my fault for being careless. I'll go with Karsen to see the principal."

Ellie took a step forward.

If this fact reached the principal's ears, it would be a big problem.

"No!"

He shouted without thinking and then closed his mouth.

"That is... why...?"

Flustered, he turned to Karsen to shift the focus.

"Karsen, is what Ellie said true?"

"Um?"

"The casino! Why did you lie? You almost got Damian in trouble."

"No, I didn't! Ellie is lying!"

"You'll have to face the consequences. Follow me."

"No, really, I didn't!"

The teacher, as if he didn't need to listen, led Karsen and his gang out.

The door closed, and the room fell silent.

Ellie's expression changed as if nothing had happened.

Her eyes, filled with sadness, turned to contempt, then to a blank stare.

"We need to go down quickly."

Then, she smiled at the children.

"Otherwise, we'll get scolded by the principal. Let's hurry and wash up and go down."

The tense atmosphere melted away instantly at Ellie's words.

"Are you coming, too?"

"I'll be right down."

She playfully tapped Betty's bottom, and the child giggled.

"Okay, I'll be right down!"

"Sure."

With Betty, only Ellie and Damian were left in the room.

Damian still looked dazed.

They had been together all day yesterday, but Ellie hadn't gone to look for the teacher.

Instead, she had secretly opened the door and bathed openly.

Ellie must have known best that the teachers were away.

'But why...?'

At that moment, Ellie turned around.

Their eyes met, and Damian flinched.

Ellie smiled and said,

"Didn't I tell you? When you take revenge, you should give back at least double."

"..."

"I did it for you."

Ellie smirked.

"For me?"

"Yes."

"..."

"Why?"

"It's the value of my life."

It was a cryptic statement.

"And adults should help children."

She, who was about the same age as the children, said this.

"Of course, among the adults you've seen, there probably isn't anyone like that yet."

Ellie smiled softly.

"Damian, there are people who will help you, definitely."

"..."

"You can trust them."

At that moment, sunlight streamed into the room through the window.

Following the sunlight, Ellie's hair shimmered. Damian blinked in a daze.

Seeing this, Damian's lips moved involuntarily.

"What happens if I trust them?"

Ellie paused at the unexpected question.

After a moment's thought, she smiled widely and said,

"You'll be happy."

The moment she saw that smile, her heart sank.

Again.

Her heart felt strange again.

Even though her expression couldn't be seen due to her hair, Damian bowed his head deeply.

It felt like he had to.

As Damian's ears turned red, Ellie looked worried.

'Here we go again.'

Is he really sick?

Ellie bent her head to meet Damian's eyes.

"Are you running a fever?"

"I, it's just... hot..."

"Really...?"

"No, I'm not really sick."

"So, you are feeling a bit sick?"

Sure enough. Ellie sighed and brushed her messy bangs back.

"Let me see."

Her pale face and clear eyes, long eyelashes were revealed.

Her flushed face. She seemed a bit embarrassed but looked at him straight.

'Harmful to the heart.'

Ellie suppressed the urge to poke her cheek.

"Sure enough, you have a fever. Let's eat and take some medicine. Got it?"

Just as Damian nodded, footsteps were heard, and Tommy entered the room.

"Ellie! Hurry up and come down! The principal is awake!"

"Ugh. Already?"

Ellie, looking horrified, retracted her hand.

Ah. A small sigh of disappointment escaped Damian's lips, but Ellie didn't hear it.

If she dawdled, she would surely get scolded by the principal.

"Let's go, Damian."

Ellie took Damian's hand and led him.

Damian, hesitating, tightly held her hand.

It felt as if the heat from his cheeks had transferred to his hand.

Ellie. Ellie.

Damian quietly repeated the child's name in his heart.

Just saying her name took great courage for Damian, but Ellie wouldn't notice.

* * *

"I won't let this slide, that brat...!"

Karsen gritted his teeth and muttered.

Locked in his room as punishment, Karsen clenched his fists.

He had been scolded by the teacher again today, just like yesterday.

If that child hadn't been there, none of this would have happened.

Karsen stared at the tightly closed door, his fingers turning white from the tight grip.

'Why is Ellie taking that brat's side?'

The orphans in the orphanage generally fell into two categories.

Those who wanted to be adopted and those who didn't care about adoption.

Ellie didn't fit into either category.

Or, if she had to be categorized, she was uninterested in adoption.

Even when nobles came to adopt children, she didn't try to make a good impression.

Karsen found Ellie's behavior strange.

He had bullied the children to try to get more attention from Ellie.

When he did, Ellie would often look at him.

But this time, something was different.

Ellie had taken care of that brat, as if he were her own brother.

'...But it won't last long.'

No matter what, he would make sure Ellie lost interest.

Karsen clenched his teeth, thinking of Damian, who had been standing behind Ellie.