Chapter 7: Chapter 7

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Bedtime at the end of the day.

Damian nodded at my question,

“Did you wash it all?”

he touched the wet towel.

Beyond the drooping hair, Damian’s cheeks turned red.

I felt it when I slept together, but Damian seemed to have a higher average body temperature than other children.

It seemed to be soft like sticky rice cake if I poked it on that cheek.

Forced to endure the tickling of my fingers.  Because I can’t steam it freely.

“Isn’t it good for you to wash?”

“ …….Yes,”

Damian nodded immediately. A gesture faster than the answer dripped water from his head.

‘Is this what a puppy in the rain looks like?’

I clapped my hand with the towel I was holding over my shoulder.

“Come here,”

Damian approached me as if waiting.  When I lifted the towel, he even bowed his head appropriately.

I put up with the peek laughter leaking out and gently brushed his head off.

“Okay, it’s done.”

I swept through Damian’s fine hair.

It was a habit of drying children’s hair.

As before, Damian’s white face was revealed.

The red cheeks, the transparent and clear walls, the long eyelashes flickering slowly and the face looking up at me was so fatal.

“……It’s harmful to my heart.”

I quickly lowered Damian’s head.

I thought it would be annoying, so I wanted to cut my hair off, but seeing such a pretty face changed my mind.

It was clear that the nobles who had come to adopt the adopted son would unconditionally take them away after they saw Damian’s face.

no way.  Damian’s adoptive father had to be the Duke of Schuetz.

‘So even if it’s frustrating, be patient, Damian.’

I stepped back from Damian’s side.

Then Damian opened his eyes.

The clear eyes flickering through my black hair seemed to ask,’Did I not live well?’

However, I couldn’t be able to say something like’Your face is dangerous.

“Now sleep.”

I quickly pointed to Damian’s bed.

“Demian’ your bed is over there. You can always sleep over there by yourself.”

“……Alone?”

“Huh.  Why?  What don’t you like?”

“…….. .”

Damian bite all over his mouth at my question. He glanced at me several times and blew his lips a few times.

Is there anything he want to say?  He tilted his head down.

However, there was no continuing word.

Damian, who even clenched his fists, shut his mouth again and quietly went to his bed.

So, lying on the bed, I lie down in the direction of the bed where Damian is.

“Damian.”

I only called the name, but Damian trembled.  He was still showing his back to me.

“Sleep well and have a good dream.”

After a while, the answer of a small voice came back.

“……Ellie also has a good dream.”

I closed my mouth.

It’s because Damian first called me my name.

I closed my eyes without rubbing the tail of my mouth ascending at will.

Thanks to Damian, I felt like I was having a pleasant dream today.

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The director frowned and opened his eyes at the ringing pain in his head.

After going to the casino, I lay down two days without doing anything, but the hangover did not go away.

“Uh……..”

He touched his head, making a painful sound.

‘My head hurts, I’ll die.’

He muttered swear words in his heart and woke up with a hard time.

The day was bright and the smell was faintly fragrant, so it seemed like it was morning.

In a few moments, the children would come in with my meal.

But I couldn’t wait because of the head-breaking hangover.

The director stumbled and woke up from his seat.

As he entered the kitchen, he saw children working hard.  The director stopped trying to pass by with an uninterested eye.

‘Why is that slave here?’

he frowned at him.

He has been in a state of impatience these days.

It’s been a long time since the end of the war, and my son from the war also grew older.

So he has to get his kids for adoption before he grows up.

By the way, they’re going to take on such a tacky child.

‘At that time, even if I didn’t lose the game……..!’

I wouldn’t have lost it normally.

However, on that day, he drank a lot of alcohol.

I lost the game in vain and owed a great debt.

In the midst of despair, the other party made a suggestion.

If I keep this child with you until he come back, he will be relieved of all my debts.  So I brought that child.

I told the children that I was going to be with them.

But after a while, I was going to go back again.

To be precise, it was a slave with a master.

But why is such an insignificant slave working in the kitchen with his children?

If he found out that he had made a slave to work, he might have gotten a fuss.  It was when the director tried to approach Damian.

“These guys! Can’t you come in?!”

“Let this go!”

“We have done nothing wrong!”

Suddenly there was a fuss.  The children working in the kitchen and the director looked at the place where the sound could be heard.

There, his nephew and nursery teacher, Malen, was chasing other inmates.

The inmates caught by Malen were children who were famous as troublemakers.

It wasn’t just a headache because they were aging needlessly and only having accidents.

“Oh, sir! You’re up!”

Malen, who found the director, dragged the children to the director’s side.

“What’s going on?”

“Teachers say these kids have had accidents these days. I think they need education, but they keep rebelling. They even stole bread from the warehouse.”

“No!  I didn’t steal anything!”

” Because I only got bread!”

” Be quiet, these guys!  Have you ever stolen something once or twice?!”

In an instant, the atmosphere became serious, but it was a familiar landscape to everyone.

He tucked, kicked hid tongue.

“The fuss with that. Don’t leave the education to you, Malen.”

“Yes sir.”

“Come on, wait a minute!”

Then Carsen cried urgently.

“There was that guy too!”

Carsen pointed to Damian.

He would be a liar no matter what he said, so he couldn’t die alone.

“That kid got out alone!”

All eyes were on Damian.

Any other child would have noticed or would be scared and crying.

However, Damian was only standing tall.

It was an attitude that seemed to be very familiar with receiving attention.

‘Is that kid?’

The director’s eyes were sharpened.

“No. Damian didn’t go into the warehouse that day.”

Then, someone intervened in their nerves.

Ellie, who hid Damian behind his back, said in a calm voice.

“Hey!  Ellie!  Why do you keep lying!”

“Really, Mr. Director. Trust me.”

“It was you who guided us to the warehouse!”

Even Carsen’s servants, who were quietly silent, criticized Ellie.

However, Ellie didn’t blink one of her eyes.

“You know the director, too. How much they bothered other children.”

It just reminded me of the facts with an upright posture.

At Ellie’s words, the director narrowed his eyes.

Clear green eyes on a light blonde.  A child who looks remarkable but does not show much interest in adoption.

And.

‘The daughter of a famous thief who shook the empire.’

Her mother was found stealing belongings, and her throat was hung on the outskirts of the castle.

The director brought Ellie to his orphanage, looking at the hung mother’s body.

It was because of Ellie’s appearance, who stood out more than most nobles.

As he expected, it was easy for his to adopt  Ellie, but the nobles, belatedly aware of the facts, came to director and wanted her to be dispatched immediately.

It was because I was worried that ugly hair would get stuck in the imperial family.

The director had to bring Ellie back to his orphanage countless times.

“……..Teacher, why did I come back to the orphanage?”

“Do you ask because you don’t know that? Isn’t it because of your lowly mother?”

On the way back, the director poured out sharp words to Ellie.

After that, Ellie bit her mouth.  She so far have adhered to her benevolent attitude.  She has so far.

‘But she comes first for some reason.’

What is the intention, this child.  The director’s boisterous glance slowly glanced over Ellie.