Chapter 14

***

I went with Sislin to a secret place where no one was there.

And there, I explained bit by bit.

The black shadow I saw in the hideout and the stories I heard when I met Madam Mimosa.

Sislin quietly listened to my story without much reaction.

‘As expected, it was better to say it.’

While talking, I was convinced.

It was clear that the culprit would continue to do so in the future. In such a case, it would be wiser to know in advance and respond to it than to suffer without any defense.

Moreover, it would be easier for two to respond than for one.

But while telling the whole story, I did not reveal the fact that there were two possible criminal candidates.

It was intentional. Because I didn’t want to place it on Heinrich with my mouth…

“That’s what happened, Sislin.”

After I finished talking, I looked into Sislin’s eyes. Was he very shocked?

But Sislin simply replied like this.

“I see.”

‘Huh? Is that it?’

It was a reaction that felt a little dry. Even the signs of hurt that I had seen had somehow disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“…Sisl, aren’t you surprised at all?”

An answer came to my question.

“Everyone hates me, anyway. There’s nothing strange about it.”

The boy said so and just shifted his red eyes down.

This kind of situation seemed familiar.

The answer I heard suddenly hit my heart heavily.

“I make people angry.”

Why did it remind me of what Sislin said in the past?

‘Sisl. To have gotten used to being hated and hurt… You’re still young.’

It felt like there was a heavy, prickling sensation in my chest.

Without realizing it, my fists were clenched.

“No. I like Sisl!”

“…Huh?”

Sislin’s head immediately shook and he looked at me with a surprised expression.

Then, his earlobes and the nape of his neck started to heat up.

I looked into the eyes and emphasized.

“All the children of the Forest like Sisl. Really. Everyone loves Sisl!”

Sislin blinked with an unfamiliar expression.

“…I don’t think so.”

“Really!”

It was true, but even if I said it a hundred times, I didn’t think he would believe it. Until he felt it himself.

I grabbed Sislin’s hands and looked straight into his eyes.

“So, whatever that person does in the future, it won’t hurt at all.”

“Because there are many people who can help you.”

“……”

‘I wish Sislin would know that, please.’

With willful eyes, I said,

“Of course, I will be among those who will help.”

I felt like it wasn’t good enough for some reason. I raised my fist high and emphasized it greatly.

“No, I’m the captain!”

Sislin’s eyes immediately slanted at my courageous cry.

Ruby-like eyes gently bent, he was smiling.

“Yes, Annette.”

It was good.

“Now we just have to wait patiently. Until that naughty little kid starts acting again.”

‘Just try to move somehow.’

‘Because I’ll never miss it this time.’

And that naughty troublemaker did not disappoint my expectations and immediately started acting.

***

“Ahhh! My teddy bear is gone. Wahhh! What should I do!”

Before the last class of the day.

Reina burst into tears and cried out loud.

“Teddy bear? What teddy bear?”

“Legendary rare teddy bear!”

“Huh? That’s the teddy bear given to you by your prospective parents!”

The children gathered like clouds and stomped their feet together.

“Did you search for it thoroughly?”

“Heuk-heuk, I’ve looked everywhere… I put it on my desk… It disappeared when I went outdoors to practice. Wahhh!”

‘No, I can’t believe you just put something so precious on your desk.’

Was this how foreigners feel when they see Koreans leaving their laptops and wallets on the tables in cafés to go to the bathroom?

But I didn’t want to blame Reina.

‘Because there hadn’t been any theft in the Forest.’

The children here were all so docile and kind, I couldn’t even imagine anyone of them stealing from a friend.

We had relatively abundant food and clothing, so everyone was not greedy.

However, it was quite a big event for something to suddenly disappear in the Forest.

I said with a soothing smile.

“I will find it. Let’s go and search together, okay?”

“Uhn! Don’t cry, we’ll find it!”

Julien blinked his big sky-blue eyes and raised his cute fist.

I clapped my hands and said,

“Come on, everyone, let’s play treasure hunt! Find the teddy bear brooch you saw earlier!”

“Yes!”

At my words, the children shuffled around and started looking everywhere.

Since it was called ‘treasure hunt play,’ everyone happily enjoyed looking for the bear.

It was then that Julius entered the classroom.

“What’s going on? Why is it so loud?”

He was the aristocratic etiquette class teacher and the man responsible for the socialization of Trees.

After listening to me, Julius said, his deep blue eyes coolly glimmering beneath his blond hair.

“It’s a case of theft.”

“…It might just be lost! Hehe.”

‘Teacher, if you say it like that, the kids will be scared. Please watch it.’

“Annette, what is ‘theft’?”

Julien asked with twinkling light blue eyes.

‘Oh my, it’s a baby, he can’t understand because he’s a baby, so he can’t even be scared.’

It’s a relief.

I lowered my eyes and smiled, stroking Julien’s frizzy hair before answering.

“I’ll tell you what it means next year.”

“Yeah!”

It was then.

“Ah! I found it!”

A little boy raised a teddy bear with sapphire eyes up and shouted brightly.

“There was a teddy bear brooch in Sislin’s locker!”

“……!”

For a moment, everyone’s eyes turned to Sislin. Not just Reina, whose eyes were drenched in tears, but also Heinrich and Julius.

I bit my lip.

‘It finally started.’

***

“This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Madam Mimosa immediately came to the classroom and grasped the situation.

“My thoughts are the same as Madam Mimosa. A kleptic in a proud noble family who will lead El Dorado in the future…? It’s terrible.”

Julius’s contemptuous gaze penetrated Sislin. Sislin lowered his eyes like a criminal.

“……”

It seemed that he was used to the situation of being unfairly criticized like this, and so my heart ached for a moment.

‘My baby, don’t get discouraged!’

I stretched out my arms, blocking Sislin, and said,

“Sislin would never do that. Someone must have done it on purpose to make fun of him!”

“What do you think, Reina?”

At Madam Mimosa’s question, the children’s eyes turned to Reina.

“……”

Reina cried, and looked at Sislin with red eyes and nose.

Sislin couldn’t make eye contact and lowered his gaze.

The boy would think he was hated.

However, the words that came out of Reina’s mouth were very unexpected.

“I don’t think Sisl took it. Maybe a house fairy was playing a joke…?”

Reina was an innocent child who believed more in the pranks of the legendary fairies rather than suspecting that Sislin stole her belongings.

At that moment, Julien popped out and clenched his fists and shouted;

“Come on! Sislin is nice!”

“Sisl is not a bad kid, sir!”

Sasha, too, trembled and shouted like it was her job. Pink pigtails, like cotton candy, rose upwards.

Then the other kids nodded their chestnut-like heads and said,

“Right, Sislin can’t have done that, right?”

“It must have been the house fairy.”

“You idiots! You don’t know that there’s no such thing as a house fairy? …Obviously the bald apple tree was angry and summoned the spirit!”

Another kid who played in the water with Sislin also waved his bracken-like hands around and said;

“Sislin is our friend, he wouldn’t take it! Teacher.”

‘You are nicer, little ones.’

With a tightened chest, I looked at the children scrambling to wrap around Sislin.

“……”

Sislin was looking at the children with shaking eyes that seemed a little strange, but was filled with emotion.

When someone believed in him… This was probably the first time he experienced it.

“It’s no wonder, everyone hates me anyway.”

For the boy who thought so, it would be a weird and unfamiliarly warm experience.

The boy’s red eyes slowly closed like a midsummer sunset. Then, his long eyelashes trembled, he seemed to have made a decision.

Sislin slowly opened her mouth with clear eyes.

“I…”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the boy.

Although it was muffled, Sislin spoke with a confident voice.

“I never stole, Madam Mimosa.”

“……!”

I was startled and covered my mouth with both hands.

It was the first time. A boy who hid in the cave because it was difficult to even face other people, a boy who only shook and trembled. He now had such courage.

‘Our Sisl, you’ve improved a lot…”

Suddenly, I remembered what Viscount Puterio had said.

“You are the lives abandoned by your parents.”

Maybe that statement was true. That said, I didn’t want to keep my mouth shut every time I was treated unfairly and crouch like a bug for the rest of my life.

No matter how you were born, your life is precious. The boy was showing it.

‘You did a great job, Sisl…’

I was a little bit overwhelmed by the feeling I couldn’t describe.