CH 31.2

“Hm, well.”

Collen tilted his head.

“Oh, it’s because you seem to have a smile on your face and you look happy. And also because the way you tie your necktie has changed. What you have on your neck now isn’t tied by Zion’s skill, right? Zion is really good at tying both ribbons and neckties perfectly.”

A sunny cafe. Leticia, surrounded by mountains of chocolate cake, asked with sweet cream on her lips.

A smile spread across Collen’s lips.

‘You’re so cute, do you need to be that smart?’

Obviously, after his work, the clothes were disheveled, so he trimmed them.

However, admiration is one thing, and excuses had to be made. Collen looked away from her as if thinking about something for a moment.

“Oh, I met a new friend.”

“Is it so?”

“Yeah, so I said hello for a while.”

“Should I say hi too?”

Collen looked at Leticia and shook his head.

“No,” Collen whispered. “We won’t see him again.”

“…Huh?”

“We weren’t very close friends. But it was nice to meet him.”

“Adults have such confusing relationships.”

Leticia muttered as she bit into her fork.

Collen looked out the window behind Leticia. The police were already there. Hazel’s body was found.

‘The low arrest rate in the kingdom is always a good thing.’

There were so many unsolved murders in this kingdom. There were many strange incidents that took place in the darkness of the night.

He liked this kingdom. And the capital was so nice.

And the best thing about this capital is that every day it gave him new joys that you would never have thought of.

Like this little girl with white cheeks and strawberry hair.

A mysterious child who suddenly entered his life. A child who returned to him the human emotions that only his mother gave him.

“Me too-”

Collen spoke up, looking at the face of his beautiful daughter.

“I really like you, Leticia.”

From a mysterious beggar to a genius child. A little suspicious. But everything was fine. She was like his real daughter.

Leticia opened her eyes wide.

“Make every day the same as today.”

“What’s the same as today?”

“It just needs to be perfect. By your very existence.”

Leticia’s eyes lit up.

“Thanks, but this is a little embarrassing.”

“If it makes you happy, it shouldn’t be embarrassing.”

Collen laughed.

“I like that Duke looks so good.”

The little girl whispered. It was really weird. When he raised Jade, he never had that feeling.

‘By the way, when are you going to call me daddy?’

Except for this one moment, everything was fine that day.

* * *

The cafe was good. When you eat a lot of chocolate, you feel like your heart is floating.. It doesn’t even need any magic here.

Suddenly, a man appeared in front of Leticia and Collen.

“Welcome.”

“Zion! Did you come to pick us up?”

Zion had already brought in the carriage and was waiting.

“Yes, we have to go already.”

For some reason, Zion smiled softly that day.

‘What’s going on?’

I tilted my head.

“Jade!”

Jade was in the carriage.

“What day is it today?”

“I just came to pick you up.”

Jade, resting his chin on the window sill of the carriage, tossed it to me casually.

‘Where are you going today?’

The carriage began to move.

‘Cold.’

Before I knew it, the carriage passed in front of the back alley where I lived. If you come near this place, you can feel the invisible cold wrapping your whole body.

It was then.

‘Huh?’

I saw something in the window.

“Wait!”

I was surprised. The carriage slowly began to slow down.

‘Here, this is the same back street on which I lived.’

I hurriedly got off the carriage.

Collen and Zion followed me slowly. And my eyes widened at the sight that came into my eyes.

‘…Everything has changed.’

The house I lived in in the back alley. Street. the place has changed.

The homes where they pretended not to know we were digging through trash cans, and the warehouses where the children thawed the blue-frozen arms and legs together, all of them were gone.

The houses were all demolished and turned into one building. And there was a sign hanging between the narrow buildings.

[Lee’s children’s shelter]

Oh.

I was breathless.