CH 1

The villagers thought it was going to rain at first.

Dark clouds gathered enough to cover the entire Milky Way in the night sky, and the small town on the outskirts was covered in darkness. The sudden darkening of the sky had no other explanation, except that it was a sign of rain.

However, Lady Laurence, who had not been raining even during the very day, was somewhat puzzled as she walked by her laundry. But the doubts about the dark clouds that came were only for a moment.

“Mom!”

Lady Laurence, who was hurriedly walking in her front yard, hurriedly resisted when her bright youngest daughter was about to come out into her yard.

“Lathyrus! What are you going to do if it ever rains? Go in and play with Erica.”

She listens only to what she wants to hear, even when she tells her to hang out with her sister, when Lathyrus goes out into her front yard barefoot.

“Lathyrus.”

Lathyrus couldn’t help but stop at the touch of her hand gently grabbing her shoulder from behind her.

“Sister!”

Laurence’s first daughter, Erica, held her sister.

“Mom is busy with work, so let’s play with me.”

“But I want to be with my mother…”

Erica, who was accustomed to the grumblings of her younger sister, whispered in Lathyrus’s ear secretly, as if she was divulging a very big secret.

“If you play with sister, maybe I will give you chocolates without mother’s knowledge?”

“…Chocolate?”

“Shh, Mom is listening.”

“Ah!”

“And I’ll tell you a lot of fun stories that Lathyrus wants to hear. Lathyrus love stories such as mysterious spirits of secret springs and fire-breathing birds.”

“Oh! I love everything sister says! Fun!”

“What would you like to talk about today?”

The thought of bothering her mother had long since faded from Lathyrus’s mind. After about 10 seconds of deliberation, Lathyrus opened her mouth as if she had finally made a decision.

“I want to hear about dragons this time!”

“…Dragon?”

“Yes! They’re very big and scary, but dad won’t tell me about the dragon’s myth because he was afraid I won’t be able to sleep at night.”

“Then sister will tell you instead of my father.”

Lathyrus, accustomed to being loved by her sister, burst into laughter. It was finally time for Lathyrus to leave her busy mom alone and go upstairs with her sister in her arms.

Whoosh-

Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew.

The thin blanket in Lady Laurence’s hand was blown away by the wind, the clouds that had covered the moon receded, and the moonlight finally came down on the village.

Among the three mothers and daughters, it was Lathyrus who discovered ‘it’ first.

The wind that blew so hard that it seemed to cut her skin was mixed with a strange aura that a little child could not explain. The ground rumbled and rumbled. A vine riding on the wall of the house called out to Lathyrus.

[Run away! You must run away!]

But it was already too late when Lathyrus saw a gray giant bird flying over Erica’s shoulder.

“Mom! Sister! Look at that!”

Lady Laurence and Erica turned their heads in the direction Lathyrus was pointing as their hair fluttered in the wind. And Lathyrus realized the moment her sister and her mother saw ‘it’, their eyes widened.

That it wasn’t a bird, and the existence that cast a shadow over the village in an instant was huge enough to be the size of a small mountain.

“Erica, Lathyrus! Run away!”

The moment the dragon, who arrived in the village in an instant, opened its mouth, Lady Laurence shouted at the children. However, she could not escape with her children. Because the flames spewing out of the dragon’s gigantic jaws engulfed Lady Laurence, who shouted at her daughters to run away.

“Mom!”

As she disappeared in the flames, Lathyrus reached out to Lady Laurence, but she had no way to reach her mother in her sister’s arms as her sister ran while hugging her.

That was the day Lathyrus last saw her mother…

“I’m sorry, Lathyrus. I’m sorry…”

It was also the day she had to part from all her family forever.

“Lathyrus Laurence! You lazy bastard!”

Madame Margot’s wretched fist slammed into Lathyrus on the top of her head. Lathyrus clenched her teeth and put up with the pain because she knew Madame Margot hated the naughty child.

“I told you to bring me some water from the well, but on the way back, you lied that you spilled all the water?”

“Hey, I’m not lying…”

“Another excuse? Again?!”

“Ugh…!”

Madame Margot, outraged by her anger, struck Lathyrus in the head three times in a row.

In the first place, it was too much for Lathyrus, who was still young, to fetch water by herself with a large bucket on her head. In the meantime, she had somehow managed to get water so as not to be scolded by Mrs. Margot, but today, she spilled water after being harassed by Mrs. Margot’s son, Chris.

Lathyrus, who had accidentally crippled her leg, was troubled when a fast-growing boy tripped over herher over, and there was no way for her to escape.

“Why do you think I feed you, clothe you, and put you to sleep? I brought you in because there was not enough manpower, but every time you create more trouble!”

~pls read only at pinkmuffintl~

“Sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Ugh, I thought they would pay for the meal if I took the poor orphan… You know how to pretend to be pitiful every day and do things like limping, maybe you don’t know how to do anything like this…”

“…”

“What are you doing? It’s time for the guests to come soon, so get going!”

Lathyrus walked out of the old tavern, keeping an eye on Madame Margot. Madame Margot sighed in disgust as she saw Lathyrus walking, limping as she had before, and turned her head away.

As Lathyrus came out, three or four sparrows flew and landed on her head and shoulders. One of them flew at her eye level and rubbed its small beak against her nose.

“I’m fine, guys.”

Lathyrus patted the heads of the sparrows who cursed Madame Margot. Just then, a small sparrow flew right next to her and rubbed a flower on Lathyrus’s ankle.

“Thank you for comforting me, Violet.”

Lathyrus fell to her knees and bowed her back to kiss the delicate flower. Then her jealous sparrows bit and pulled Lathyruspea’s hair with their beaks.

If other people saw it, it would be a strange appearance. This was, as Madame Margot said, the only insignificant little ‘talent’ of Lathyrus, who ‘can do nothing’.

She couldn’t even remember when she got this ability. Lathyrus was able to communicate with animals and plants that are part of nature. She could read their minds and have a conversation.

The family thought that Lathyrus looked like this because she was young and imaginative. However, the conversation with them was a reality, not Lathyrus’s imagination.

It is a fact that the family members who have already died will never know.

Going near the tavern’s warehouse, Lathyrus was lying on the lawn, enjoying her little free time listening to the consolation of the plants and the cute chatter of the animals.

“Hey, lame!”

However, the pleasant time was quickly over with the appearance of a disturber who terrified Lathyrus.

As soon as she heard the voice of Madame Margot’s son Chris, Lathyrus got up in a hurry. She didn’t want Chris to kick her rib while lying down.

“Hey, are you lying on the floor like an orphan?”

The animals that had gathered around Lathyrus all fled to avoid Chris. Flowers and grass were worried about Lathyrus, who was the only one left with Chris, but there was nothing the plants could do.

“Hey, are you ignoring me again?”

“Hey, it’s not like that… After work was done, Madame told me to go out, so…”

“You really don’t even notice.”

Chris clicked his tongue, closing the distance. Lathyrus limped back, but Chris was faster than her.

“My mother was the one who raised you, who lost your family in a fire accident. Do you really want to rest? Are you without a conscience, are you blind?”

“…”

“But. It was just a festival, and you’re from that stupid town that made a fire big enough to burn it down.”

Lathyrus’s emotions surged at Chris’ last words, but she didn’t say anything.

People took the fire in the town of Lathyrus as a major accident during a festival. It was true that there was a small festival that day, but the fire was not caused by the festival. But Lathyrus couldn’t tell anyone the truth, because she knew no one would believe her.

The legendary dragon appeared and attacked the village…

It would be a story that would surprise anyone.

After that incident, Lathyrus was taken over to an orphanage. But no one wanted to take the crippled child. Unfortunately, Madame Margot, who lacked staff in her tavern, brought Lathyrus at a low price.

Whatever the reason, she had no place to go after she was kicked out of this house, but Madame Margot scolded herself for injustice every time, and even if Chris tormented her for no reason, she had no choice but to put up with it.

“If you don’t respond, it won’t be any fun.”

“…”

“Hey, hey!”

Chris deliberately pinched Lathyrus’s cheek painfully. Just then, as Lathyrus lifted her head while weeping, satisfaction bloomed on Chris’ face.

“If you want to blame this situation, blame your parents. Isn’t this the fault of the people who left their daughter in the first place?”

Lathyrus, who had endured Chris’ bullying alone, could not stand his last words. Even though it was old, Lathyrus still remembered it. How much her family loved her.

“My parents are not like that!”

“What?”

How could he insult her parents like that? It was even more unacceptable to Chris, where all he could do was quarrel with someone weaker than him every day.

“My mom and dad didn’t do anything wrong to hear you say that!”

“Are you running now?”

“You insulted my parents, take it back!”

“So what?”

“Well then… I’m going to say harsh things to you too!”

“If you have the guts to do that, say something.”

Chris opened his eyes threateningly, but Lathyrus couldn’t stand back. Lathyrus shook her shoulder in fear of him, but she took a deep breath in her and exhaled loudly.

“Silly! Dummy! You’re like a big gorilla!”

Lathyrus’s voice resounded around her, and there was silence. When Lathyrus, who had closed her eyes tightly, opened her eyes again, she saw Chris’s face flushed red.

“I was going to look after you if you were obedient, but this girl!”

Chris’s hand, as big as the Madame’s, was raised. Lathyrus, whose face turned white, hardened without doing anything. However, his hand didn’t hit Lathyrus’s face.

“Ahh!”

For some reason, Chris fell on the floor. Lathyrus soon found out why. Grass and flowers were tying Chris’ ankles like ropes.

They shouted to Lathyrus.

[We can’t hold out for long, so run away, Lathyrus!]