59. Because We Only Have Each Other

 Kisha and Misha stood far away, watching with bewildered faces as the orphanage collapsed with a crashing sound.

“We only set fire to that one room.”

“Why is it getting bigger and bigger……”

“No, who told anyone to spill gasoline on the floor?”

Before setting the fire, they looked around to save the children, but all rooms were empty. While that was fortunate, the children had said they were going to bed, but their whereabouts were unknown.

And the orphanage was engulfed in terrifying flames.

“Hey, where are we going to live now?”

“Our limbs are fine, so we’ll just have to do manual labor.”

“Damn. We should have gone to that strange lady.”

Kisha and Misha looked at each other’s soot-covered faces and scratched their heads, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Then they heard a beeping sound echoing through the forest.

Their hearts grew cold.

If their guess was right, it was the dispatch signal of the local inspection team. 

 * * *

 Kisha and Misha ran desperately through the forest.

But being caught by the inspection team surrounding the area was only a matter of time.

In the detention cell with bright white lights, they were each asked to write down their personal information. Their hands trembled instinctively.

Name, age, origin.

Just these three things needed to be written.

For the name, they could write their newly given names, age as is, and for origin, it wouldn’t be a problem to write ‘unknown due to being orphans.’

But the reason they couldn’t write carelessly was because they had heard someone say ‘we’ll have to reinvestigate the burned orphanage.’ They both simultaneously thought of the director’s corpse, which should now be completely burned.

They whispered to each other.

“Does this mean we’ll be blamed for killing the director too? In Secradion, murder automatically means death penalty.”

“Death penalty?”

“Yeah. Hanging. Dangling by the neck.”

Naturally, it wasn’t guilt they felt. They were just afraid of dying for something they hadn’t done. Just as Misha was writing names at a snail’s pace on behalf of Kisha who couldn’t write—

“Oh no!”

There was a commotion outside the cell. And then a familiar voice was heard.

“My villa has burned down!”

“Miss, please calm down!”

“How can I calm down? Oh my! What should I do! Who did this?”

Misha and Kisha put down what they were writing and stood close to the iron bars. As expected, Daphne Beaucater was making a fuss with ‘I’m totally immersed in acting right now’ written all over her face.

She was dressed in a halter neck dress that exposed her shoulders and arms, adorned with incredibly expensive-looking accessories from earrings to necklaces, bracelets, and brooches.

“Aren’t you the young lady of House Green?”

The inspection team captain approached her, taking off his hat and bowing. He too seemed curious about why Daphne had appeared here.

“Yes. I am Daphne of Beaucater and Green. I’m also the niece of King Rodriguez.”

The inspection team captain nodded as if he already knew this.

“And currently I’m temporarily serving as the Count of Serenade.”

The introduction was long. Daphne put extra emphasis on the last part. It was to emphasize that she had her own title, not just being someone’s daughter or whatever.

“I see. I apologize for causing you to make such a precious visit.”

“Oh my. I can’t believe this was your doing. I just can’t believe it.”

“Do you know these children?”

“Yes. Of course I know them. They were children I was planning to hire for my mansion.”

“Those orphans?”

Daphne’s clear and very precise pronunciation echoed through the inspection station. Now that they looked, the orphan children were clustered next to Daphne’s maid.

“I saw those brothers taking cooking oil!”

“Not cooking oil, it was kerosene! Kerosene!”

Misha let out an involuntary sigh. No wonder the rooms were empty, though they couldn’t tell when the children had been taken away. Kisha stupidly muttered ‘savior.’ Misha elbowed Kisha in the solar plexus.

“How is that your property, Miss? That place is……”

“I bought that building from that man long ago. For 4 billion rions.”

Though it wasn’t that long ago, just three days, Daphne simply dismissed it as long ago.

“What? Are you saying you bought that dilapidated building on that land for 4 billion?”

“Yes. I thought it was worth it.”

Daphne looked back and forth between Kisha and Misha.

“To think my villa has burned down and disappeared. I’m so sad I could cry. I almost fainted when I heard the news. Oh, my goodness.”

“Oh, our poor and fragile Miss! Please pull yourself together.”

Daphne fell backward like someone having a dizzy spell, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. The honey-colored haired maid supported her back and played along.

Kisha suddenly thought her golden eyes looked similar to a snake he had once seen in the sea.

“It was my first villa that I bought with the inheritance from my godfather.”

Having carefully crafted her lie, Daphne dabbed at her eyes with a light green handkerchief.

‘She really bought that with inheritance?’

While Misha could clearly see that she wasn’t actually crying, everyone else behind her was sympathizing with her.

“Count Serenade, what would you like to do? Should we hand these orphans over to the royal police?”

Daphne cleared her throat once, as if somewhat embarrassed by the title.

“No. Young children can make mistakes. Please release them. I’ll take them.”

“Pardon?”

“They say debt creates the strongest relationships, don’t they?”

Daphne said this with a grin.

Misha laughed in disbelief. Sure enough, the woman’s voice, overflowing with confidence to the point of bursting, was heard once again.

“But in exchange, you’ll have to work with me until you pay it all back.” 

 * * *

 Their old stories continued until they got off in front of the Beaucater mansion.

Daphne and Misha each recalled good memories and bizarre old times, each holding different sentiments about them.

“Back then, Miss, you were kind of……. crazy.”

“Salary deduction for you.”

Misha shrugged his shoulders.

“The current Miss has grown up quite a bit.”

“Are you looking down on me because you’ve grown taller? You’re two years younger than me.”

“When I pay off my debt……”

“I don’t hold onto people who want to leave. But you still have 3 billion left, right?”

The Shasha brothers had agreed to take responsibility for the burning of ‘Daphne’s villa.’ They divided it equally to pay 2 billion each.

The annual salary working for Daphne was quite decent, and she would occasionally give extra pocket money saying ‘buy whatever you want.’ Just like treating family.

Kisha was frugal except when going out with his girlfriends. He diligently saved money and paid his dues, and even earnestly brought to Daphne the prize money he occasionally won from sword competitions.

Conversely, Misha’s debt strangely kept increasing. Misha, who said daily that he would quit and leave once he paid off his debt, seemed sincere. Hoping for a windfall, Misha tried gambling and investing. However, he consistently went bankrupt.

“Damn.”

Daphne picked up the novel lying on the reception room sofa, almost lying down as she sat.

“I’m curious about something — you didn’t have original names, right? Ocean and Weak.”

“It wasn’t Weak. It was Covenant.”

“Soft?”¹T/N: a play on words. 심약 means “weak-hearted” or “frail in spirit” while 언약 means “covenant” or “oath.” While 연약 means “fragile” or “delicate”

Daphne paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Covenant. It was Covenant. There was some kind of covenant ceremony in Denver territory. That’s where I was picked up by that bastard director of Tenzen.”

However, she didn’t seem interested in listening. Seeing Daphne’s bangs flip up and not fall back down, Misha laughed along as if there was no helping it.

“Do you know who gave you your new names? Kisha, Misha.”

After laughing heartily and stopping abruptly, she asked while wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her index finger.

“Other than being an anonymous first sponsor, I don’t know. Timing-wise, it was right after Kisha returned from a competition in the Empire, but thanks to ‘Miss’s villa’ burning down completely, the records are gone.”

“That’s too bad. Do you know what they mean? It can’t be cosmetics shop names.”

Misha glanced at her, then cast his gaze out the window.

In the garden, Celestian and Kisha were sparring with wooden swords.

He remembered the letter from the first and last sponsor he had ever received. The neat handwriting saying that everything he wanted to do would be supported, and to live a happy life and live only for himself.

And there was no seal, nothing. The letter had no scent.

“My name, they said it means ‘I miss you.'”

Misha scratched his cheek. When he first received his name as a child, and when Daphne first asked about his name, he couldn’t answer readily. Because he was embarrassed.

“That’s quite romantic, but you’ve never met the sponsor, right?”

“Obviously, those words weren’t meant for me.”

Daphne didn’t think much of it.

She slowly got up and leaned against the window. The sparkles that shimmered like finely broken glass fragments, and Celestian who shone even with his back to them.

“I think I like that man a bit.”

Daphne muttered, remembering the firm embrace when he had held her tight, not letting her go anywhere. Misha, standing in front of her, lowered his eyes.

“But Miss, Grand Duke Teriosa……”

Misha pondered for a moment what to say.

“He certainly seems favorable towards you, Miss. It seems like he wants to help several times, but he’s from Denver……”

Misha did feel great gratitude for how he had dealt with Count Baldwin on their behalf.

But before that, wasn’t he the man who had made preparations to leave right after having some conversation with Psyche when Daphne was lying in the hospital with a gunshot wound?

When he looked down at the ground and then straight ahead, he found Daphne facing him with an expressionless face. Misha’s hair stood on end as he instinctively realized he had made a verbal mistake.