Chapter 52

“Madam, please wear this hat.”

Wearing the wide-brimmed hat Jane handed her and wrapping a scarf around her neck, Yvonne stepped down onto a roadside far removed from anything neat or tidy.

In the distance, she could see men loitering about holding placards that read they were looking for work.

Without letting her attention wander even once, Yvonne entered a large alleyway. From time to time, glances fell on her as she made her way like someone well acquainted with this place.

After passing through several alleys tangled like a spiderweb, a rather clean neighborhood appeared. Even in Valley Lane, which carried the reputation of being a rough district with poor public safety, this was among the safest areas.

Yvonne crossed an open lot and knocked on the door of a one-story house.

“Director Cassie, it’s me.”

The door opened, and soon a middle-aged woman with a warm face, upon seeing Yvonne, brightened and quickly ushered her inside.

“So it’s you, Rene. Come in quickly.”

“I’m sorry for coming so late. I was worried, after all.”

Yvonne embraced Cassie, who welcomed her inside, and looked around the interior to see whether anything had happened.

“There’s nothing to worry about. That vile Earl only sends people to threaten us. He doesn’t come himself. And since he went abroad a few months ago, there hasn’t been any word at all.”

Fortunately, it seemed the Earl had not come here again to threaten or intimidate them.

“Oh, and about the construction. I think the schedule will probably be delayed.”

The moment Yvonne took off her hat and gloves and sat on the sofa, Cassie went to the kitchen and brought out a cool drink.

“I’m grateful, of course, but I worry about you. If it’s too hard, you don’t have to force yourself.”

“No. It’s only because of me that you’re having such a hard time, Director. If I had never come in here in the first place, you wouldn’t have had your rights taken by the Earl.”

“You’re still carrying that in your heart? Tsk, tsk. Such a thoughtful child.”

The eyes of the director, who knew all of Yvonne’s circumstances, reddened with remorse. Gazing at Yvonne, the most considerate and kind-hearted among all the children she had raised, she drew her into an embrace.

“Don’t blame yourself. It was my sin for sending you away while you were still a child. I was the adult, and I failed to protect you.”

At the warm hand stroking her back and telling her it was all right, Yvonne’s eyes grew damp.

“Please don’t say that. It was already hard enough managing things, and then me and the younger children too….”

“Oh! Who is it?”

The voice trailing on was cut off short by the clear voice of a child.

Turning, they saw Dorothy standing there, dragging a rabbit doll behind her. As though she had just woken from a nap, Dorothy rubbed her eyes, then her eyes grew wide.

“Sister Rene!”

“Oh my, Dorothy!”

Cassie tried to take the child back into the room, muttering that this had become troublesome, but the child was faster.

“Sister, when did you come? Did you come to see me?”

Beginning with the voice of the seven-year-old girl tucked snugly around her waist, the quiet doors along the hallway began opening one after another. A few children who peeked out and recognized Yvonne came running out in a rush.

“Sister! It’s Sister Rene!”

“Sister Rene!”

“My little princesses, have you all been well?”

Bending her knees so she could hug all the children one by one as they threw themselves into her arms, Yvonne stroked each younger child’s head in turn.

“Oh dear, it’s nap time and you still weren’t asleep. You little things.”

While Cassie smiled as if to say they were hopeless, the children surrounding Yvonne bounced up and down with delight.

“Sister! What’s that? It’s all shiny.”

“This hair ribbon? If you like it, shall I give it to you, Dorothy?”

Untying the ribbon holding her own hair without a moment’s hesitation, Yvonne gathered Dorothy’s hair together and tied it, and the child’s eyes sparkled like jewels.

“Sister, me too.”

For the younger ones who loved pretty things, Yvonne freely took off the ornaments she had worn. Then she removed the necklace and brooch set with expensive jewels and handed them to Cassie.

“Please use these as well. If you tell Mr. Luca, he’ll know how to dispose of them properly.”

“Oh dear. I feel so sorry, always having to accept things like this from you.”

To Cassie, who looked embarrassed and said she had no face to show after Yvonne had come all this way after such a long time, Yvonne gave her a light embrace as if to say it was all right.

“Please don’t say that. I lived so well here, all thanks to you, Director.”

After her mother left, the reason Yvonne, who had been cast into a cold and lonely world, was able to feel warmth again at all was entirely because of Director Cassie.

“What did I ever do for you. If only you had gone to a place run by the state, you wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.”

Director Cassie still resented that matter, and her face darkened.

Euphoria was not an orphanage officially recognized by the state. At first, it had been a place Cassie managed with her own private funds, taking in only a few children. Then, when the number of children grew to over twenty, she submitted an application to an official institution hoping to receive even a small amount of city support, but then the financial panic struck and even that fell through.

It was around that time that Earl Sellus appeared. Promising support on the condition that he take Yvonne away, he registered his own name on Euphoria’s deed as a sponsor. Then, after securing its qualification for state subsidies, which had been under review, he pocketed all of the subsidy money and sent along only a small amount.

When they protested that this was not what had been promised, the Earl brazenly threatened that he would shut down Euphoria and sell off the children. But Yvonne, refusing to bow to his threats, ran away from the Earl’s residence, and enraged by that, the Earl went so far as to bring vile gang members to Euphoria as a warning.

In the end, Yvonne extracted a promise that he would provide more support funds and returned to the Earl’s residence. After that, while drawing in other support without the Earl’s knowledge, the orphanage had barely managed to endure with the meager help she secretly passed along.

“Even if I want to give it to you in cash, I just don’t have the means right now.”

“How could I not know. With that terribly greedy couple coveting everything of yours like that. Just from what they’ve taken already, they could’ve built dozens of houses by now.”

Cassie clicked her tongue, saying it was plain as day without even needing to see it. Yvonne smiled bitterly.

“It’s been a while, Sister.”

At the cool voice, Yvonne turned to see a pair of twins leaning against the front door. Beside Embersa, who wore a grin, Fred poked his face out and waved one hand.

“Fred, Embersa. You were at home?”

“We were just about to head out for work when we heard voices and came to take a look.”

Though they were twins, aside from the length of their hair it would have been difficult to tell Embersa, with her bob cut down to below her ears, and Fred, with his hair cut short and clean, apart from one another because they looked so strikingly alike.

“Sister, look at this. I got taller again. I’m taller than you now.”

Fred, wearing a beret pulled low, moved his hand back and forth between the top of Yvonne’s head and his own.

Among the children living in Euphoria, most of whom were between five and ten years old, the twins were the only ones in their late teens. This year they had turned nineteen, and while most left once they came of age, they alone had stayed behind and were helping with life at Euphoria.

“How admirable. My younger siblings.”

Yvonne stroked the crowns of the twins, who had already reached adulthood but still looked very youthful.

Fred, grinning happily, suddenly spotted the bundle set to one side and opened his eyes wide.

“Oh, Sister! What’s this? Is it food?”

Just as Fred eagerly moved to inspect the basket, the back of his neck was caught in Embersa’s hand and he was dragged backward.

“Little brother, didn’t I tell you? It’s time to go to work.”

“Tch, who are you calling little brother.”

“If I was born one minute earlier, then that makes me your older sister, doesn’t it?”

At the sight of the twins bickering again as usual, Yvonne let out a soft laugh and rose to her feet.

“Let’s go together. I think I should be leaving too.”

“Yes, go on now. If they find out you came here again, there’s no knowing what those people might do.”

Behind Cassie’s urging, the children blinked their little eyes. Their large eyes were already beginning to brim with tears.

“Sister, are you leaving already?”

“Yes, but next time I’ll stay and play with you for a long, long time.”

“How many nights do we sleep?”

“Hmm. Seven nights?”

When Yvonne folded down her fingers to show them, the children counted one by one, then smiled bravely and planted little kisses on her cheeks.

After receiving every cheek kiss, which had become a tradition at Euphoria, Yvonne smiled as if full to the heart and opened the basket she had brought.

“Here, I bought delicious desserts, so share them nicely.”

“Waaah….”

As if they had forgotten all their disappointment, the children discovered the deliciously baked muffins in various colors and each grabbed one with both hands. Watching the younger ones bite into the buns bigger than their own hands until their cheeks puffed up like squirrels, Yvonne stroked their heads, exchanged a glance with Director Cassie, and stepped outside.

The waiting twins, seeing Yvonne emerge, began walking beside her. Embersa, who seemed to be walking ahead, suddenly spoke.

“Sister, don’t push yourself too hard. Even if it’s hard, you don’t need to keep enduring it just because of us.”

“That’s right. The reason you went back into that house again is because of us, isn’t it?”

At the twins’ sudden question, Yvonne’s expression turned awkward. It seemed they had heard that she had returned to the ducal residence.

“We don’t absolutely have to move to Gagnon. If that pig-like Earl starts spouting nonsense again about clearing out the building, I’ll kick his fat backside.”

Fred made a kicking motion with his foot and grinned, telling her to just trust him. The sight was more cute than dependable, and a smile rose to Yvonne’s lips.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I already spoke separately with my husband.”

“Really?”

The twins, recalling the stern-faced Duke they had glimpsed briefly at the public square event, did not look especially convinced, but they let the matter slide.

The three of them walked together until they reached the main road, talking about this and that. It was mostly about how things were going at Euphoria, and fortunately it seemed there had been no incidents of men sent by the Earl coming to cause a disturbance.

“Oh, right. Sister, I saw the leader a little while ago.”

At Fred’s words just before they reached the end of the alley, Yvonne stopped dead in her tracks.