I Received a Request from the Villain Boss - Chapter 1 - 1. Handsome God!

“Hey, are you hungry?”

The god asked.

The god appeared as a beautiful man with a tall stature, jet-black hair, and ruby-like red eyes.

They say gods are far more beautiful than humans, and that was true.

A low but somewhat gentle voice.

His voice was incredibly attractive, so much so that she thought she had never heard such a nice voice before.

The girl nodded eagerly.

“Yes, I’m hungry.”

“How much?”

The god crouched down and pulled out a paper bag from his inner pocket.

When bread emerged from it, her sparkling black eyes followed the pure white bread.

“Ve-very much!”

“What’s your name?”

“Rodi, Brodi.”

“Alright, Rodi. Should I give you this?”

“Yes!”

As soon as he held out the bread, Rodi grabbed it and hastily stuffed it in her mouth.

Though she had only taken one bite, her thin cheek puffed up like a balloon.

“How old are you?”

“Seven years old.”

Her reddish-black hair was tangled and smelly, though she couldn’t remember when it had last been washed.

Her cheeks, covered in grime, moved as she chewed, but her black eyes sparkled brightly.

Though the bread was thicker than her arm, she managed to stuff it into her small mouth, chewing diligently until she had devoured the entire piece without a trace.

“Ah… I’m full.”

Hiccup, a frog-like sound came from her small mouth, probably from eating too quickly.

The god grinned.

“Well, now that you’ve eaten, shall we have a talk?”

The large black eyes blinked.

***

Brodi was abandoned at an orphanage when she was young.

When asked, some teachers said she had lived there since she was three or four, while others said she might have been born there.

So she didn’t know exactly when she started living at the orphanage.

And that orphanage had many problems.

Children who entered the orphanage were quickly adopted without time to adjust.

Conversely, many children stayed there for years without being adopted.

And like Brodi, for some reason, the director would arbitrarily keep some children at the orphanage without allowing adoption.

“It’s cold but the director wants us to go out again today!”

Jeno shouted as he burst through the door.

He was a boy the same age as Brodi, who had entered the same year.

His yellow hair resembled curly pasta, and his brown eyes looked like well-ripened chestnuts.

Rodi, who had been sluggish in the cool room temperature while wrapped in an old blanket, raised her head.

Her long hair, either dark red or cherry-colored, was loosely tied, and her cheeks were unusually gaunt for a child.

Nevertheless, her expressions were incredibly rich, and every movement, from frowning to opening her eyes, was distinct.

Rodi stretched her arms forward and wiggled while stretching.

“Ugh, I don’t want to go out.”

“But Rodi, you have to go out.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Rodi got up energetically as if nothing had happened.

“Berry, you stay here since you’re sick.”

She pulled the blanket she had been using to cover Berry, who had been sharing it with her.

Berry was weaker than her and caught colds easily.

The child with short, shining berry-colored hair was a year younger than Rodi.

“Don’t go out? What if the director scolds me? Cough!”

“It’s okay because the director listens when I talk.”

“Sister, then take this! Share it with brother.”

Rodi’s smooth brow furrowed slightly as she looked at what Berry was offering.

“Didn’t you eat this yesterday?”

It was a snack given by noble ladies who had come to volunteer at the orphanage yesterday.

A small cookie topped with fragrant and sweet brown caramel.

When bitten into, it had tiny peanuts embedded like grains between the layers.

Some ladies disliked touching us, while others hugged us right away, but the best part was that they left such delicious treats.

Though she thought it had all been eaten yesterday when shared among the many children, Berry had only eaten half and was now generously dividing the remaining snack between Rodi and Jeno.

“I can’t eat it because my throat hurts. Sister and brother should eat it.”

“Then save it for later.”

Despite firmly refusing, Rodi’s gaze kept following the piece of snack.

“Hurry!”

When Berry stretched out her arm, Rodi hesitated before finally opening her mouth.

Like feeding a bird, Berry’s grimy hands popped the snack into Rodi’s mouth.

As soon as it crumbled with a crisp sound, Rodi’s eyes grew round like a rabbit’s.

“Hehe, is it delicious, sister?”

“Mhmm, it’s even more delicious because Berry gave it to me. Even better than yesterday! Then this sister will get lots of bread today! Sister’s going now!”

“Bye-bye!”

Waving both hands vigorously in farewell, Rodi left the room with Jeno.

“Yes! Come back safely, Sister Rodi, Brother Jeno!”

Berry cheerfully waved her maple leaf-like hand through the closing door.

***

“They said it’s summer now, but the mornings are still winter-cold.”

The empire’s weather was capricious this time of year, swinging between cold and hot, with barely a trace of spring.

“Right. But it’ll probably get hot later, like yesterday. Ah! Jeno, that person’s pocket is full of gold coins.”

Rodi pointed to a woman wearing a dress the color of deep morning glories.

She was a middle-aged woman with wavy golden hair neatly tied back in a half-up style.

Her gentle smile, clean face, and clothes were notable.

“Will that lady help us?”

“Seeing how kind she is to her maid, she probably won’t kick us away. Let’s go.”

Rodi and Jeno approached the middle-aged woman in the morning glory-colored dress, putting on their most pitiful expressions.

***

“Wow, we got 20 dena! This has never happened before!”

Twenty copper coins sparkled in Rodi’s hand.

Today’s begging was successful again.

It was a huge success, in fact.

The orphanage director wouldn’t just let children who couldn’t get adopted stay idle.

Saying they should at least earn their food, she drove them out every morning, ordering them to beg for money and food she could use.

When they returned to the orphanage, the director would take everything, leaving them with just small pieces of bread.

Especially Jeno, who had failed to get adopted multiple times, had been begging for two years now.

“Hold out your hand.”

“Hand? Okay.”

Rodi dropped three of the twenty copper coins into Jeno’s hand.

“Ro-Rodi! What are you doing?”

“Jeno, hide these three under the stone in that alley over there.”

“Wh-what? What if the director finds out and scolds us!”

“The director doesn’t come this far. We need to hide some for later so we won’t starve.”

“Bu-but what if someone takes them?”

“That place stinks and is dirty, so nobody will touch it. There’s a mouse hole nearby.”

When she urged him to hurry back, the frightened-looking Jeno quickly ran into the alley.

Rodi watched him and put the remaining coins in her worn leather pouch.

As soon as Jeno ran back, Rodi pointed in one direction.

“Now, let’s go. This should be enough for today.”

“Yeah. I was hungry anyway since we only had thin soup this morning.”

At those words, Rodi looked around.

She could see a bakery in the distance.

While other places wouldn’t let Rodi and the orphanage children in because they were dirty, that bakery’s owner would always give Rodi free small pieces of bread whenever he saw her.

But unfortunately, it was closed today.

The owner’s health had been declining, so now he only opened three times a week.

“…I wish it was Wednesday. Since we’re hungry, let’s just get bread somewhere else and hurry back.”

Her stomach growled like thunder.

***

Several days passed.

“…I’m hungry.”

Today, Jeno went with the director, and with no other children around, Rodi went begging alone.

Among the orphanage children, Rodi was the fastest runner, so she could escape quickly if problems arose, which was why she sometimes went out alone like this.

However, she wasn’t sure if today would go smoothly. She hadn’t eaten properly for three days straight.

She had eaten two candies that had fallen on the ground, but it was far from enough to satisfy her hunger.

‘When will the director get her punishment…’

She had succeeded in begging every single day.

Rodi had never failed even once.

That’s because she had special eyes that could see through people and actually see the things they possessed.

When the director first discovered her ability, she called it ‘x-ray vision.’

“Don’t tell anyone. This director will protect you.”

Half right, half wrong.

In reality, it was to exploit her.

Anyway, she was starving because she had been sharing her portion with other children who kept failing at begging for the past few days.

If she didn’t do that, the children who failed at begging would get beaten by the director.

Rodi sat hunched with her knees together.

“Ugh, I should have saved just one.”

She felt so dizzy now that she couldn’t stand up at all.

It felt like she had a fever too.

She had felt this dizzy when she hadn’t eaten for a whole day too. Perhaps it was because she tried to see more of the invisible things to get something.

Meanwhile, the weather was cloudy today, and there weren’t many people around.

‘Usually, there’s at least one person passing by at this time.’

Maybe she had picked the wrong spot.

But then.

“Hey, are you hungry?”

That’s when she met the dazzlingly handsome god.