“Is it because we were trying to buy that sparkly thing earlier? Because I said I liked it?”

“That’s not it. It’s because the shop owner is a bad person.”

Hearing the children’s conversation, Arinne felt a faint sense of guilt.

Not about causing the chaos, but about letting the children witness that scene.

“Young masters. Where is your guardian?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Yellow-green eyes, green mysteriously mixed with yellow, looked straight up at Arinne.

She saw strong stubbornness and pride in the child. Arinne felt an odd familiarity.

‘More importantly, “your concern”?’

Arinne raised one eyebrow slightly then lowered it, speaking with a sigh mixed in.

“But I am concerned. I can’t leave children alone. Until your guardian comes—”

“Don’t treat me like a child!”

“Like a child!”

When the older child spoke almost shouting, the younger one chimed in from the side, echoing his brother’s words.

Arinne turned her attention to the younger child.

“How old are you?”

“Ray is five years old!”

The child who called himself ‘Ray’ spread out his left hand refreshingly.

“How old is your brother?”

“Brother is, uh, Jade… one, two, …nine!”

Ray spread both hands wide, showing all ten fingers. Then he shouted again.

“Jade is nine!”

“That’s ten.”

At Arinne’s words, Ray hesitated and fidgeted with his fingers, awkwardly folding down his right pinky.

“…Like this?”

“Yes. That’s nine.”

At Arinne’s plain response, Ray’s head tilted in puzzlement.

“Oh my. Young master, you’re amazing!!”

Jo quickly interjected. At the exaggerated praise, Ray’s face finally brightened.

“Ray is smart?”

“Come over here.”

Ray asked Jade proudly. Jade grabbed his arm and pulled.

Jade, who’d hidden Ray behind him, was on full alert, wary of Arinne.

‘To be treated like this even after helping them.’

Arinne soon realized why she felt familiarity with Jade.

The way of speaking that oddly mimicked adults, the wary attitude unable to accept kindness as kindness, the prideful personality that saw accepting help as losing—

She’d seen this somewhere before.

‘He’s like Miss…’

Jo recalled Arinne from the past. Just then, her gaze turned toward Jo.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything!”

“…”

Jo, caught red-handed, made excuses incoherently.

“Go to the guard station and see if anyone’s looking for children. If not, call a carriage.”

Clicking her tongue, Arinne pointed with her chin at a sign. The sign had a pictogram representing the guard station along with an arrow.

“I’ll be right back!”

Jo ran off energetically, and Arinne, left alone with the children, asked while hoping her prediction wasn’t correct.

“Don’t tell me you two came out alone?”

“Yeah!! I only need Jade, so I left everyone behind. We’re brave!”

“Ray!! Stop talking!!”

Jade hastily covered Ray’s mouth with both hands, his face reddening as he bit his lips.

“Ah.”

Unable to hold back, Arinne sighed and unconsciously regretted it.

‘I should’ve just stayed out of it…’

No matter how good the capital’s security was, now that she knew children were wandering around without a guardian, she couldn’t let them continue alone.

Within a few minutes, Arinne felt like she’d aged several years as she brought the children to the plaza fountain.

“You said your name was Jade?”

His tearful face made Arinne uncomfortable.

“Yeah. Brother’s name is Jade. I’m Ray.”

“I wasn’t talking to you…”

Jade frowned and poked Ray with his elbow.

“Jade didn’t answer, so I did. He didn’t answer and now he’s blaming me…”

Having been scolded, Ray grumbled, moving his mouth sullenly.

‘For a kid, he’s got quite the temper.’

Arinne looked at Jade, thought briefly, and spoke directly.

“Are you upset about still being a child?”

Jade flinched, hit right on the mark by Arinne.

“I’m not a kid.”

Soon Jade’s body stiffened even more. Jade, who’d clenched his fists tightly, already had reddened eyes.

With a face that wouldn’t look strange if tears fell any moment, Jade avoided eye contact.

“No one in the world thinks a nine-year-old is an adult.”

Arinne’s stomach kept feeling unsettled.

“Everyone is a child at some point. When the time comes, everyone becomes an adult.”

A voice that hasn’t gone through puberty is high-pitched, and height and weight increase differently each day. Teeth wobble making pronunciation slip, and skin is still tender and soft.

Even if they learn and master etiquette early, a child is still a child. Living among adults doesn’t make a single-digit-aged kid an adult.

“Don’t be ridiculous!!”

Jade suddenly erupted in anger and shouted.

“Eek?!”

Startled, Ray looked back and forth between his brother and Arinne with round eyes.

“You say that because you’re already an adult!! You don’t know how I feel. You don’t know!”

Jade raised his head and glared at Arinne fiercely with a distorted face. His fists, clenched even tighter, were trembling.

Arinne had no talent for soothing children. She wasn’t someone who’d tell lies or meaningless words just because a kid wanted to hear them.

So she just stated facts.

“Now you’re finally looking at me. While being rude enough to even raise your voice at me?”

“Th-this is…”

His face reddening at being called rude, Jade bit his lips hard and lowered his head.

Looking at the bowed black-haired head, Arinne curled the corners of her mouth. Even when stubborn, kids were still kids, so they were quite cute.

Well, being rude to others is a child’s privilege. If you’re rude when fully grown, you just want to beat them up like that shop owner earlier—there’s nothing cute about it.

“I don’t know how you feel. How could I understand the heart of a kid I just met? Do you want me to understand your feelings?”

“I-I don’t need that kind of thing…”

Arinne bent down to meet Jade’s eye level.

“No matter how rudely you act, no matter how arrogantly you shout that you don’t need help. I’ll stay with you two until your guardian comes, and even if it means personally taking you to your home, I won’t leave you two alone here.”

“…”

His distorted face slowly smoothed out with questions. All sorts of confusing things were mixed in there.

“Are you curious?”

Arinne laughed emptily and spoke self-deprecatingly.

“It’s because I’m an adult. When you become an adult, endless troublesome things happen, like getting stuck with kids you just met. When you act, troublesome things arise, and when you stay still, you get picked clean to the bone or become obsolete—that’s being an adult.”

“…”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying, right? That means you’re still a child.”

Arinne momentarily felt pathetic arguing meaninglessly with a nine-year-old.

Because she’d spoken without holding back to a nine-year-old, she felt passersby’s gazes strangely.

“Someday you’ll become an adult whether you like it or not, so act like a kid while you’re still one.”

“…!”

Arinne reached out her hand toward Jade. Jade’s body flinched for a moment.

“Why are you scared?”

Arinne, who’d also hesitated, extended her hand the rest of the way and patted Jade’s head.

Careful yet somewhat clumsy, warm yet without much affection.

“…”

Jade touched the area where her hand had been with an odd expression. It had been a long time since anyone patted his head.

“Shall we sit on the bench now, young master?”

Arinne poured into those yellow-green eyes like a summer noon forest, like sunlight.

“…Just, use informal speech.”

Jade, who’d been looking up at her unfamiliarly, turned his gaze away as though playing dumb.

‘I won. …Against a nine-year-old.’

It was Arinne’s victory. She’d won a childish battle of wills with absolutely no sense of reward.

When Jade sat on the bench first, Ray scurried after him and sat down right next to him, bottom pressed close.

“Jade, Jade! Are you in a bad mood?”

“Don’t talk to me.”

Jade pushed away Ray, who clung to him because he loved his brother, with a blank face.

“Hmph. I hate Jade.”

Ray grumbled to himself with a dissatisfied face like before.

‘Did I deflate him too much? Did I go too far?’

Arinne watched Jade’s face while desperately waiting for Jo.

Children are such difficult beings. She didn’t want to understand young hearts, nor did she have the capacity to comprehend them.

Yet the reason she felt conscious was perhaps because, as she’d told Jade, Jade was a child and she was an adult.

Arinne stopped herself from trying to speak to Jade, who sat deflated on the bench.

“Sister. Buy Ray candy.”

“You mean me?”

“Yeah! You’re the only adult sister here!”

“…”

Arinne’s mouth fell open at the address she was hearing for the first time in her life. The address itself was unfamiliar, but moreover, hearing “sister” from a five-year-old.

“Buy me that one!”

Ray, who’d jumped down from the bench, grabbed and pulled at Arinne’s skirt.

“W-wait. Hey…!”

“Hurry! Ray wants to eat candy. Jade will feel better if you give him candy too!”

In a dazed state, Arinne was dragged along helplessly as Ray pulled her.