“Leila, tell me honestly. You’re interested in Lord Posilia, aren’t you?”

Leila immediately blushed at Bershua’s words.

To her brothers, Leila was an incredibly precious and lovable existence.

“Lord Posilia…… he’s so kind…… but still, I dare not be someone who can have interest in him.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

In truth, they knew why Leila couldn’t freely express her feelings for Lord Posilia.

The difference in social status.

In this world, the difference in social status was an insurmountable wall that could never be ignored.

Bershua felt terribly sorry for Leila.

While Rowenloa was using her natural intelligence, martial arts skills, and status as the daughter of a marquis to desperately try to seduce Lord Posilia and gain father’s approval, Leila couldn’t even properly speak to the man she had feelings for just because of their difference in status.

Moreover, these days Rowenloa would always reach out first for anything Leila liked, so it was obvious she would do the same regarding her feelings for Lord Posilia.

So he decided to properly help bring Leila and Lord Posilia together.

When Leila first came to the mansion, Bershua hadn’t paid much attention to her.

Was she just someone who allowed him to say something to Rowenloa, whom he couldn’t stand to look at?

But despite Bershua’s indifference, Leila constantly approached him.

What made Bershua open his heart to Leila was a very small incident.

When Bershua was sitting in a corner of the castle with his face buried in his knees, feeling dejected after being thoroughly criticized by the knight commander about his poor posture, Leila approached him.

「Sir Bershua…… are you feeling unwell…?」

Bershua glared at Leila irritably, feeling as if she had caught his weakness.

Leila looked at Bershua like that, then gazed up at the sky with bitterness.

「I’m so envious of you, Sir Bershua.」

Bershua frowned at Leila’s sudden words and looked at her.

「I’m so envious that you can feel frustrated when you make mistakes, and then overcome them.」

At those words, Bershua’s eyes began to waver.

For Bershua, failure and overcoming it were extremely painful and difficult words.

「Until now, my life has been a series of frustrations, and I never had the chance or time to overcome them. Thanks to that, I couldn’t even think about being able to overcome anything. But watching you practice hard and sweat even after being scolded by the knight commander…… it made me wonder why I never even tried to overcome my situation until now.」

Leila smiled brightly at Bershua.

「I’m sure that you will become stronger with each setback you face, Sir Bershua. Like flowers that rise again no matter how many times they’re bent.」

From that day on, Bershua began to fall for Leila.

To him, who had lived with seemingly perfect people who never seemed to have experienced failure, Leila was the only one who could comfort him.

She was like magic, that kind of existence.

Marquis Masipacius wasn’t much different.

While he was going around orphanages looking for a suitable child, thinking that Rowenloa, though appearing obedient, was too stubborn and would never marry someone he arranged for her, he encountered Leila.

Leila flinched when she saw the marquis, then quickly avoided his gaze.

The marquis, who normally never paid attention to others’ attire, didn’t know why at that moment her worn-out clothes and skinny frame caught his eye so much.

For some reason, a familiar face flashed through his mind.

As if rejecting that memory himself due to the pain, the marquis tightly closed his eyes.

Thus, drawn by an inexplicable pull, the marquis took Leila to the marquis residence right away.

He couldn’t understand why she seemed so delicate and pitiful, but as he dressed her in fine clothes and fed her well, it took only a moment to grow attached to her.

‘Yes. This is the daughter we wanted. We shouldn’t have let you go like that.’

The marquis sighed again at the image of a woman flashing through his mind.

Looking at Leila chattering away beside him, unaware of anything, he felt all the worries that had been troubling him disappear for a moment.

And so Leila became the youngest daughter of the Masipacius marquis family. 

 ***

 “Ah…… I ran out in frustration, but I have nowhere to go……” 

 That’s how I left the marquis residence swept up in emotions, but once I actually came out, I had absolutely nowhere to go.

I briefly considered going to Grace, but if anyone saw me wandering the streets in my nightgown like this, it would surely cause strange rumors.

And those rumors would definitely be disadvantageous to me.

After crouching down not far from the mansion and contemplating for a while, I suddenly remembered the cabin where the man in the cloak had taken me for treatment.

……While clearly trespassing into a stranger’s cabin without permission was wrong, I had no other options right now.

I’m really sorry.

Cloaked Sir.

Well…… there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to find the key, and if the temperature doesn’t drop too much at night, I’ll just gather some dirt around the cabin to sleep on.

Of course, since it’s winter and the ground is probably all frozen hard, I’d really prefer to go inside the cabin if possible…..

After apologizing profusely in my mind to the unknown cloaked man, I headed towards the back mountain with my injured leg.

While it was a distance that could be covered quickly on horseback, unfortunately it took a full two hours to walk.

That’s how I managed to reach the back mountain as the sun was setting.

But…… what good is reaching the back mountain!

I have no idea where that cabin is!

Let me think…..

How did that man find the cabin?

There’s no way there would be a path leading to the cabin in this mountain…..

Path?

Right, there might not be a path.

But, couldn’t there be markers showing the way there?

I realized I needed to enter the mountain before sunset to find any markers, so I hurriedly made my way in.

After climbing for quite a while, sure enough, I found what seemed to be intentionally left traces.

This mountain is mostly made up of pine trees.

However, from a certain point up the mountain, Korean pine trees planted among the pine trees started catching my eye.

While pine trees have the characteristic of having two sharp needles bundled together, Korean pine trees, though a type of pine, have five needles bundled together.

I silently sent great thanks to the captain of the marquis’ knights who had taught me this fact.

I followed the planted Korean pine trees for quite a while.

Thanks to that, I was able to find the somehow familiar cabin just before it got completely dark.

I started looking for the key behind the cabin like he had done last time.

Hmm…… there doesn’t seem to be anywhere likely to hide a key…..

As I searched for the key, the surroundings grew darker, and to protect myself in the darkness, I stretched out my hand and felt my way forward along the wall.

Then suddenly, the wall seemed to give way and something caught in my hand.

The key!

Thus I was fortunately able to find the key and enter the cabin.

Actually, I had tried not to come inside if possible…..

I’m really sorry…..

It’s just scarier than I expected once it got dark…..

When I opened the door and entered, the familiar cabin interior that I’d been in once before was dimly visible.

I carefully lit the lamp on the desk, and as if it had been enchanted, the lamp began to brightly illuminate the entire cabin the moment it was lit.

Relieved by the brightened surroundings, I plopped down on the floor.

I was very hungry, and had a strong urge to drink the hot cocoa he had given me last time, but I thought it would be really wrong to not only trespass into someone’s home but also steal their food.

So I tried my best to suppress my hunger and lay down on the bed to sleep.

—Now, tell me.

……I wanted to sleep comfortably, at least while sleeping.

The moment I was falling asleep, Wilty the water spirit spoke to me.

‘Tell you what?’

—Who controls the fire spirit, just like you control me, the water spirit.

‘Um…… I didn’t look into it?’

Hearing my words, Wilty looked at me with an exasperated expression.

I gave Wilty an awkward smile in response.

—Think about it. Haven’t you heard any stories about someone suddenly receiving fire’s blessing?

Someone who suddenly received fire’s blessing…?

At Wilty’s words, I felt like a newspaper article I’d read in my previous life flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t delve deeper into the hazy memory.

‘Ah…… I feel like I know something…… but I don’t.’

Hearing my words, Wilty made a very displeased expression.

—Fine…… go to sleep…..

Only after Wilty disappeared from my consciousness could I fall into a deep sleep. 

 ***

 What woke me up was the morning sunlight striking my eyes.

When I got up, the sun was already high in the sky as if it had risen long ago, and my stomach was repeatedly making growling sounds saying it was hungry.

So I went outside the cabin and looked around at the nearby trees.

Ah…… I’m hungry, I wonder if there are any edible fruits…..

I’m really something, looking for fruits in winter…..

I had brought food in my bag, but while climbing around the mountain yesterday, my bag tore and all my belongings fell out through the tear. In other words, I had no food at all in my possession right now.

As I was walking around looking for something edible for quite a while, I suddenly felt a human presence behind me.

When I turned around startled, that man from before in the cloak was standing with his arms crossed, staring at me.

“Ah…… hello?”

Hearing my words, the man let out a laugh as if dumbfounded.

I was busy trying to hide my face that felt like it would burst from embarrassment.

“This isn’t why I took you to the cabin yesterday.”

I gave an awkward smile.

Well…… I had no choice…..

The man seemed to look me over, then his gaze stopped at my injured leg.

Then he immediately frowned.

“You’re bleeding.”

Only then did I realize that my leg wound from yesterday, which I had unwrapped the bandages from, had reopened and was bleeding after getting caught on tree branches.

I guess when you’re too hungry, physical pain doesn’t feel like pain anymore.

The man came over and quickly lifted my body like yesterday.

Growl—

And at that moment, a sound announcing how hungry I was burst out from my stomach.