I took off my robe and wrapped it around the child who, though cold, was definitely still alive. I could feel the faint breath and pulse that hadn’t yet cooled under my fingertips.

“Lady Lora. Let us handle this.”

Sion, who had quietly followed behind me, said as he took off his own robe and wrapped it around me. Beside him, Lionel cradled the child in his arms.

The men clearing the bodies snickered knowingly.

It was a smile that a common guard shouldn’t dare show to nobility.

“Well! If you’re going to be hypocritical, just move along. Do you think you’re the first young lady to act this way?”

“You despise the beggars from the slums anyway. Don’t show your meager compassion only at times like this.”

Hypocrisy. And meager compassion.

They were right. If it wasn’t hypocrisy, what else could you call my behavior—suddenly caring now, after spending the bitter cold in comfort within a warm house without a thought?

But whether it was hypocrisy or compassion, one thing was certain: these men had picked the wrong person to confront today.

I could feel my heart pounding with a deep anger, fundamentally different from what I felt toward the Kalschmitz Grand Duke’s household.

“You must be insane to speak to a noble like that.”

“Haha, miss, you must not know much, but do you know who’s behind us?”

“Should I know who’s behind the street cleaners?”

As I responded to their disrespect with equal disdain and raised the corner of my mouth, their expressions froze.

Grinding their teeth, they muttered toward me.

“I don’t know which family you’re from, but you’ll regret this.”

“If you knew which family I’m from, you’d be the ones regretting it.”

When I said this with a bright smile, they flinched momentarily but then sneered.

“Ha, please. A noble who brings slaves as escorts can’t be anyone important!”

Rather perceptive.

Using slaves instead of knights as escorts meant a noble was poor. Of course, there were exceptions everywhere.

I mocked them and warned.

“We’ll see who ends up regretting this. Let’s go.”

I turned away, prioritizing saving the freezing child.

But I clearly etched their faces into my memory.

***

As we got into the carriage, the driver asked perceptively.

“Shall we go to a physician?”

“No, please take us to the temple.”

“Yes.”

“Sion, are you cold?”

“I’m fine.”

I unwrapped my robe and shared it with Sion, whose lips had already turned blue.

Sion didn’t refuse but pushed more of the robe toward me.

“Miss…”

“Lady Lora, are you alright?”

“Lady Lora…”

“Those men were bad!”

I slightly raised the corner of my mouth as I looked at everyone trying to comfort me with concern. Then I quietly gazed at the child we had just brought with us. The child appeared to be about five years old.

The brown hair was wet from melted snow, and the face visible through the gap in the robe was deathly pale.

“I’m worried about whether the child will be alright.”

“Miss.”

Lionel, who had been quietly looking at the child in his arms, spoke up. His strong arms holding the robe-wrapped child were tense with effort.

“…This is common. Of course, people who hold their heads high to nobles like those earlier are rare.”

“I see.”

I crossed my arms and turned my gaze toward the window.

Outside the carriage, people were still cleaning the streets.

“I won’t let this go.”

“Do you mean those men from earlier?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“All those who allowed this to happen.”

I answered Lionel’s question while still looking out the window with my arms crossed.

I could feel him looking at me with a peculiar gaze.

When I turned my head to meet his eyes, Lionel looked away first.

With an uncharacteristically awkward smile.

***

“We’ve arrived!”

At the driver’s announcement, we finished our calculations, got out, and entered through the temple doors.

Inside, white columns stretched to the ceiling, decorating the walls. The lavish marble floor and the plump priests clearly showed where the temple’s donations were leaking.

A priest approached me and greeted me.

“May the sun’s blessing and life follow you. Sister, what brings you to the temple?”

“May the sun’s blessing and life follow you. There is a lamb in need of divine touch. Please call a healing priest.”

“Who do you wish to heal?”

“This child.”

The priest looked awkwardly at the disheveled child in Lionel’s arms. After alternating glances between my face and the child’s, the priest finally spoke up in response to my unwavering smile.

“Follow me, then.”

“Yes. Time is of the essence, so please call someone quickly. I intend to make a sufficient offering to the temple.”

The priest’s expression brightened slightly at my added comment with a bright smile. Starting from the priests who had healed Sion’s leg, their devotion to offerings seemed quite pious.

Inwardly clicking my tongue, I followed him to a small prayer room.

“You can wait here.”

“Yes. How long will it take?”

“I’ll send someone right away.”

Though it was clearly far from a VIP room at first glance, I quietly followed his guidance.

The situation was worse than with Sion.

There were few who would use divine power on a slum child, no matter how much money was offered.

After about 5 minutes, the healing priest arrived.

The priest was very young. He looked like an apprentice priest who would typically assist a senior cleric—a young man.

“May the sun’s blessing and life follow you. Thank you, devout priest, for coming to save this little life. I’m truly grateful.”

“It’s nothing. Let me examine the condition.”

The priest simply greeted me plainly and unwrapped the child’s robe.

He slightly furrowed his brow. I was anxious that he might refuse treatment out of disgust at the child’s appearance, but he silently placed his hands on the child.

And then, a warm light spread.

Whoosh—

But the light was minimal. When they had healed Sion, bright light and warmth had filled the entire room, creating a naturally divine feeling, but now it was rather ambiguous.

Still, divine power was divine power.

The child’s blue lips gradually regained their color, and the cyanotic fingertips and toes returned to their original color.

Just as I was about to feel relieved, the priest removed his hands.

The already faint light quickly faded. The treatment ended too quickly.

“It’s done.”

“Couldn’t you do a bit more?”

“This is sufficient.”

I wonder if he’s not doing more because the child is from the slums.

As I stared at the priest, who didn’t look tired at all—making me doubt whether he had properly used his divine power—he sighed and spoke.

“The rest can be handled by the child’s self-healing ability. Excessive use of divine power is not good.”

He should have explained that from the beginning.

I smiled brightly at his words and spoke.

“I didn’t dare doubt the priest’s insight, but I appreciate the explanation.”

“Yes. Well then.”

He turned around and left hurriedly, as if not wanting to waste even a second. Watching his departure with a blank expression, I spoke.

“Why isn’t he taking a donation? Irena, go and make a donation.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“What do you plan to do with the child?”

Lionel asked me as he wrapped the child in the robe again.

I lowered my eyes, thought for a moment, then looked at Soho with curved eyes.

“Soho, you’re going to have a friend.”

“Yay! I’m so happy!”

“Lady Lora.”

Lionel called me with an awkward expression, but my decision was unchanged. I had already picked up the child, so what else could I do?

And that’s how we gained a new family member. It had been only a day since the Kalschmitz trio had left.

***

“Now that we have a carriage and horses, it’s not inconvenient anymore!”

“That’s right. But is Sion okay?”

On our way back to the mansion after roughly gathering groceries.

I was a bit worried about the multi-talented Sion, who was alone facing the cold wind on the driver’s seat.

“Well, he insisted on buying it, saying he knows how to drive a carriage.”

“Lionel, you’re being so indifferent. Show some concern for your friend.”

“Friend, you say.”

We had purchased the carriage at Sion’s strong insistence that it would be convenient. But I was worried that the driver’s seat might be too difficult in this cold.

I did buy him a new robe though.

“Ah! Right!”

“Lady Lora, what’s wrong?”

“Ante took the robe I bought him!”

“Ah…”

“Master Ante seems to come up endlessly just when you’re about to forget him.”

Talking about robes suddenly reminded me. That name that makes me sigh just hearing it.

“Ah, let’s not think about it. It just makes me angry.”

Irena, who had been laughing, pointed at the child.

The child was breathing more comfortably than before but was still unconscious.

“I wonder if the priest healed properly?”

“The child still hasn’t woken up.”

“That woman was definitely the mother, right?”

“We won’t even be able to hold a funeral.”

I, too, was haunted by the image of the woman presumed to be the child’s mother, but earlier, saving the child was the priority. I thought it might be good to arrange their funeral separately.

“Let’s stop. The child might be listening.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, understood.”

After that, there was silence.

We arrived at the mansion while I was lost in thought, my body buried against the backrest.

“First, move the child to a room.”

“Yes, Lady Lora.”

After getting out of the carriage, we immediately moved the child to the warmest room. We left Aria and Soho by the child’s side, and the rest of us started organizing the luggage.