“What time tonight?”

“Nine o’clock.”

By the time she finished selling her flowers, it would be that time. She didn’t know how much money she’d have left, but she’d have enough to give to the Oliver Gang.

“Fine. I’ll let you slide.”

“……”

“You’re kind of pretty.”

David cleared his throat. Ann looked at him expressionlessly. She thought of Oliver. Oliver was a fifteen-year-old boy. He had a girlfriend two years older than him. Sally, was it? Something like that. A girl with wavy blonde hair and blue-green eyes who was quite pretty.

“Oh right. Oliver wants you to come by today.”

“Why?”

“He’s throwing a party.”

“What kind of party?”

“You’ll find out when you get there.”

David replied indifferently. Ann stared at him. David told her “Just come” and turned around. Ann sighed.

* * *

She met ‘that child’ late at night. Ann wandered the streets of Roderville until ten o’clock to sell flowers. No one in Bluebilt bought flowers. There weren’t many flower shops either. 

So every day she received a flower basket from the flower shop owner and headed to Roderville.

Bluebilt and Roderville were less than an hour apart, but it took over two hours at a ten-year-old’s pace. Still, Ann made that journey every day to sell flowers.

After selling flowers until ten, Ann went to where the Oliver Gang was supposedly having their party. It was already past midnight, deep into the night. Oliver was drinking with his gang in an inn that had become an abandoned building.

Ann spotted empty bottles everywhere and realized the gathering had started quite early. She approached Oliver, hearing the laughter of boys and girls scattered in her ears.

“Oh? You just getting here?”

Oliver, whose beard was starting to grow dark, greeted Ann in a rough voice. His tone was quite friendly. Ann hunched over and looked up at the boy. His girlfriend Sally, heavily made up, twisted her eyes sharply. Oliver grinned, oblivious. Ann pulled out 4 dants from her pocket.

Suddenly she heard “Wahaha!” Ann turned her head toward the laughter. Oliver also clutched his stomach, giggling.

“Look at that! The little lord colt is taking a piss!”

A voice presumed to be David’s echoed through the abandoned building. Ann found that frivolous shout somehow sinister. She looked at Oliver, who was clutching his stomach laughing instead of taking the money she held out. His girlfriend cackled along with him.

Ann hesitated and tried to leave, then flinched at a thud and turned around. The Oliver Gang, forming a circle around a bonfire, was sneering at someone. Probably that ‘little lord colt.’

Ann tried to flee from the ominous feeling but turned her head. Through the gaps between the gang members, she saw a boy staggering and collapsing. Her heart sank.

David kicked the bleeding boy and muttered, “This one’s done for.” 

Her heart pounded. Tears seemed to well up. She clutched her chest and glanced at the half-open door. If she ran out of the abandoned building now, nothing would happen. But…

“Just remember one thing. Street orphans in Bluebilt—they just need to stay on the Oliver Gang’s good side. Got it?”

It was the day she’d decided to become a street orphan. An orphan girl she’d met under a pile of trash had warned her darkly. 

The girl said she’d talked back to Oliver’s girlfriend Sally and been beaten by the gang, losing sight in one eye. Ann couldn’t bear to look at her eye and fumbled at the air. It was frightening and terrible.

But she had absolutely no desire to return to Aunt Paula’s house. In the end, she decided to live like a dead mouse. 

If she just got a little older, she’d leave these streets and find work anywhere that would hire her as a laborer. Right now she was too young to do anything but sell flowers, but…

“Hey, look at this guy!”

David pointed at the convulsing boy who hadn’t regained consciousness. Sharp shouts rang out asking why someone with blue blood, a noble, was so pathetic. 

Ann trembled, then stopped at the rough shout that followed.

“Hey! You said you were a prince! Huh? But you can’t even handle this?”

It was David’s voice. Ann turned around, pale. David was shaking the bloodied boy violently by the collar. The boy hung limp, whether unconscious or not. Ann trembled as she watched, then squeezed her eyes shut at a splashing sound.

“Stupid idiot anyway! This is why Roderville people are useless! See? He’s so weak.”

“Right. He said he was a prince!”

When David tossed the boy aside, another boy nodded. Laughter erupted and the surroundings grew rowdy. Ann saw Oliver part through them and approach the boy. The blood-soaked boy gasped and crawled on the ground.

“What? Want some water?”

Oliver asked him. Ann saw him fumbling to take off his pants. Oliver urinated on the boy, then received something from someone. When he opened the lid, the smell of oil wafted strongly. 

The surroundings quickly quieted, waiting for Oliver’s next move.

Ann realized he was going to burn the boy alive. Maybe that’s why. She didn’t know where the courage came from. Ann ran in front of Oliver. Like a moth rushing into flames.

“I, I! I know this child!”

“What?”

“He, he…”

Ann trembled frantically. Oliver’s viridian eyes were sinister like a snake’s. He was a true delinquent who didn’t even fear the police. 

The children said he could become the gang leader because he didn’t fear death. At least in the back alleys of Bluebilt, he was practically king.

“He, he’s Baron Bensweed’s fifth cousin. I, I heard he came here recently with the Baron because he has relatives in Roderville.”

“Baron Bensweed?”

David asked. His fierce questioning showed he was quite agitated. Ann nodded, fumbling. Actually, she didn’t know who Baron Bensweed was. 

She’d only heard that when she was at Aunt Dora’s house, someone called Baron Bensweed had visited the mansion where Dora worked and caused quite a stir for a while.

So it must be true that someone called Baron Bensweed existed. She just thought Oliver wouldn’t be able to verify whether the child before her was actually the Baron’s fifth cousin.

“How do you know that?”

Oliver asked sharply. Ann swallowed hard. Her legs trembled and her stomach churned. Oliver stared at Ann, who was frozen stiff with her lips quivering finely.

“I asked how you know that.”

“My, my aunt works at Mr. Rendmore’s mansion… I, I went with her once. That, that’s when I saw this child. This, this child is Baron Bensweed’s nephew. I, I saw them getting out of the carriage together.”

Ann clenched her fists to keep from wetting herself. A terrible stench came from the unconscious boy. Tears threatened to form. 

Dizziness struck when she thought that if things went wrong here, she’d end up like that child. But she couldn’t say she didn’t know the child now. Then her life would truly be in danger.

“Hmm. So that’s what you’re saying?”

“Y-yes!”

“There’s nothing in this world I can’t verify. You know what that means?”

Oliver’s lips curved like they were tearing. Ann saw his elongated eyes spinning with laughter. She felt nauseous. Ann nodded frantically.

“Right. He might really be a noble.”

If nobles got involved, it would be a headache. Oliver suddenly turned and looked back at Ann as he was about to walk away. Ann, who had just relaxed, froze again.

“Right. If what you say is true, it could be a real headache.”

Oliver grinned. Goosebumps crawled up her back. Ann looked at him, trembling frantically. 

Oliver gestured with his chin to two boys standing beside him. Ann’s arms were bound in an instant.

“This is kind of a shame.”

“O-Oliver. I, I…”

“You really were pretty. Prettier than Sally. In two years, you’d be the prettiest around here.”

But life is more important than a woman. Oliver murmured like a sigh. He grabbed Ann’s chin and turned it this way and that, then let go with a toss. 

Then he straightened up and left. Ann was dragged somewhere along with the blood-soaked boy.

The place they took Ann was a secluded clearing not far from the cemetery. The two tied Ann to a tree, then began digging the soft earth with shovels they’d thrown somewhere.

Ann sniffled and glanced at the unconscious boy. There was no movement, so she couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. 

Soon the boys who’d finished digging the pit grabbed the limp boy’s arms and legs and threw him into the hole.

Ann finally wet herself. She was terrified beyond breath. The boys who approached untied the rope and grabbed both her arms. Ann thrashed and screamed.

“S-save me. Please!”

The boys pushed her into the pit. Ann received dirt with her hands clasped together.

“Ahhh! Don’t do this!”

Ann screamed frantically, dodging the dirt. She struggled with all her might. She hoped that if anyone nearby heard her screams, they would come running.