254. Attic (3)
The place where Orden guided Seongjin was a small attic at the top of the expanded count’s residence.
“The princess often spent time here when she was young.”
Hearing Orden’s explanation, Seongjin looked around the room in silence.
Rough wooden floors that were damaged in places and shabby walls that were not finished properly.
Light leaked in from a small window covered in white dust, and the small bed filled with blowing straw smelled like the dry sunlight of early autumn.
‘… What did you spend most of your time on? Surely this wasn’t where your sister stayed?’
Is it simply my mood that gives me a somewhat sad premonition?
Meanwhile, Seongjin discovered small graffiti written here and there on the wall. The words were written in clumsy, round handwriting that appeared to belong to a child.
“…Is this your sister’s?”
“Yes, sir.”
Indeed, you have shown the qualities of a master penman since childhood. Even now, my dexterity is a mess, but my handwriting is very fluid.
Seongjin traced the words with his hands, immersed in a strange sentiment. These were words that a child would learn for the first time, and even Seongjin could read.
Mom, Dad, Family, Belle, Mom, Dad… … .
-Reading books with my family has been my long-time dream.
Suddenly, Amelia’s face, smiling happily while reading a storybook to Seongjin, came to mind.
However, among them, a few unrecognizable words stood out. I couldn’t read it at all, so I asked what it was, and Orden nodded.
“It’s not the imperial language, sir. It’s Breton.”
“okay?”
“yes.”
Orden explained that they were letters that meant church, angel, hut, etc.
“The princess is extremely intelligent, and this quality must have been evident since she was young. She learned Breton on her own, even though she had never learned it.”
… Didn’t you learn it?
When Seongjin widened his eyes at the somewhat subtle explanation, Orden realized this and smiled bitterly.
“Yes, as far as I know, no one taught the young princess Breton. She has never had a teacher here. Perhaps, if those words had something different meaning, the princess might have been branded a witch.”
Who dares accuse the princess of the Holy Empire of being a witch?
Seongjin’s face hardened. As was the case with the attic she was guided to, I somehow had a feeling that the truth I would learn later would not be very pleasant.
“The reason I invited you here is because I have some items that I would like to show you and then decide on how to dispose of them.”
After saying that, Orden bent down and felt under the small bed. He tears off a wooden plank hidden deep inside and carefully pulls something out from within.
Eventually, he stood up and held out a small wooden box to Seongjin.
“These are treasures that the princess hid when she was young. No one in this mansion knows about them other than me, not even the employees.”
Seongjin’s eyebrows went up.
“Your sister told you about it separately?”
“That’s not it. It’s just that I spent some time here when I was at the mansion, so I naturally learned about places where a little girl might secretly hide things.”
Seongjin accepted the box handed out by Orden. There was a lot of dust accumulated and the joints were distorted, making it more suitable to be called trash rather than a treasure chest.
Creak.
The lid opened with a cloud of dust, and soon the contents, similar to the box itself, were revealed.
A lump of dried straw, a piece of old cloth, a small white seashell, and a small pendant broken in half.
“This is a treasure….”
Seongjin took a deep breath without realizing it. No matter how much they belong to a child who doesn’t know much about the world, they are things that are unlikely to be treasured.
Aside from shells and pendants, what about straw?
“Oh, it’s a doll. They said this is the head and this is the legs.”
It looked like the limbs of a doll were split into several pieces and tied together.
“It even had a proper name. Bell… I think it was called Belluna.”
Seongjin could not hide his desolation, but Orden’s eyes as he looked at the straw had an unusually soft glow.
As if every little memory with Amelia was precious.
“So, what do you want to ask me by showing me this?”
Orden nodded to Seongjin’s question.
“I have always wanted to give this box to the princess. It is a treasure that the young princess cherishes. But at the same time, I was afraid.”
“afraid?”
“yes.”
Orden’s eyes darkened as he answered like that.
“I wonder if the princess, who is living happily now, will have a hard time remembering the unhappy memories of her childhood the moment she sees the box.”
* * *
The first time Orden got to know Amelia was around the age of 10, when she had just begun training to become a squire.
Whenever I practiced swordsmanship in the garden, I would occasionally catch a glimpse of a white face peering down from the attic window.
“……?”
It was a girl with a pale, expressionless small face and long, wispy hair.
At first glance, she looked like a ghost, but young Orden didn’t find the girl scary at all.
Despite her sinister appearance, the girl was as pretty as a fairy.
“There is a fairy living in the attic of this mansion.”
“huh?”
“It’s a pretty girl fairy.”
It would have been natural for young Orden to inadvertently bring up such a story.
He was very curious about the girl’s identity and wanted to tell anyone about his little fairy.
It was unfortunate that the target was his younger brother, Emmett.
“What kind of stupid talk is that?”
Emmett, who was swinging a sword next to him, made a strange expression.
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“Are you crazy? Why are you talking in your sleep like that during the day?”
“…Do you want to get hit?”
Orden, angry that his story was being ignored, threatened Emmett.
Then the obnoxious younger brother quickly stepped back and made a fuss.
“You’re still a kid! You’re just a kid! Everyone is talking about being the eldest son and a genius, but I’m a much more worthy successor than my stupid brother!”
“Shut your mouth, Emmett. Before you get beat up.”
“Hmph! Try it! Do you think I’ll let that happen?”
Emmet stuck out his mouth in disgust and quickly ran to his grandmother in the garden.
“Grandma! Look at Brother Orden! He’s been saying such stupid things since a while ago. He’s talking nonsense about there being a fairy in the attic!”
Emmett was so excited that he buried himself in the width of his grandmother’s skirt and chatted, as if he thought he had caught something.
“Emmett! Stop it! Grandma, that’s not actually it….”
“What do you mean, Orden? If it’s a ghost, there’s no way there are fairies in this world. You must have seen something wrong.”
“……?”
“Stop talking nonsense and start training quickly. Before I confess to your father that you are being lazy.”
Jomo decisively cut off their conversation without even asking for details. Orden still could not forget the bloodshot eyes of his grandmother, who glared coldly at him at that time.
For several days after that, for some reason, Orden could not see the girl in the attic.
‘I guess she really was a fairy. ‘Did I disappear from the world because I told people about it?’
Somehow, I felt sad and had that thought.
But the next day, the girl appeared again at the attic window. Her face, which she had praised as pretty, was marred by bruises.
Only then did Orden realize that the girl was not a fairy or something, but a real person in the attic.
As time passed, Orden learned little by little about the girl’s circumstances.
The girl’s name is Amelia, and she is a distant relative of Orden. The girl, who had no one to care for after her mother died young, was brought in by her grandfather, the Margrave.
The reason why the workers kept quiet about her was because there was an order by Orden’s grandmother, Countess Sigismund at the time, to keep quiet.
The Countess hated her husband’s illegitimate son and sent him away to a villa in the snowy mountains, and she also hated her only blood relative so much.
As a result, everyone locked Amelia in the attic and treated her as if she didn’t exist. It is common for them to not even bring meals on time.
Orden, who could not bear to see the girl growing thinner, secretly took Amelia out of the attic one night and took her to the kitchen.
The girl followed him hesitantly, holding a bundle of straw in her small hands.
“Amell, what is that? Why are you holding such trash?”
“…It’s Belle.”
Perhaps because he rarely speaks, his voice sounded a little slurred.
Nevertheless, Orden thought that Amel’s voice was as beautiful as a chirping little bird. If Emmett had found out, he would have made fun of her.
“It’s not trash, it’s my doll.”
“Yes. Belle? You gave it to me? It’s a pretty name.”
However, Amel’s answer to the thoughtless question was unexpected.
“dad…….”
“huh?”
“Dad gave it to me.”
Orden was momentarily speechless.
But, Amel, you said you don’t have a father. Grandma is always cursing your mother.
An illegitimate child gave birth to another illegitimate child outside. It couldn’t be more dirty and vulgar than this.
Of course, young Orden also had the wit to not say that thought out loud.
“Sit here, Amel.”
Orden rummaged through the cupboard and found dry bread and small pieces of cheese, and regretfully handed them to Amelia along with water.
Then he sat across from the table and quietly watched the girl eat. I thought to myself that she was like a fairy as she gently pursed her mouth.
Amelia, who had let her guard down, soon began to tell Orden various stories.
“…So I kept watching it. Swordsmanship seemed interesting.”
“Really? That’s right. Don’t you get bored when you’re alone in your room?”
“It’s okay. I write letters every day in my room.”
The girl nodded dignifiedly, then lifted her clear gray eyes and looked dreamily into space.
“Besides, he said if I just wait a little while, dad will come get me soon.”
“Who? Did daddy say that?”
Perhaps the lonely girl was dreaming alone. Orden felt pity for him and asked, and Amel shook her head.
“No, the sister with the black veil did that.”
Sister wearing a black veil? It was an incredibly suspicious story.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know either.”
Orden succeeded in having a little chat with Amel, even if it wasn’t enough, and when the meal was over, he safely took Amel to the attic. And that night, she went to bed feeling very happy.
But the next day, the girl disappeared from the window again. Worried about her, Orden knocked cautiously on her trapdoor, but received no answer from inside.
Knock knock.
“Amel? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
But behind him, a maid suddenly appeared and spoke coldly. She was a young maid who served her grandmother.
“She won’t be able to move for a while, Master. Her leg is broken.”
… what?
Orden’s face turned white, but the maid spoke with a twisted smile.
“I heard you hid in the kitchen like a stray cat last night. Wouldn’t those bad things come to their senses if we made them unable to move at all?”
Was this done directly by Jomo, who occasionally hits Amel with her hand, or was it the work of employees who listened to Jomo’s orders?
Anyway, at least one thing was certain.
‘Everything I do, everything I do for Amel, is harming Amel!’
The boy realized his limitations and reality. No matter how hard he struggles, everything goes according to the adults’ circumstances.
Orden completely gave up on approaching Amell. Maybe that’s what his grandmother really intended.
‘I’m sorry, Amel… … .’
Amel reappeared at the attic window some time later, but Orden tried his best to ignore her.
Amel, who occasionally made eye contact with sad eyes, soon became expressionless again, as if she had adapted to being ignored.
It was a day when three years had passed.
A person who claims to be Ammel’s father appears in the Sigismund Territory.
“You’ve done a good job hiding the child all this time.”
Pushing through the pale-faced people, an unusual man dressed in white robes walked into the Count’s residence without hesitation. He was accompanied by a group of armed paladins.
-Your Majesty, that girl, it can’t possibly be like that… … .
It was something that was not easy to believe, but Orden was confident even amidst the noise of people. It was indeed as the girl said, her father had appeared.
Orden, who observed Amell every time, could immediately see that the man’s face had some resemblance to Amel.
That person was the one who passed on those clear gray eyes to Amel.
“dad……!”
And the man facing the girl raised the corners of his mouth and smiled cruelly.
It was the first day Orden learned that a person’s smiling face could be so scary.
fantasy,
