# 3
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* * *
The situation in front of me seemed like a dream. I acted slowly and foolishly for a while, and I did not realize that this was reality until I heard the director screaming.
However, the feeling of warm, slippery blood flowing between my fingers was still vivid.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out why my life, which was supposed to end at Duke Elad, continued like this.
Maybe time took pity on me because I didn't love anyone until the end and gave me a chance.
'Even though I went back to the time when I was 8 years old and helpless….'
“Leah, what are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Aren't you going to eat bread?”
Since I had been deep in thought for a while and hadn't even eaten the bread, Emily, who was sitting next to me, called out to me.
A voice mixed with tension and anticipation.
When I saw Emily unable to take her eyes off the bread I was carrying, I couldn't help but smile bitterly.
“Emily, do you want to eat this?”
"Huh? Oh no! Leia needs to eat too."
“I'm not very hungry today, so eat, Emily.”
“Really? Can I really eat it?”
At this point I was a little relieved by Emily's excited but helpless reaction.
"Fun! If you won't eat it, give it to me. I'm short and weak, so I should eat more."
When I turned my head to hear the ridiculous sound, Thomas, the oldest and eldest person in the orphanage, was standing proudly.
“Don't be funny, why are you eating my food?”
"What? !"
Thomas must have never imagined that I, who was usually shy and quiet, would go out like this.
He opened his mouth and his face turned red as the children looked at him.
“Where are you talking again? If I eat, I eat! Do you want to be scolded?”
Then he approached me, moving one arm dangerously.
It looked like I was going to hit him right away, but instead I jutted my chin up.
Whatever their size, they are among the children who grew up without food.
That 10-year-old kid, who wasn't even a grown man, wasn't scary at all.
“Don't make a fuss.”
At that time, a boy with dark gray hair spoke in the corner. It was Jack, the same age as Thomas.
“Why does this brother get involved in this discussion?”
Thomas, who had always been so jealous of handsome Jack, suddenly rolled his eyes.
“But I still can't beat Jack.”
It was a time when people shook their heads and said size wasn't everything in fighting.
"You let your guard down! I'm going to eat this!"
Before I knew it, Thomas approached me, stuck out his tongue, and quickly ran off with my bread.
“This arrogant bastard!”
She screamed and tried to follow me, but Emily quickly caught me.
I looked around and saw that all the kids were looking at me, wondering if it was weird for me to face Thomas.
Even Jack.
I felt very embarrassed by this sudden attention, so I cleared my throat and sat down.
I didn't know that I would regret all day for not chasing after Thomas at that time.
* * *
Grumble, Grumble, Grumble.
As I squatted down and scrubbed the floor with my freezing hands, I clutched my stomach.
I was so hungry.
“I should have gone after him.”
At that time, I heard someone clicking their tongue.
“So why are you trying to give up bread for no reason?”
Jack was sitting on the windowsill and washing the windows.
“What did you just say?”
Are you arguing with me when I'm still hungry?
When I dropped the mop, I was holding it and I stood, rolling my eyes, Jack stopped and continued.
“If you had not given up bread in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
“So this is my fault?”
"Yes ."
“Ha!”
Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with what Jack said, but it only made me angrier.
It might be embarrassing to be angry with a child, but maybe because my body was a child, my mind was also young, so I couldn't hold back my anger.
Moreover, since I knew very well what kind of person Jack would become when he grew up, I thought that now might be my only chance to fight him properly and win.
“Suddenly a rush?”
It was a moment of real anxiety.
“Oh?”
I looked at my hands in shock.
The hand that had been holding the mop a moment ago was holding half of the black bread from breakfast.
“This is mine....?”
“If you don't want to eat it, throw it away.”
“I won't throw it away!”
Why throw away food?
No matter how hard black bread is, it looks the same once it enters the stomach.
“Jack, you too...You're a good kid, aren't you?”
I looked at Jack, and the eternal truth screamed into my mind: “The person who feeds you is a good person!”
“You...I feel a little strange today.”
Then Jack narrowed his eyes and said.
I was surprised by these words.
Even though Jack and I went to the same orphanage, we never spoke to each other.
But how did you know I had changed?
I felt uncomfortable for no reason, so I quickly changed the subject.
“But why are you giving me this?”
Since I only eat one meal a day, I'm sure they were saving it for later, but I don't know why they gave me this bread.
“The noise is so loud it's killing me, so please be quiet.”
“Fun!”
This time, as I looked for Jack to say something sharp, I froze.
Behind the window, a clumsy boy and girl were entering the snow-white covered front yard of the orphanage.
* * *
currently.
After hearing the director's introduction and Diana's greeting, she completely froze.
'. …Why today?’
The day of her return from the death of Duchess Ellard was the day that Princess Diana, the youngest princess of the Duchy of Ellard, entered the Tesar Orphanage.
'Can we really pass this off as a coincidence?'
But when I thought about it carefully, I realized that the first turning point in my life was probably meeting Diana.
If Diana had not appeared here in the past, Duke Ellard would not have destroyed the orphanage, and I would not have become a ar on the street overnight and suffered such hardship.
When I return to this moment, doesn't that mean I have to start a new life from the first turning point?
I, who had been lost in long thoughts as I looked into the blue eyes of the child on my sleeve, looked at the child with a new feeling.
'Looking back now, I definitely feel like she was a noble miss.'
I didn't know it when I was little, but now I can feel the uniqueness of the little girl.
Aside from her charming and beautiful appearance, Diana's clothes, although dirty, were made of materials and designs not found among the children in the orphanage who were given used clothes from the villagers.
“Excuse me.”
". … Yes?"
"How old are you?"
“I have 3 fingers! No, actually 4!”
Diana raised three fat fingers, then hurriedly changed them to four.
Since it's been a long time since my birthday, I've felt like I don't know my age.
It matched my memory.
Because it was winter now, and Diana's birthday was in the fall.
'As expected, I came back 10 years ago.'
It seemed like a dream when just a few months ago she attended Diana's 14th birthday party.
At that time, Diana, as if unable to bear the scathing glances of those around her, said, “Sobbing.”
She pouted her lips.
Suddenly the past comes to mind.
In my previous life, like other children, I was careful not to get close to Diana.
Diana was very foolish and cried a lot, so I was afraid the man would scold me if I stayed with her.
'In fact, it's normal for a 4-year-old to get upset and cry.'
That is, a child who was separated from his beloved family overnight.
Anyway, oddly enough, in contrast to her apparent indifference towards the other children, Diana would often look at me or hover over me, to the point that we made eye contact a few times when she turned her head.
At the time, I felt very burdened by this, so I ran away and avoided Diana.
“Leah...you won't listen to me.”
At this time, Diana sullenly removed her hand and lowered her head.
I think he thought he was rejecting me because I didn't say anything.
My heart sank when I saw her again, as if the tears welling up in my big eyes were about to fall at any moment.
"No! I was thinking about something else for a moment."
I had already ignored this child once in the past.
No matter how much I was afraid of the man, I didn't have to do that.
She quickly grabbed Diana's hand.
Then Diana quickly backed away as if she was surprised.
'Oh my God, you're so cute!'
This time, my heart beat differently.
I calmed my shocked heart and smiled softly so as not to frighten my child.
Unlike Diana, I'm not pretty, so I didn't think it would be much help in lowering the guard.
“Shall we go shower first?”
As she spoke sweetly, Diana blinked several times and said, “Awesome!” .
All the way to the shared bathroom, I was met with many looks from everyone around me, from the kids looking at me disapprovingly to Jack who looked confused, but my steps did not budge.
It was a miraculous opportunity to change the difficult future that awaits orphan children.
* * *
"Oh! No!"
As she quickly turned off the tap, Diana tilted her head and asked a question.
“Because there is not enough water here.”
Although the Tezar Orphanage had a water connection, it was located in a mountainous area, so the water supply was not smooth.
I deftly took out a bowl of water from the large sink on one side of the public bathroom, wet a cloth made from old clothes, and squeezed it.
As soon as my hand touched the ice water, I came to my senses.
I felt confused when I once again remembered the harsh reality, but I quickly shook my head.
“I just need to last a few days.”
In her last life, when Diana was in the orphanage for about a week, she was attacked by the Duke of Elad and his knights.
In the meantime, if you take good care of Diana and find and expose evidence of the director's corruption, the future will definitely be different.
“Come on, hahaha!”
As soon as I took off my dirty clothes and tried to wash them, Diana gently raised her arms.
"This is correct." I began to caress the head of Diana, who was a little shorter than me, and wiped her face and hands with a wrung-out cloth.
I don't know where it fell right, but I haven't cleaned it yet, and the water ran out.
When I poured the water again and wiped my hair with a wet cloth, it stopped.
This is because when I wiped the hair, which looked like normal gray due to dust and dirt, silver hair appeared so translucent that it stung my eyes.
When she stopped moving, Diana blinked her blue eyes.
Silver hair and blue eyes.
This was a typical trait of the Ellard family.
'He always calls us stupid, but the teacher himf is the stupidest, anyone can see that she is a noble child.'
I was pouting and complaining, but for a moment I flinched and stiffened.
"impossible . … ".