# 34
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In a shady corner of the Sistine House building, a seven-year-old boy dressed in tattered clothes was seen sitting with his younger brother, who appeared to be five, on the steps.
As the cold wind blew, the children's little bodies shrank from the cold.
“My brother... kah kah...”
“Just be patient, if you take this, you'll feel better.”
The older brother handed his younger brother the medicine he had just received.
It was a small pill, adjusted to a child's small body, placed in his little palm.
“But...how do I take this...?”
“Oh, wait a second.”
The brother looked around trying to find some water.
As I was drinking my fine black tea and watching this scene, I let out a small exhale.
I was too busy to care about the pain of others other than Etheus, but being away from the children was hard.
“You, come here.”
At my call, the boy trembled and turned his gaze to me.
I motioned for him again to come closer.
Hesitantly, he whispered to his brother to wait, then approached me carefully, bending down.
“Bring me a cup of tea and a small bag.”
I ordered one of the servants behind me, who immediately brought a new cup of tea, and I poured hot water from the teapot into it.
I held out the still steaming teacup towards the boy.
He stared at him in amazement.
“You need water to give him medicine, right? Take this.”
“Ah...”
He hesitated and was unable to extend his hand immediately.
Given his miserable appearance, it was natural for him to feel heavy even when touching such a luxurious cup.
I raised my eyebrows slightly with a “what are you waiting for” expression, and pushed the cup towards his hand.
Finally he caught it with both hands and bowed deeply.
“S-thank you very much.”
He ran back to his brother.
As I watched him administer the pneumonia medicine to the little boy, I packed some fresh biscuits from the table into the bag the server had brought.
Their thin bodies suggest that they were not eating well.
'Ethios must have been like this once too.'
I thought about Etheus, who was orphaned at the age of five and endured harsh conditions, and it made my chest ache.
At that moment, the boy returned, holding the teacup in both hands.
“H-there it is, thank you very much, ma’am.”
He carefully handed me the cup and bowed again.
I smiled sarcastically and handed him the bag of cookies I had just packed.
“Take this too and eat it.”
"Yes . …!"
“And...”
I nodded slightly towards the Sistine Poor House.
“If you do not have parents or your life is difficult, apply to enter a foster home. In Sistina, siblings can stay together in the same room.”
The boy's eyes trembled.
I knew why kids like him didn't come to orphanages.
They feared being separated from their brothers.
Most poorhouses preferred administrative efficiency, and never cared for such conditions.
But when I built the Sistine, I created a rational system - just as I did when I reformed the maid hiring system - thinking like a modern person.
“Is that really true, miss?”
“I swear on the Elmore family name, it will be much better than now.”
Even lower-class nobles were frightening creatures to Muggle children – and here I was, the heiress of the Elmore family herf.
The boy trembled at first but then repeatedly bowed down with teary eyes.
“Sh-thank you! Really, thank you so much.”
After handing him the bag of cookies, I motioned for him to leave.
His eyes sparkled as he turned and ran back to his brother with steadier steps than before.
It even looked a little brighter.
As I lowered my gaze to pick up the teacup again, a long shadow fell over me.
I was terrified and looked up, and my eyes shook slightly.
“Catherine.”
The person who called me quietly was none other than Etheus.
With broad shoulders and a tall stature, wearing clean, though not new, clothes, he looked breathtakingly handsome as always.
He was dressed like an official, holding a new medicine bottle in his hand, his sharp blue eyes fixed on me, as if he had something to say.
I slowly got up and greeted him with a simple greeting worthy of royalty.
“Ah, see you here.”
I was expecting him to come, but seeing him in front of me made my heart skip a beat.
“Did His Highness come to take the medicine as well? You don’t look ill – is it for someone else?”
". … Yes."
Most likely, to a member of the Revolutionary Army.
'Fortunately, Etheus is not sick.'
While I was thinking about that, his voice flowed into my ear.
“I think... I'm starting to understand a little.”
“What kind of person are you?”
His gaze turned for a moment to the orphaned children in the distance.
I felt panic rising. Not just because I've been caught doing something good, but because it threatens Catherine's evil character.
When his deep gaze returned to me, I hurriedly began to explain.
“Well, you know how it is.”
I curved my lips slightly into a sinister smile.
“That feeling when someone who has everything helps the poor – the feeling of superiority. Seeing these helpless people relying on my charity makes the world seem so small.”
Yes, that sounds like Katherine.
Satisfied with my performance, I heard his slightly hoarse voice.
“So... how far will you go for this superiority?”
The wind blew his hair.
I couldn't see his face clearly because of the backlight from the sun, but I felt his heavy gaze.
“Would you risk your life for him?”
His sudden question caught me off guard. But I curled my lips again.
“Risking your life to give alms to others? If one does that, it is no longer superiority – it is devotion.”
I shrugged and continued sarcastically.
“...Sincerity, huh.”
“I'm not that serious, it's just an experimental drug after all.”
She reiterated that Sestina and medicine were just luxury hobbies.
“It's like roulette, if it worked, they lived; if it didn't work, well, they were going to die anyway.”
In fact, it had an 80% cure rate within three days – the pinnacle of pharmaceutical technology.
“If the life at stake is not my own but someone else's, then yes, it's not my life anyway.”
This should be enough to keep my mask on.
Upon hearing my cold words, his lips opened.
Then his low voice flowed.
“I understand.”
He looked at me with those mysterious, chilling eyes for a few more seconds before turning away.
“Ha...”
I let out a small exhale and placed my hands on my chest.
As Etheus left Sestina's entrance, his face held a cold light.
She spoke of spirits as if they were nothing, but her hands were clenching and unclenching anxiously. He couldn't have noticed that.
He noted her rounded line in his mind.
'Will I see her true face...? Thanks to this medicine?'
As he moved through the crowd to leave,
"Leave me! I told you I had something to say to my fiancée... Wait, Your Highness?"
Philius, who was arguing with the guards at the entrance to Sestina because he could not enter, saw Etheus.
Filius, who was a little drunk with a red face, looked at the medicine bottle in Etheus's hand and his eyebrows twitched.
Having almost been killed by Etheos the last time they met, he didn't dare confront him directly.
But a pained sound spilled from his lips.
"She's putting poorhouse flyers back in your cart, right? Just like the day of the party."