Upon hearing the introduction of the director and Diana’s greeting, I stood in place completely frozen.
‘…How can it be today?’
The day I returned from my death at the Duke of Elrad was the day Diana, the youngest princess of Elrad, entered the Tesar Orphanage.
‘Can I simply passed this on as a coincidence?’
But when I think about it, it occurred to me that the first turning point in my life was perhaps meeting Diana at the orphanage.
If Diana hadn’t appeared here in the past, Duke Elrad wouldn’t have broken down the orphanage, and I wouldn’t have suffered as a street beggar overnight.
So, my return to this exact moment, could it mean that I should start a new life from the first turning point?
As I stared into the blue eyes of the child holding the hem of my sleeve, I was caught up in long thoughts, and I glanced at the child again with a renewed mind.
‘Now that I look at it, she definitely feels like an aristocrat.’
I didn’t notice it when I was young, but now I feel the child’s peculiarity.
Aside from her pretty appearance, Diana’s clothes were dirty, but they were made of materials and designs that could not be found in orphaned children who wore old clothes they got from the villagers.
“Excuse me.”
“…Huh?”
“How old are you?”
“I’m 3 years old! No, I’m 4 years old!”
Diana lifted three chubby fingers and hurriedly changed them to four.
It wasn’t long after her birthday passed, so her age seemed unfamiliar.
It was consistent with my memories of the past.
It’s winter now, and Diana’s birthday was in autumn.
‘As I expected, I came back in 10 years ago.’
It was a dream come true that just a few months ago I had attended Diana’s 14th birthday party.
At that time, Diana pouted her lips, saying, “Hmm,” as if she couldn’t bear the stinging gaze around her.
Suddenly, the past came to mind…
In my previous life, I was careful not to get close to Diana like any other children.
Because Diana was very childish and cried easily, everyone was afraid of being scolded by the director while staying with her.
‘Actually, it’s only natural for a 4-year-old to act like a baby and cry.’
Even so to a child who was separated from her beloved family overnight.
Anyway, strangely enough, Diana kept staring at me or hovering around me enough for us to make eye contact several times when I turned my head, contrary to how she seemed indifferent to the other children.
At the time, I was very burdened by it, so I ran away and avoided Diana.
“Sowy… I won’t do it, Dana won’t be annoying.”
(T/N: Dana seems to still talk like a baby and can’t pronounce words clearly.)
Then Diana sullenly lifted her hand and bowed. I guess she thought I was rejecting her because I didn’t say anything.
The tears that welled up in her big round eyes felt like they were about to fall, so my heart, as I glanced back at her, sank suddenly.
I had already turned a blind eye to this young child once in the past.
No matter how scary the director was, I shouldn’t have done that.
I quickly grabbed Diana’s hand.
Then Diana quickly blinked her eyes in surprise.
‘Ugh. You’re so cute!’
This time, my heart rattled in a different sense.
I smiled softly so as not to startle the child, soothing her surprised heart.
Unlike Diana, I didn’t look pretty, though it didn’t seem like it would be very helpful to loosen her boundaries.
“Shall we go wash up first?”
“Wow!”
As I spoke affectionately, Diana, who blinked a few more times replied.
Throughout the way to the shared bathroom, from the children staring at me with displeasure to Jack who looked puzzled, the gazes from all around me were very sharp, but my steps did not waver.
Because it was a miraculous opportunity to change the difficult future that would befall ahead of me and the children of the orphanage.
“Oh! No!”
When I hurriedly turned off the faucet, Diana tilted her head and questioned.
“Don’t we have water?”
Although the water supply was connected to Tesar Orphanage, it was located in the mountains, so the water supply was rough.
I skillfully scooped out a bucket of water from a large basin placed on the corner of the shared bathroom, moistened a cloth made of cut old clothes with water, and squeezed it tightly.
When my hand touched the ice-cold water, I came to my senses.
Suddenly feeling the wretched reality all over again, I quickly shook my head at the mixed sentiment.
‘I only have to wait for a few days.’
In the past, Duke Elrad and his knights came about a week after Diana had been in the orphanage.
Until then, if I take good care of Diana as I find the evidence to expose the director’s corruption, the future of the children in the orphanage would definitely change.
“Hooray!”
As I took off her dirty clothes and tried to wash it, Diana, kindly, raised her arms high.
“That’s right,” I stroked Diana’s head, a span smaller than mine, and began to wipe her face and hands with a damp cloth.
I didn’t even finish cleaning where I was wiping her, but the water ran out.
I paused as I wiped her hair with a damp cloth with one more little run of water.
When I wiped her hair, which used to look like plain grey hair, covered in dust and dirt, her silver hair turned so transparent that it made my pupils tremble.
When I stopped at what I was doing, Diana blinked her blue eyes.
Silver hair and blue eyes. It was a typical characteristic of the Elrad family.
“Every day he looks at us and says that we are stupid, but the director himself is the most stupid. No matter how I look at it, she looks like a noble, It’s so obvious!”
As I grumbled with my lips pouting, I flinched and hardened at the spot.