"..."
"You can go back if you want. Because the real Isabella is dead. Whatever I do next will have nothing to do with you."
He countered my words with a tired look on his face.
"Why doesn't it matter? The order I received was to bring Lady Isabella safely to the Emperor's residence. If you decide to live as Isabella, I must follow my orders."
"..."
"Do you really think you can do it?"
"It is meaningless to measure the possibility of whether it can be done or not. Because I have to."
Hugh saw my gaze directed toward the inside of the door and asked again.
"What do you plan on doing with that kid?"
"First, it would be best to take the carriage back to the temple. Oliver's condition was unusual."
As I opened the door with great strides, I felt him follow behind me. The moment I held the feverish Oliver in my arms, I unconsciously accepted the child I had almost lost.
"I will take it."
As I watched the back of him walking toward the carriage, I looked down at my trembling palms.
Isabella's soft, white, calloused hands were too weak to hold even a child.
"Are you not planning on going?"
Only then, at Hugh's urging, did I slowly take a step back. The carriage carrying us ran quickly and headed to the temple.
"Oh my God, there was a robbery? The child's older sister is dead?"
Priest Pio, who heard the news, shook his head with an astonished face.
"So didn't I tell you not to go there? Because you don't know how dangerous that place is. Even though they are dirty and ignorant, they are all so violent and uncivilized."
"Priest, I would like you to take care of the child first."
As soon as he stopped talking, the priest's face became astonished.
He glanced at the child and cautiously opened his mouth.
"I fully understand your kindness, but... Didn't you say that the child's only guardian was dead? Even if this child survives the crisis right now, it will be difficult for him to survive there alone."
"So?"
"Even if you use divine power to reduce the child's fever, wouldn't it be meaningless? Even if this child were to return there, the odds of him surviving until adulthood are..."
So, does this mean that precious sacred power should be used for something more valuable?
The excuses given were always the same.
An old memory came to mind.
On the day when the festival for the goddess was held, I happened to see the lord and his daughter coming out to greet the people of the territory from afar.
She was walking in fancy, beautiful shoes, but after only a few steps, she started to wince as if her feet were hurting.
That day, the priest did not hesitate and even went to the trouble of bending down to help her sore feet and poured out his divine power.
"Priest."
He sighed at my call.
"Young lady, I mean... I want to leave the child in the orphanage run by the temple. "
"Of course, I plan to be the child's guardian until he becomes an adult."
The priest's eyes widened.
I continued speaking, pretending not to notice Hugh's gaze staring at me.
"Of course, I will pay all the consignment fees."
The temple orphanage had a much better environment than the poor slums.
Sleep and food were provided on a regular basis, and they were also able to learn to read and write at a basic level.
In that way, when it was time to leave the orphanage as an adult, Oliver was able to receive a recommendation and enter a theological institution and he also had a way to make a living by doing copying work.
'Even if I can't come back, it will open a way for my brother to live.'
The priest looked at me with joy and rubbed his hands.
"I can't help but be amazed by your kindness."
"Priest. Would you please treat the child?"
At the gentle prompting, the priest seemed excited and placed his hand on the child's forehead.
The pure white light that emanated from his hand seeped into the chiId.
The moment I saw the child's expression, which had been suffering from fever and pain, become more relaxed, I unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
"Really, this kid couldn't be luckier than this. Neither will the dead woman regret sacrificing her life for her brother."
Before the priest, who was repeating unfamiliar words, could finish his words, a thin voice asked.
"Dying?"
I turned my head in the direction from which I heard a small voice as if it would go off at any moment.
Before we knew it, Oliver had woken up and was looking at us with a pale face.
"Who... Who is dying?"
The child, who had difficulty swallowing his tears, asked again in a trembling voice.
No one dared to answer that question easily.
***
"Can I talk to you alone for a moment?"
Hugh and the priest slowly left the room without saying a word.
After they disappeared out the door, I walked closer to Oliver, who was crying silently.
"Oliver."
The child lowered his head to avoid my hand trying to wipe his tear-stained face.
Now, to this child, I was a complete strangerг.
The moment I realized that fact, I felt a deep pain in my heart.
'It's okay.'
I raised the corners of my mouth with great effort and called the child's name once again.
"Oliver."
Isabella's clear, sonorous, beautiful voice called Oliver's name, but the child still made no reply.
"Can you look at me?"
Only then did Oliver's head slowly turn towards me.
"Do you remember what happened last night? Your sister came with me to pick you up, right?"
The child nodded slightly, perhaps recalling a vague memory.
"I am a friend of your sister Rebecca. Call me Isabella."
Rebecca.
Tears flowed from Oliver's eyes again as he heard my name.
Even at this very moment, I suddenly felt like telling myself that I was alive and that there was no need to cry.
No.
In order for the child to be safe, it was better not to know the truth.
And if, in the future, I end up not being able to return to this child...
'Because then, this child should be able to live in this world alone.'
I kept my mouth shut and hugged the boy who was smaller than his age.
The protruding bones of his bony back were felt by the patting fingertips.
"Is my sister really dead?"
"Maybe."
The child's small body trembled at my short answer.
"Listen carefully, Oliver. Rebecca cared about you until the moment she died. I brought you here to the temple on behalf of Rebecca."
"..."
"The only thing I could do for Rebecca was to bring you here. So Oliver, what do you think you can do for Rebecca?"
Oliver's eyes widened at my question.
The child, who was looking at me with a puzzled face, stopped crying and fell into thought.
Eventually, Oliver opened his mouth with a serious expression.
"Well. How are you doing?"
For a moment, my heart was touched.
'I'm doing well, Oliver.'
That's what I said every morning as I left the house to go to work. I nodded, pulling up the corners of my mouth.
"That's right. "You know me well."
I continued my request while playing with Oliver's tattered sleeves.
"From now on, you will be entering an orphanage run by the temple. There you will be provided with a warm place to sleep and meals, and you will also be able to learn to read."
Even if the orphanage accepts the child, adaptation will not be easy.
There will be people who will not be pleased with the child's origins. Even though it was not an easy life, it was Oliver's responsibility to endure.
I couldn't help you with that much. So please take care of yourself. At least until I return.
"Even if I can't come back... Learn how to survive, Oliver."
Only then will I be able to stop worrying about you and try my best to return to you.
I took a couple of steps back from the child who was listening to me blankly stretched out my hand and waved it in the air.
"Woty."
When the name was called, a blue wolf with the cool energy of water appeared in the air.
He spoke to the child who could not take his eyes off the spirit.
"This child is a water spirit. He will always be by your side, even when you are happy and when things are difficult and painful."
The wolf, who had suddenly become as small as a puppy, came whining and licked the child's feet.
A faint smile appeared on Oliver's face.
"Promise me you'll get along until one day we meet again?"
Oliver pushed the words he wanted to say into his throat and calmly nodded at the words he finally got out.
"I will."
A child with eyes that had swallowed down the sadness laughed.
"Do not worry."
The moment I saw the child's adult smile to reassure someone, I couldn't hold back and turned my head to hide the tears that were welling up in my eyes.
And I made a promise.
I will survive and come back to you again.
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