Chapter: 325
“Today’s tasks are done! I’ll be heading out first…!”
“Ha ha, alright. Be careful not to get hurt while running.”
“Yes!”
Having completed her tasks for the day and finished tidying up faster than anyone else, the girl ran out with a face full of excitement.
When did this start?
It wasn’t until now that the girl began to eagerly await the end of her daily routine.
Of course, she had wished for the day’s tasks to end quickly before, but back then, it was merely with the thought of wanting to rest.
But unlike then, the girl now awaited this time because…
“I found you!”
“Ah, you caught me!”
Just like that, after finishing her work and rushing to the designated place to hide, the small girl, Evangeline, would always come to find her.
“Well, since I found you, that’s it! Today was fun too!”
Originally, the game of hide and seek had started to avoid Evangeline.
Thus, there was an unspoken rule that if caught by Evangeline, the day’s play would be over.
“Ah…”
However, at some point, the girl began to think.
It was too disappointing to have her time with Evangeline end so quickly.
“Um, um…!”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“From today on, how about we stop hiding and play a bit longer…?”
That was why the girl asked Evangeline to stay and play a little longer.
What if she got rejected?
The girl thought with a trembling heart.
“Wow! Really?! I’d love to!”
Evangeline nodded with a full smile, as if she had been waiting for those words.
Just as the girl felt relieved and happy at seeing Evangeline like that, Evangeline grabbed her hand and asked.
“So what shall we play? Anything besides hide and seek is fine too?”
“Ah, yeah…!”
“Then come with me for a second! I have something I want to show you!”
And so, the girl was led by Evangeline into a small cave a little distance away from where people lived.
“What is this place…?”
“Hehe, it’s my secret base! Cool, right?”
A space filled with all sorts of junk, the origin of which was unknown.
Evangeline proudly spread her arms as if showing off the place to the girl.
“Since it’s a secret base, you must never tell anyone else! But I’m telling you because you’re my friend!”
“……Friend?”
“Hmm? You didn’t know? Wait a moment! Look at this!”
Friend.
When the girl tilted her head at the unfamiliar two-syllable word, Evangeline unfolded something kept in one corner of the cave and pointed out a section.
“It says here that friends are those who play together.”
The girl didn’t know that what Evangeline presented to her was something called a book, nor did she understand the writing inside it.
“Since we agreed to play together from now on, you and I are friends, right?”
But as Evangeline asked her, the word “friend” felt incredibly pleasing to the girl for some reason, and she nodded in response.
“……Yes, friend.”
“Hehe, I’m so happy to have a friend for the first time!”
As the girl answered, Evangeline smiled brightly and suddenly seemed to remember something, her expression shifting with surprise as she asked.
“Speaking of friends, I still don’t know your name! What’s your name?”
“……Name?”
“Yeah, name! Just like my name is Evangeline!”
What Evangeline asked was about the girl’s name.
However, the girl couldn’t answer her question.
“……I don’t have a name.”
That was because the girl had no name.
“Oh, you don’t have a name either. Well, that’s usual around here.”
But Evangeline didn’t seem particularly surprised by that.
It wasn’t just the girl; most of the slaves living in this place had no names.
To be exact, it would be more appropriate to say they had been thrown away.
Throwing away one’s name was a kind of rule created by the owner of the mine, Davis.
Not all slaves were of the same status.
Some were born as slaves, while others were nobles who became slaves after committing crimes.
Thus, there were occasional conflicts among the slaves.
To some, it was like, “How can those who’ve been slaves since birth oppose me when I was a noble before?”
But regardless of who they were outside, once they entered this place, they became slaves who could never leave and had to work for the rest of their lives.
Davis made the slaves abandon their names to engrain that fact in them.
At first, there was some resistance, but at some point, the slaves began to accept it willingly and even encouraged it.
Those with fond memories from the outside understood that being called by their names would only lead them down a miserable path, bringing back painful memories.
And even for those without any good memories, they realized that throwing away names could prevent unnecessary conflicts that might arise among them.
That’s why the slaves in this place usually had no names.
In the girl’s case, it wasn’t that she had thrown her name away, but that no one gave her one due to the surrounding circumstances.
In that sense, Evangeline was quite a unique case.
Having grown up here, she was able to use the name given to her by her parents without anyone saying anything.
The girl had never thought about her own lack of a name, considering that no one else around her had names either.
However, her newly found friend had a name.
Perhaps that was why she felt a sense of incongruity, as if she did not belong with her.
For the first time in her life, the girl felt regret about not having a name.
But at that moment, Evangeline asked the girl.
“Um, can I give you a name?”
As if she had read the girl’s heart, she asked if she could name her.
“Uh…? My name…?”
“Yes! You see, my name, Evangeline, is written here in this book and means ‘good news.’ I felt really happy when I learned that after studying some letters! I may not remember exactly what my mom and dad were like, but I feel like they put a lot of thought into naming me. So I thought having a name would be nice for you too!”
Hearing Evangeline’s words, the girl nodded as if enchanted.
“Got it! Then I’ll give you the coolest name ever! Wait a moment? Hmm…”
Then, Evangeline, with a determined expression, stared relentlessly at the book for a long time, as if asking her to trust her.
After much contemplation, Evangeline pointed at a section of the book and exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
“Oh! How about this? Beatrice! ”
Beatrice.
Since the girl couldn’t read, she had no idea what meaning the name held.
However, seeing Evangeline so confidently exclaim it led the girl to think it must have a wonderful meaning, so she asked.
“What does Beatrice mean…?”
“Uh, um… blessed person. Uhm…? But what does blessed mean? Anyway, it’s something like that.”
However, upon hearing Evangeline‘s response, the girl couldn’t help but look bemused.
After making such a grand statement, she chose a name she didn’t even know the meaning of.
As the girl stared incredulously at Evangeline, Evangeline shook her head vigorously, insisting that wasn’t the case.
“Wait a second! Don’t look at me like that! I still don’t know a lot of words! Plus, this name isn’t chosen based on meaning!”
“… Then what?”
As if challenging her to explain, the girl asked, and Evangeline pointed at herself with her finger.
“My name is Evangeline, right? But if I have to say it every time, it gets a little long. So I thought maybe when I have friends in the future, they could just call me Eva instead.”
“Yeah.”
“But look! Beatrice is a long name too! How about if you shorten it like I mentioned just now?”
Upon hearing that question, the girl had a moment of realization, her expression spacing out as she muttered.
If she shortened Evangeline, it would become Eva.
And if she shortened Beatrice…
“… Bea.”
As the girl muttered that, Evangeline grinned, as if that was exactly right.
“See! Shortened, it’s Eva and Bea! It feels like we’re perfect friends, doesn’t it? Right? That’s why I chose that name.”
Looking at Evangeline saying that, the girl thought.
It was a name that felt so much more meaningful than a name with a good meaning; it had the connotation of their bond as friends.
The girl repeatedly recited the name that her friend had thought of for her in her mind.
Bea, Beatrice.
At that moment, as she felt a fullness in her heart, she didn’t realize that she would soon lose that happiness.
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