“Hey, sis! Did you hear the news? The new orphanage is completed!”
“No? When?”
“Just yesterday, it passed the final inspection!”
As always, Plona brought me news while I was frowning at my desk.
Yesterday, huh? It’s not surprising I missed it. Although I usually get reports about the completion of public facilities, simple notifications take a backseat to matters where I need to act, like permits.
Or maybe it’s already somewhere in that mountain of paperwork. I glanced sideways at the chaotic stack of documents piling up on the left side of my desk.
I felt nauseous. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, right? That’s quite true.
At least it’s a relief to know the workload has decreased significantly since the early days. I actually have a day off now… It may only be one day a week, but it’s still a huge improvement.
“Have the kids moved in safely?”
“Yeah. I haven’t been there yet, but that’s what I heard. They must be busy unpacking right about now.”
The orphanage in Randell didn’t completely escape the aftermath of the battle with Luminous from the past.
Unlike the structures in Rusher that turned to ashes and became unrecognizable, the orphanage in Randell still stood, but the floors creaked as if they would collapse, and bits of wood would fall from the ceiling. No one could live in such conditions.
So, we decided to build a new one. And we had the dwarves do it, equipping it with the latest facilities.
However, the dwarf craftsmen were swamped with building the Royal Palace and other important national facilities to transform the ashes of Rusher into Scalaetia, so for now, we had to temporarily use a building similar to the old one.
“And it’s finally completed.”
“Yeah. How about we visit this holiday?”
“…Me?”
Randell’s orphanage, the first home I ever had after being reborn.
It’s a place that remained in my memory as something like a hometown after shaking off my indiscriminate distrust and resentment towards humans, but I hadn’t visited since the day I received Sophia’s painting from Amy, the orphanage’s head.
I don’t want to admit it, but I felt insecure. I was apprehensive about standing in front of the kids.
Their eyes are incredibly honest. So, I was a little scared to imagine how I might appear in their eyes.
Amy said there were kids who missed me, including Sophia, but the version of me they remember is the pure one from back then, isn’t it?
A naive idealist who blindly believed in the goodwill of humans, despite having no power or authority.
A pitiful vampire who hoped to live like an ordinary person, secretly surviving on the blood of beasts to turn away from her instincts.
The past version of me that the orphanage kids remember no longer exists.
Thanks to the revelations about Luminous’s existence, which had used humans from the shadows of history for so long, the aversion towards vampires has surprisingly lessened, and somehow, all of humanity now lives within a singular border, but that doesn’t erase the bloody path I walked.
How many lives have I taken? How many lives have perished at my orders?
I don’t regret the path I’ve taken. No, it would be a lie to say I feel no regret at all, but isn’t life just a continuous series of regrets?
However, I believe if I were to go back, I would likely walk a similar path.
If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have survived. If I hadn’t killed and fed, I wouldn’t have grown stronger, and if I hadn’t grown stronger, I wouldn’t have broken the chain of destruction.
But to the kids, that probably doesn’t matter. Adding insult to injury, there’s now a social gap I can’t ignore, so their attitude toward me is completely different from before, and I didn’t want to see that difference up close.
That’s why I’ve deliberately avoided visiting the orphanage until now. Even though I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do so.
“I plan to visit this holiday. What about you, sister?”
“Well, I’m not so sure…”
“C’mon! You cared so much about the orphanage…”
Now that I think about it, Plona is also from there. Unfortunately, this time, I have to tell her to go alone—
“Oh, come on, sister! Let’s go together, pretty please?”
“Alright. Let’s go.”
……Ah.
*
On this golden holiday that comes once a week, I found myself standing a bit away from the newly completed Randell orphanage.
Sigh.
“Sis! If you sigh like that, you’ll lose your luck!”
Plona said with a bright smile.
How did it come to this? Come to think of it, have I ever been able to resist Plona when she threw a tantrum?
This situation was an unavoidable trial from the perspective of someone like Plona, who is also from the orphanage. I decided to change my mindset and accept this unavoidable trial.
“But really, are you going in dressed like that?”
As I tightly buttoned my collar, Plona asked, looking a bit disappointed.
True to her observation, I was dressed almost completely covered, like when I was living in hiding.
I was led here by Plona, but this was my compromise. Luckily, I had a decent excuse for my outfit.
“Today isn’t an official visit; it’s a holiday. Plus, if it gets out that the Emperor visited, it would just add more trouble to their already busy day.”
The orphanage had just moved in this week. Since it’s their first holiday here, they’d be swamped with cleaning and assigning rooms, so they’d have to entertain a high-ranking guest.
Plona is high-ranking too, but unlike me, she was genuinely from this orphanage and had often visited even during her time as a knight, which made her a precarious exception. On the other hand, as Emperor, I was completely out of bounds.
“That’s true, I suppose!”
Thankfully, Plona accepted this flawless and airtight reasoning.
Since we’d decided, there was no reason to delay, and we headed straight into the orphanage.
“Welcome… Oh my, Plona?”
Just then, Amy, who was carrying some boxes, spotted Plona and exclaimed in surprise.
“Granny!!”
Plona rushed over and casually took the box Amy was carrying from her.
Amy appeared less surprised than I expected, and Plona’s comfortable demeanor suggested that this wasn’t her first visit since the war ended.
Come to think of it, after I decided on a massive expansion for the orphanage, Plona had taken over all related authority, so it wouldn’t be strange if she had visited several times.
Watching her ask about their well-being felt like seeing someone from the past, and I couldn’t help but squint under the brilliant sunlight.
“But who is that over there…?”
Because of the hood I was wearing, our eyes didn’t meet, but perhaps sensing my presence or simply being put off by this mysterious, shabby-looking stranger standing next to Plona, Amy cautiously addressed me.
“Um, is it Ari—”
As she glanced back and forth between Plona and me, Amy froze in sudden realization.
I raised a finger to my lips, signaling for her to keep it down and whispered, “…Today isn’t an official visit. Please treat me as just one of Plona’s acquaintances.”
I even remembered to speak in a formal tone. Not that anyone around would fail to recognize me, but this served as a signal that I was here without my royal titles.
Clearly, Amy understood what I meant, as she glanced around cautiously before nodding.
She looked at me with a mix of various emotions for a moment, but she didn’t dig deeper. Instead, with the demeanor of addressing an ordinary benefactor of the orphanage, Amy soon bestowed upon me a calm smile.
“I see. I’m Amy, the head of this orphanage.”
“Granny, where should I put this?”
“I was going to take it to the storeroom at the end of the right hallway on the second floor. But aren’t you tired? It’s your rare day off; I feel bad making you carry boxes.”
“I’ll just take this one for now!”
Plona eagerly answered after checking my expression.
Knowing Plona’s personality, she’d want to help fully. While Amy was older and there were many kids, the workload would naturally be light for an adult, so lending a hand would make things much smoother.
But Plona had spent enough time with me to notice that earlier, her eagerness to carry out the task was just a polite excuse.
“I’m fine. What do you think? Since we came all this way, shouldn’t we lend a hand?”
Plona’s expression brightened. She appeared a bit guilty while checking my mood, but her joy resembled a puppy that suddenly received a treat, which made me chuckle.
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