Chapter 5

“Look here. What’s this?”

It’s over. Realizing this was the end for me, I was bracing myself when I heard someone sit on the sofa.

“How are you so beautiful?”

“Such a tease.”

Yuriane’s coy response followed the director’s sly flirting.

“What are you playing at?” she asked.

“We hardly get to spend any time together. Let me have this moment,” the director said.

“Are you sulking because I asked you to restrain yourself in front of the others?”

“Yes, I am. I’m a little upset, you know.”

Then I heard a strange sound like the smacking of lips. Hearing rustling noises, I released a small sigh.

Dear me, they’re in a relationship? From what I remembered, the director was well past forty years old. Yuriane, from what I knew, was barely in her early twenties. I did think she began working here quite suddenly. I guess she got in because someone got her the job. This orphanage was run by the royal family, so the staff were as good as public servants. It was not easy to find employment here.

I’m just relieved that they didn’t catch me. But how was I going to get out of here when things got serious between them? I have to get out quickly. With all the disgusting noises coming from above, finding the right moment seemed impossible. I withdrew further under the sofa, terrified of being caught, but the legs in front of me did not disappear. If their legs end up sliding underneath the sofa, I’m going to have another problem on my hands. They’d notice me right away. Ugh.

I thought of all the violence they could inflict upon me and pushed aside those terrifying thoughts immediately. Nothing good would come out of drowning myself in those.

“I don’t want to do it here. We work here, and it’s cold and dark.”

“Since when did we care about that?”

“I just want to be in a room with a warm bed! It’s so cold here! I told you I wanted to go home.”

“But you said you didn’t want to talk about work at home.” The director sighed, already giving into Yuriane’s fit of temper.

“Fine, let’s head home.”

Fortunately, Yuriane’s voice only grew louder until he gave in. I could hear the director moving. Yuriane got to her feet as well, and the two of them laughed as they left the office.

I remained still until the footsteps ringing through the darkness faded away into the distance. After waiting a while longer just to be safe, I forced my trembling body out from underneath the sofa.

Making a beeline for the window, I gasped for air, panting anxiously. They didn’t see me, right? Through the window, I spotted the two of them walking toward the front gate of the orphanage. I made sure they had left the property entirely before I left the office.

I thought they’d caught me for sure. The tightness in my chest loosened, making me feel more tired than before. I wiped the sweat from my brow and headed out into the corridor.

Then, I spotted an oil lamp right in front of the door. Now that I think about it, there were a lot of oil lamps in the storage room. I remembered seeing the lamps as I passed, and so made a slight change to my escape plan. Scurrying back into the office, I took a matchbox from a drawer and put it in my pocket.

* * *

Back in my room, I spread out my last article of clothing on the bed.

I hope this will be enough to fool them. I put the old pair of shoes in front of the door as I thought to myself. I made sure all my belongings were back in their usual spots—all except for my bag. “I just hope they’re foolish enough to fall for this, and they try to cover it up.”

They must not learn that I was gone, nor that I had been the one to start the fire. If they covered up what had supposedly happened to me—for fear of people discovering that they had let a child die—then my plan would work out perfectly. But clothing could easily burn and disappear, so I hoped the fire would burn hot enough to destroy my bones. Then they would believe me to be truly dead.

So this is goodbye. This was the beginning of my new life. I was going to survive, manipulate the story, and ruin everything for everyone else. I had decided that I was no longer going to sit around and wait for my death.

In that dark room, I watched the white mist that was my breath appear and fade for several long moments. Then I turned and went into the storage room. They must have been saving the lamps because I found many with a lot of oil inside. I thought it was so stingy of them to not give me one despite the supply.

“I guess I’m going to teach them a lesson today: It’s better to use it than let it go to waste.”

I found all the lamps and threw them on the floor. The pleasant tinkling of breaking glass filled the air as the oil leaked and wet the floor. It crept across the floor slowly into my room. I closed the little door so I could no longer see inside, and secured it with a lock the staff had left behind. I need to make it look like I was trapped in there. There had to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I had died in the fire. Spread the rumor far and wide—I’ll be able to move about more comfortably if everyone thinks I’m dead.

I lit the match, my hands shaking from the cold, then tossed it to the floor. The small flame gobbled up the oil and grew bigger. I felt the heat from the flames licking at my skin. Soon, everything in the storage room began to burn, producing a distinct smoky smell. The smoke was spreading fast, and it seemed the fire was going to grow much larger, much sooner than I had anticipated.

There are a lot of things in the storage room, but as long as the food is untouched, the children won’t go hungry. None of them would starve like I had, at least. But the director would have to take responsibility for the fire and would receive less compensation if the children came to harm.

I don’t feel guilty at all.

The fire burned as hot as my fury, and my room was soon engulfed in flames. The fire grew larger, and I wished for nothing more than for everything to burn to ashes as I turned and left the storage room.

The door caught fire as soon as I closed it behind me. From the corridor, I stared at the door to my little room for the last time. They did a good job blocking it. I couldn’t see well in the dark, but there was something in front of the door. My lips twisted into a wry smile, seeing they had actually barricaded the room because they were so afraid that I would escape.

I hope you all feel guilty. I want you to feel terrible for leaving me to die. I want you to feel sorry for me. And when you’ve almost managed to forget about me, I’ll reappear before you. I would return and ruin this place just like it had ruined my life. I would make all their guilt and agony worth nothing in the end.

The fire ate through the oil, swallowing both my room and the storage room. I could hear movement, so I hurried out the back door, escaping the orphanage at last. I didn’t look back.

* * *

My breath came out in white puffs as I moved swiftly. The cold wind of early winter burrowed in between my thin garments, but I had no time to feel the cold.

The story specified that the location of the Benedito Estate office was in the capital. First, I need to head to the fountain on the main street.

Fortunately, there was no one on the streets. I hurried down the road that I had walked on after sneaking out once long ago and soon found myself in front of the fountain. I tried to catch my breath as I stood there.

So if I look to the right... I entered the narrow alley that I saw there and walked five minutes until I came to a fork in the road. Turning right again, I walked straight ahead before coming to a dead end, where I found a wall covered in ivy. I stared up at its height and stood up straighter, my body suddenly strung with tension.

This is the beginning.

I knocked three times on the wall, just as the novel had described. Then, after three seconds, I knocked three times again. Another three seconds passed, and I knocked thrice more—nine times in total.

This was the secret entrance to the estate. The nine knocks were a code, indicating that I wanted to make a secret request of the estate. If I had remembered the pattern correctly, the door would open.

I heard the sound of stone grinding against stone. Nervous, I stared at the wall for five long seconds. Then, part of the wall rose, leaving a space big enough for a person to enter.

“It’s open,” I muttered, amazed. It really was open. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I took a deep breath and walked inside. The wall behind me closed with a thud as soon as I’d passed through. I took a single step, and the candles on either side of the corridor lit up all at once.

The now-bright corridor had no forks or side corridors, the path leading straight onward. I instantly felt warm as soon as I was inside. Rubbing my arms, which were stiff from the cold, I tried to warm myself up. I’m lucky I didn’t freeze to death.

My heart beat loudly in my ears. I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy anticipating the success of my plan. I felt the air getting warmer now that the candles were lit and walked forward.

As I followed the lit path, I came to some stairs that led down. Stairs? Seeing no other way, I descended them. At the bottom was a bright light, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

“A kid?” The softest, gentlest voice I’d ever heard in my life was calling to me. I flinched, searching for the owner. There was a boy that seemed to be around seventeen or eighteen looking down at me. I saw the surprise in his green eyes and backed away without thinking. He also backed away from me in astonishment.

“What’s a kid doing here? I mean, how did you know about...?”

“I-I came to see the owner.”

“You came to see the owner?” He scowled, as if he’d heard something unwelcome. The teen seemed to have overcome his shock. Wearing the same stiff expression as if he didn’t know how to do anything else, he shook his head. “The owner doesn’t meet with just anyone. You can’t see her.”

“I came here with a deal. Let me meet her!”

“I don’t know how you learned of this place, but you need to leave.” Or I’ll make you, he seemed to imply. He still wore the same frightening expression as if he was trying to scare me away.

In desperation, I spoke loudly, enunciating each word carefully.

“I am here with a deal! Let me see the owner!”