Aslan, watching Erita exhaling evenly, quietly left the room so that the sleeping child would not wake up.

Kyle, who was standing in the hallway, followed Aslan, who quietly closed the door without making a single sound.

“Master, Fern has arrived in the basement.”

“The process…” (Aslan)

“I’ve finished organizing all the personal affairs and processing all the paperworks.”

“Good.” (Aslan)

Nodding at the satisfactory report, Aslan hurried to the basement of the huge mansion.

It was a refreshing appearance that was starkly different from before he met Erita.

There’s a truth I need to hear from what they had done to my precious daughter, it wouldn’t be easy to accept.

I didn’t have much time because I was going to finish everything before Erita wokes up.

✿

The knights who saw Aslan politely stepped aside.

The sound of footsteps filled the large room.

The dark basement alone created a fearsome atmosphere.

“Fern.”

“You’re here my lord?”

At Aslan’s call, Fern bowed his head.

And in front of him, a man who rolled over on the ground with a terrible appearance.

The director of the Lysen orphanage was on his knees.

The director’s eyes were blindfolded, and he was trembling as he was afraid of the situation.

“Did you start?” (Aslan)

“Not yet.”

Aslan, who had ordered everyone to leave except Fern and Kyle with a light gesture, slowly moved in front of the director.

It was funny how he trembled even though he had not been cut or hit anywhere.

He was so scared that he was trying to suppress the fact that he had done such a thing to the child.

“What have you done that makes you so nervous?”

A cold voice fell over the head of the director.

After being kicked out of the orphanage, the director’s fear reached its peak when he was attacked by an unidentified man.

The sound of footsteps echoing in a humid, dark space, for the director, it sounded like the Grim Reaper’s footsteps.

The director, who was trembling like crazy, with his heartbeat pounding wildly up to his head.

When he heard the voice earlier that seemed to contain power, he thought this man must have been the leader.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?” (Director)

“You’re the last man I never even want to see.” (Fern)

“Why? Why do you treat me like this?” (Director)

“Well, because you’re insignificant.” (Aslan)

Aslan smiled coldly, cutting off his trembling voice in response to Fern’s words.

“You’re so insignificant that I’m holding myself back from cutting off your neck easily.”

At those words, the director’s body, which was kneeling on the floor, hardened.

The low-pitched voice was so cold and threatening that the director couldn’t even think of it as a lie.

“Seven years ago, there’s a two-year-old girl who came to the orphanage. Her name was Rita.”

Aslan’s voice finally made sure of his identity, which the director had only guessed, and the director’s fingertips hardened.

The Count who took that cursed trash earlier!

The black cloth, which was blocking the vision of the director, was peeled off, whether he knew the director’s mind.

When he raised his trembling head, he saw a serious enemy.

At the gaze that seemed to rip his body to pieces at any moment, his head was stuck down, unable to look him in the eye.

“Please save me, Count! I’m blind! If you just save me, I’ll beg you a hundred times and a thousand times…!”

The only thing the director could say in the atmosphere where his neck could fall at any moment was to beg for his life.

Aslan stared at the director’s head down on the floor as he prayed, wondering if his life was precious even though he had abused a child so much.

“What’s the meaning of your sincere apology?”

“Gasp, death, please save life…”

“What kind of sincerity could there be in an apology that you spit out only after facing death like this?”

“I’m sincerely sorry to Rita. Oh, my! Please!”

“Don’t you dare put that name in your disgusting mouth again.”

The mana that followed the owner’s feelings ran wild.

“Argh…”

In an instant, the air became so heavy that even Fern and Kyle knelt down.

Aslan was disgusted by the director’s attitude to pay back the pain his daughter has suffered over the past seven years with just a hundred or a thousand prayers.

Even if he cut off his neck a hundred times and split his limbs a thousand times, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of all this anger.

The director’s body trembled and gasped as he’s short of breath.

The temptation to cut his neck off like this soared, but Aslan quickly captured the raging mana.

He still needs to know the truth from him.

“Gasp, ahhh…haha…”

It was then that he heard a squeaking sound as if he was out of breath.

“Do you remember the person who left the child 7 years ago at the orphanage?”

“What are you talking about..?”

“The man who took Rita to the orphanage. I asked if you remembered.”

Without answering, Aslan reached out to Kyle, who stood next to him with a stupid look on his face.

Then Kyle politely crosses his sword naturally.

“That’s the reason that your insignificant life was still here, so you should think carefully before answering.”

The blade that came out of the scabbard flashed in front of the director, and his trembling didn’t stop.

‘That day…’ The director thought as he felt like he was about to lose his neck.

“Please, I’ll tell you everything I know…!”

Soon after, the screeching sound of the sword’s blade disappeared.

“It was wi-winter. The one who brought the child was…”

Aslan had to suppress his rising anger at the story he had heard, the director continued with his trembling voice spitting out as if recalling the memory.

✿

As always, dreams portrayed the moments I hated the most.

There were people shouting at me.

‘It’s because you’re ugly. Someone like you? I don’t think anyone would ever want to adopt such an ugly kid.’ 

‘She’s not cute and she’s so quiet that we don’t get along well.’

Even though I knew it was a dream, I couldn’t wake myself up.

‘Oh my, you don’t have parents? How did they die? Are you from an orphanage?’

At first, I rebelled and tried to scream at those people.

However, from the moment I realized that the only thing that came back was an insult, I waited quietly for this time to end.

“…-ta”

But every time I heard it, I couldn’t help but feel miserable and sad.

“…Rita. Erita.”

“How long have you been holding back your tears?”

A low and sweet voice came from somewhere.

There was no one to protect in my dreams, and no one to wake me from my suffering.

The first voice to penetrate my nightmares felt warm. I reached out towards the voice as if possessed by something.

“Ah…”

At the same time, my eyes, which had been swollen, suddenly opened.

“Did you sleep well?”

The first thing I saw after I woke up was the face of a handsome man, not the old ceiling, nor the face of a scary director.

Having yet to escape all the lingering effects of my dream, I reached out to the man in a daze.

“What a sight was this?”

A man who smiled without a single frown, hugged me.

As I felt the man’s hand stroking my head for a while, I remembered what happened before I fell asleep.

“Oh!”

It was then that I was able to properly face my current condition.

It’s not enough to fall asleep while crying, then crying even when waking up, I’m such an idiot.

No matter how sleepy I was, I couldn’t escape from the terrible dream!

After a silent scream in his arms, I slowly raised my head and looked at the man again.

“Count?”

At my call, the man looked at me without answering.

There was a slight frown on his forehead as if there was something he didn’t like.

As I was fiddling with my fingers, I opened my mouth quietly thinking, ‘No way.’

“Fa-father, right?”

I called him but didn’t have the confidence to say it aloud, but the man still smiled, seemingly satisfied with my words.

Then he approached carefully and kissed my forehead briefly.

“Yes, my daughter.”

My slightly anxious mind melted away at those words.

“Erita.”

“…”

Unlike the anxiety that had disappeared, an embarrassing call fell over me, as I was gently held in my father’s arms.

But my face turned red and I couldn’t act like nothing happened when I was a child.

My father laughed and called me again when I couldn’t raise my head stuck on his chest.

“Erita… My baby.”

“..Yes?”

Unable to ignore the affectionate call again, I replied softly.

“No matter what happens, I will be by your side. So you have nothing to worry about.”

It was sudden, but my heart was filled with affection at his loving words.

He was a father who I met less than a day ago, but he showed a family’s love for the first time.

I nodded my head slightly.

“Yes, that’s enough. That’s enough for now.”

My father, who whispered quietly, soon lifted himself up with me in his arms.

Surprised by his actions, I hugged my father’s neck and his firm upper body resounded pleasantly.

‘But where are we going now?’

“We are on our way to the dining room. I thought you’d be hungry because you cried and fell asleep.”

My face heated up in embarrassment again.

“Oh, that’s..!”

I tried to make a weak excuse, but I couldn’t even keep up because it was my father’s clothes that were covered with tears that I shed.

“Ugh…”

I ended up biting my lips and smiled. Then, I buried my face on my father’s wide shoulders.

It was a long walk, he carried me as we entered the dining room.

As my father slowly seated me on the chair, I thanked him with an awkward smile.

“I didn’t know what you liked. So I told them to prepare as much as possible.”

As he calmly said that, my eyes couldn’t stop from looking alternately at every dish.

‘This wasn’t a serving for a child to eat alone and finish.’

The table was full of food for ten people. Glazed steaks, smoked duck, and grilled fish cooked to perfection.

A feast of so many dishes that I couldn’t count them even with all my fingers and toes.

“There are too many…”

“I don’t usually eat like this. I’m just saying that I only prepared everything because I didn’t know what you liked.”

My father soothed me a little in a hurry at my mumbling words.

It wasn’t until I said that the rest was going to be thrown away, but that the servants would eat it, so I laughed quietly.

“Thank you for caring.”

The strongest villain in the novel.

Even though he was embarrassed to see his daughter who had recovered, he just wanted to be the father who dearly loved his daughter.

“…Father, eat this too!”

It’s still an awkward name, but I liked the beautiful smile on his face whenever I called him.

Slowly dragging the plate with the meat in front of me and speaking shyly, he burst into laughter and started eating

“Yes, we should eat a lot.”

It’s starting to get a little messy. Our first meal ended with laughter.