Chapter 144: Black and Gold – 15
During my time in the orphanage, prospective parents who wished to become parents often visited.
Of course, they werent coming to rescue a child like me.
Our orphanage mainly housed children with disabilities, but there were also a few perfectly healthy ones.
They came to adopt them.
For couples to adopt through normal channels, they had to be on a waiting list for at least five years. However, with private orphanages like ours, adoption could happen immediately with cooperation from local authorities.
The foundation of our orphanage was affiliated with a fringe religious sect, and they had a tight grip on influential people in the area.
Politicians, military personnel, government officials, and so on.
With their support, there was nothing they couldnt do legally or illegally.
The director would make parents pay money under the guise of donations to the sect and sell the children.
We envied the children being adopted.
Seeing people willing to pay so much money for a child made it clear that they were undoubtedly wealthy.
It was evident that they were good people who loved children very much.
We thought those children entering those homes would surely live happily.
Looking back, only that much money couldnt prove someones wealth.
Paying that much money didnt guarantee that they would raise the child with love.
But for us, who scraped together pennies to pay bribes, it was a fortune that we could barely imagine in a lifetime.
The parents who bestowed such grace for the sake of an orphan seemed like saints that would never exist in the world again.
We blessed them as they left.
Wishing them to live happily.
However, some children returned to the orphanage shortly after leaving, sometimes within months.
They were abandoned.
Parents who abandoned their children always made excuses like the child had more problems than expected.
But that was a ridiculous excuse.
Where in the world can you find a child without problems?
Even parents raising their biological children always faced headaches because of their children.
If there were problems, they were with the parents, not the children.
Parents who came to adopt children were divided into two main types.
Those who had to adopt because they couldnt have biological children, and those who lost a child due to an accident and came to adopt a child resembling their deceased child.
At first glance, it seemed like novice parents would accept a child hastily and then couldnt bear it, but overwhelmingly, it was the latter who returned to the orphanage.
I still dont know what mindset they had when they adopted the children.
It could have been to heal their wounds through the child, or sympathy could have been triggered by seeing the child struggling.
They must have been initially pleased to have a child who would replace the one they lost.
They would have promised to give the love they couldnt give to the deceased child to this child.
But as time passed, they would have gradually realized.
That the child they brought home wasnt the deceased child.
They would have discovered that they no longer mourned the deceased child because of the child they adopted and would have fallen into self-reproach.
Leaving a fake doll in place and forgetting about the real child.
When they realized what they had done wrong, it was already too late.
The love they gave to the adopted child was actually given to the deceased child.
It would have been fortunate if they just accepted that the two were completely separate entities.
But there were also parents who denied the existence of the adopted child itself.
The wrong child was receiving the love that their child should have received.
The wrong child was sitting in the place where their child should have been.
It filled the parents with bewildering terror and strange anger.
Clearly, it was their own choice, yet they resented the child.
Especially for someone as proud as Lord Fantastic, living with the daily reminder of his mistake must have been a tremendous blow to his pride.
But he couldnt accept abandoning the child.
Because that would mean admitting his mistake.
So what he chose was to blame Reyna.
It wasnt him abandoning her, but her abandoning him, ending this fake relationship.
Of course, Reyna had no idea about the background mentioned above.
She wouldnt know the truth until four years later.
I turned to look at her sitting next in the carriage.
She had a solid expression, flawless like a fortress.
But to me, it looked like a glass castle that could collapse with a single crack.
Often, as they passed under the streetlights, the light would spill into the carriage, and each time, she saw something sparkling in the corner of her eye.
She glanced at the corner of her eye right away, but
It would wear off over time.
Even the caretaker of the villa, who had planned a summer vacation to the Arctic and realized he had been deceived after only three days, had come swaggering to us.
Sven had tried to play another prank on him, but those wary of hypnosis didnt buy it well.
It was a weak hypnosis, after all.
Sven said he had hypnotized Gascon earlier to leave Ella alone for a while.
Denture virus, he called it.
It might have been a light joke, but it only complicated things now.
What should we do? If we leave Ella alone
If it werent for the denture virus, I wouldve gone myself!
Gascon raised his voice like a drunk person.
He even smelled of strong alcohol.
It seemed the hypnosis worked better because of his drunkenness.
I realized I had no choice.
There was only one way to undo Svens hypnosis.
Putting Gascon into the circus troupe.
I conveyed to the organizers that we would forfeit the second selection.
And I accepted Gascon into the circus troupe.
[Gasutong Halidon has been added to the member list.]
As the notification popped up, Gascon blinked.
He, who had just warned of the danger of the denture virus and told Maya to back off, now grinned.
What, whats going on?
I explained to him about Svens Inspira.
I also taught him that he was 59 years old, not in his 90s.
You, you son of a skeleton! You really got me
Hot, Im sorry about this.
Just a while ago, you called the vodka diluted beer!
I stopped Gascon from reaching for Sven.
That wasnt important right now.
Please go see Ella. Right away.
Oh, got it.
He left for the Golden Carnival camp immediately.
The power that came with the business card stating he was the master of the Alchemy Guild and former manager of the Tomato Greenhouse was significant.
As soon as he identified himself as Ellas attending physician, even the Golden Carnival side couldnt refuse.
Ellas name was still listed in the member management roster.
Fortunately, the system still recognized her as part of our group.
This meant we could use the Voice Chat through the Sound Room and the Member Quest function would work too.
Now that I knew she was right next door, I could rush over anytime if things got desperate.
I gave Reyna Ellas room.
She glanced at me briefly then nodded her head.
Thank you. I might be considered an uninvited guest from your perspective
I chuckled and extended my hand.
Haha, no, not at all. Doesnt it suit the circus folks to accommodate jokes? Hoho. Anyway, were going to trade in two weeks. Dont worry too much. Until then, Reyna, youre our guest.
Yes.
If you need anything, just ring for Ratman. They take shifts even at dawn, so its no problem anytime.
Yes.
I wanted to offer some comforting words seeing her gloomy mood, but I couldnt jest carelessly.
As an outsider, pretending to know about the ladys circumstances would be ridiculous.
Above all, she was playing the Golden Libra, so she might not accept such casual comfort.
For now, rest well today. Lets talk in detail tomorrow.
Thank you.
I closed the door and stepped out.
Just before going down the stairs, I heard something like a sob from down the corridor.
It seemed to be mixed with whimpering.
I hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh and descending the stairs.
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