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
When our abandoned friends returned, we didnt know how to treat them.
We didnt know whether to welcome them back to the orphanage or to laugh together, asking if the food at their new home was terrible.
Though our blood didnt match, we had formed a strong bond within the orphanage.
There was a family-like connection among us.
But as time passed, I began to doubt whether the metaphor was appropriate.
Becoming a family seemed more difficult and distant than becoming like a family.
We couldnt figure out what our abandoned friends had done wrong.
Even now, as adults who understand everything, it was still hard to accept it emotionally.
Like the heart of a man like Lord Fantastic.
This is our villa. The view from the cliff is really nice!
Haha, just think of it as a vacation and relax!
Yurakne and Sven went to great lengths to entertain the guest.
But she didnt even smile a little.
She still held her chin up and wore a cool expression.
We got off the carriage and stood in front of the alley leading up to the mansion.
Anaiss villa, which she had arranged for us, had a garden facing the cliff, allowing the monster members to roam around the yard without attracting the attention of outsiders.
Thanks to that, we couldnt drive directly to the mansion and had to walk a bit.
This place
Reyna, who was walking up the alley with me, stopped for a moment as she faced a certain cliff.
I followed her gaze up.
Wasnt that the biggest mansion in the vicinity?
Why are you like this?
Thats our lodging.
As she said that, she stared at me intently.
It was a face that seemed to have realized something.
The Golden Carnivals?
Yes.
Haha, it was close by.
I felt relieved to know that the noble mansion where they were staying was right next door.
But when I saw Ella walking towards the Golden Carnival camp in the hall, I felt anxious.
According to regulations, we could get her back in two weeks.
I knew there were many good people in the Golden Carnival.
Among the 99 supporters featured in TT1, the Golden Carnival had the most members.
But seeing Reyna standing there so miserable made me worry for no reason.
I wondered if Lord Fantastic was doing something to Ella.
Please follow Ella. You have the qualification of therapist.
Thats right! Its inappropriate to send her alone! Im worried!
Yurakne agreed, but Gascon wore a puzzled expression.
You decided not to treat her, didnt you?
This old man is acting up now?
I asked him again, this time adding the word teacher.
Gascon looked pleased at first, but then quickly regained his composure and nodded.
No! An old man like me has a denture virus, so its dangerous to approach a teenage girl!
He said such nonsense with such a serious face.
At first, I thought he was just sulking.
But I gradually realized that something was off.
Are you serious?
Oh, come on! Do you doubt my words? This circus troupe is always like this, but can the document be forged. Isnt that right, hyung?
He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his jawbone.
Haha I never thought a few jokes earlier would lead to this
Gascon exclaimed loudly, rolling his eyes.
I sighed inwardly as I watched him.
His lies, stripped of laughter, exerted a weak hypnosis on those outside the group.
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.