Rania, who had been watching the two of them talk, tilted her head over and over.
“I heard you can join a club freely whenever you want....”
“That’s different for each club. For us—”
“Laila.”
Camilla lightly placed a hand on Laila’s shoulder as Laila struggled to block Rania from joining the club no matter what.
“One person should be fine, shouldn’t it?”
“...Pardon?”
“Why not just accept her?”
Laila’s eyes went wide; Camilla patted her shoulder lightly again.
Normally she kicked up such a fuss trying to drag in even one more member.
It was obvious right away that she was blocking Rania’s membership because she was worrying about Camilla.
‘Honestly, I’m a little curious.’
That girl, who kept circling around her with acting that looked painfully clumsy in Camilla’s eyes—what was she plotting this time, that she’d even come all the way to the clubroom?
“Thank you, Camilla!”
Rania beamed, her face lighting up with delight.
“Sure. I’m glad you’re happy, at least.”
Giving that light reply, Camilla stopped paying attention to her. She had a different reason for coming to the clubroom today.
“Laila.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know a place called Sky Orphanage?”
“Sky Orphanage?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you talking about the orphanage near the Imperial Palace?”
“The Imperial Palace?”
“Yes, I think it’s probably the biggest orphanage in the capital.”
“Really? Have you ever been there?”
Laila shook her head slightly.
“We pick out smaller places on purpose. Big places like that already have a lot of other sponsors besides us....”
“Hmm.”
So it was that big, huh?
“But why that place?”
“There’s a child I’m looking for.”
“...Excuse me?”
At Camilla’s words, not only Laila but everyone in the clubroom turned their eyes to her at the same time.
“A child you’re looking for?”
“Who might that be?”
Arsian and Petro quickly fired off questions.
“Just the son of someone I know a bit.”
Camilla answered lightly and turned her gaze toward the window, where heavy rain was still pouring down in sheets.
Last night, the child that the water ghost named Beth had come to ask her to find—that child had once been at Sky Orphanage.
[My husband was sick for a long time before he died. I had too much debt; I couldn’t afford to raise a child.]
“So you left the child at the orphanage?”
[I needed to secure at least a small place for me and my child to live. I even lost our home because of the debt. I couldn’t live out on the street with a little kid.]
“And then?”
[I worked like a maniac. Once I’d gotten things somewhat stable and went to pick my child up... I found out my child had already been adopted.]
That had already been ten years ago. The child had been five at the time, so if they were alive now, they’d already be fifteen.
“What are you going to do, finding them now?”
[Even so, I want to see them at least once.... I went to the orphanage and asked where my child had been adopted to, but they said they couldn’t tell me.]
“Of course they did.”
If a child who’d managed to get adopted and was living well suddenly had a birth parent show up, raising a fuss that they’d come to take the child back, it would be a problem.
“You killed yourself because you missed your kid?”
[No!]
Beth shook her head violently.
[Why would I kill myself? If I’d been in that state of mind, I would have tracked my child down even if it killed me instead.]
“Then what?”
[It was an accident.]
A long sigh slipped out of Beth’s mouth.
[I was feeling low and just walked and walked with no destination, and when I came to my senses, I’d ended up there. The valley.... And there, a child around the same age as mine had fallen in the water and was thrashing around, begging to be saved.]
So she jumped in without thinking.
“And then?”
[...I can’t swim.]
“What?”
[I somehow managed to save the child, but I....]
So she’d drowned to death. Camilla stared at her, her eyes saying she couldn’t believe this.
Seriously, why did you jump in there if you can’t even swim? Not that she could exactly yell at someone who’d jumped in to save a child.
[Please, I’m begging you. Find my child for me.]
That was how she came to learn about Sky Orphanage. It was the place where the water ghost Beth had left her child.
‘If I ask Rube, that would be the simplest.’
But then it would turn into a huge deal. It would inevitably reach the Duke of Sorpel’s ears, and she would have to make up some story or another about Beth and her son.
‘So that’s a pass.’
In the end, she decided to slowly investigate on her own.
First, she was going to go to Sky Orphanage—where Beth said she had left her child—and find out where the child had been adopted to.
“If you don’t know who it is, do you want me to find them?”
“I’ll help as well.”
The heirs of # Nоvеlight # two ducal houses whose power rivaled the Ducal House of Sorpel.
The label “best information network” practically fluttered over their heads, but Camilla shook her head.
“It’s not that important, so I’ll handle it myself.”
She wasn’t thrilled about getting help from those two either. It just felt like the whole thing would snowball out of hand in every direction.
“Camilla!”
“...?”
“Are you going to Sky Orphanage?”
“And if I am?”
“I... I’ve been to Sky Orphanage before.”
Rania cut into the conversation.
“I’m close with the director there too!”
“Yeah?”
“Should I go with you?”
...And what’s this now?
‘Does she really know the place?’
Camilla stared at her in silence for a moment.
“If you did, that would be helpful.”
Well, it would be better to bring along someone who was at least somewhat familiar with the place.
Chapter. Finding the Child
[How did it go?]
“You’re here again?”
As the water ghost Beth slipped in through the window with a soft sound, Camilla showed her displeasure as plainly as she felt it.
“I told you once I finished investigating, I’d go see you myself.”
[I was just too curious....]
“A water ghost should stay in the water. Why do you keep wandering around outside?”
[It’s fine because it keeps raining.]
I’m the one who’s not fine.
The air around a water ghost was always damp. Feeling the humidity in the room rise on its own, Camilla grumbled nonstop.
[So? How did it go?]
“I found out who the couple that took the child was.”
[Really?]
The director of Sky Orphanage, who had told Beth in no uncertain terms that they could never tell her anything, had given up the child’s whereabouts without a word of protest the moment Camilla showed up. The director was very good at surviving in society.
[Where are they? Where’s my child now?]
Watching her press for an answer, Camilla let out a short sigh. She hadn’t expected things to turn out like this....
“They don’t exist.”
[“Don’t exist”? What’s that supposed to mean?]
“They said there’s no such people.”
[What...!]
Seeing that Beth still didn’t understand what she was saying, another sigh slipped out of Camilla’s mouth.
“They only exist on paper. They don’t exist in reality.”
After finding out where they supposedly lived and the couple’s names, Camilla had immediately put in a request with an information broker—to find them.
But the result was far too unexpected.
Just in case, she’d even put in requests with several reasonably capable information brokers at the same time. And yet the results were all the same.
Even after she expanded the search area, the answer that came back was unchanged.
[“Don’t exist”? Then who took my child?]
As Beth’s face went even paler, turning a deeper blue, another long sigh escaped Camilla.
She’d thought it would all end with just finding one child.
“I’m really curious too.”
The couple that had taken the child.
Who in the world were they, and why had they gone so far as to fabricate false identities just to take the child? She couldn’t make sense of it at all.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
She hoped her intuition was wrong, but she couldn’t stop that creeping chill from crawling up her spine.
****
[There’s still no word, right?]
“I’ve widened the search area as far as I can, so it’s going to take a lot of time.”
She had expanded the region where they were looking for the child. She had doubled the number of information brokers she’d hired as well. Even so, there was still no real progress.
SLAM!
“Camilla!”
The door suddenly flew open and Rania rushed into the room. It was obvious at a glance that her expression was more excited than usual.
“What is it?”
“Is the child you’re looking for Dennis?”
Camilla froze for a moment at the name that popped out of nowhere.
“How do you know that?”
The water ghost Beth’s son’s name was Dennis. But she had never once spoken that name out loud in front of Rania.
“The director told me.”
“The director?”
“The director of Sky Orphanage.”
“You went to see her separately?”
“Yes.”
The first time she’d visited Sky Orphanage, she’d gone with Rania, but she hadn’t taken her along for the conversation with the director. She’d asked Rania to step out, saying it was a personal matter.
“I’m sorry. I was just so curious....”
As Rania apologized and bowed her head, Camilla clicked her tongue inwardly.
She hadn’t planned on hiding anything about the child, but once again, she didn’t like the way Rania had dug into her tracks behind her back.
“But is the child you’re looking for really Dennis?”
“He is.”
“I know Dennis!”
“...What?”
“Dennis and I were close. We lived in the same neighborhood.”
A bright smile spread all over Rania’s face again.
“I know Dennis’s parents well too. I heard from them directly that they brought Dennis home from Sky Orphanage.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
She wouldn’t deliberately tell such a lie when it would be exposed so easily. Did she really know them? Could Camilla trust her? Something still felt off....
“It’s not that far from here, either.”
[She really must know him! Can we really find my Dennis?]
Her hesitation didn’t last long. They would know once they went and saw for themselves.
“Are you free tomorrow?”
“Yes!”
“Then I’ll ask you to take me.”
“Don’t worry! We’ll definitely find him! I’m so happy I can help.”
As Rania clapped her hands with joy, Camilla watched her for a moment and let out a short sigh inside.
She really hoped this matter would wrap up as simply as that.
****
“That’s the house.”
The next day, the place she headed to with Rania was a small village on the outskirts of the capital. It wasn’t very big, but several homes that looked fairly neat and tidy stood in a row.
“You said you used to live around here too?”
“Yes, that house over there is where I used to live.”
Rania pointed to a house whose blue roof stood out in particular.
“It’s been so long since I last came back here.”
“When’s the last time you saw Dennis?”
“Mm... I think it’s been about half a year.”
If it had only been half a year, the chances were high he’d still be living here. Was this really going to end in a straightforward happy ending where they found Dennis just like this?
