3-4 Louis
My parents died when I was very young. The last memory I have of my mother is her motionless body holding me in an overturned carriage.
With no relatives, I was sent to an orphanage. We had a dog at home, but I don’t know what happened to it.
At the orphanage, I had trouble fitting in with others.
I was just so sad and wanted to see my mother and our dog.
But saying such things made others dislike me.
“Everyone’s lost someone, so you should just bear with it, Louis,”
an older child once scolded me.
That’s wrong. Just because everyone else is enduring it doesn’t mean I should have to as well.
After all, sad things are sad. That’s unavoidable. So, I kept withdrawing into my shell.
The director and other nuns tried to help at first, but after a while, they left me alone.
The orphanage had too many troubled children to spare time for a quiet problem child like me.
Richard was big and strong, and quick to use violence. He hit me a few times too. But it seemed more like his hands acted on their own, without much malice behind them. It’s those hands that are bad. If he didn’t have hands, I think he’d be a good guy.
Oscar, on the other hand, was truly bad. He was smart and good-looking, which he used to become the central figure among the boys in the orphanage. In a bad way.
He looked down on others just because his father was a nobleman. He formed a gang and caused trouble. He often mocked me as a “gloomy fatso” and teased me. However, since he mainly rebelled against adults, I didn’t suffer too badly.
Isabel reigned at the top of the girls’ group, but she seemed to try to bring some order among the orphans. Though somewhat self-righteous, she mediated disputes and troubles between children and punished the wrongdoers. So, she often clashed with Richard and Oscar.
Emma was a child who would climb anything, be it buildings or trees, like a cat or a monkey.
Holy Haven Orphanage was quite a large, historic building, but she seemed to make it her mission to climb to its roof, repeatedly challenging herself and wearing down the nerves of the director and others. Because she climbed to heights where a fall could be fatal. However, she rarely got hurt, so eventually, they left her alone.
Alice was a child who couldn’t rest until she read anything with writing on it, and she had the special ability to never forget what she had read. Her obsession with text was so intense that she didn’t hesitate to sneak into the director’s or nuns’ rooms. She would even read other people’s letters without hesitation, so I think Alice was the one the director and others had to be most wary of.
Everyone was unique, but I think at the core, we were all the same – starved for affection. I felt they were driven to extreme behavior because they wanted attention.
But the director, while dealing with issues, never gave special treatment. She tried to treat all children as equally as possible. She understood that children are sensitive to anyone being treated specially and don’t like it.
The relationships among the orphanage children might have looked good from the outside, but in reality, they were balanced on a tightrope, and the director was good at discerning that.
However, as years passed, the problem children’s behavior escalated, so I think that period must have been quite difficult.
That’s when Lady Selina arrived.
A duke’s daughter came on a whim to choose servants from among the orphans. The director selected the most obedient children and taught them presentable manners in a short time.
However, Lady Selina didn’t choose these proper children, but instead picked troublemakers like Richard and Oscar. …I was included among them too.
But when Lady Selina chose me, she said:
“It’s alright, you don’t need to worry about anything. Because I need you.”
[Need you]. I had never heard such words since coming to the orphanage. I think most of the children there had never been told such a thing.
But it was probably the words we most wanted to hear. We all didn’t know if it was okay for us to be here, if it was okay for us to live, why we were born. Because we didn’t have parents. Since unconditional love didn’t exist, we had to find our own reason for existing.
Lady Selina found the orphans who most needed a reason to exist and gave it to them.
Although in the form of harsh trials.
Using refined, aristocratic language, she skillfully berated us and imposed training that pushed the limits of our physical strength, even our lives.
Every day was tough. Especially for me, being overweight, I nearly broke down many times.
What saved me was Richard and the others. Let me be clear, we weren’t friends. Rather, when we were at the orphanage, I think we disliked each other.
However, by making herself the villain, Lady Selina united our hearts and gradually deepened our bonds.
Everything was calculated.
Richard, of course, and even Oscar and Isabel didn’t seem to notice, but through the harsh training and studies, we were gaining a sense of self that had been vague before.
The pinnacle of this was raising dogs.
One day, Lady Selina ordered me:
“Bring six stray dogs, preferably puppies, from the streets.”
I immediately understood what this order meant. Lady Selina intended to have us raise dogs. Through this, she planned to instill a sense of responsibility in us and raise us into proper adults.
So, I searched the streets and found puppies that suited each of my companions.
A big dog for Richard. A handsome dog for Oscar. A cute dog for Isabel. A clever-looking dog for Alice. An energetic dog for Emma. And for myself, I chose a very ordinary dog.
Richard and Emma were delighted, but Oscar and Isabel were reluctant.
But since Lady Selina’s orders were absolute,
they had no choice but to raise them.
As we started raising them, we found that dogs are indeed lovable. Even Oscar and the others who had been so reluctant gradually came to dote on their dogs, and we began to argue about whose dog was the cutest. I never imagined a day would come when we would have such heartwarming arguments.
However, there was one thing that bothered me. When Lady Selina first saw the dogs, for just a moment, she had an expression as if she was enduring something.
I realized it immediately.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
–Lady Selina is restraining herself from playing with the dogs–
Come to think of it, Lady Selina always maintained her strong attitude and never showed any weakness to us, her attendants candidates. That’s probably natural for someone in a position of authority.
But Lady Selina is also a girl around our age. She must want to play with the cute dogs. Above all, Lady Selina is mysteriously well-liked by dogs. When we first started raising them, we were desperately trying to hold back the dogs that would rush towards her.
For someone so loved by dogs, it’s only natural that she would love dogs too.
But it would be too presumptuous for someone of my low status to say, “Why don’t you play with the dogs?” And even if I did, it was obvious I would be rejected.
I kept thinking about how to make it possible for Lady Selina to frolic with the dogs to her heart’s content.
Then, a wonderful opportunity came.
When we had an audience with His Majesty the King, it was revealed that the royal family loved dogs.
This provided a good pretext for Lady Selina to play with dogs.
So, as soon as we returned to the mansion, I suggested to Lady Selina:
“Lady Selina, since you are now engaged to the dog-loving Crown Prince, don’t you think you should interact with dogs every day?”
“…What are you trying to say?”
Lady Selina tried to maintain her composure, but she seemed to be hiding strong emotions. She must have been rejoicing in her heart, anticipating the content of my proposal.
“How about setting aside an hour each day to play with our dogs?”
“An hour?”
Lady Selina made a face as if she was holding back. She probably thought an hour was too short.
“Is that too short?”
“No! It’s a good suggestion. As expected of my attendants. I commend you.”
Lady Selina hurriedly adopted my proposal. She probably wanted to play more but decided to restrain herself for our sake.
I’m glad. Although her face is stiff, she must be delighted at heart. I was finally able to be of use.
For the first time, I felt proud of what I had done.
TLNOTE : While waiting, I implore you dear readers to read other masterpiece novels that also written by the same author :
- When the Monster Meat I Ate Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
