Chapter 5

『 Chapter 5 』

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"Is Dr. O'Malley here?"

As expected, the place where my father brought me was the clinic in the mansion.

Doctors in this world were similar to oriental doctors in that they used herbs as medicine by burning and grinding them, and to the mythical power of doctors, sometimes called healing powers, they were similar to the theology I saw in the novel.

Even those who did not know the smell of herbs ruminating as soon as they entered the small building could know that this was a lawmaker.

"Dr. O'Malley!"

As can be seen from the smell of herbs, Lombardy's doctor, Dr. O'Malley, was an electronic type of congressman.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Gallahan?"

Inside, a man with a modest impression walked out of the lab door.

He was a tall man who looked about in his late 40s.

"Firentia's hurt. Can you take a look?"

Dr. O'Malley looked at me at my father's words.

He wondered if she was injured enough to bring her to the clinic, when the child, who was supposed to be crying, looked at him.

"Oh, how did you do this?"

However, Dr. O'Malley frowned after having me sit on a chair and looked at the wound.

It was because the wound was worse than I thought.

"I fell down."

I put a questionable wound around why it works like a panacea.

"Until now, the knee may be scarred."

Coincidentally, it was the place where I fell and got hurt on my birthday.

I thought I was growing up without a scar, but I ended up getting something similar.

However, his father's face color has become worse, unlike me, who is not broken anywhere and nods.

"Whoa?"

I'm sure you're upset that there's a scar left on your daughter's body.

My father's big hand patted my head heavily.

Dr. O'Malley looked at my father and daughter for a moment and took out a strange potion and applied it on my wound.

"And where else do you feel pain, My Lady?"

It's honestly a little awkward to hear the extreme honorifics that I haven't heard in a long time.

Yeah, this was how I felt before my father died.

I put my left arm out to Dr. O'Malley, who was more concerned than my knee.

"Here you go.

"Whew."

The doctor who saw my swollen wrist clicked his tongue without realizing it.

"Who was it, Tia?"

My father asked in an angry low voice.

Maybe it means who made my wrist like this, Bellezac or Astalieu?

I thought I was going to go and argue with the parents of the child who was responsible.

But I answered in the same way as before.

"I fell down."

"Tia…."

My father was upset and called me, but I pretended not to hear and pretended not to know.

"Hmm. I don't think it's broken because of the swelling, but I think you'll have to be careful for a while."

Eventually, a thick bandage was wrapped around my wrist.

When I take a bath, I can take it off, but I have to wash it again, and Dr. O'Malley decided to visit me every few days.

And I was told that I had to drink bitter medicine every day for a month.

It was the worst prescription for me, who hated bitter food or tea even when I became an adult.

My father, who was looking at me, who was taking a medicine bag with a nervous face, said to Dr. O'Malley because I already felt a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Doctor, I'd like to talk to my daughter for a moment, would you excuse me?"

"Yes, I'll be in the lab. Call me if you need anything."

The doctor went back to the lab and only me and my father were left.

This is Dr. O'Malley's place, so if you have something to say, we should be the one leaving.

However, I can feel that he was the son of the patriarch from father who asked the doctor to leave so naturally.

"Tia."

My father called me, kneeling on one knee at my eye level in the chair.

Seeing my father with the same eyes as my green eyes, which I could only see when I looked in the mirror, one side of my heart aches and I am happy.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

It may be about Bellezac and Astalieu.

My father knew they were bothering me, but it must have been shocking to know for the first time today that I was hearing such insulting words.

In the past, I was frightened by Bellezac's words that I would show the best of my life at the earliest and didn't even think about asking for help from adults.

Eventually, my father didn't know this until the day he died.

I thought it was a relief then.

Now that I look back, it was really stupid.

"He said he'd hit me more if I told on him."

"... these guys!"

An angry father jumped up as if he were going to scold Bellezac and Astalieu right away.

But my hand grabbed my father's sleeve.

"It's okay. I've been beaten up a lot today, so I won't be able to say that again."

If I do it again, I'll hit you again.

My father, who was embarrassed by my cool response, soon sat down again with a broken smile.

"Tia, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Why did you act differently today?"

He seemed to want to know what changed in my mind.

From a parent's point of view, I wonder what my child thinks.

"I knew that if I put up with it any longer, I wouldn't quit."

Young I held it in, thinking that if I endure like this is how I endured it.

As I expected, as I grew older, the harassment of Bellezac and Astalieu stopped, but it wasn't really over.

In the end, it only changed into different types of violence and discrimination.

"So I won't hold it in from now on. We'll hit each other, and if it doesn't work, it will reach out to adults and cry.

So don't worry too much."

I hugged my father who looked at me with sad eyes and said.

My father, who had been stunned for a while, soon patted me on the back.

"But Tia. Why are you calling me father all of a sudden? I'd like you to call me daddy like you did before.…."

Oh

I used to call my father my dad.

The sudden sense of distance was upsetting, and the father's eyes were drooping down.

I've already met my father, who died ten years ago, and I can't give you that much!

"Daddy!"

I said in a sweeter embrace of my father.

"Let's live happily ever after!"

"Ha ha! Let's do it, Tia."

Dad doesn't understand what I'm saying.

You'll never know.

I'm not going to do anything like leaving in such a vainly this time.

I'll protect you.

Dad and the Lombardy Family!

⟸ ♔ ⟹

the house of the patriarch

Rulac looked at a book in front of him, rubbing his fair eyebrows.

"People in the South" He had brought another book from the library.

It was because I wondered if I remembered the contents of the book incorrectly.

It was a study of a mysterious tribe discovered about a decade ago at the southern tip of the Empire.

The author introduced that they live in the forest and have a very closed culture and mysterious power of "magic."

It was explained that it was an ability that came only through bloodline and a secretive power that could not be taught to outsiders.

Rulac, who opened the book and looked through the contents, covered the book.

Such content was not important.

What bothers him now is why his granddaughter, who is only seven years old, was reading difficult academic books written for adults, not cultural books such as literature.

knock, knock

A man wearing glasses with a long blonde tied neatly came in with a knock.

It was Clarivan, a scholar who had been sponsored by Rulac since the beginning of the scholarship program.

Currently, he was in charge of the finances of the mansion and the Lombardy children's education.

"Did you call, Lord?"

"Sit down for a moment."

As soon as Clarivan sat across from him, Rulac pushed his "People of the South" in front of him.

"What is this?"

"This is the book my granddaughter was reading today."

"If you're a granddaughter, do you mean Larane?"

Larane was the eldest daughter of Vieze and the two-year-old sister of Bellezac.

"That's amazing. When I was 11 years old, I read a book like this...…."

"It's not Larane."

"Then who is it?"

"Firentia."

Clarivan frowned at Rulac's words.

I wondered if the lord in front of him was joking.

"I'm not kidding."

"But she's still...…."

"She's seven years old.

Clarivan, who looked at the book as if he had checked the contents of the book as if it had been Rulac's, said, "I am suspicious."

"Didn't she just like the cover of the book?"

The dark green cover, like the forest where the southerners live, could have looked pretty to the eyes of a child.

"At the age of seven, she's only old enough to read a few fairy tale books."

"Normally, yes."

"So you're saying that she's not common?"

"I called you to find out."

"Then…."

"From now on, let Firentia take classes with other children."

Clarivan gathered Lombardy's children once a week for classes.

The grand prize is children who are believed to be able to follow the class regardless of age, and the only ones currently taking the class were Vieze's two siblings and Shanannet's, Rulac's single daughter, 11-year-old twin brothers.

"Firentia is still too young. Rather than understanding the class, a seven-year-old would find it difficult to even sit in one place for such a long time."

"That's generally the case, too."

Clarivan, who read something significant in Rulac's words, narrowed his eyes.

"What exactly are you trying to confirm, Lord?"

"Well…."

Rulac's thick fingers tapped on the desk.

"Firentia's mother was a stray who came into the city. She had a beautiful appearance, but there was no exceptional aspect."

Now the face is faint, but only two strong green eyes were memorable, and Rulak continued.

"That's why I didn't pay much attention to Firentia. Looking at it today...…."

He remembered the face of his granddaughter, who said everything she wanted to say without shedding a drop of tear even though she was hurt and her hair was messed up.

"Maybe there's someone who's inherited the blood of this Rulac."

A rare pleasant smile was built on Rulac's wrinkled face as he remembered her climbing onto a much larger Bellezac and wielding a book.