70. Devoted Orphans
The capital was busy preparing for the Autumn Festival that will be held in a week.
The streets in the commoner's residential areas have already been decorated with colorful small pennant flags hung from above their roof to one another, and plenty of stalls with vendors selling different crafts and kinds of stuff have already lined up to the point the eyes can no longer measure.
Children of common people have shown excitement and happily visit every stall to examine every item's price and beauty. Men and women, young and elderly were painted with smiles not hiding their eagerness for the coming celebration.
Meanwhile, the paved and cobbled roads of the townhouses and mansions near the royal palace have never been free from coming and going of carriages into every property. Distant relatives of the noble families kept coming to celebrate the festival as well.
Some noblemen were busy going on and about the royal palace as well, doing their errands to ensure that there would be no anomalies or problems on the day of the awaited harmonious festivities.
While a man can be seen walking up to his carriage, in the middle of a busy street.
Once settled, he lifted the curtains inside and peeked at the passing scenery outside. The noise from the heavy running of wheels and the shouts and neighs of both coachmen and their horses grew distant from his ear.
The path they trod on was towards the outskirts of the capital, where the jubilant and excited faces of the residents don't catch up to the ones on where they came from. The essence of the festival was dull in that part, yet the man felt relieved and relaxed as the scenery got quieter.
The road became slightly rough, and the number of houses decreased. Trees filled the side of the road and the green meadows became more visible.
After an hour of traveling, the carriage finally halted and stopped.
The coachman jumped from his seat and hurriedly opened the door for his lord. The nobleman carrying an intimidating and domineering aura made the poor man tremble as he bowed while waiting for his lord to step outside.
When the tall and handsome man finally set his foot on the ground, the shrilling voices of many kids welcomed him.
Kids of different ages came rushing to him and surrounded him with joyful smiles and genuine laughter. Their faces were filled with excitement because of the nobleman's arrival and the upcoming festival in their empire.
The coachman was left dumbfounded and froze on his spot. He watched with horror as he witnessed his lord flashed a gentle and warm smile to the young kids, and even picked up the smallest girl and carried her.
The girl who looked the age of four giggled and embraced her tiny arms around his neck, while the man ruffled her curly hair.
"My goodness! Erin hasn't bathed yet, my lord. Please, put her down."
A young woman in her early twenties came running to them, wearing a grey cotton dress and holding a clean towel. Her face was filled with worry as she looked over the man's expensive clothes being smeared by dirt from Erin's slippers.
"It is fine. I enjoy carrying them." Answered the man and gave the woman a timid smile.
The woman, named Yuna, scratched her temple and bowed to him afterward. She then gathered the kids inside the house and ordered them to play in their playroom.
"Let me have Edna bathe her first, my lord." Said Yuna and took the child from him, before calling out for a younger lady with the same features as her and taking Erin from her.
After all the kids were gone, she excused herself and came back with tea and refreshments. Putting it on the table where the nobleman was seated, she began to ask him about his visit.
"Nothing in particular." The man crossed his legs and continued, "The festival is coming, so I visited to see if the kids are also excited about it."
"Oh, they are, my lord. They kept asking me to take them to the capital to see the celebrations." Yuna answered politely.
"If that is so, then I will send carriages for you all to ride in comfort."
"The kids and I appreciate your kind gesture, Count Lewell." Yuna bowed again.
"It is nothing. I am already happy that the kids at the orphanage are being lively and healthy. The children's laughter is enough for me." Count Lewell smiled gently at Yuna, and the young woman couldn't help but blush and became shy.
It was because even at the age of forty-two, the count still has the defined features that make him look younger.
His dark bluish hair reached up to his nape and was neatly combed looked healthy and shiny, and there weren't many creases and wrinkles on his face like a middle-aged man should have. His purple eyes were bright and mysterious as though they could dig into your most hidden secrets.
He stood and fixed his tailcoat, then looked over the room and said, "I would like to tour myself inside the orphanage again."
"I shall accompany you then, my lord," Yuna suggested, feeling excited that she gets to spend a walk with him.
"There is no need to accompany me. Tend to the children instead, Miss Yuna. I feel troubled that I'm taking your time away." He declared and whirled away.
Yuna lost the chance to insist, so she just decided to go and help her younger sister, Edna, with bathing and taking care of the children.
Count Lewell walked around the orphanage. Inside, there was a room allocated for praying only. It was like a small chapel with an altar in the middle and a few small pews opposite the makeshift altar.
He stepped inside and closed the door, then walked closer to the table where offerings consisting of merely fresh fruits and some vegetables were placed atop. He picked those things and casually put them away, then he lifted the lid of the makeshift altar.
It was hollow inside, and there were treasures hidden beneath. He took plenty of gold coins and stuffed them inside a large pouch, then carefully put the lid back and placed the offerings back again.
Before he went out, he glanced at the large crimson magic stone sculpted like the face of a god hanging on the wall just above the offerings. The face was finely sculpted, and it reminded him of the color of the autumn leaves.
"My lord...!" A tiny voice snatched his attention. He looked in the direction and saw Erin running towards her. She was dressed in clean clothes already, but her hair was still damp and dripping.
"Come here. Let me dry your hair." He scooped the child and sat on the pew again, taking out his handkerchief and wiping the droplets of water on her neck.
"What are you doing here, my lord? Are you praying?" Erin's cute voice made him chuckle.
He pressed her hair with the handkerchief and answered, "Yes. I prayed for gold coins. So, I can give them to all of you."
"Did you get them?"
"Yes."
Her tiny head spun towards him and he was greeted with large doe eyes and a mouth shaped in a circle.
"Really?"
"Uh-huh. You can check." He replied with a light tone and opened his coat where he stuffed the pouch of gold coins earlier.
Erin noticed the bulging pouch in his pocket and took it out. Then her face became amazed and rounded as she looked at him.
"I should pray, too!" She yelled and struggled to come down from his lap, giving back the pouch to him, running to the front of the altar, and kneeling properly.
He watched as the tiny child diligently prayed at the stone sculpture with her hands clasped in her front and mumbling words he couldn't understand.
The image of Erin's back made him remember something, and he could not help but see the familiar back of someone dear to him.
It was small, and trembling. Yet the child did not falter nor stand, obediently kneeling on her knees in the middle of a heavy rain. She was too stubborn to stand and enter, too firm on what she stood for, and unwavering.
He remembered how he finally got to see that same back after many years, but only to be snatched away by the Grand Duke again. His actions at the plaza may be cruel, but he really had no intention of going with the execution.
He planned to fake her death and take her away from the people who kept hurting her.
All to give her a life full of happiness, just what exactly she deserved. Away from all of them.