Confession

Li Mo calculated that it was about time for the children to get out of school. He didn't know how Seele was feeling in the other world, whether she had done as he said, or if nothing had changed and Seele was still that timid child, being bullied and having nowhere to cry.

Li Mo knew that Seele didn't want him to know about her situation in the other world. A normal guardian might not believe it and might even think that Seele was a bad child who liked to lie and use absurd reasons to cover up for herself.

But...

Li Mo turned off the alarm on his phone that was set to go off in ten minutes, looked up, and his bright hazel eyes stared at the distant sky outside the window. The setting sun was like a jade pendant, its fiery red robe wrapping the entire world.

From afar came a dull, solemn bell, like a triumphant horn.

"Even if she's a bad child, I won't just stand by and do nothing."

"After all, I am your guardian. I should bear the mistakes you make, as well as make up for and compensate for them."

Li Mo lowered his head and said to himself.

He first turned on the heater in his bedroom. Since the mansion was quite large, it would be a waste of a lot of money to fill the entire living room with heat, and Li Mo was not that rich yet. Therefore, it was enough to only turn on the heaters in the children's bedrooms. As for himself...

Li Mo shrank his body. This padded jacket was brought back by Shigure Kira for him last year. It was quite warm, so he didn't need to turn on the heater in his room to save some money. At most, he would go into their bedrooms for a while to warm himself up after the children came back.

Operating the wheelchair, Li Mo quickly headed towards the elementary school.

The junior high school let out later. Li Mo picked up the elementary school children and returned home, waiting quietly for Seele and the others to appear.

Every Thursday and Friday, the school gate of the elementary school was always filled with all kinds of stalls. The aroma of cumin and roasted meat filled both sides of the road. Especially in the cold winter, the stalls were steaming, making the eyes of the children leaving the school unable to move away. They stared straight at the food on the stalls, pulling on the adults next to them and asking for pocket money to buy the food sold on the stalls.

The children gathered around Li Mo, walking slowly in the direction Li Mo was going. Most of the children did not look at the stalls, but talked to each other, seemingly deliberately avoiding the street food.

But Li Mo noticed a first-grade child at the back of the line, biting her finger, staring at the skewers on the stall without blinking, and constantly swallowing her saliva. The child next to her grabbed her hand and was about to walk forward, saying something angrily.

Li Mo was stunned for two seconds, sighed, and touched the meager wallet in his pocket.

That's right, how could a child not be greedy? The indifference was just them acting for him after they had discussed it.

Li Mo came to the child at the back of the line and pointed to the skewer stall, asking, "Do you want some?"

The child answered without hesitation, "Yes!"

Li Mo looked back and counted the number of children, then came to the skewer stall and said politely, "Boss, give each child here a skewer."

"Alright. You don't want one for yourself?"

Li Mo shook his head, "No, I'm not hungry."

The children could indulge once in a while. As for himself, forget it. Even if his body allowed it, there was no need.

Ten minutes later, the children next to Li Mo each had a skewer in their hands, fragrant and delicious.

For children of this age, his actions should not be wrong, right?

Li Mo smiled. He was just doing what he could.

Back home, the children who were more afraid of the cold quickly burrowed into their own bedrooms, because they knew that Li Mo must have already turned on the heaters in their rooms. As long as they entered their bedrooms, their frozen little hands and faces would feel the warmth.

Happiness was that simple.

Most of the children returned to their own bedrooms, while a few stayed in the first-floor living room to play.

Li Mo sat in his wheelchair, facing the main door of the mansion, waiting for the next batch of children to return. He was used to waiting. Although he was not old, Li Mo had been in a wheelchair for many years. Apart from work, he could only be in a daze. Waiting was a very common thing for him.

He didn't know how long it had been.

The door was slowly pushed open. The molten gold afterglow of dusk peeked through the crack of the door, waking Li Mo from his silence.

"Brother Li Mo! We're back!"

Sin shouted loudly as usual and ran into the house excitedly. Bronya and Seele walked in one after another.

Li Mo looked at Seele. Her expression before she came in was still suppressed and hesitant. The moment the door was fully opened and she saw him, the gloom on her face faded away, like the dawn breaking, scattering a ray of brilliant heavenly light on her delicate and lovely cheeks.

"Seele, welcome home," Li Mo said with a smile.

Seele was stunned, quickly adjusted her facial expression, tried to smile, and responded positively, "Yes!"

At night, everyone performed their duties as before. Some cooked, some cleaned, and some studied.

Tomorrow was Friday. After picking up the children tomorrow, the family could have a short two-day holiday. Li Mo did not enroll anyone in cram school or interest classes unless they took the initiative. Therefore, the weekend was quite free for the children.

There was also a garden outside the mansion. If needed, the children could take care of it and play. Unfortunately, it was only cold, and it didn't snow.

It had snowed before. They had snowball fights in the garden, and their noses were red from the cold. They lined up to take hot baths. Although Li Mo did not participate, his physical condition did not allow him to stay in a harsh environment for too long.

Li Mo covered his mouth. He suddenly felt a sour taste in his throat, and a familiar taste spread in his mouth. He quickly went to the bathroom and couldn't help but cough twice. The sink was full of scarlet.

"..."

"When Shigure Kira comes back, I have to go to the hospital with her to see how my body is doing."

He would hide this matter from the children, but he would definitely not hide it from Shigure Kira. If there was a problem, they would solve it together, instead of deliberately hiding it to avoid worrying the other party, like some plots written by anxious screenwriters. Li Mo still wanted to live until he died of natural causes and would not do such a stupid thing.

The last time he went to the hospital, the doctor judged that he could still hold on for three to five years. Shigure Kira would find the most advanced and effective drugs through various channels, so this time would be extended.

Now that Otto was already preparing to push the plot forward, Li Mo was sure that Otto would die before him. Once Otto was dead, Cecilia would be freed from Schicksal, and he could ask Shigure Kira to get Cecilia to use the power of the Abyss Flower to heal him.

It was very simple for the Key of Creation to heal an ordinary person. There was no problem at all. Li Mo had never even considered the possibility of failure. If even the Abyss Flower couldn't save him, then he could just wait to die.

At eight o'clock at night, Li Mo checked the rooms as usual. After confirming that the number of people was correct, he returned to his room on the fifth floor and continued to type on the keyboard.

At ten o'clock at night, there was a knock on the door of the ninth room. Li Mo knew it was Seele.

"Come in, I'm not asleep."

"Yes."

Seele came in wearing thick pajamas and naturally sat on Li Mo's lap. The twelve-year-old girl was not heavy. As long as she didn't resist with force, Li Mo would not feel pain.

"What's the problem today, Seele? Both fairy tale books have been finished," Li Mo said, pretending not to know anything, guiding Seele to start a new topic.

Seele hesitated for a moment, looked up, and looked at Li Mo timidly, showing an innocent look.

The fluffy pajamas, the snow-white skin, and the red Stigma faintly visible on her chest made Li Mo's blood pressure soar. She still hadn't listened to him and worn shoes properly. Her small, pink feet were bare and swaying back and forth.

Seele hadn't buttoned up her pajamas tightly. Most of her body was covered by the pajamas, but the two buttons on her chest were not buttoned, leaving her pajamas half open.

"Brother..."

She was pitiful. Seele's eyes were filled with the faint white light of the lamp.

"Seele was very good at school today. I answered every question the teacher asked~"

Li Mo didn't understand why Seele was saying this. Was she... acting cute?

"Seele is already smart. But I'm more curious about what Bronya was doing in class."

Bronya's intelligence was extraordinary.

Making her attend junior high school was like asking a high school graduate to do elementary school addition and subtraction. She could get the answer with just a glance. Li Mo hadn't thought of this before. It was only when Seele mentioned answering the teacher's questions that he remembered.

Seele's smile became stiff, and she immediately lowered her head. When she looked up again, her smile was still bright.

"Sister Bronya was sleeping in class. She was listening attentively with Seele at first, but then she fell asleep on the desk."

"And also, I heard from a classmate in the class next door. A girl felt it was too cold with the window open and asked the classmate in front to close the window. As a result, the classmate pretended not to hear, so the girl beat him up. Seele thinks it's so violent. Everyone can sit down and talk... what do you think, Brother?"

Seele asked curiously, her big, clear eyes blinking.

Li Mo guiltily averted his gaze from Seele's chest and rubbed his chin, pretending to think.

"Emmm... young people, I can understand. Quality is unknown, but when faced with strength, they are strong. I think there's no problem. Since they didn't give the classmate a good face, do they expect the other party to repay evil with good? If you repay evil with good, what do you repay good with? When it's time to act, act. I support it."

Seele's smile became even brighter, but the next second it became very sad again.

Li Mo noticed the change in Seele's expression and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem with what Brother said?"

Seele shook her head, "No, Seele agrees with Brother. But that girl was taken away by the teacher after lunch. I heard that the school punished her for this behavior and asked her to apologize to the other party in front of the whole school during the morning exercises tomorrow. Seele doesn't know if it's true. Everyone says the apology letter the school prepared for her, the content in it will make her sound very humble."

"If she really reads it, she might not be able to hold her head up for the next three years."

Li Mo was thoughtful. He was very familiar with this kind of practice. He didn't expect Japan to have such a "fine tradition." No... the school bullying situation in Japan would only be more severe than in China. If it weren't for the fact that the children from the orphanage enrolled as a group, they might have been one of them.

Regarding Seele's situation, Li Mo seriously analyzed it. There weren't many choices left for that girl. The school must have investigated her family background and believed that bullying her would have no consequences, so they made such a choice. For the so-called appeasement of public anger.

No one knew the truth of the matter. Li Mo was not the person involved and could not judge who was right and who was wrong.

"Will that girl be expelled? I remember your school's principal is a pretty good person. As far as I know, he hasn't expelled a student in decades. Even the most rebellious children will be given a chance. As long as they don't cause any real big trouble, they won't be expelled. At most, they will be put on probation."

"For you students, probation will most likely be cleared when you graduate, which means nothing will happen."

Seele's eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked excitedly, "Huh? Really!?"

Li Mo nodded, "More real than Ding Zhen."

Seele: "What's Ding Zhen?"

Li Mo: "It's a cheese snow leopard."

Seele: "?? "

Li Mo: "Ahem, that's not important. Since the school has given the girl a chance to apologize, she can actually take this opportunity to make a good show."

"That girl dared to beat someone up in front of the whole class, so she definitely won't care about this little bit of face. I'll teach you some beautiful Chinese words. You go and teach them to that girl and let her say them when she apologizes..."

Li Mo had a mischievous smile on his face, leaking the national treasure. He even wanted to go to school tomorrow and see that girl transform into Zhuge Kongming, using the knowledge he taught to crush them with a dimensional strike.

However, there was a certain language difference between Chinese and Japanese. Fortunately, Li Mo was proficient in both and could perfectly translate the meaning of the sentences, no longer just a literal translation.

Li Mo became more and more excited as he spoke. By the time he came to his senses, it was already past eleven o'clock, and it was almost the next day.

"It's a bit late. I'm sorry, Seele. You must be tired of listening... right?"

As the last word "right" fell, Li Mo doubted his own eyes. Seele's mouth was slightly open, a strange arc on her lips. Her eyes were wide open, and there was not a trace of sleepiness.

Why did it feel like Seele was more energetic than him? Li Mo thought he was already high, but it seemed like Seele was even higher? Was this the little angel Seele? In order not to let him sing a solo, she pretended so well. I'm crying.

"Huh? It... it is a bit late. Then Brother, I'll go to sleep first."

Seele didn't want to expose herself. Even though she wasn't sleepy at all, she still quickly climbed into bed, lowered her eyelids, and pretended to be very sleepy.

Was she sleeping here again? But that was good. At least he didn't have to think of a reason to keep Seele. Li Mo knew that he and Seele absolutely could not be separated at night, and he couldn't turn off the lights.

"Good night, Seele."

"Good night, Brother~"

Seele took off all her clothes and got into bed. Li Mo leaned back in his wheelchair, put a layer of clothes on his face to block the light.

At this moment, Li Mo had not yet realized what a turbulent scene the morning exercises at the inner world school would be the next day. And he was the culprit of it all.