“Yes, milady.”
‘How unexpected,’ She thought.
It was more than a decade ago when she gave the order so she had already forgotten.
At that time, Madenna was thinking of supporting Suzanne, the heroine of the novel.
She thought she wouldn’t need to look at the boys, so she ordered him to prepare only girls as the candidate.
But now that the situation has changed, she had no choice but to change her request.
“Well, I’m very sorry, but can you bring the boys in?”
“Pardon?”
“I thought it over. I’d like to have boys as the candidates as well. Show me all the children in this orphanage.”
“I-I see.”
Lanthan responded rather nervously.
‘I’m sure he only washed and dolled up the girls, whereas the boys weren’t taken care of.’
Madenna was planning on taking over the orphanage after she brought Farren.
To do so, she had to gather enough evidence and expose the orphanage unequal treatment towards the orphans.
She crossed her legs and put her hands on her chin.
“Is it too difficult?”
“No, it’s not difficult!”
“How long will it take?”
“That… P-please wait! They’ll be ready in fifteen minutes!” he replied in sheer panic.
“Can I see the list of children while I’m waiting?”
“I’ll give it to you right away!” he said as he scurried through the bookshelf and handed the list to Madenna.
“Then, I’ll get the kids ready right away.”
“Make it fast since I don’t have much time.”
“Alright.” he said while repeatedly bowed his head before immediately rushed out from the office.
After he left, Madenna turned her gaze over to the list.
The list concludes information about the kids in the orphanage.
[Farren (Boy): 12 years old, has black hair, red eyes, and rebellious character, requires extra attention.]
[Suzanne (Girl): 12 years old, silver-haired, kind-hearted, caring.]
She closed the list after checking the things she wanted to check.
It had been more than 15 minutes, but Lanthan still hadn’t returned.
Madenna got up from her seat because she knew he’d be late.
Suddenly, a girl’s voice came from outside, “Director! Take Farren away, please.”
Madenna was momentarily startled.
She knew that voice. It belonged to the person she hated the most.
Madenna took a deep breath and turned the doorknob.
On the other side of the hall, a girl with dazzling beauty was sobbing in the arms of the director.
“But, Director! Farren…”
“You have nothing to worry about, now come on!”
Lanthan grabbed Suzanne by the wrist and hurried into the end of the hall.
Madenna sighed as she looked at the little girl’s back.
‘What’s worse was that Suzanne even claimed that she was being bullied by Farren.’
In the novel, Farren did not make any appearance before his reached adulthood. The book only said that he came from the same orphanage and that he had bothered Suzanne.
‘I really thought he was the bad guy, but…’
Come to think of it now, the book was written from Suzanne’s perspective. So it was hard to determine whether or not Farren was evil.
Farren was the only one who had the same magical powers as Suzanne.
If Suzanne had chosen to become his enemy, he would need someone to protect himself.
‘Of course, I should be wary of him as well, in case he betrayed me in the end, like Suzanne.’
To prevent his betrayal, Madenna had set up a collar device to control Farren.
* * *
Soon, the director called her and took her to another room.
The young children lined along the walls. The age between the children varied, but there seemed to be no child over 15.
Even if she hadn’t returned to the past, she would have known the heroine’s true nature if only she had observed her more carefully.
“I see, will you show me around then?” she answered firmly, her cold countenance still sat on her face. Showing no sign of kindness nor delight at Suzanne’s action.
“‘Yes! Please come this way,” Suzanne replied as she gave a lovely smile.
It was time to meet Farren, the true villain of the novel.