"It's my first time to be alone with my sister. It's like being on a date."

Diana's mouth corners went up slightly.

She took off her academy uniform and wore plain clothes today.

Diana looked pretty cool in a loose shirt and tight pants.

It is said that since the national founding day, there has been a series of requests for dates and escorts for the ball to Diana.

Not from men, but from women.

I think there are many young ladies who fell in love with Diana after seeing her dancing with me before.

I was actually worried about their response or saying something bad afterwards, so it's a relief that it turned out this way.

We are now going to the Camellia orphanage that Richard ran.

Technically, it wasn't just the two of us going out. The imperial knights were with us.

After Richard disappeared, it was decided that his orphanage will be run by the state.

In the meantime, I wanted to see the Camellia orphanage, but Blake was worried about me, so I didn't do it until now.

Today, Blake had an event that he must attend, so he couldn't go alongside me. He quickly contacted Diana to go with me.

"You don't have to accompany me, why did Blake called you...aren't you busy studying?"

"He did a good job. If he had sent my sister alone, I would have been very upset."

Diana raised her voice with excitement.

"And don't worry about the academy. The tests are all done, only the last winter training is left. There's nothing else to study."

"How's the test?"

As it is a test taken at the academy, of course, safety devices may be provided, but I was still worried. Yet, she answered,

"It's nothing. It's just ordinary test. I was tasked to catch a few monsters."

"Monsters?! You're catching it?"

"What are you so surprised about?"

Diana told me about her experience of catching the monsters. Without a proper reply, I just opened my mouth in shock and listened to her story.

Diana really has become an adult.

Of course, I also tried to defeat monsters a thousand years ago, but I couldn't imagine Diana catching the monsters.

In addition, the original story came to mind. The slender woman, who had fallen for Richard's ruse and was often swayed, grew into a vigorous knight.

After a while, we arrived at the Camellia orphanage.

The atmosphere on the outside was a bit bleak because there are knights guarding the place in case Richard would appear.

But as I went inside, I heard the children's bright laughter.

"The facilities are pretty good."

"I know right?"

Diana looked around the orphanage and was amazed.

I was surprised too. I heard that it was good, but it was out of my expectation.

"He put a lot of effort into the orphanage. I didn't expect him to do such a thing... honestly, I still can't believe it."

Michelle, who was guiding us to the orphanage, looked miserable.

Her and everyone else in the orphanage seems to have respected and followed Richard Cassil.

It is not clear exactly how Richard built the Camellia orphanage, but it was true that he had operated it brilliantly.

Anyway, Richard is a capable man.

He would have been admirable if he didn't use dirty tricks.

If he had kept running the orphanage like this, he would have been respected by many people.

But he eventually broke his reputation with his own hands.

As I looked around the orphanage with mixed feelings, I suddenly heard someone screaming.

"Dirty Roum! Get the hell out of here!"

A boy, who looked about thirteen years old, lashed at a little girl.

The black-haired girl was younger than him, and looked about six years old.

"Not all Roums are bad."

The girl looked scared, but she didn't feel intimidated and spoke confidently.

"The Roums are all bad. Richard, he's a murderer too. You're all criminals!"

"We're not."

"That's right! Or why would the knights be guarding you? All of you Roums are dirty pests! I have to get rid of you all!"

"It's not like that!"

"How dare you yell at someone when you're only a Roum!"

When the girl shouted, the boy raised his hand.

I was surprised, as Diana ran to the child in anger. I followed quickly from behind too.

"Stop right now!"

"Damn it!"

The boy swore, pushed the girl hard, and ran into the building.

"Hey! Stop there!"

Diana ran after the boy. The sudden situation made Michelle surprised and confused.

"Tom, you! Your Highness, I'm sorry."

"No, child, are you okay?"

I checked the condition of the girl first. Fortunately, there was no injury.

"Sob..."

Even though she was fine, her heart must have hurt.

"It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. You don't have to put up with it."

"Sob, sob..."

As soon as the child was in my arms, her tears poured out.

Then I heard a voice from behind.

"Why should I apologize? What did I do wrong!"

"What? Quickly say it!"

Diana dragged a child named Tom, who pushed the girl here.

However, there was no sign of remorse in the boy.

"Did I say something wrong? The Roums are vermin! They're a disease that carries tancinol after being abandoned by goddess! Get the filthy Roum out of the land right now...agh!"

Tom screamed but Diana didn't scold him.

Of course, Diana was determined to scold Tom, but before that, a small stone flew into his forehead.

I was surprised and looked at the place where the stone came from.

There stood a boy with the same black hair like the little girl.

"Kaluo!"

Kaluo? Is that the kid Chelsea was talking about?

She said that he was the child who fought without retreating to the end when there was a quarrel between the other children and the Roums at the orphanage.

Kaluo approached us as he pulled the girl's arm.

"Shulia, let's go!"

"Yes."

The girl's name is 'Shulia'

Kaluo hugged her tightly and glared at me as if he was protecting her.

It seems like he thought that I was hurting her.

***

After the situation was somewhat cleared up, Michelle led us to the reception room of the orphanage.

"Your Highness, I am sorry for the incident."

She bowed her head and apologized.

"No, it's okay. More than that, It seems like the conflict between the children is very deep..."

Michelle sighed.

"It wasn't always like this. The children were all on good terms. Unlike other places, there was no discrimination against the Roums in this orphanage. But the atmosphere started to change when Tom came in."

Camellia Orphanage was a new orphanage less than five years old, and most of the original children were young.

Tom is 11 years old, one of the oldest children here, and he was very big compared to children of his age.

If such a child led the atmosphere, other children would be easily swept away.

"Was the child hostile to the Roum from the beginning?"

"Yes, his parents seemed to have died because of tancinol."

"Is it really tancinol?"

Many people mistook the flu, pneumonia or other disease as tancinol, like the recent case of scurvy.

The priests from church couldn't diagnose it properly and it was almost impossible for ordinary people to distinguish tancinol.

"I don't know, but Tom believes so. The Roum spread the disease and killed his parents. So every time he gets into trouble, I scold him and persuade him, but he doesn't listen at all."

Michelle was having a hard time because of this.

"Tom used to bother the Roums every day, and the other kids followed quickly. The Roum children were hurt a lot. Kaluo was a very gentle and nice kid, but he became a lot tougher when he fought with Tom."

"Why don't you send him to another orphanage?"

Diana, who was quietly listening to the story, said. I also agreed with her opinion.

Tom considered the Roums as an enemy.

No matter how much we teach and persuade him, he will keep being stubborn.

It would be better for everyone if she sent Tom to another orphanage without Roums.

Among the private orphanages in the capital city, Camellia orphanage was the only one accepting Roums.

It would not be difficult to find a place for him to move.

"That's what I thought actually. At this rate, he will only hurt everyone. But the owner was against it."

"Richard Cassil?"

"Yes, he cared so much about the Roum children, but strangely, he didn't care as much about Tom's problems. I think he had affection for him because he brought him."

"He brought Tom in himself?"

"Yes."

He brought a child with a grudge against the Roum himself?

Tom was even hostile to Richard, as well as the original children. Why did he keep such a child around him?

Richard never condones anyone who ignores him or shows hostility.

A child could not be an exception.

"Maybe he wanted to see a child like Tom understand the Roum and make peace with each other."

No. I'm sure that's not true.

Richard was not such a man. There must have been some other reason.