Chapter 3

“I hope my little girl gets home soon..”

Her blunt but fair father, and her other siblings will all love this child. She’ll soon forget a house like this, where one side of the roof is rotten and tilted, and even the spider webs are empty and dusty.

“Home..?”

Melody was lost in thought, and asked the child in a small voice.

“Yes, home. You want to go too, right?

The child nodded quickly and asked the question again.

“Melody, too?”

“I already live in my own house. This is my home.”

The child’s eyes opened widely at Melody’s answer. As if she was really shocked.

“Uh, uh..?”

While Melody was super flustered. Tears filled the child’s eyes, and soon began to flow to the floor.

“Is Melody and Loretta’s home, ugh, different?”

When Loretta shed tears in unexpected places, Melody became speechless.

“Uh, t-that.. is.”

No, of course our house is different! You’re the main character, I’m the daughter of a villain! More than that, you knew this isn’t a house in the first place!

Oh, come on, you can’t just bawl like that for a mincely thing!

“O-of course it is different..”

“Wahhh!”

Now the child sat on the floor and began to wail loudly. If she’s not with Melody, who’s going to cover her ears in a scary carriage?

No, I never stopped her from being scared in the carriage.

She only stopped her from feeling like that in my room a few times on rainy days. Still, Loretta kept on crying. Like forgetting that this house is different from Melody and that there is a place where Loretta should be living in. Perhaps the cry was heard, Melody’s mother ran from afar.

I was so worried that I might get in trouble.

“You can’t watch a child properly, huh? There’s never a day when this house is quiet! How come you’re old enough and you’re eating well but you can not do anything right?!”

I’m in a lot of trouble, as expected.

“Noisy, can you shut up this instant! You effing child!”

Melody covered both ears so that Loretta wouldn’t hear it because she was screaming loudly at the crying child.

The mother glared at the two children and went into the room.

“Are you all right?”

When she asked her with both of her hands off of her ears, Loretta shook her head and dug into Melody’s arms. She must have been very surprised by her mother’s scolding.

“Heung, if Loretta and Melody’s house is different, I don’t really want it..”

....no, it’s not my mother, it’s the house.

***

“Good news, Melody.”

My mother, who returned drunk, delivered bad news all of a sudden.

“That kid, he’s trying to bring more money than I thought. Isn’t she a golden pot?”

“.. A golden pot?”

Loretta asked, imitating her mother. Like she was asking what she meant by that.

Her happy mother kindly answered her child’s questions for some reason.

“It means a pocket of money. A pocket full of money.”

The problem is that it’s the wrong answer.

“Anyway, Melody, you have to be careful not to hurt or hurt her until then. ‘Cause the person who’s gonna take her won’t like it.’

Melody is a little upset, but she nodded roughly.

“You better do it well. I would really appreciate raising a stupid daughter like you without abandoning her.”

“I’m not stupid. Mother.”

Melody is able to read some of the letters, even though she is not formally trained. Some adults in the village brought Melody a newspaper or something to ask for help, saying, “How do you read this?” and she knew she wasn’t stupid.

“What? So I’m stupid?!”

“It’s not like that.. but.”

“Are you talking back to me now? If you keep bothering me like that, I’ll get in trouble!”

Her mother clenched Melody’s head hard and dragged her into her room.

Melody touched her tingling hair a little.

Well, this is how it works. Unlucky people will break the back of their head even if they fall forward. Even after a long time, she plays the role of a slave merchant’s daughter.

Still, she’s smart enough, so if she’s not killed by Loretta’s father, she’ll open up a way to make the ends meet.

“Melody.”

Suddenly, the little Loretta went to her side tugged at the hem of her clothes. With a worried face,

“Merody, are you hurt?”

“Nuh-huh.”

Melody shook her head and lowered her posture for a moment to face the child.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Melody, your head is pounding.”

Loretta rubbed Melody with her small hand a little for a while. She even blew on her with her lips

Melody somehow felt better and laughed out loud.

“You golden pot.”

She hugged the child tightly. This child smelled good even though she didn’t use anything special. Oh, it is probably the scent of the heroine.

“..Loretta is not a golden pot.”

But Loretta rubbed her face against Melody’s shoulder in a voice that seemed to be in trouble.

“Why are you not a golden pot?”

“Well, you know, I just don’t like it.”

After wriggling out of Melody’s arms, Loretta glanced briefly at her mother’s room. Like she’s reading her head. And whispered in a very small voice.

“Oh, in fact, Loretta’s pocket.. doesn’t have any money..”

The child put her hand in a small pocket on her clothes and mumbled awkwardly.

“I don’t have money so..I am not a golden pot.”

Oh, what should I do? I wanted to tell her the right meaning of the golden pot, but she is so cute while fidgeting in her pocket. I’d like to keep an eye on her.

“Well yes, you really are.”

After a long time, the child took a round pebble out of her pocket with her hand. She used it to grind grass at our playhouse yesterday afternoon. On one side of the round stone was the grass that we cut from that time. Judging from the fact that she carried a common pebble in her pocket, she probably liked the house play quite a bit. Melody stroked Loretta’s head and asked,

‘Shall we play house?’

“Yes! Loretta will do it. Melody is the baby.”

Well, she doesn’t know why she keeps making her the baby. Anyway, Melody took advantage of Loretta’s good mood and decided to check out one thing that had been bothering her.

“Hey, who’s gonna do the mother?”

“Mother?”

“Yes, Loretta’s mother.”

Melody gulped in nervousness. She was wondering if Loretta would cry at the word “mother.” But the child seemed to be feeling better than she thought. However, she tilted her head as if it was difficult to fathom and put her fingertips on her lips.

“Loretta, you don’t know anything, right?”

Melody looked at her with a worried face, but Loretta smiled and repeated the same words again.

“Loretta will be the sister. Melody is the baby.”

Melody couldn’t say anything else, so she just nodded for now.

“Yes, the baby doesn’t have to worry. I’ll do it for you!”

Even though Loretta is so confident, I’m worried about her current reaction. But the original story didn’t say that Loretta lost her memory of her mother.

‘Everything will be alright..right?’

Probably because Melody’s worried face didn’t disappear, Loretta jumped up and hugged Melody. With the warmth that is transmitted to her, Melody let go of the anxiety that had tightened her heart for a moment.

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