For a moment, it felt like my face was going red for some reason, so I countered it with gibberish.

“..What? I’m not pretty at all. It’s weird.”

“You’re pretty.”

“There’s really nothing you can’t say.”

Even a common comment made my heart flutter when a ‘Gwanggong’ said it. Even though he’s 11 years old!

(T/N: ?? Gwanggong is a type of character that usually appears in BL. These days, regardless of genre, it has become widely used as a term to call characters who are madly obsessed with their relationships.)

Of course, Annette, whom I possessed, was very pretty.

Blonde hair shining sweetly like honey.

A girl with bright green eyes as fresh as a sprout in spring.

However, Sislin did not seem to simply mean that my face was pretty.

So, what did he mean..

It sounded very sweet. To the point where my heart was tickled.

Hmm! Embarrassed for nothing, I cleared my throat and got up from my seat.

“Where?”

“I’ll bring you some medicine to fix your leg!”

To be exact, I was going to steal it.

To be able to make me, known as the best model student in the Forest, steal. It was all because he looked cute.

But considering it was my first time, it seemed that I had a gift for stealing.

Without anyone knowing, I sneaked into the infirmary and I really succeeded in stealing the healing potion.

I rubbed my nose and felt proud of myself for nothing.

‘My awakening ability might be strengthened.’

Of course, if I got caught by Madam Mimosa like this, I would become powder.

Madam Mimosa was the woman in charge of the Forest, and although she was usually kind, she became very strict when the Trees violated the rules.

Not only that, but she was also ruthless enough to use a trap to catch Sislin.

Of course, it must have been a decision made under the judgment that if she left him alone in the cave, he would die.

‘Still, not everyone can set a trap for a child.’

It meant she was not an ordinary person.

I lowered and made myself as small as possible, and passed the hallway quietly like a hamster stealing seeds.

“Sislin, I brought it!”

Kneeling in front of the waiting boy, I opened the potion without hesitation and poured it on his ankle.

Then something amazing happened.

New flesh quickly sprouted out in front of my eyes, the exposed bones were hidden, and the wound healed without a trace.

“Wow..!”

‘I’m so happy.. In the original story, he missed the treatment period and became limp.’

It was only later when he was reinstated in the royal family that he was treated by the priests and healed. But that was after having suffered numerous injuries throughout his childhood due to his leg.

Now Sislin didn’t have to go through that.. I felt proud because I felt like I had protected the little boy in front of me.

I asked with a smile.

“It really doesn’t hurt, now?”

“Yes.”

Sislin nodded calmly, but appeared to be a little moved.

“It really doesn’t hurt.”

When I saw that figure, I felt like my stomach was full for no reason, so a smile came out of my mouth.

This was good.

Holding the boy’s hands tightly together, I said,

“Sislin, you can’t keep living in a cave, can you?”

Originally, I planned to monitor the movement of Madam Mimosa and move Sislin at a safer time..

After what happened today, I decided that he could no longer be left alone in danger.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“.....”

I smiled brightly, shaking a blanket.

* * *

Sneakily, with cat-like steps, we went out into the hallway.

Sislin, covered in white blanket from head to toe like a ghost, grabbed my hand and followed me.

“Stuffy.”

“..Shh! Be patient.”

Walking around at dawn was a violation of the rules.

‘If she catches us, both of us will die.’

In particular, Sislin had already broken more than 7 rules.

It was obvious that the stern Madam Mimosa would relentlessly pick up the rod and discipline him.

‘Now he has barely opened his heart..’

If he went through something like that, there would be no turning back.

Maybe he wouldn’t want to get out of the cave forever. Since the trap had already become useless because of me, a more terrifying method would emerge next time.

Perhaps a cruel method that was not even in the original.

‘Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine!’

‘We won’t be caught.’

However, Sislin suddenly stopped walking.

I grabbed his hand and whispered urgently.

“What’s the matter? Let’s go quickly.”

But it was then.

A voice that was cold enough to slice my head off flew from behind my back.

“You two there. Where are you going, sneaking around like a mouse in the middle of the night?”

“....!!!”

In an instant, my heart almost exploded.

I turned around slowly in a cold sweat.

At the end of the dark hallway, Madam Mimosa stood, holding a sharp whip and a hellfire-like lamp.

“It’s Annette.”

Madam Mimosa walked slowly toward us, who had hardened like ice, and lit the area around us up with the lamp, followed the area around the ghostly blanket-covered Sislin.

Her golden eyes under the bright red blonde hair looked down at us coolly. Some saliva sprayed slightly as she spoke.

“Annette, what’s a model student like you doing? You must be well aware that walking around at dawn like this is against the rules.”

“Hello, Madam.”

I barely greeted her as I usually do.

“Who is this child?”

Madam Mimosa swept the scary whip with her palms, and glanced up and down once, up and down at the ghost covered with a blanket.

Then she slowly lifted the end of the white blanket with a stick. At that moment, I shouted while hugging Sislin.

“It’s Haley!”

Haley was a 9-year-old child, fearful of ghosts, who lived together in the Forest.

“Haley needed a break at dawn, but couldn’t go to the bathroom. She’s afraid of ghosts, so I’m going with her.”

“....”

“If she dresses up like a ghost like this, the ghost will think he is its friend and pass her by. Right, Haley”

I said to Sislin with a smile.

“.....”

Sislin, covered with a blanket, nodded slowly.

‘Please eat it up.’

I smiled at Madam Mimosa with the face of an innocent, well-spoken model student.

Madam Mimosa looked at me with sharp eyes without saying a word, as if trying to determine the truth for a moment.

It felt as if the cold gaze from those golden eyes was stabbing the back of my head like an arrow.

Thankfully, the harsh whip was soon lowered. Softly, the blanket came down to Sislin’s ankles again.

“Next time, make sure you go to the bathroom before bedtime.”

“Yes! I’ll take care of him, Madam.”

Only after hearing my gentle affirmation did Madam Mimosa turn back.

It was only after her figure had completely disappeared that the power slowly drained from her body.

“Whew..”

‘I almost died.’

If I hadn’t prepared an excuse just in case and had Sislin wear a blanket, it would have been a disaster.

‘She believes that I am a model student.’

I wondered again how Madam Mimosa would react when she found out that I stole the potion and hid Sislin.

It was something I didn’t want to imagine for too long.

* * *

“Stay here for a while.”

I brought Sislin to an unused room in the mansion. It was originally a bedroom, but as the number of students decreased, it became an empty room.

There, the bedding I brought and food that can be eaten for a relatively long time (dried meat, dried fruit, bread, etcetera) were prepared.(T/N: This, and all subsequent brackets within sentences are in the raws.)

“..Here.”

“This is your room, Sislin. No one will come in here.”

I lit the candles. It wasn’t proper lighting, but it created quite an atmosphere.

“I’ll bring you some new clothes tomorrow.”

How pretty would he be if he wore clean clothes? He was pretty even when he’s dirty like this.

‘I want to bring him back to the Forest right now.’

Then there would be no need to hide, and he could enjoy quality food and sleep. He could also make friends.

‘But it’s still too much.’

The reason was ‘water trauma’.

Sislin was afraid of water.

Because he was being bullied so badly in his previous place (to the point that he couldn’t even speak with his own mouth), fear was imprinted to the point that he couldn’t even wash himself properly.

He was afraid that if he put water in the washbasin, someone would grab his head and press it down.

But Madam Mimosa would not understand his pitiful situation.

‘He would be beaten harshly for breaking the rules.’

Because it was like that in the original.

So I had to prepare at least that in advance before he could join the Forest.

‘I am still thinking about how to help him overcome the water trauma, but..’

Sislin, who was checking the room, quietly asked me, while I was meditating on this and that.

“Did you prepare all this?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Why? What did he mean by ‘why’?

“Why are you being nice to a dirty boy like me, Annette?”

Sislin had a genuinely incomprehensible expression. Like a child who had never been favored in his life.

For a moment, the dark shadow in the boy’s red eyes made his heart ache.

“Someone who is so nice to me..”

“.....”

“There was none.”

My heart pounded at Sislin’s belated, very soft mumble.

It was as if I had seen a section of the world this boy lived in, which was bound to be hell due to the curse of Mephisto.

I smiled as I patted Sislin’s head softly.

“Now, only good things will happen.”

“.....”

His red eyes flickered quietly. Like a bare branch brushed by the warm spring wind.

“Go to bed early today, I have to go back now. If I am gone too long, I will be suspected, right?”

While walking through the door, I belatedly looked back on him.

“Yes! Tomorrow, I will introduce a really important person.”

I smiled broadly.

* * *

Sislin, who was left alone, rested his hand on the bed Annette had been sitting on.

With the tip of his finger, he felt the warmth left by the girl.

It was his first time. To receive such a favor and kindness..

In the dark and lonely universe where no one was there, a small star seemed to have twinkled and rose.

Only one star was so bright and pretty.

When Annette, with her hair sweet as honey, smiled warmly like the spring sun, Sislin kept wanting to be a great person just as she said.

“Now, only good things will happen.”

That sweet whisper.. Thoughtful touch and smile.

Everything about the girl remained like a clear fingerprint on his lonely heart.

Lowering his long eyelashes, the boy tried to pronounce her name softly with his red, parted lips.

“....Annette.”

It was a name that made the tip of the tongue sweet after calling it for some reason.

* * *

I woke up early in the morning.

Today was the day Heinrich returned to the Forest after two weeks of ‘socialization training’.

I ate dinner and sneaked out, diligently de-staining and polishing the Sislin until Heinrich returned.

That picky chihuahua looked at Sislin and said, “Dirty.” In other words, so as not to set up the future ‘shackles’ or ‘ruin’ flag.

‘First impression is important.. First impression.’

I couldn’t wash him up with water, but I was able to brush his teeth, wipe him meticulously with a wet towel, and comb his hair.

‘..Oh my god. Just by doing that, he smells good?!’

Sniff, sniff.

I put my nose towards Sislin and sniffed him.

“Nonsense. This is a Gwanggong buff.”

“..What is a Gwanggong?”

At Sislin’s innocent question, I hurriedly said, “It’s nothing” and gave him new clothes.

Sinlin changed into new clothes and looked like a soft baby beast.

‘Heuk. My heart.’

Now, he would never, never, ever say something like ‘dirty’!

After a while–

Heinrich looked at Sislin suspiciously.

I introduced them confidently.

“It’s a new friend! Say hello, Heinrich.”

‘Fufu. He isn’t dirty, right?’

“..”

Heinrich slowly looked at the boy with his characteristic arrogant eyes, then stood tall, and as he was looking— he stopped.

At the hands of Sislin and I that were tightly held together.

Soon, Heinrich contorted his forehead and shook his head.

“He’s dirty. Savage.”

‘..It looks like it’s ruined.’