Episode 06
As I echoed his name in my head, he posed another question.
“……Do you have parents?”
“No.”
“Any guardians?”
“Hmm. My uncle raised me, but two years ago, he abandoned me in a forest crawling with magical beasts. I’ve been an orphan ever since.”
I answered faithfully, chewing on my food.
Stealing a glance at his face, I saw his eyes burning—a silent, volatile rage he was barely keeping in check.
“Then, in that forest……”
“Are you asking how I survived?”
“……Yes.”
“At first, I ran, begging anyone to save me.”
I had begged and begged.
But hope was a fragile thing, shattered in an instant, leaving me to face the agonizing, rhythmic cycle of pain. It happened over and over again.
“Later on, I started begging for someone to just kill me without the suffering.”
Dying once was cruel enough, but no matter how many times I perished, I was forced back into my broken body.
Now, having learned to wield my ability, I consider it a fraudulent power. But back then, it was nothing more than a horrific curse.
“Still, after I awakened, I managed to scrape by.”
Though it would be more accurate to say I was forced to persist.
He lowered his eyes, finding it difficult to hold my gaze.
That was a good sign.
I needed to appear as pathetic as possible to ensure I could stay here. Despite his formidable exterior, he was a man of deep compassion and a tender heart; he wouldn’t be able to turn me away.
He looked up, his expression guarded.
“If you don’t mind, what is this ability you awakened?”
“Precognition.”
“I see……”
“Oh. It’s quite a rare gift, aren’t you surprised?”
“I am surprised enough.”
Ah, well, he didn’t look surprised in the least.
I was about to retort, but recalling his typical bluntness, I offered a light shrug instead.
“Are you satisfied with your curiosities now?”
“……Where are you staying?”
“I don’t have anywhere. I used to live in a small village, but I was starving, so I followed a merchant caravan. I only arrived in the capital today.”
“Was there no one in that village to help you?”
“It was a poor, remote place. A child like me is no use as a laborer……”
His expression turned fierce, as if he were ready to tear the world apart. So, this was how he looked when he heard of my past.
“……Let me ask one last thing.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
His brow furrowed in deep thought.
“Tania, did you know me? Did you come here looking for me?”
Thump.
My heart plummeted. Caught off guard, I nearly failed to keep my expression neutral.
Had I let my longing show in my eyes?
While I hesitated, searching for an answer, he added quietly.
“I was only curious why you chose this house out of all the others.”
Ah, that.
I suppose it was natural for him to be suspicious of a stranger appearing on his doorstep. He had spent his life—even the distant years I remembered—living like a man constantly pursued.
Even to a child, such wariness was second nature.
In truth, in the previous timeline, he hadn’t died of accident or illness; he had been murdered under someone’s instruction. It seemed the shadow that had dogged his steps had finally caught him.
The “me” of that life hadn’t been able to stop it.
But in this life, I would hunt down and destroy the mastermind who had dared to touch him.
I forced a calm, natural smile.
“I don’t even know how many houses I’ve knocked on.”
“What do you mean……”
“I knocked on every door, hoping for a crust of bread. You’re the first person who actually gave me a meal.”
“I see……”
He let out a soft sigh, his expression unreadable, before he spoke again.
“Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”
“Not yet. I was planning to take the entrance exam for the Papiope family’s talent academy.”
The talent academy.
It was an institution founded by the Duke of Papiope, dedicated to cultivating gifted youths. It accepted children between seven and fifteen, providing room, board, and top-tier education to those who passed.
The problem, of course, was that every child with ambitions of climbing the social ladder flocked there, making it notoriously difficult to get in.
Hearing my plan, he closed his eyes, then opened them slowly.
“If you have nowhere else to stay, you shall stay here.”
I knew the kind-hearted man would say it, but hearing those words made my heart swell with joy.
“Really? Thank you!”
As I bowed, he frowned as if the display of gratitude offended him.
“……I’ll have to start by teaching you to be more suspicious of others. And we’ll need to put some weight on those bones, too.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Late at night.
Aiden stood in front of Tania, who lay fast asleep on the bed he had provided.
Exhausted from her journey, she was sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the world. He stared at her for a long time, his eyes bloodshot, a tempest of emotion boiling beneath his skin.
“I’m sorry.”
The words were a ragged whisper, a lament from a man whose face had gone deathly pale.
“I’m so sorry… for leaving you alone.”
Regret crashed over him like a tidal wave.
The memory of holding her for the first time, her first clumsy steps, the day she first called him “Papa”—it was all too vivid.
The moment he had seen the face of the girl who knocked on his door, he had known. There was no way he could have forgotten.
The rose-gold hair, the amber eyes that mirrored his own.
It was the daughter he had held in his dreams every single day.
He collapsed to his knees by the bed, his hands trembling as he reached out to graze her thin cheek.
“My one and only daughter, Tania.”
As he spoke, his expression was a mask of pure, agonizing love.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next day.
I woke to the warmth of the morning sun spilling across my eyelids.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I wandered out to find him at the stove, preparing breakfast. Seeing that familiar back made me smile for no reason.
“Good morning, sir.”
He turned at the sound of my bright voice, brows knitting together in that familiar, displeased way.
“You don’t sleep much for a child.”
“I suppose not. So, are you going to accept my greeting?”
“……Good morning.”
Once the cooking was finished, he set a plate of perfectly browned food on the table.
“Eat.”
“Thank you! Sit down and join me.”
“I’m fine……”
“Come on!”
I tugged on his sleeve with a giggle, and he sat across from me as if he had no choice.
As I watched him, I skewered a sausage and held it out. He hesitated, looking flustered, before eventually taking the fork.
A question I’d held back yesterday came to mind.
“Sir, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Aren’t you interested in my ability?”
His expression darkened slightly.
“Do I look like I’m so desperate that I need to scavenge off a child with milk still on her breath?”
“No, I was just wondering. Other adults were always so greedy for it.”
“You……”
He studied me with a complicated gaze before his lips parted.
“Does it feel terrible? Being an Abilitor?”
Buying and selling Abilitors was a common trade in the underworld. It made an orphaned, powerless child like me a prime target for predators. He must have been asking about that, in his own way.
It was the first time.
Even in the previous timeline, this was the first time someone had worried about the burden of my ability before asking to exploit it. Everyone else had simply wanted to use me, envied me, or hated me for what I could do.
“I like being an Abilitor. I’ve never met my parents, but I’m grateful they passed this ability down to me.”
If I hadn’t had this power, I never would have been able to find my way back to him.
“……I see.”
He wore a complex expression, clearly deep in thought, before he sighed and stood up.
“Finish your breakfast. We’re going to buy you some clothes.”
“You’re buying me clothes?”
“Did you intend to keep wearing those rags?”
It was a harsh remark, but the meaning was clear: he was finally paying attention to my needs.
I let out a soft laugh.
He still didn’t know how to speak kindly, just as he never had back then.