But even if the house collapsed, they could just move somewhere else, right? They'd still be a family—so why would that make her despair?
House = home?
Lilith sat by the window, her small head full of big questions. "I really want to know..."
"Die! Give me back my Die! I need to go save them!"
Mr. Harry the owl started squawking again. Lilith reached out and clamped his beak shut, glaring. "If you keep making noise, I'll roast you!"
Harry struggled. "You took my Die!"
"That's compensation!"
Lilith glanced toward the bathroom—Isabella was inside, helping Alisa bathe.
Then she lowered her voice. "The reason the house suddenly collapsed just now...was because of this die that brings bad luck, right?"
"…"
Harry froze, then snapped his beak shut.
"Miss Lilith is not stupid!" Lilith huffed, lifting her chin. "I just didn't say anything earlier because I didn't want Isabella and the others to be sad!"
"But, but…"
Harry flapped his wings anxiously. Just now, when he was observing her, he had analysed this child as naïve with a hint of craftiness—but not very bright. How had she suddenly become this sharp?
Lilith suddenly had the jewellery box in her hands again, giving it a shake. "So—it's compensation!"
Every little rattle from the box was like a blow to Harry's heart. He quickly took off, terrified that a roll of 1 or 2 would bring disaster down on both of them.
"Please, don't shake it! If it rolls a one or two, it could kill us!"
Lilith stopped shaking and opened the jewellery box. "It won't! See?"
The number inside was still on 5.
"Huh?"
At that moment, someone passing by outside the window made Lilith freeze. She pushed herself up on her hands and stuck her head out the window.
"That person…"
I've seen him before!
The first time they caught the rats—she'd seen him then.
And…in Isabella's photo!
He was the man in the photo—Isabella's father!
"I knew it! I knew I couldn't have mistaken him!"
Lilith turned to rush to the bathroom to tell Isabella, but after a few steps, she stopped.
What if it's just someone who looks like him? She'd be so disappointed…
"Hmm…better make sure first!"
With that thought, she headed quickly for the door. "I'm going out for a bit."
—If she could help Isabella find her father, Isabella could finally go home. She'd be so happy!
Mr. Harry hurried to chase after her.
Lilith didn't know wand divination or any tracking spells, but she still retained some of her cat-like sense of smell. After quite a bit of effort, she finally found the direction the man had gone.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Harry asked, wings fluttering.
"Helping Isabella find her dad."
"Huh?"
After running down three or four streets, they finally caught sight of the man again.
"Hey! Stop!"
Lilith sprinted up and blocked his path.
He was a typical Loen man in his thirties—tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome.
Seeing the little girl blocking his way, he'd assumed she was just another local kid begging for money. But she didn't look the part, and he was a little puzzled. "What is it, little one?"
"You…you're from Loen, right?"
"Yes."
"You live in Backlund?"
"That's right."
"Do you…have a daughter?"
The man nodded again. "Why?"
Hearing this, Lilith's face lit up. "I know where your daughter is! I'll take you to her!"
"Uh?" The man looked a bit dazed.
"Isabella!" Lilith quickly pulled out the photo and handed it to him. "Look—this is you two!"
The man took the photo, visibly startled. A few seconds later, he asked in a low voice, "…Where is she?"
——
At the inn, Isabella and Alisa emerged from the bathroom, now clean but wearing their same old worn clothes.
"You're too skinny, Alisa. You have to eat more from now on!"
"Mm."
"Hmph, when my dad comes to take me to Backlund, I'll make sure to feed you until you're tall and round!"
Isabella glanced toward the two boys dozing in the room. "Where's Lilith?"
"She ran out in a hurry just now—looked like something urgent."
"And none of you went with her? Letting a little girl run around outside alone?"
Bilt scratched his head. "I was going to, but she ran so fast that she vanished in a blink." He lowered his voice. "Lilith's a little witch—she'll be fine, right?"
"That's exactly what makes it more dangerous!"
Isabella shot him a glare, then turned toward the door.
"Come on, we're going to find her."
But just as they reached the doorway, she saw Lilith running back, her face full of joy, with a tall man following close behind.
"Isabella! Look who I found!"
"What?"
She blinked, then looked up at the man approaching. At first there was confusion on her face, but it quickly drained to a pale white, her pupils flickering with deep, instinctive fear.
"What's wrong with you?" Lilith was startled by Isabella's reaction. That…wasn't the face of someone happy.
"She's afraid—terrified. She wants to get away from here…" Mr. Harry's voice sounded beside Lilith's ear.
Why? If this was her father, why would she be afraid?
The man came to a stop before Isabella, smiling faintly.
"I heard you disappeared after your mother died. I was a bit worried, you know."
Isabella's face went even paler. Her fingers gripped the hem of her dress, staring blankly at him without saying a word.
"You…"
"You've got the wrong person!" Isabella suddenly shouted. "I don't know you!"
She tried to push him away and run, but he effortlessly caught her by the back of the neck and lifted her off the ground.
"So you're the one going around telling people I'm your father?"
He waved the photograph.
"You snatched this from my wallet while I was helping your mother with her business—stole my photo and pretended it was a family picture of your own?"
"Let me go! Let me go!" Isabella struggled.
"And this dress," he continued, "I bought this for my daughter. I just stepped into the toilet for a moment, and you stole it. Lying and stealing—you're just like your whore of a mother."
Isabella's pupils trembled.
"No…no, this was a gift from my father, it's—"
Riiip—!
The dress she treasured so much was torn open with ease.
"This is for my daughter! You have no right to wear it. Give it back!"
He was about to strip the dress off her when a flash of white light shot toward his head. The man collapsed to the ground instantly.
Isabella fell with him, but before anyone could react, she shoved the other three children away and bolted out the door.
The ripped dress trailed behind her, exposing the scarred skin of her back.
"Isabella!"
The three children called after her, running to chase.
Lilith stood pale-faced with her wand still raised—she knew she had made a terrible mistake. Fear gripped her chest.
Mr. Harry spoke again.
"Well…if you don't go after her now, you won't find her later."
Night was falling. A crimson moon shone through drifting clouds, casting a faint red veil over everything.
——
At the ruins of the old house, Isabella sat slumped on the ground, staring silently ahead.
The other three children stood behind her, glancing at one another with uneasy expressions. None of them spoke.
A while later, Lilith and Mr. Harry arrived.
Lilith's face was full of worry as she said carefully, "I—I'm sorry, Isabella."
Isabella's voice was faint.
"So now you all know…"
"You know…everything I told you was…just lies I made up."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"I don't have a businessman for a father. No one is taking me back to Backlund. My mother was just a low-class prostitute, and I'm just the bastard child she had with God-knows-who…"
"All of it…everything I said…was just made up so I could feel a little, pathetic sense of superiority."
"Now…you all know."
Her face was expressionless. In her eyes was nothing but lifeless emptiness.
Lilith lowered her head. "I'm sorry…"
"No need to be sorry. This is just the punishment I deserve for lying to you. If I hadn't said all those things, if I hadn't always shown off that photo, you wouldn't have remembered it—you wouldn't have caused all this today…"
She looked straight at Lilith.
"I should be thanking you instead."
Lilith's chest ached with guilt, but she didn't know what to say.
Her little head felt like a tangled mess. She suddenly wished Edward was here—he would know what to do.
But she didn't call for Phoenix's help.
"Actually…" Bilt spoke up, summoning his courage. "Actually, we already knew. We knew everything you said was fake."
Alisa added timidly, "Me…too."
Tim scratched his head in silence.
Isabella froze.
"So…you've been laughing at me this whole time? Every time I mentioned my father, every time I said I'd take you to Backlund—you were laughing at me inside?"
Alisa cried out, "No!"
She ran forward and hugged Isabella tightly.
"We knew you weren't saying those things for superiority. You just wanted to give us hope."
"We know you've always been protecting us. We want to protect you too. We want to help you achieve your dream."
"If you want to leave Bayam, we'll help you leave Bayam. If you want to go to Backlund, we'll take you to Backlund."
"We'll do it together—through our own efforts, without relying on anyone else!"
The other two boys ran over as well.
"Yeah!"
"We'll definitely make Isabella's dream come true!"
But Isabella only shook her head, murmuring, "I'm…not as good as you say. Everything I've done was for myself—so I won't turn out like my mother."
"So I can live…with a little more dignity. I've just been using you."
Tim scratched his head again.
"But…what difference does that make in the end?"
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.