Pardo, fleeing as if her life depended on it, suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine.
Her small frame shuddered, and she couldn't help but glance back suspiciously, muttering to herself, "What's going on? Is someone bad-mouthing me behind my back?"
As she spoke, the memory of her pathetic display back at the sanitarium washed over her, and she couldn't help but cover her face in embarrassment.
How humiliating. To think she had made such a fool of herself in front of that wealthy (emphasis on the wealthy) lady named Eden.
Pardo had realized that while she was an expert at dealing with all sorts of colorful characters and could navigate the streets of Sundown Alley with ease, she always seemed to stumble when faced with someone as "high-class" as Eden.
"I hope that Miss Eden leaves the sanitarium soon," Pardo thought, glancing up at the slightly overcast sky.
At dinner time, Durandal and Elysia arrived at the sanitarium right on cue. Since they had been active all day, the pair didn't stand on ceremony and sat down to join the meal.
"Wow, the food tonight is so rich! There's so much meat!"
Sitting in the cafeteria, the trio could clearly hear the exclamations of joy from the children nearby.
Aponia watched the scene in the cafeteria with a faint smile, then sighed with a touch of emotion. "It has been a long time since the children had such a hearty meal. Thank you."
"No need for thanks. Since you've agreed to join Schicksal, we're all family now. With the resources Schicksal has, we can certainly afford to feed these children, right, Eden?"
Durandal turned to look at the primary cash cow and financial powerhouse of Schicksal.
Currently, eighty percent of Schicksal's revenue was generated by the various businesses operating under Eden's name.
If it weren't for Eden's immense success in the business world, Entrepreneur magazine wouldn't have sought her out for an exclusive interview, let alone put her on the cover.
Of course, Entrepreneur would have actually preferred to interview the big boss behind Eden.
After all, Eden only kept thirty percent of the profits from the companies under her name, with the remaining seventy percent flowing directly into the coffers of Schicksal.
Naturally, Durandal had flatly refused the magazine's interview request.
She had only agreed to become one of the faces of Schicksal because of Elysia, and because she wanted to cultivate a more approachable, public-friendly image for the organization.
Given that, agreeing to be featured in a magazine as prestigious as Entrepreneur clearly ran counter to her intentions, so Durandal wouldn't entertain the idea for a moment.
Eden nodded at Durandal with a smile, then turned to Aponia. "Schicksal's financial chain is currently very healthy, with massive cash flow. Instead of letting the money sit in trusts and risk getting swindled, it's much better to do something meaningful with it."
Aponia said nothing more. It wasn't that she wasn't truly convinced by Durandal and Eden, but rather that she had buried that wave of gratitude deep within her heart.
After dinner, the trio did not leave immediately.
The children, energized by the sumptuous meal, were a bit restless. Elysia suggested they hold a small storytime to celebrate, hoping to captivate the children's attention and keep them from running wild, which would only add to the burden of Aponia's management.
Durandal, Eden, and Aponia had no objections.
Once the children were settled, Aponia was the first to take the stage.
She looked at the children, her voice gentle. "I shall tell you a story. Let me see..."
Aponia produced a storybook from nowhere and asked, "How about [The Nightingale of the Century's End]?"
Before she could even begin, a girl's voice piped up from the crowd, dissenting: "No! We've already heard that one eight hundred times!"
Aponia, ever patient, simply nodded and flipped to the next page. "Then, how about [Carl the Happy Boy]?"
This time, a boy retorted, "Eight hundred and one times."
Aponia: "..."
At this point, even Aponia found it hard to keep a straight face.
Thankfully, the boy who had spoken up earlier piped in again, "Sister Aponia, I want to hear the story about the little sprite from Sundown Alley!"
Aponia blinked. "The... little sprite from Sundown Alley?"
"Yes! It's a tiny creature that loves to play pranks and hide people's things!" the boy said excitedly.
The girl beside him chimed in, "I've seen it with my own eyes! Right by the drain in the slums! I don't know what kind of magic she used, but all that was left in my pocket was one little cookie."
The girl's accidental confession earned her a reprimand from another child: "Did you sneak out of the sanitarium behind Sister Aponia's back again?"
Aponia's tone turned slightly more serious. "The outside is dangerous. Children should not leave the sanitarium. If this happens again, Sister will be very upset."
Of course, a tone like that wouldn't scare the girl who had snuck out.
"Sister wouldn't get upset; she'd just make me listen to those scary stories!" the girl pouted.
"Is a story about naughty children who don't listen and get punished really that scary?" Aponia asked rhetorically.
The child who had called out the girl for sneaking out jumped in: "Hearing it a thousand times makes it pretty scary..."
"Sister, Sister, I won't be a bad kid anymore, just tell us the story about the sprite!"
"Yeah, any new story is fine!"
The children clamored for the story of the sprite, or really, anything at all, so long as it was new.
"What a persistent bunch of little ones..."
Aponia looked at them with a touch of indulgence. She pondered for a moment, saying, "Let me think..."
"Oh, Aponia, don't hog all the spotlight in front of the children. You really should give us a chance, too~?"
Elysia winked at Aponia. She could tell that without that book in her hands, Aponia didn't really know how to tell stories—at most, she could only improvise little cautionary tales about naughty children getting punished to try and scare them.
Whether the children were actually scared was debatable, but they were certainly tired of hearing those same old stories until they were sick of them.
Aponia realized that Elysia was helping her out of a tight spot.
She returned a friendly smile and looked at the children. "Since everyone wants to hear a new story, why don't we let Sister Elysia here tell it to you? How does that sound?"
The children's eyes immediately fixed upon Elysia.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL