Chapter 29
Marius wasn’t one to say thank you often either, but he would show signs of being pleased when he saw the cleaned-up workshop. And from the perspective of the one who cleaned diligently, that feeling of satisfaction was immense.
Aniella closed her eyes, her face set in a scowl. Without her noticing, the lightning had stopped and the heavy rain had subsided, but she was so upset she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep well.
* * *
Paiki was abandoned in a basket as a newborn baby, left in front of an orphanage. The director named him ‘Candy’ because there was a single piece of cheap candy in the basket with the baby.
“Candy, candy, sweet candy!”
It made him the perfect target for teasing by the other kids at the orphanage. Paiki, who was calm and mature beyond his years unlike his peers, found it absurd. They had names like ‘Scissors’ or ‘Chimney’ themselves, so what was so funny about ‘Candy’?
He didn’t petition the director to change his name just because he was being teased. The director resorted to violence immediately if the children bothered him. In the small society of the orphanage, he was the emperor.
Paiki silently accepted the name and secretly punished those who teased him as ‘sweet candy’. Since he knew he’d get in trouble with the director if he laid hands on them directly, he manipulated them using their own psychology, and eventually, he came to reign supreme over everyone.
The director noticed that Paiki had become the leader of the younger children but let it be. It was because these troublesome beings under his management weren’t causing any major incidents. Although he occasionally smacked Paiki on the back of the head to assert his dominance, things passed relatively without major trouble.
Then one day, Paiki incurred the director’s great wrath.
“What the hell is this damned brat doing, trying to ruin my mood! Are you trying to kill me with a curse or something?”
The reason was that he had secretly brought a blackened kitten corpse into the director’s bedroom. Knowing that the boy had a talent for magic made the director even more suspicious. He beat Paiki severely, as if he had finally caught him red-handed, raining blows down on him until he was battered and bruised.
Only after the child lay motionless and slumped on the floor did the director notice the burn marks on his hands. They looked like they needed treatment, but the director didn’t call a doctor. All he did was toss him a bottle of what he called a ‘cure-all’ medicine. It was a medicine he made himself to give on days when he felt he had beaten the children too severely.
“Can’t waste money just to stop one brat from becoming a cripple.”
He was a truly stingy man, even while receiving funds every month under the pretext of the children’s medical expenses.
Fortunately, the director’s ‘cure-all’ medicine did somewhat reduce the pain. Even so, the burn scars remained, leaving his hands disfigured, and the director would frown whenever they caught his eye.
“Damn it, it ruins my appetite!”
Paiki had no choice but to wear gloves at all times, except when washing. It’s not like the director bought him proper gloves. He cut the legs off his own trousers to make gloves to wear. He didn’t succeed on the first try, and because of his failures, his trousers ended up riding up to his knees.
Around the time he was being called ‘Shorts Candy’ for always wearing what were essentially shorts, a mage visited the orphanage. He told the director he was looking for a child with magical talent.
Whether he was a great mage or not, the director bowed and scraped to him, introducing the children. Paiki was the most outstanding child in the orphanage. However, the director, who had come to dislike Paiki after the cat incident, ordered him to keep his mouth shut and kept him in a corner.
It was then that Paiki’s shorts came into play.
“And you, what’s with you? Aren’t you cold?”
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