Chapter 147: Live to Sienna Pt.147
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Roy ran to Sienna as soon as he could.
“Oh, my… Kevin!”
Roy put his hand on Kevin’s wound. A bright light flowed from his palm. The light crept away from Roy’s hand as if it were carrying life into Kevin’s stomach.
Carl watched Roy seriously.
Carl was a man who did not believe in a god. Therefore, he did not believe in the existence of divine power. But seeing it in person felt different.
Watching the strange sight did not create a sudden belief in god. But it was true that he was amazed at the miracle.
Roy’s healing power rose significantly after the coming-of-age ceremony, but treating Kevin, who was close to death, was daunting for him, too. Roy’s whole body was drenched with sweat.
The glare of light gradually reduced its size. It was not until the light from his hands disappeared that Roy took his hands off Kevin.
The terrible wounds that were pouring out of the gut were all healed. Only the torn clothes and traces of blood showed that Kevin had been hurt.
“Is Kevin all better now?”
“Not all better because my power is still not the greatest.”
“But he can still live, right?”
“Yes, Kevin is alive.”
Roy answered Sienna and looked around. His expression was not good even though he saved Kevin’s life. Because six children lost their lives.
“Ugh…”
The children held their breath when Kevin groaned. They followed the movement of his lips in case they missed Kevin’s voice.
Kevin and Sienna’s eyes met. The child smiled with his eyes folded.
“If I’m seeing an angel…I guess I’m dead.”
Sienna couldn’t tell he was not fully awake or if he had enough energy left to joke around, but breaths of relief came out from everyone there when they heard Kevin’s voice. Sienna had her hands covered with blood, but regardless, she swept Kevin’s forehead down.
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
“Oh, you really are Lady Sienna.”
Kevin smiled after checking the warmth of Sienna sweeping down his forehead.
“What about the other children? Are they okay?”
Kevin, who was smiling, suddenly hardened his face and raised his voice, then asked Sienna. Kevin tried to evacuate the children, but he was worried because he couldn’t confirm the fate of the children afterwards.
He had the heart to check the state of other children as soon as he could think. It was too mature of a behavior for a child who was only 10 years old. Sienna cried again because that made her sad.
Kevin’s words also made the children around him burst into tears. Only after checking the voices of the children, Kevin murmured, “I’m glad…”
And closed his eyes with a comfortable smile.
Sienna and the children looked at Roy with anxious faces because he seemed to have lost his consciousness. Roy said with a bitter smile.
“He’s just asleep. Even though I treated his body’s wounds, he will need a lot of rest because his body is exhausted.”
Roy got up and looked at the blood on the floor. The floor was littered with blood. Carl followed him around.
The bloodstains told what had happened to Kevin. He was injured and tried to crawl off the floor.
“Who the hell…I don’t know what they were doing…”
Roy looked back at Carl with a look of grief. Carl couldn’t answer Roy’s question.
*
The incident of the temple raid appeared to sink below everyone’s interest. Since the victims were only some orphans, and the temple was a politically neutral space, no advocates for the children appeared.
Carl raised the issue at a political meeting, and Kevin remembered some of the faces of men who had attacked him, but the nobles did not listen to a child’s witness. They said it was because they could not trust the words of a child.
Time passed without finding the culprit. The more Sienna thought over the incident, the more she became suspicious of Arya. However, it would have been better to send an assassin to herself, but she couldn’t understand why she would send them to the temple, against little children.
Sienna was said to be close to Roy, but it was strange to attack the children just because of that reason. What was the benefit of attacking the temple?
But there was no other hostile suspect that came to mind. There could not have been forces hostile to Roy, nor anyone who would want to kill the children.
“Who the hell…”
Sienna gazed into the air and chewed on her lower lip.
Then, Aunt Kelly came to visit Sienna. Because Kelly gave all her work to Jane, her foster daughter, she has been enjoying her travels and Jane had been visiting the imperial family often. Sienna had not seen Kelly’s face for a long time.
“You don’t look very well.”
Kelly said to Sienna.
“No, I’m alright. Aunt Kelly looks marvelous though. I’m really glad.”
“Big blessings in this old one’s later years. Thanks to the travels, I feel refreshed to go back to where I used to go when I was young. I also visited Heidel in the North. The Duke was still in good health. I’m surprised it hasn’t changed at all since 20 years ago.”
“You went to see my father?”
Sienna’s eyes trembled. Kelly said so soothingly.
“The Duke was very concerned about Your Majesty. Whether you adjust well to the life of the palace alone…”
Sienna wiped away her tears feeling sorry for her father.
“I told him that you are doing fine and adjusting well, fit for a member of the Waters family.”
“Thank you…”
“You should write him a letter and tell him how you are doing. The Duke of Waters wants to see the Empress very much.”
“I’ll be doing that for sure.”
Then Kelly went on to tell the story of the North for the next little while.
She said it was full of snow as it always had been. She also added that the incredibly fierce cold weather was raging and that people were fighting every day due to the surprisingly frequent invasions of monsters.
It was a daily routine that never changed when Sienna left. So she missed it even more. Still, she was able to find peace in her heart after hearing about her hometown through Kelly’s trip.
Sienna had become very nervous because of the horrors that occurred in the temple. Recently, even Hain had been wary of her. She knew well that comforting words wouldn’t solve anything.
It was also several times that she urged Carl to see if he still had caught the criminal yet. Luckily, Carl soothed Sienna without getting angry every time. She knew he did not do anything wrong, but Sienna was in an unbearable pain.
Robin, who dearly cared for his sister and led the children on the street with fatherly grace, Leighton, who pulled flowers out to Sienna with painted faces, and children who joined after Sienna entered the palace and sacrificed themselves to protect the children of the temple…
Sienna couldn’t shake off the sight of the children in her mind losing their lives and bleeding on the floor. And guilt swarmed in because it seemed like it was her fault.
“I heard there was a big disaster in the temple recently.”
Kelly brought up the issue with difficulty.
“You haven’t caught the criminal yet, have you?”
“Yes, even though Kevin has seen the killer, the investigation is not going well. They’re saying they can’t just trust a child.”
Sienna said, clenching her teeth.
Kelly nodded. The nobles could not have cared about the lives of the orphans. They wouldn’t jump into this task that wouldn’t give them any profit.
Moreover, the emperor’s wedding was just around the corner. Those who did not want to ruin the atmosphere tried to end the investigation as soon as possible. Even now, they were urging Carl to finish the investigation quickly.
“Actually, I came here because I had some information about it.”
“What! What is it? Please tell me. Even the smallest one is fine.”
Sienna was so desperate, so she rushed in and asked.
“Recently, more and more people are curious about our company.”
“That, I am aware of. It’s natural to be interested in a company that’s rapidly expanding its presence in the grain industry since last year’s bad harvest.”
“Yes. I thought so, too. Compared to the influence we showed at that time, our business is very mysterious. I understand people’s curiosity. However, much of the information about our company has recently become known. There’s already a rumor going around that Dark Merchants are actually Green Merchants.”
When they worked on the wheat supply issue, they hid their name and information about the Green Merchants as much as possible, considering that they would be pressured if it became known to the outside world. Sienna thought it was natural that it would be revealed after a while, but it was faster than she expected.
“Oh, my…”
“Well, it’s nothing to be concerned about. I’ve been avoiding the public disclosure of the company to avoid any hassle, but I didn’t intend to hide for too long. Sometimes it’s better to have an influence on the surface than under the surface.”
Kelly winked at her and said, “We’ve looked at why we’ve been exposed. Merchants don’t believe in coincidence. It’s the nature of merchants to think that if something happened, there’s a cause and we want to know the causal relationship.”
Kelly seemed more like an experienced merchant than a noblewoman. She was so natural. Sienna nodded in agreement with her words.
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