I Raised an Obsessive Servant - Chapter 166

The girl looked at the dust on Yurina’s white hand and licked her lips as if she were about to cry, then hurriedly began to clean Yurina’s palm with her sleeve. Yurina didn’t have a chance to stop her.

But the girl’s clothes were so dirty that they didn’t clean Yurina’s hand properly. The girl trembled as she saw Yurina’s hand getting even dirtier. Then she realized that her younger brother was in Reynard’s arms, her eyes widened.

“Tom!”

Reynard, who had been awkwardly comforting the boy, flinched. The boy with brown hair, crying weakly in Reynard’s arms, looked at his sister with teary eyes.

“Sister.”

“Come down quickly. Come here.”

As soon as Reynard let go of the boy, the girl hid her brother behind her and eyed the two suspiciously.

She had seen many people on the streets and was quite perceptive. Although the clothes the two wore were ordinary and didn’t look expensive, their appearances were far from ordinary.

The blonde woman, in particular, stood out.

Her skin, as white and well-kept as if she hadn’t been exposed to much sunlight, her shiny, unsplit hair, and the intimidating aura she gave off even though she was smiling.

She could be a rich man’s daughter or a noblewoman out for a secret stroll. Thinking that she had touched such a person’s hand and made it dirty sent chills down her spine.

The girl fell to her knees and clutched her head.

“I’m sorry!”

“Huh?”

“Please forgive me just once… or I can accept punishment… but my brother… my brother didn’t do anything wrong.”

Even though she was shaking, she spoke bravely. It seemed like she had done this many times. Yurina bit her lip as she felt a pang in her heart.

‘She’s so young.’

What kind of hardships must she have faced to be this frightened even after receiving help?

“Sister….”

The boy, who had been rolling his eyes and watching the situation, whimpered and then burst into tears. He seemed so exhausted that there were hardly any tears left, but his breaths were ragged.

Yurina quickly helped the girl up.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. So you don’t have to kneel and beg like this.”

“Eh?”

“By the way, are you hurt? You fell quite hard earlier.”

At Yurina’s tender voice, the girl was so surprised that she could only blink. Her eyes, which were deeply sunken around the sockets, looked pitiful.

Before Yurina could open her mouth again, Reynard knelt down in front of the girl.

“Can I take a look at your knee?”

The girl, taken aback by the unexpected situation, could only nod slightly. Reynard gently lifted the hem of the girl’s skirt to look at her knee.

Her knees were thin to the point of being painful, and blood was flowing from a wound. As soon as he placed his hand near the wound, a white light burst out, and the wound healed in an instant.

Reynard, who was about to lower the girl’s skirt, soon frowned. Not only the girl’s knees but also on her calves and ankles, there were small bruises and welts.

After obtaining the girl’s permission once more, he treated all the visible wounds.

“Can I see your little brother too?”

The girl, seeing her now clean knees, gave a silent scream and quickly showed her brother, who was behind her, to Reynard. The boy also had bruises on his arm. However, the boy was scared of the stranger and hid behind his sister again.

“It’s okay. Come here.”

Yurina pulled out a chocolate from her lunch box and handed it to the boy. Perhaps entranced by the sweet-smelling, fancily shaped chocolate, the boy hesitantly approached Reynard.

Reynard placed his hand on the boy’s arm and hesitated for a moment as if surprised, but then began treating his wound.

The boy didn’t even look at his healing wound and was just staring at the chocolate in Yurina’s hand. His green eyes, the same as his sister’s, sparkled brightly.

“Do you want to eat it?”

“Yes!”

Yurina gently smiled and gave the chocolate to the little boy’s hand. The boy’s eyes widened as he took a bite of the chocolate.

He quickly licked his chocolate-covered lips and looked back at his sister.

“Sister, this…”

“No, you eat it.”

The girl swallowed her saliva but shook her head.

“No, sister.”

Impressive, Yurina thought as she gently stroked the boy’s tousled hair.

‘He should be busy eating.’

Children that age act on instinct. The boy, so thin that his ribs were showing, had even been worried about his sister despite his hunger.

“Eat this, I have one for sister too.”

Even with Yurina’s words, the boy hesitated, but when she pulled another chocolate from her bag, he finally bit into his chocolate with great appetite. The girl rolled her eyes and carefully bit into the chocolate with her front teeth. A happy smile spread across her face.

Meanwhile, Reynard had finished treating the boy’s wound and pulled out a sandwich from the basket. It was a luxurious sandwich filled with premium ham, cheese, and fresh vegetables.

The boy, who had quickly finished his chocolate, couldn’t take his eyes off the sandwich. One could hear the sound of him swallowing his saliva.

“Yurina, is it okay?”

Yurina nodded her head. She could go without one meal. Some might say it’s better not to help at all than to help just once due to a moment’s whim, but they couldn’t just leave when there were hungry children in front of them.

Reynard held the boy’s hand and headed to a nearby cafe. The boy, wagging his tail like an excited puppy, followed him closely. Yurina also took the girl’s hand and headed to the cafe.

The cafe employee looked uncomfortable at the sight of the children, but when Yurina handed over some coins, he didn’t say anything else.

“Eat slowly, you might get a stomachache if you eat too fast.”

“Yes!”

Despite his confident reply, the boy took a big bite out of the sandwich. He looked quite adorable with his cheeks puffed out like a hamster stuffing its cheeks with sunflower seeds.

Worried that eating just a cold sandwich might upset his stomach, she ordered warm bread and cream of mushroom soup. The girl, who was still clumsy at holding a spoon, fed the soup directly to her younger brother. She seemed quite adept at taking care of her little brother, blowing on the soup to cool it down before feeding it to him.

The boy ate the food his sister fed him like a baby bird.

‘Reminds me of Rey.’

During the children’s meal, Yurina and Reynard asked them several questions and found out a few things.

The girl was eleven years old, older than she looked, and the boy was four. As expected, they were siblings, and they had been living with their single mother until she recently passed away from illness. Now they were living at their relatives’ house.

But looking at her hesitating and holding back her words, it was apparent that the relatives who had taken them in were not particularly fond of them.

‘If they really cared, they wouldn’t have left the kids on the street like this.’

They were still at an age to be more childlike, to receive love and grow, yet they had to endure the harsh stares of people on the street. She wanted to do more, but realistically, there was nothing she could do for the two of them at the moment.

The only thing Yurina could do was to give them a warm meal like I was doing now. And that was only for this one time. If they’re lucky, they might meet a few more times before they go back to the city.

‘But is that enough?’

Yurina felt uneasy.

Reynard, who had been watching the children eat, quietly stood up from his seat and headed towards the street. In his hand when he came back was the bouquet of roses the girl had dropped when she fell.

The roses that must have been mercilessly trampled under the feet of people looked fresh as if they were just picked, thanks to his magic. The girl’s eyes widened again.

Reynard buried his nose in the roses and took a deep breath.

“Can I buy all of these?”

“Huh? All of them? But…”

The girl looked back and forth between the remnants of food on the table and her chubby little brother who was patting his full belly as if it was something amazing. She’d even eaten food, and now this man wanted to buy all the roses, she must’ve felt sorry.

Reynard handed the bouquet of roses to Yurina with a bright smile.

“I want to give them as a gift to the one I love.”

The girl opened her mouth and looked at Yurina and then nodded her head with a suddenly red face.

* * *

Reynard looked thoughtful when he returned to the mansion. After finishing his bath and entering the bedroom, Yurina saw Reynard standing at the door, blankly looking at the roses she had put in a vase.

‘He must have a lot on his mind.’

He didn’t show it during the day, but he surely saw his past self in the girl and the boy.

Yurina also felt sorry for the two children and wanted to help them a bit more, but Reynard, who had experienced the pain firsthand, must have felt not only pity but also pain.

Because his past memories must have been vividly recalled.

And the boy’s name was ‘Tom’. No matter how common this name was, what a cruel coincidence.

Yurina approached the bed with a deliberate cough. Reynard, who would have noticed her as soon as she entered on any other day, only noticed her then and gave her a smile.

“You’re here?”

He took the towel from Yurina’s hand and began to dry her hair. It would have been quick if he used magic, but he preferred to do it himself.

Yurina closed her eyes and enjoyed his touch, then opened her eyes to glance at the roses. Reynard had given the girl much more money than what she had asked for.

It was money that would allow the children to not sell roses for a while and eat warm bread to their heart’s content, but could they really rest easy?

If the relatives really had ill intentions, they might have stolen all the money and sent them back on the street again tomorrow.

Yurina was about to bring up the thoughts she had been contemplating all evening, but Reynard spoke first.

“It might sound ridiculous, but…”

“Hmm?”

“I want to create a place where children can live without worries. Where they can have a hearty warm meal, sleep in peace, learn to read and write, and even go to an academy if they want…”

Yurina was surprised inside. What he said was similar to what she had been planning to say. However, the words that followed were unexpected.

“So, Yurina. Do you think we could sponsor those kids we saw earlier?”

“Sponsor?”

“Yes. I would need to take a closer look, but it seems the boy from earlier has a talent for magic. And quite a lot of it.”