“That’s why you were abandoned, Reina! There’s no place for a kid who throws up on a blanket like this.”

Fortunately, I belonged to what she considered to be the  ‘useful children’ group. I was six when I made Frank, who kept pulling on my hair, fly off from the sofa with just one gesture. The headmistress saw me and was silent for a while before sending a letter somewhere.

I thought I would get scolded, instead I met a couple of strange old men a few days later.

[Don’t be afraid, child. We are the people of the tower.]

They introduced themselves as the people of the tower.  After taking my blood, they made a fuss and told me some cumbersome words.

“The greatest genius of all time.”

“People like you are born once a thousand years or so……”

I was supposed to be adopted by them and become a magician of the tower…

….at least before ‘they’ came to visit me.

“Hello, I am Lady Edenberg. This is my husband, the Marquis of Edenberg, who wants to become your father.”

“She’s very lovely. This child seems mature and her eyes are bright.”

They were a married couple who would never have seen a child in an ordinary orphanage.

The Marquis of Edenberg and his wife came to the orphanage when they found out about my existence after the talkative head wizard bragged about me. They said they had problems bearing children that’s why they didn’t have any. So, they decided to have one through adoption.

However, they did not want an ordinary child. They wanted a child who could make Edenberg more powerful, and I was a kid who perfectly fit their conditions.

But, what does a seven-year-old know?

I had to choose between the plea of the head wizard, and the benevolent marquis couple.

It was a natural choice for me at the time, when I was envious of having an ordinary family and longed for the love they could give me. So without hesitating, I chose the marquis couple, abandoning the guaranteed heaps of gold, honor, and success I could get from the tower.

“Our lovely Elena, this is your room and those people are the maids who will serve you. That garden is a place prepared just for you where you can run as much as you want.”

I received overflowing affection in place of the gold and honor offered by the head wizard. It was exactly what I wanted. I was happy. Perhaps, that was the happiest moment of my life.

However, this kind of happiness was short-lived.

“Madam, they are healthy twins.”

They were obviously infertile, and the couple were giving up on having children. Even so, like a miracle, my mother became pregnant. I truly had the confidence to love them with all my heart, but when my mother finally gave birth to my “siblings,” my happiness was shattered into pieces.

“I’m so sick of that child, Fred. In any case, she is not our blood. I want to renounce her as family and dissolve the adoption.”

“Damn it. I’d love to, but we can’t, Sophia. If we do, we won’t be able to save face in society. What would people say? Everyone will swear and point their fingers at us!”

“But that child will only get in the way of our real children! What if she wants to become a successor? I don’t want them to lose something that was supposed to be theirs.”

“Sophia.”

“Besides, I don’t want to care about her either! I’m tired of it. She’s not even my blood. Why should I keep her?”

When the prominent Edenbergs got delayed with the dissolution of adoption because they cannot find an excuse to do so, I became a burden for them.

* * *

As time passed, Marchioness Edenberg finally gave birth to lovely twins in the spring. The boy was named Derek, and the girl who was as beautiful as a goddess was named Freya.

It has been ten years now after they were born.

“Sister.”

Freya had shiny silver hair and exquisite golden eyes. As our eyes met, her eyes smiled beautifully. At that moment,  a bright light came from the window and enveloped Freya. I stared blankly at my sister. Freya smiled shyly, closing her eyes.