Of course, I tried to hold back my laughter because I know he’s just going to be in a bad mood.

“I know that being expected to wait without a promise is harsh.”

—……

“Still though, I guess you’ll need to find another way to contact the person you’re waiting for.”

That was all Doah could say.

And there was nothing more she could do here.

Even if she wanted to return this earring, Doah was trapped in this castle.

Then, at that moment.

—Wait? I’ve been waiting, you say…

The kid on the other side hesitated as he spoke and eventually trailed off, as if he was trying to trace his memory.

—…Yeah, I’ve been waiting. Indeed, I wanted to hear someone speak through this.

Compared to the rough way that he said it, his tone was still even and it was a voice with little to no emotion.

—I thought my calls were being ignored… But it wasn’t even with that person in the first place.

Eight years ago was around the time the war ended.

During the dawn of peace, if there’s someone you couldn’t find, it’s one or the other.

Either dead, or you didn’t look hard enough.

Maybe that’s why the bandit leader managed to steal things from the palace and come out unscathed.

—If it’s to that point, then I guess it’s not worth looking for me and my mother anymore. No, did he just forget our existence? Then…

Judging by his reaction, it seemed like the latter was more probable.

‘I can guess who the other person is.’

Even though I was just listening to him, it felt like I was getting immersed into a deep, dark swamp.

A grudge that was firmly rooted at the depths.

Stagnant and rotting, the kind of grudge that had already degenerated so severely.

An artifact in the form of earrings like this one meant that the other half was a token of affection.

If it had communication magic etched on it, this token meant something like, ‘Even though my body is far away, my heart is always with you’.

But if the person who gave you this token suddenly couldn’t be contacted, leaving you behind with a child that was now eight years old…

Honestly, it was kind of obvious.

‘Did the father have an affair?’

Then abandoned his wife and child?

Doah guessed from the context clues in this conversation, but if that really was the case, then this kid’s father was the worst piece of sh*t in the world.

—Never mind. Because…

The kid trailed off again.

Although they weren’t facing each other, his emotions were so clear and distinct from how suppressed his tone was now, with his wavering voice and with his shaky breaths.

Anger. Hatred. Despair. Resentment…

—He’s not worth anything to me now.

Resignation.

What kind of experiences had this child gone through that he was expressing these kinds of feelings?

He could have clung onto Doah and whined while asking to help him.

In fact, if he really was just eight years old, it was natural for him to do something like that.

As if he was neither a child nor an adult, it’s just that he was acting like he never held any hope at all.

Doah couldn’t immediately end the conversation.

Her chest was feeling heavy, too.

It’s like she was looking into a mirror, back when she was still a child herself before she met her grandmother.

Doah clamped her lips together.

She wanted to offer even just words of comfort to this kid.

But…

‘No, never mind. I’ve got my own problems to deal with.’

Doah tried to push down this sense of camaraderie.

‘He’s different from me. I was an orphan, and he said he has a mother. That’s good enough.’

What happened to him was none of her business.

In the first place, she couldn’t afford to be concerned for another kid who she didn’t even know.

“Then, I’ll hang up now.”

Doah spoke quickly.

It was futile to worry, so she decided not to talk to him again.

But then,

—Wait.

The kid stopped her.

He spoke urgently this time, with a voice that blatantly revealed his desperation, so unlike how he had been suppressing his emotions earlier.

—…Don’t hang up.

At the end of this last sentence, his voice trembled slightly.

‘Ah.’

Doah noticed belatedly.

‘So you were actually feeling anxious.’

He wanted to whine and cling onto someone, but it seemed like he had never done that before. He didn’t know what to do. He was just pretending like this wasn’t affecting him.

That’s what he’s really feeling.

Of course.

He had been waiting for his entire life, yet he was rewarded with betrayal. He couldn’t possibly be alright after that.

‘Huu, what do I do…’

She wanted to cut off the conversation.

This kid obviously had some complicated family history.

But Doah had always been like this.

She couldn’t just walk past those who were in trouble.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

—……

“Tell me. I’m listening.”

The boy couldn’t say anything back.

It seemed like he couldn’t believe whether Doah would actually listen to him or not.

For the longest period of silence between them, Doah waited silently.

—The earring… Don’t throw it away.

Then right after he said that, he cut off the call.

‘What the.’

Did he really hang up?

She was speechless.

Hey. What the hell.

‘And I was so concerned about you even.’

That kid just said what he wanted to say and then hung up.

Doah glared ferociously at the earring as if it was the kid.

But in the end, she sighed and just organized the uprooted plants that had gotten mutilated when she dug up the ground.

The artifact she had been banking on turned out to be useless.

The communication magic encrypted in it was like a phone, but with only one number saved on it.

Rather than an asset, it became a burden on Doah’s escape plan.

‘Should I just put it back underground and never let it see the light of day again?’

As she was wrestling with the dilemma of whether she should bury it again or not, suddenly—

“Hey, insect.”

She heard a familiar voice behind her.

“What are you doing here?”