A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 95

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Lania tilted her head repeatedly as she watched the two of them converse.
“I heard you can enter the Club freely at any time…”
“That varies by club. We—”
“Laila.”
I gently placed my hand on Laila’s shoulder as she desperately tried to prevent Lania from joining the Club.
“One person wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”
“Pardon?”
“Why don’t you accept her?”
I lightly patted Laila’s shoulder again as her eyes widened.
Usually she was so eager to recruit even a single additional member.
I could immediately tell that her reason for blocking Lania’s admission was concern for me.
‘Honestly, I’m curious.’
I wondered what she was plotting this time by coming to the Club, constantly hovering around with such transparent acting.
“Thank you, Camilla!”
Lania laughed brightly and expressed her delight.
“Well, I’m glad you’re happy about it.”
I responded lightly and stopped paying attention to her. I had come to the Club Room for a different reason today.
“Laila.”
“Yes?”
“Do you happen to know about Sky Orphanage?”
“Sky Orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“Are you referring to the orphanage near the Imperial Palace?”
“The Imperial Palace?”
“Yes, it’s probably the largest orphanage in the Capital?”
“Really? Have you ever been there?”
Laila shook her head gently.
“We only visit smaller facilities. A place that large has many other sponsors…”
“I see.”
So it’s that large.
“But why are you asking about it?”
“I’m looking for a child.”
“…Pardon?”
“I heard that’s where the child was last seen.”
“Ah, a child?”
At my words, not only Laila but everyone in the Club Room turned their gaze toward me simultaneously.
“A child you’re looking for?”
“Who is it?”
Arsian and Petro fired off questions rapidly.
“Just the son of someone I know.”
Camilla answered lightly, her gaze drifting toward the window where rain still poured down in heavy sheets.
Last night, when the Water Ghost named Bes came seeking her out, she had mentioned a child at the Sky Orphanage—the very place where that child had been.
[My husband suffered from illness for a long time before he passed. The debt was so overwhelming that I couldn’t afford to raise the child.]
“So you left the child at the orphanage?”
[I had to secure at least a small house where the child and I could live together. I’d lost even that to debt. I couldn’t have my young child living on the streets.]
“And then?”
[I worked desperately to earn money. Once I’d stabilized my situation, I went to retrieve the child, but… they’d already been adopted.]
That had been ten years ago. The child had been five years old at the time, so if alive, they would be fifteen now.
“What good does searching now do?”
[Still, I wanted to see them at least once. I went to the orphanage and asked where the child had been adopted, but they said they couldn’t tell me.]
“Of course they wouldn’t.”
It would be troublesome if a biological parent showed up demanding to take back a child who’d been adopted and was living well.
“Did you kill yourself because you missed the child?”
[No!]
Bes shook her head vigorously.
[Why would I kill myself? If I felt that way, I should have searched for my child with all my might to find them.]
“Then what?”
[It was an accident.]
A long sigh escaped from Bes’s lips.
[With a heavy heart, I wandered aimlessly, and when I came to my senses, I was there. At the valley… and there was a child about the same age as mine drowning in the water, thrashing about and crying for help.]
So I jumped in without thinking.
“And then?”
[…I can’t swim.]
“What?”
[I managed to save the child somehow, but I….]
That’s how she drowned. Camilla stared at her with an expression of disbelief.
How could she jump in without knowing how to swim? Yet she couldn’t blame someone who jumped in to save a child.
[Please, I’m begging you. Find my child for me.]
That’s how I learned about the Sky Orphanage. It was where the Water Ghost Bes had entrusted her child.
‘If I ask Rube, it would be the simplest approach.’
But that would make the matter far too complicated. It would inevitably reach Duke Sorpel’s ears, and I’d have to fabricate some story about Bes and her son.
‘So I’ll pass on that.’
In the end, I decided to investigate slowly on my own.
First, I planned to visit the Sky Orphanage where Bes had left the child and find out where the child had been adopted.
“Even though I don’t know who they are, should I find them for you?”
“I’ll help as well.”
The heirs of two ducal houses wielding power comparable to the Sorpel Household.
The label of “supreme information network” fluttered above their heads, but Camilla shook her head.
“It’s not an important matter, so I’ll handle it myself.”
I didn’t want to rely on those two either. There was a nagging feeling that the situation would only grow more complicated.
“Camilla!”
“…?”
“Are you going to Sky Orphanage?”
“What about it?”
“I’ve actually been to Sky Orphanage before.”
Lania interjected into the conversation.
“I’m even close with the director there!”
“Really?”
“Would you like me to accompany you?”
…What is this now?
‘Does she actually know the place?’
Camilla stared at her in silence for a moment.
“I’d appreciate that.”
Well, it would certainly be better to bring someone with connections.
Chapter. Finding the Child
[How did it go?]
“You’re back again?”
As the Water Ghost Bes slipped through the window, Camilla made no effort to hide her displeasure.
“I told you I’d come find you once the investigation was complete.”
[I was just too curious….]
“Water Ghosts should stay in the water. Why do you keep wandering around outside?”
[It’s fine since it keeps raining.]
Well, I’m not fine with it.
The area around the Water Ghost was always humid. Feeling the moisture in my room rise naturally, I grumbled incessantly.
[So? What did you find out?]
“I found out who the couple that took the child was.”
[Really?]
The Sky Orphanage Director, who had firmly stated she could never reveal anything to Bes, immediately provided information about the child’s whereabouts the moment Camilla visited. She certainly knew how to navigate social situations.
[Where? Where is my child right now?]
Watching her rush for an answer, Camilla let out a short sigh. I hadn’t expected this result….
“They don’t exist.”
[They don’t exist? What do you mean?]
“No such people exist.”
[What…!]
Seeing Bes fail to comprehend my words, another sigh escaped from Camilla’s lips.
“They only existed on paper. They weren’t real people.”
Once Camilla learned their address and names, she immediately contacted several information brokers to find them.
But the result was completely unexpected.
Even though I had simultaneously commissioned several capable information brokers, the results were all the same.
When I expanded the search area, the answers that came back were no different.
[Not there?! Then who took my child?]
Watching Water Ghost Bes’s face grow increasingly pale, I exhaled a long, weary sigh.
I had thought it would be a simple matter—find one child and be done with it.
“I’m genuinely baffled too.”
The couple who had taken the child.
I couldn’t fathom who they were or why they would go so far as to fabricate false identities just to take the boy.
‘This doesn’t feel right.’
Though I desperately hoped my intuition was wrong, I couldn’t shake the creeping sense of unease that kept washing over me.
* * *
[Still no word?]
“We’ve expanded the search area as much as possible, so it will take considerable time.”
I had widened the geographical scope of the search. I had doubled the number of informants I’d hired. Yet there were still no significant results.
Creak!
“Camilla!”
The door suddenly burst open and Lania rushed into the room. Her expression was noticeably more animated than usual.
“What is it?”
“Is the child you’re looking for Dennis?”
At the name that suddenly tumbled out, I froze for a moment.
“How did you know that?”
Dennis is Water Ghost Bes’s son’s name. But it was a name I had never mentioned in front of Lania.
“The Director told me.”
“The Director?”
“The Sky Orphanage Director.”
“You went back to see her separately?”
“Yes.”
When I first visited Sky Orphanage, I had gone with Lania, but I hadn’t brought her along when I spoke with the Director. I had asked her to step away since it was a personal matter.
“I’m sorry. I was just so curious….”
Watching Lania bow her head in apology, I clicked my tongue softly to myself.
I hadn’t intended to hide anything about the child, but her habit of prying into my affairs still didn’t sit well with me.
“But is the child you’re looking for really Dennis?”
“Yes.”
“I know Dennis!”
“…What?”
“Dennis and I were close. We lived in the same neighborhood.”
Lania’s face brightened with a smile once more.
“I know his parents well too. I heard directly from them that they brought Dennis from Sky Orphanage.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
She wouldn’t deliberately tell such an easily verifiable lie. Did she truly know him? Could I trust her? Something still felt off….
“It’s not far from here.”
[Is it really true? We can actually find Dennis?]
There was no need to deliberate. It was something we could only know by going there ourselves.
“Are you free tomorrow?”
“Yes!”
“Then I’ll have to ask for your help.”
“Don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll find him! I’m so happy I can help you.”
Camilla watched Lania clapping her hands in joy for a moment, then exhaled a quiet sigh internally.
She found herself hoping that this matter would truly resolve so simply.
* * *
“That’s the house.”
The place I visited with Lania the next day was a small village situated in the Outer Capital Area. There were only a few houses, not particularly large, but they appeared quite neat and well-maintained.
“You lived around here?”
“Yes, that’s the house I lived in.”
Lania pointed to a house with a distinctly noticeable blue roof.
“It’s been such a long time since I’ve been back.”
“When was the last time you saw Dennis?”
“Hmm… I think it’s been about half a year.”
Half a year meant there was a considerable chance he still lived here. Would this really end with finding Dennis and a happy ending?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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