Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 6

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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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Chapter 6
As I silently repeated the Old Gentleman’s name in my mind, he asked another question.
“Do you have parents?”
“No.”
“A guardian?”
“My Uncle raised me, but two years ago he abandoned me in the Monster Forest and left. That’s when I became an orphan.”
I chewed my food thoughtfully while answering his question earnestly.
When I glanced at the Old Gentleman’s expression, his eyes blazed like flames as he struggled to contain his anger.
“Then in the Monster Forest…”
“How did you escape?”
“Yes.”
“At first, I ran through the Monster Forest desperately, begging someone—anyone—to save me.”
I begged and begged.
But hope shattered quickly, and terrible agony consumed my fragile body. And it happened again and again.
“Later, I found myself begging for someone to kill me painlessly.”
Dying once was already unbearable, yet I kept coming back to life no matter how many times I died.
Now that I could utilize my ability, I considered it a cheat power.
But back then, this ability was a terrible curse.
“Still, I awakened my power and managed to survive somehow.”
Though “forced to come back to life” would be the more accurate way to describe it.
The Old Gentleman lowered his gaze, finding it difficult to meet my eyes.
That was a good sign.
I needed to look as pitiful as possible so he wouldn’t turn me away from his home.
Despite his appearance, the Old Gentleman was a compassionate and tender-hearted person, so he wouldn’t cast me out.
He opened his eyes quietly and spoke with care.
“If you don’t mind, could you tell me what ability you awakened?”
“Foresight.”
“I see.”
“Hmm? That’s quite a valuable ability, yet you don’t seem very surprised?”
“I was sufficiently surprised.”
Well, his expression showed no surprise whatsoever.
I was about to say something, but remembering how taciturn he usually was, I simply shrugged lightly.
“Have you satisfied all your curiosity then?”
“Where are you staying now?”
“Nowhere. I used to live in a small village, but I thought I’d starve if I stayed there any longer, so I followed the Trading Caravan and only just arrived in the Capital today.”
“Was there no one in that village to help you?”
“It was a poor Remote Village. A child like me was useless as labor anyway…”
The Old Gentleman’s expression turned savage, as though he might tear someone apart at any moment.
So this was the expression he wore when hearing about my past.
“One last question, if you’ll indulge me.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
His face twisted into an enigmatic expression, as though he were contemplating something.
“Tania, did you perhaps know of me and come seeking me out?”
Thump.
My heart sank.
The unexpected question nearly caused my composure to crumble in that instant.
Had my longing inadvertently surfaced in the way I gazed at the Old Gentleman?
As I fumbled for words, uncertain how to respond, he added quietly.
“I was simply curious why you came to this house among so many others.”
Ah, so that was it.
It was reasonable for him to find my sudden arrival suspicious.
The Old Gentleman had always seemed to be fleeing from someone, even in the distant past I remembered.
Even as a child, I had possessed sufficient reason to be wary and doubtful of him.
In truth, the Old Gentleman from my previous timeline had not passed away from accident or illness—he had been murdered at someone’s behest.
It seemed he had been killed by whoever had been pursuing him all along.
In my previous life, I had failed to apprehend that person.
But in this lifetime, I would absolutely find and eliminate the mastermind who brought about the Old Gentleman’s fate.
I answered with deliberate composure, hoping to appear natural.
“I’ve lost count of how many houses I’ve tried.”
“What do you mean….”
“I’ve been knocking on doors hoping to get something to eat. You were the first to offer me food.”
“I see….”
The Old Gentleman exhaled a small sigh with an unreadable expression, then spoke matter-of-factly.
“Do you have a place to stay?”
“Not at the moment. That’s why I’m planning to take the entrance examination for the Papiope Ducal Family’s Talent Cultivation Institute soon.”
The Talent Cultivation Institute.
It was an institution established by the Papiope Ducal Family, a place dedicated to nurturing talented individuals.
The Talent Cultivation Institute, which only accepted children aged seven to fifteen, provided room and board as well as quality education upon passing the entrance examination.
However, the problem was that children dreaming of social advancement flocked there, making admission extraordinarily difficult.
Upon hearing my plan, the Old Gentleman closed his eyes quietly, then opened them.
“If you have nowhere to stay at present, remain here.”
I had anticipated that the kind-hearted Old Gentleman would say such a thing, but hearing it directly brought an involuntary smile of joy to my face.
“Really? Thank you so much!”
As he watched me bow my head respectfully, he frowned with apparent displeasure.
“…I’ll have to teach you to be more cautious of others first. And put some weight on you.”

✦ ✦ ✦
Late dawn.
Aiden stood before the bed I had given him, watching Tania sleep soundly.
The journey here had exhausted her so thoroughly that she slept with the depth of someone who wouldn’t wake even if carried away.
Something churned within him as he gazed at her for a long while, his eyes bloodshot and fevered.
“I’m sorry.”
Then, at some moment, his pallid face contorted as he whispered each word like a lament.
“Dad… I’m truly sorry for leaving you alone.”
Terrible regret crashed over him like a colossal wave.
From the moment he first held Tania in his arms, to her first steps, to the day she first called him Dad—
Every memory was vivid.
So when he saw Tania’s face as she arrived at his home, he could not help but know.
There was no way he could not know.
Those lovely rose-gold locks, those amber eyes identical to his own.
The daughter he had yearned for every single day, even in his dreams.
He finally collapsed to his knees before the bed.
With trembling hands, he carefully caressed Tania’s gaunt cheek.
“My one and only daughter, Tania.”
As Aiden spoke these words, his expression was wracked with terrible anguish.

✦ ✦ ✦
The next day.
I awoke to the warmth of morning sunlight streaming across my eyelids.
As I rubbed my weary eyes and stepped from the room, I caught sight of the Old Gentleman’s back as he prepared breakfast.
The sight of him stirred an unbidden smile.
“Good morning, Old Gentleman.”
At my cheerful greeting, the Old Gentleman turned from his cooking. He narrowed his brow as if something displeased him.
“You don’t sleep much for a child.”
“I’m not much of a sleeper. So when will you return my morning greeting?”
“…Good morning.”
Just as the cooking was finishing, he plated the golden-brown food and set it on the table.
“Eat.”
“Thank you! Please sit and eat with me, Old Gentleman.”
“I’m fine…”
“Come on!”
As I giggled and tugged his sleeve, he sat across from me with a resigned expression.
When he merely stared blankly, I speared a sausage with my fork and offered it to him.
He hesitated with a bewildered look before finally accepting the fork.
As I watched him with delight, a question I hadn’t managed to ask yesterday suddenly came to mind.
“Um, there’s something I’m curious about.”
“What?”
“Don’t you covet my ability, Old Gentleman?”
At that, the Old Gentleman’s expression darkened somewhat.
“Do I look so desperate for money that I’d need help from a snotty child?”
“No, I’m just curious. Other adults coveted my ability quite intensely.”
“You….”
He regarded me with a complex expression before finally parting his lips.
“Doesn’t it terrify you, being an Abiliter?”
Trading in Abiters was quite common in the underworld.
So an orphan like me—a powerless child—became an easy target for crime.
The Old Gentleman must have been asking about that indirectly.
It was the first time.
In my previous timeline and in this one.
Someone had worried about what would happen because of my ability first.
Everyone else had wanted to use me, envied me, resented me….
“I’m grateful to be an Abiliter. I’ve never met my parents, but I’m thankful they passed down this ability to me.”
Without it, I would never have seen the Old Gentleman again.
“…I see.”
The Old Gentleman wore a complicated expression as if deep in thought, then sighed and opened his mouth.
“Once you finish breakfast, we’ll go buy you clothes.”
“You’re buying me clothes too?”
“What, did you plan to keep wearing those rags?”
His words sounded harsh, but they meant he cared for me that much.
A soft laugh escaped me.
He had never been good with pretty words, then or now.

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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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