Having been accidentally punched in place of the other two children, Lopez flew through the air and sank into despair.
The timing is awful.
It was fortunate that she had taken the hit instead of the children, but this definitely hadn’t been part of her plan.
Seriously, why did I have to be standing right there?
Lying on the ground, Lopez looked up at the three children staring down at her with tearful eyes and let out a helpless sigh.
This is supposed to be a childcare novel, isn’t it? Why are the kids getting injured so often?
“Hey! Lopez!”
“Lopez...!”
Just then, Lopez spotted two people running toward her.
Driven solely by her determination not to be helped up, she sprang to her feet.
Klein and Chester, who had been rushing over, immediately froze in surprise.
Ah... standing up that suddenly makes me dizzy...
Her head was throbbing, and her cheek hurt terribly.
“Hic... L-Lopez...!”
Seeing Medina crying, Lopez ignored the pain and picked up the bat she had dropped earlier.
The moment Chester saw her staggering with the bat, he snatched it from her hands and shouted sharply,
“What are you doing?! That’s dangerous!”
“I already called Teacher Carrington!”
Ignoring Chester completely, Lopez yelled toward the masked man.
Although Chester had confiscated her bat, she still had one weapon left.
Thinking quickly, Lopez shoved Klein and Chester aside and charged forward.
Just as she expected, the kidnapper didn’t even bother moving.
Apparently, he considered a child’s body slam too insignificant to worry about.
And then Lopez sank her teeth into his leg with all her strength.
Crunch!
“AAAGH! You little brat!”
Lopez clenched her jaw so hard her face twisted.
I knew it would come to this.
She had expected Carrington to arrive late.
The man recovered quickly and tried to pry her off.
Before he could, Lopez viciously pinched the inside of his thigh.
“AAAAAH!”
She twisted hard enough to leave a bruise.
Finally, the man released Medina.
Still hanging from his leg, Lopez shouted at the children,
“What are you doing?! Take Medina and run!”
If they could just hold him off until Carrington arrived—
Lopez clung desperately to the man’s leg.
Klein bit his lip.
“How are we supposed to leave you behind?!”
“I just need to hold on until the teacher gets—!”
Before she could finish speaking, Chester suddenly grabbed her from behind.
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
Then he lifted her bodily into the air and started running.
Klein hesitated for only a moment before grabbing Medina’s arm.
“Medina, hurry!”
“Sniff... O-Okay!”
“You little pests! Stop right there!”
“Klein, Chester. Sorry, but can you call for Teacher Carrington a little louder?”
Because the teachers already disliked her enough as it was.
Seeing how pitiful that sounded, Klein shouted at the top of his lungs.
“TEACHER CARRINGTON!!”
“Klein?”
“We’re over here!”
Carrington immediately reacted to the voice and came running.
The kidnapper spotted what was clearly an adult guardian and instantly fled.
Carrington took off after him, while the four children hurried back toward the orphanage.
Lopez had remained quietly in Chester’s arms the entire way.
But just before they arrived, she finally spoke.
“...Wait, Chester. Hold on.”
Chester stopped and carefully set her down.
The moment he got a good look at her face, he visibly flinched.
“Lopez, you...”
Blood was running from her nose.
Startled, Chester quickly reached out and pinched her nose shut.
But Lopez pushed him away.
“I’m dizzy.”
Klein grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
“Hey. Lean on me.”
No, that wasn’t the problem right now, kids.
“Medina collapsed too.”
Medina had already slumped to the ground.
Lopez gestured insistently for them to take Medina back first.
“I can walk by myself.”
“I’ll support you.”
A voice suddenly spoke from beside her.
Arden had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and gently steadied her.
“Arden?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
Seeing Lopez covered in injuries, Arden muttered quietly,
“You told me not to hurt myself... so is it okay when other people hurt you?”
His voice sounded upset.
Biting his lip, Arden looked down at his own hands.
The ugly wounds were healing now.
Because of someone.
And yet that very person had returned to him battered and bruised.
“Of course not... I ended up like this trying to prevent that.”
Arden tightened his grip on Lopez’s hand.
His lips parted slightly.
Then closed again.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find words capable of expressing what he felt.
At that moment, Lopez carefully asked,
“Can I lean on you for a second?”
“Yes. I’ll get you back safely.”
The warmth of his body and the softness of his voice reached her.
Before Lopez even realized what was happening, she slumped completely against Arden and lost consciousness.
Arden gently lifted the unconscious girl into his arms.
Though painfully thin, he was much stronger than he looked.
Watching him carry Lopez, Klein and Chester stared with obvious irritation.
She wouldn’t lean on me...
Both boys felt strangely complicated emotions.
Even while supporting Medina, neither could stop thinking about Lopez.
She had suffered a nosebleed.
There was blood in her hair.
One of her cheeks had swollen dramatically.
Out of all four of them, she was unquestionably the most injured.
And somehow, she always seemed to get hurt because of things involving them.
That only made them worry more.
...Wait. Why do I keep worrying about her? I like Medina.
Both boys immediately rejected the thought.
Yet their eyes continued following Lopez.
Lopez’s long eyelashes trembled.
A moment later, her eyes slowly opened.
After blinking several times, she turned her head and found herself staring directly at Arden.
“Hi.”
“Yeah. Hi.”
Repeating her greeting, Arden carefully grabbed the sleeve of her shirt.
When Lopez tried to sit up, he immediately moved to support her.
Only after leaning against the headboard did Lopez notice all the children gathered around her bed.
Gale smiled awkwardly and offered an explanation she really didn’t need to make.
“I told them to go back, but none of them would listen.”
“Is Medina okay?”
Gale looked pleased.
Even in this condition, Lopez’s first concern was Medina.
“Medina’s fine. Other than being frightened, she wasn’t injured. Don’t worry.”
“Ah. Though my face feels kind of heavy.”
As Lopez reached up to touch her face, Klein and Chester immediately jumped to their feet.
“Don’t touch it!”
“The medicine’s still on there!”
Arden, who had been sitting quietly nearby, was abruptly shoved aside by the two boys.
His expression darkened.
“Then where’s Medina?”
“She’s in the bed next to yours. Sleeping.”
Ah.
Lopez immediately placed a finger over her lips.
“Shh.”
The gesture made the three children freeze.
For some reason, they found it unexpectedly cute.
Embarrassed, all three quickly looked away.
“I want a mirror.”
“...Wouldn’t it be better not to?”
Gale suggested carefully.
Lopez ignored him and held out both hands.
“Mirror.”
She was so stubborn that it looked as though she might climb out of bed herself if nobody complied.
“Hey! Why do you need a mirror?! You... y-you... y-you still look like a p-person! R-Right?”
Klein stammered so badly it was almost painful.
Chester hurriedly nodded in agreement.
Apparently, that meant she definitely did not look like a normal person.
“Now I really need to see.”
Faced with Lopez’s determination, Gale finally handed over a small hand mirror.
Reflected in the glass was a face with one cheek swollen so badly that it nearly buried one eye.
After studying herself for a moment, Lopez made a simple observation.
“I seem to have grown a second face.”
“Pffft!”
Gale and the three children doubled over trying not to laugh.
Meanwhile, Lopez remained completely focused on examining her injuries.
No wonder it had felt like such a hard hit.
There were bandages wrapped around her hand too.
“You must have landed badly when you were struck. Your hand is swollen as well. Don’t use it for a while.”
“...It’s my right hand.”
For a right-handed person, being told not to use their right hand sounded suspiciously similar to being told not to eat.
Seeing Lopez stare blankly into space, Gale gently reassured her.
“I’ll help you. Don’t worry.”
“What happened to the kidnapper?”
“Security around the orphanage is being strengthened.”
Gale chose his words carefully.
The kidnapper had not been caught.
However, the director already knew who the culprit was.
At that very moment, she was away meeting Baron and Baroness Phillips.
Still, there was no need to burden the children with all of those details.
