On the second floor of the orphanage, in an old and holy corridor, a standoff happened.
Cyril stood in front of the wardrobe. Morpho, Tigris, and Atheris remained with him, all staring at a small crowd gathered opposite them.
A middle-aged woman with black hair and a wrinkled face stood there with crossed arms, angrily glaring at Cyril. Behind her were gathered all of the orphanage's children, cautiously peeking at him.
The small girl from earlier finally stopped crying, only quietly sobbing while clutching the hem of the woman's dress.
Cyril sighed internally, though his face remained as calm as usual. Even for him, making a child cry and ruining a birthday party seed like a shaful thing.
"We made two kids cry." Rhamn thrust a V-sign towards him, a warm and satisfied smile on her face.
"…"
"...Who are you?" the woman, whose na was presumably Jessica, said.
"My na is Cyril. I am a student from Ailanthus."
"Ailanthus..."
Jessica briefly scanned his uniform, sothing flashing in her eyes.
She slightly raised her head, her arms still crossed.
"You do realize what you just did? How could soone from a prestigious academy break into an orphanage and ruin a birthday celebration?"
"The door was open!"
He wasn't in a hurry to answer, and he didn't feel any pressure to do so. While the caretaker's front was brave, with 'don't ss with ' written all over it, so things she couldn't hide.
Her heartbeat rang with more nervousness than any of the children behind her, yet she still stood in front. Sothing in that beat just compelled Cyril to listen to it for a mont.
"Haha, listen to that fear! Isn't it aweso?! We can do as we please, woman!"
I can't do as I please.
No, it wasn't Rhamn's sadistic glee. She was on her own in this one.
"Oh."
Rhamn's voice finally broke him out of it. Cyril took a step back, his gaze looking at the caretaker much softer now.
"I've heard about this place from a classmate. So, I decided to visit," he said, making his voice as calming as he could.
Jessica's heart skipped a beat.
"Classmate? What's their na?"
"It's-"
Before Cyril could answer, soone hurriedly climbed the stairs, attracting his attention.
Jessica imdiately turned around, failing to hide her urgency.
"Mr. Alvin?" she yelled with hope.
But it was a boy of about twelve years old that climbed up. The kid shook his head, his gaze fearful as it went over Cyril.
Then, he pointed behind him, where another person soon showed themself.
"Anna!" Jessica exclaid, her face showing obvious relief.
It was a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with a familiar face. She clutched a bracelet on her right arm, a rarely seen frown on her face.
"What happened here?" she asked, walking closer to Jessica.
But as she peeked to see who they were surrounding, she froze, her eyes widening with surprise.
"Cyril?!"
He gave her a casual wave, feeling more and more awkward for so reason.
Seeing the lack of hostility in Anna's eyes as she gazed at Cyril, Jessica finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
With that, her heartbeat slowly settled down. A thing that Cyril bizarrely found disappointing.
I am not so maniac, am I...?
"Of course not!"
Before they could talk about the situation further, one of the kids, that twelve-year-old from the lobby, quickly hugged Anna, pointing at Cyril.
"Sister Anna! That guy told there are parasites in all of us. Is- is that true? Are we going to die?"
Then a girl ca out, tugging at Anna's sleeve. "He startled , and I dropped the birthday cake. It wasn't my fault! The birthday party is ruined because of him!"
"..."
Anna instinctively patted their backs, calming them down first. Then she slowly turned her head, looking at Cyril with a blank face.
Jessica crossed her arms again, staring at Cyril with hostility, though it at least lessened a little bit.
He felt slightly more perplexed.
...
"Woah! Look at that!"
The kids were gathered in the courtyard, surrounding a peculiar object.
From the grass, near the swings, suddenly grew a miniature castle, flags on top of it swaying despite the lack of wind.
One of the kids reached out with their hands, touching it. The mont they did, the castle turned wavy and transparent.
"Cool!"
The orphanage's kids gawked at the display of low-level illusion magic, no traces of fear on their faces.
Cyril leaned on the courtyard's walls, carefully keeping the illusion.
Earlier, with Anna's help, he had solved the small misunderstanding. They blad everything on his heightened vigilance, a result of having been at the zoo during the recent incident.
Anna was only too eager to help him, playing along without any problems. She said she was the one who invited him, further easing Jessica's worries.
He was quite surprised by how easily she managed to solve the situation.
She was the one to think up the excuse, explaining it in such a way he himself almost believed it.
But still, since he ruined the situation, he'll be the one to solve it.
Conveniently, there was a servant of his nearby, so Cyril ordered Alan to get a new cake for the party, while he would try to make up for the mistake with a magic show.
"Now this birthday has its very own clown... I don't want that!"
Quiet.
The rest of his party did their part as well. Tigris was lying limp surrounded by a group of children, enduring their eager hands while receiving a snack from them.
Morpho agilely flew through the air, chased by a few excited kids. They would try to grab her, but she would dodge at the last second and even taunt them afterwards.
Strangely, no one wanted to play with Atheris, so the snake was still happily fulfilling her role as a scarf around Cyril's neck.
Jessica wasn't seen in the courtyard. She was busy receiving so guests for the birthday party.
But Alvin stood in one of the corners, giving a lecture to a few kids willing to listen.
The healer only glanced at Cyril once, frowned at his illusion magic, and then no longer paid him any attention.
As Cyril was observing the laughing children while simultaneously paying attention to the spell, soone walked up to him, their heartbeat racing a little.
"Hey, Cyril," Anna whispered, looking at the ground. "What are you actually doing here?"
Perhaps because of Atheris, or because of himself, but no kids were nearby to listen in, allowing them so privacy.
Cyril briefly contemplated honestly saying he thought the orphanage might be a front for so illegal activity but then reconsidered.
"I was curious."
Anna's heartbeat increased further as she remained silent. Quietly, she gulped, staring fixedly at the ground.
Sothing about it gave him a bad feeling, so he quickly added. "-about the church. I've heard they visit today?"
Anna finally looked at him, just a sliver of disappointnt showing through her eyes.
"Of course not curious about you, you delusional scheming madwoman!"
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