Chapter 186
The general understanding is that children in orphanages receive no proper education and have little choice when it comes to finding work.
After being taken into the care of the Dragonrider Corps and sent to an orphanage, Isaac assumed that the orphanage where he would now live would be like that as well.
But the orphanage Isaac was brought to was far cleaner than he had imagined, and the children were given a proper education there.
"You were fortunate enough to be chosen."
That was the phrase the orphanage director always uttered before the breakfast prayer.
"Chosen" was certainly one way to put it. Many of the children gathered at this orphanage were blessed with relatively attractive features. Isaac was no exception. Although he had a scar above his right eye, his features had originally been quite fine. If he covered his right eye with his bangs, he was still reasonably good-looking. More importantly, his dark golden hair was one of the qualities that appealed to nobles.
In other words, the children here had been gathered with the expectation that nobles would take them in. That was why the adults at the orphanage pushed the children so desperately to study. Whenever they "shipped" off an outstanding child, the orphanage received a suitable sum of money.
Studying at the orphanage was grueling, and it was common for children who performed poorly to have their meals withheld or their hands struck with a whip.
But it was not as if the children at the orphanage had banded together in such an environment.
Rather, the children who believed they had been "chosen" were fiercely competitive, and it was not uncommon for them to try to bring down their rivals by tattling.
Isaac, whose grades were far and away the best, was especially likely to draw the attention of older children.
They openly bullied him, saying things like, "With that scar? There's no way a noble will choose someone like you."
Isaac had no interest in being taken in by a noble, so he ignored the voices around him and devoted himself silently to his studies.
It was not as if he wanted to attend a good school. Nor did he want to become a noble's adopted son.
He simply did not know what else to do after the day he lost his family.
So he stuffed his hollow heart full of knowledge. If he did not, he felt as though something inside his head might break.
＊ ＊ ＊
One day, Isaac was summoned to the director's office. But the director was nowhere to be seen. The only person there was an older man sitting on the sofa who looked every inch a noble.
The man glanced at Isaac and spoke.
"Come in."
Isaac thought the man had a voice accustomed to giving orders. Nobles tended to be like that, but this man seemed to be on an entirely different level.
"Let me see your face."
Finding it too bothersome to resist, Isaac swept back the bangs covering his right eye as he was told.
This visitor seemed to be interested in him. He had probably said he wanted to take in the orphanage's top student.
(...Even so, surely he'll hesitate once he sees this scar.)
But contrary to Isaac's expectations, the man did not so much as twitch an eyebrow upon seeing the ugly scar.
"A scar like that can be dealt with when your face is remade."
"...?"
"Similar hair color and bone structure will be sufficient. Your academic performance is more than satisfactory."
What on earth was this man talking about? All Isaac felt was an inexplicable sense of unease and revulsion.
The children at this orphanage seemed to believe that being taken in by a noble would make them happy, but Isaac knew that hardly any of them would truly find happiness.
To put it bluntly, very few people genuinely wanted a child. The others wanted a toy to vent their frustrations on or a plaything for the night. Isaac had even heard of a wife who had lost her child and gone mad being given one as a substitute doll.
But the man before him seemed different from all of those. If he had to choose, the last possibility seemed the closest.
This man wanted a child for some definite purpose.
When the man rang the bell, the orphanage director came rushing in at once.
"I'll take this child."
When the man said this and set down a bag filled with gold coins, the director's face lit up, and he bowed to the man.
"Thank you, Your Grace. Now, you thank him too, Isaac."
"...Your Grace?"
When Isaac looked suspiciously at the man who had still not introduced himself, the man quietly gave his name.
"Duke Clockford, Darius Nightray."
Even Isaac was rendered speechless by the name of a great noble known to everyone in the country, children included.
＊ ＊ ＊
Once it had been decided that Duke Clockford would take him in, Isaac was dressed in fine clothes that very day and placed in the duke's carriage. It was almost as if they did not want the other children to know that Isaac had been taken in by Duke Clockford.
Isaac had no one he would miss saying goodbye to in the first place, but he was furious at the adults for moving ahead with everything without considering his wishes.
The duke and Isaac were the only two people inside the carriage. There were far too few guards for someone of the duke's rank... In other words, he was that intent on keeping Isaac's existence hidden.
What was he being made to do? Why had he been taken in? As Isaac pondered those questions while carefully observing the duke, the duke suddenly spoke.
"You have the look of someone who understands that he is being assigned some sort of role."
He sounded almost as though he approved of Isaac for not simply rejoicing at being taken in.
"...What do you want me to do?"
"Stand in for my grandson."
"...Your grandson?"
When Duke Clockford mentioned his grandson, the first person who came to mind was Felix Arc Ridill, the second prince born to the duke's daughter, Princess Aileen.
The second prince was five years old that year, making him fairly close in age to Isaac, who had just turned seven. Isaac had also heard that the second prince was frail and was currently recuperating at his grandfather Duke Clockford's residence.
"...You want me to be Prince Felix's double? With this face?"
Isaac swept back the hair covering his right eye. He had been told that the scar running vertically above his right eye would never disappear. The wound had changed color and risen into a thick ridge; it was not something that could easily be concealed with makeup.
But Duke Clockford acted as though there were no problem at all.
"There is a method for remaking your face."
"...Remaking my face?"
Isaac was a doctor's son. That was why he knew that scars did not disappear easily, and he also understood how difficult it was to alter a human face. Making him look exactly like someone else was impossible with the techniques available at present.
But Duke Clockford's voice was filled with eerie confidence.
"In time, you will have to discard both your face and your name. Until then, serve as Felix's attendant and prepare to replace him."
The man told Isaac to throw away his face and name as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
But even more than that, Isaac felt disgust at the fact that the man referred to his own grandson as "that thing."
＊ ＊ ＊
Upon arriving at the duke's residence, the first person Duke Clockford introduced Isaac to was, as expected, the second prince, Felix.
The young prince, who had only just turned five, was as adorable as a doll, but he looked up at Duke Clockford with a timid, frightened expression.
"W-welcome home, Grandfather..."
Duke Clockford stared with emotionless eyes at his grandson, who fidgeted with his fingers as he spoke.
That was the look of an adult who had sized someone up and decided he was not worth expecting anything from. Isaac had seen adults with that look more times than he could bear during his year at the orphanage.
The thought that even the second prince of the kingdom, Duke Clockford's own grandson, was worthless in his eyes left Isaac with a vague chill.
"Starting today, this is Isaac, your attendant."
After saying only that, the duke slipped past Felix as if his business were finished.
"G-Grandfather, um..."
Felix hurriedly tried to follow his grandfather. But Duke Clockford turned a cold gaze on him.
"It is your duty as his master to teach your new attendant the rules of the household. Do I really have to tell you something so obvious?"
"I-I'm sowwy... Ah, no, I mean, I apowogize."
When the young prince stammered out his apology, Duke Clockford's expressionless face finally cracked for the first time.
Not by softening at the sight of his young grandson, but by knitting his brows in displeasure.
"How disgraceful. Are you even Aileen's child?"
Felix flinched as though he had been struck, then stood frozen in place.
In the meantime, Duke Clockford strode away at a brisk pace.
Though he was only five years old, Felix fought desperately not to cry as tears welled up in his beautiful pale-blue eyes.
To Isaac, Felix looked just like his younger brother Colin, who had died so young. Colin had been even smaller, but in terms of helplessness, this little prince was no different.
Isaac took a handkerchief from his pocket, rolled it up into the shape of a rabbit, and moved it in front of Felix.
"...A bunny."
Isaac raised the corner of his mouth just slightly, then made the handkerchief rabbit kiss the corners of Felix's eyes, as if wiping away the tears welling there.
"Have you stopped crying?"
"Ah... uhh..."
Felix fidgeted, his face turning bright red as though he were embarrassed that he had almost cried.
Isaac used the rabbit made from the handkerchief to wipe away the tears gathering at Felix's other eye as well.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to make? I can make a cat or a flower right away."
"...Can I make one too?"
If Colin had been alive, would he have been like this?
(Ah, that's right. I wanted to teach Colin... so many more things.)
For the first time since the day he lost his family, Isaac, who had been like an empty shell, found something he wanted to do.
──I want to make this young prince smile.
As Felix gazed up at him with sparkling pale-blue eyes, Isaac smiled for the first time in a long while—a genuine smile, not one he had put on.
"I'll teach you, Prince Felix."