ALL NOVEL chapter 37
Mr. Long Legs (1)
A peaceful and quiet orphanage.
“Die, cursed witch!”
“Die! Die!”
Six children surrounded the girl, who sat crouched under a tree.
“Die, witch!”
A boy picked up a stone from the ground and fiercely threw it towards the girl.
The stone, flying quickly, seemed as if it would hit the girl’s head and make her bleed.
Snap.
A hand emerged from the girl’s shadow and caught the stone.
Crack.
The hand that caught the stone began to rise gradually.
The villain, comprised of a pitch-black shadow larger than an adult male, revealed itself completely.
“Heh, heh hek, demon!”
“T-the witch has summoned a demon!”
“Run away!”
The children who saw the shadow screamed and fled down the hallway.
“…I hate it.”
Ugh…
The shadow villain, who had broken the girl’s neck once, entered her shadow once again.
“Now, even if I say… I hate it!”
The girl wrapped her head again, clutching her body and crouching down.
Squeak…
Late at night when everyone was asleep.
The girl silently walked through the building, trying to make as little noise as possible.
“Are you really okay?”
As she walked through the dark hallway, she heard the voice of the orphanage director.
“That child is truly cursed.”
‘My story…!’
The girl approached the door stealthily.
Through the crack in the door, she saw the figure of a man wearing a monk’s robe, talking to the director inside the room.
“A cursed child… you say?”
“Yes…. You may not believe it, but an entire village was wiped out because of that child!”
“The village?”
“The tragedy of Heidel Village. Have you heard of it?”
“The story of the hometown where I was born….”
The girl, who had been listening to the conversation between the director and the man, bit her lip.
Despite her young age, the girl was quite beautiful.
Many of the sponsors who came to the orphanage would sponsor or adopt her based solely on her appearance.
But after hearing the director’s story, everyone who had come here to meet the girl gave up on her and left. They were afraid to even meet her in this place.
Some would approach her and then be carried away, horribly wounded, by the shadow, or they would run away.
“The man is probably the same.”
Of course, that’s only natural.
I am cursed, after all.
“But that’s not all. It’s not just one or two victims who have been harmed by that monstrous thing after approaching that child!”
“It’s all because of you!”
“If only something like you hadn’t been born as my daughter!”
“I’m sick and tired of it!”
The image of the girl’s parents and the people of the village came to her mind.
“I’m… I’m sick and tired of it too….”
The girl weakly dropped her head.
Once again, she’s being abandoned.
Here.
Just like this.
As the cursed one, I will be abandoned like this.
Is there any reason to live?
It would be better to just die…!
“It doesn’t matter.”
‘!!!!!’
The girl’s eyes widened at the man’s response from inside.
“…Pardon?”
“I said it doesn’t matter. So I want to start sponsoring that child.”
“Really? You might regret it!”
“hahahaha. Me? That won’t happen, so please handle it quickly.”
‘He…didn’t abandon me?’
A mysterious man who looks different from the other guests who have visited the orphanage until now.
The girl started to become somewhat interested in the man.
‘He might not be much different from those other men.’
* * *
The next morning
“Hello?”
A man approached the girl who was hiding in a corner of the orphanage, watching the flowers.
“Are you Alice?”
“……”
A man who spoke in a gentle tone, unlike the stern manner he used when talking to the director the day before.
The girl wondered if he was a different person from the man she had seen at night.
“Hmm…. Did a stranger suddenly come up to you and start talking? The man says he’s someone who lives in that city over there.”
The man pointed to the city in the distance.
“He runs a little shop there.”
“But…?”
“hahahaha. The man seems to like our Alice. He’s thinking of supporting her.”
“But he’s just after my body anyway.”
“All the male sponsors I’ve seen so far have been like that. They always looked at my body with strange eyes. They claim not to be interested in the body of a child who hasn’t even become an adult, but they always did. You’re probably the same.”
“…My body?”
The man scratched his head.
“Oh well. Looks like a lot of trash has come after all.”
Click.
The man placed his hand on Alice’s head.
“Don’t worry. The man has no interest in Alice’s body at all.”
Brush, brush.
And then he slowly began to stroke her head.
“The shadow didn’t react…!”
Alice’s curse, her shadow, moved on its own accord, contrary to her intentions.
Until now, her shadow had maliciously attacked any men who attempted to contact her.
Because of this, she thought that when this man reached out to touch her head, he would end up like the other men.
“…Does that mean you truly have no interest in my body?”
If her shadow made that judgment, it could be seen as him approaching with pure intentions.
“And this sensation…”
Alice gently closed her eyes and savored the touch of the man’s hand caressing her head.
“Not bad….”
For the girl who had been abandoned by her parents and longed for affectionate touches, it was a caress filled with an irreplaceable love.
* * *
“Ta-da! Mister is here! How have you been, our cutie?”
A man suddenly popped out from the bushes in front of Alice.
“Hmph. I knew it.”
“hahahaha. Did you know? Too bad. I wanted to see Alice’s surprised expression.”
“…There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed that you came to the orphanage.”
After meeting the man, Alice’s daily routine changed.
Instead of crouching in a corner and enduring the torment of the other orphans, she endlessly awaited the sight of men coming to the orphanage while perched on a tree.
Today, she discovered a man slowly walking towards the orphanage and became excited, but she immediately descended from the tree and sat below as if nothing had happened.
“Ta-da! Mister has prepared a gift for our cutie Alice!”
The man pulled out a large gift box from his pocket.
“A gift?”
“Heh. I bet Alice would be surprised if she received this.”
The girl received the gift box from the man.
“Open it.”
Rustle rustle
The girl slowly opened the box.
Inside the box were cute dolls, pretty ribbons, and headbands.
“I wanted to give you something that our cutie would like, but I wasn’t sure. So I just bought everything.”
Dolls… Ribbons… Headbands…
She wanted them all.
She had envied the other children in the orphanage who received gifts, but she couldn’t have any of those things.
Those things…
“…Thank you.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Thank you…you silly man.”
“hahahahaha. Our cutie saying thank you! I guess I’ll have to buy more gifts next time?”
The girl picked up the items from the gift box.
“I’ll treasure them.”
“hahahahaha. It makes me happy when our cutie likes them. hahahahaha.”
Rustle.
“Ta-da, our cutie pie!”
A man popped out of the bushes.
“…Huh?”
But he was bewildered by the absence of anyone in front of him.
“I was here, though?”
Behind him, a girl rushed forward.
“Whack!”
“I got caught!”
The man collapsed forward.
“…What are you doing?”
“Playing dead, mister?”
“hahahahaha. What’s that?”
The girl burst into laughter at the man’s questioning response.
“But seriously, scaring a man from behind!”
“Hmph. It’s the scared man’s fault, isn’t it?”
“Mister, I’ll get back at you with my special tickle revenge! Come here!”
The man, with his fingers twitching, ran towards the girl.
“Eek! Run away!”
The girl screamed and started running away.
The two boys laughed and ran for a while.
The child who missed her parents.
The child who longed for love more than anyone else, continued to open the door of her heart towards the man who kept approaching her.
“The man is okay.”
“The man…!”
Someday.
When the time comes.
She thought she would confess her feelings to him.
With a thud.
“Cute… cute…”
“No, no… no, mister!”
Until that day comes.