How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter

* * *

Someone leaned over a boy. Ko opened his eyes widely.

‘No, don’t. I hate it. Don’t take Kiki away!’

“Please save me, please save me!”

Ko opened his eyes, realizing it was a nightmare, and sighed.

He looked around. A soft bed unfamiliar to his body, a room with velvet-like wallpaper. In the dim room, the boy huddled.

Click. He anxiously bit his thumbnail, like someone being chased.

* * *

“Ko still has nightmares?”

“Yes. He keeps screaming for help in the early mornings.”

Zion conveyed the testimony of the servants staying near Ko’s room.

“Hmm…”

I rested my chin on my hand.

‘What on earth has Ko experienced?’

Being almost executed by the villagers might be traumatic enough.

But why do I feel that’s not the entire story?

“By the way, didn’t you say you’d take Ko for a picnic in the forest today?”

“Yes, if the kid’s condition is alright.”

“Take the servants with you.”

“Okay, got it.”

I nodded at Zion’s words.

‘In the end, we couldn’t find out about Nigel’s whereabouts.’

It was only confirmed through the gatekeepers that Nigel passed through the gate.

‘It feels uneasy.’

I had a bad premonition. I felt I should investigate more. I asked Kien to investigate Nigel.

‘By the way, as expected, people still dislike Ko.’

I admit the kid is suspicious. However, while Collen and Jade don’t care, the mansion’s residents overly dislike Ko.

As if he’s a walking pathogen? Perhaps fearing those who’ve faced calamity is a limitation of the people in this world.

That afternoon, I took Ko for a walk and picnic in the forest behind the Duke’s residence.

“How do you feel, Ko?”

“I’m good, angel.”

Ko replied expressionlessly.

‘Such a cat-like child.’

Dark shiny indigo eyes as well.

I was sitting under a tree planted in the middle of an open space in the Duke’s forest.

A place where I often come to have tea with Collen and Jade. I was scanning the documents I received from the information guild yesterday.

‘He refused to learn to read or work.’

Zion told Ko to choose one, but he declined both.

‘Given what he went through, it’s understandable if he’s depressed.’

Ko does nothing. He simply stays quietly by my side wherever I take him.

I wasn’t pressing Ko. For now, recovering mentally is important.

“Angel…”

Ko began.

“Yes?”

“Why do you believe everything I say? Everyone in this house, except you, dislikes me.”

I tilted my head.

“I’m kind because I can afford to be, and there’s something I gain from you. As for trusting… I don’t, do I?”

“Huh?”

Ko reacted strongly for the first time.

It was a bit awkward. The document I’m currently reading is actually an investigation about Ko.