60 - Can I Cry Now?
Chapter 60
"Wow......"
Ibi couldn't close her mouth on the way to the central avenue of the capital.
Now, under the darkening sky, a glittering road full of light stretched out as if it would reach the end of the world.
Alongside it were shops displaying countless items in their windows, and countless people passed by, laughing as they walked the streets.
Ibi was mesmerized by the new world she was encountering.
“Ibi?”
“Yes, yes!”
Ibi, not knowing what to do and looking here and there, came to her senses at Professor Sian's voice from beside her.
“You need to focus and follow me.”
“Yes.”
Ibi answered energetically and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
Still, her eyes were busy scanning her surroundings.
‘It’s like Star World.’
Ibi recalled Elam's festival. The festival held in Elan City's central square was full of light until late at night.
Many people dressed up beautifully and laughed and played happily.
Looking at the square where people gathered from the Poorhouse on the hill, she thought it was the most complicated place in the world…
‘It was nothing compared to the capital.’
There were so many amazing and pretty things.
Accessories, clothes, and miscellaneous goods piled up beyond the shop windows.
Among them, the place that caught Ibi's attention was the candy store where children were gathered.
Cylindrical glass jars were filled with colorful candies.
The shapes were also diverse. Ordinary round candies, bent cane-shaped candies, round and flat candies stuck on wooden sticks…
Gulp.
Ibi swallowed, recalling the gifts she had received at the Poorhouse.
She loved the sweetness so much that she saved and cherished the three candies she had.
“Do you want to eat some?”
Clois, noticing that Ibi's gaze couldn't leave the candy store, lowered his head and asked.
At his words, Ibi jumped up and shook her head.
“No! I don’t like them!”
It was obvious to anyone that it was a lie.
If she didn't like them, she wouldn't have swallowed and stared so intently just now.
Clois smiled and headed to the candy store.
“I’m not eating any! Really!”
But Ibi, who seemed to be just declining, turned pale and urgently grabbed and pulled him.
“Ibi?”
“I, I really don’t like them! I don’t want to eat any!”
Ibi's face was full of fear.
‘Why?’
She clearly wanted to eat candy and looked at it. So, he thought that if he tried to buy it for her, she might decline a few times, but in the end, she would be happy.
But contrary to his expectations, Ibi really seemed determined to stop him from buying candy, pulling him in a different direction.
In the end, Clois had to turn away without entering the candy store.
\ \ *
Ibi, holding onto the hem of his clothes, desperately turned her gaze away from the store.
‘I can’t look at it for too long.’
Then she will surely be scolded. Just like before.
Even in Elam, a small city, there was a candy store. So, children were always gathered in front of it.
The children of the Poorhouse were the same.
After helping with the field work and having nothing else to do, they would run to the village and stand in front of it, drooling.
Then one day, she met a noblewoman who occasionally visited the Poorhouse to make donations.
She was pleased that Ibi was smart and smiled kindly, saying, “You can work as a maid in my house later.”
Because she was so kind to her, Ibi bowed politely.
“Oh, you are……”
“Madam, do you know this child?”
“Yes, she is a child from a place I am sponsoring.”
Then she talked about something with her friends. In the meantime, Ibi looked at the candy again.
“Oh my, were you looking because you wanted to eat candy?”
“It’s pitiful.”
At the noblewomen's words, the person who was sponsoring them smiled for a moment, then went inside, bought an armful of candy, and handed it to Ibi.
“Take it and eat it.”
“T, thank you!”
Surprised, she thanked her several times and ran back to the Poorhouse with it.
Then she bragged to the Headmaster that she had received something like this. She thought the Headmaster would be happy too.
“Oh dear, this is troublesome.”
Contrary to her expectations that the Headmaster would be happy, she clicked her tongue and told Ibi to just say hello and come back next time.
Then, a few days later, when she was standing in front of the candy store again, she met her again as she was passing by.
It wasn't intentional.
Elam is a small city, and the front of the candy store is the busiest street where people frequent the most.
Most of the wealthy people in Elam used to pass by that road.
And once again, a situation similar to the last time was repeated.
That evening, the noblewoman who had bought her candy visited the Poorhouse.
“I thought she was cute because she was young and clever, but she’s very cunning! Isn’t the reason why she greets me in front of the store and glances at the store obvious! Does this Poorhouse teach children how to beg?”
The noblewoman pointed her finger at the Headmaster and scolded her for a long time before returning.
Ibi, who had been secretly watching the whole scene, guessed what had happened.
‘I never asked her to buy it.’
She wanted to eat it.
But if she had known she would be accused of begging, she would never have looked at it in front of her.
When Professor Sian said he would buy her candy now, Ibi recalled those memories and shame.
If she keeps looking at it, the professor will have no choice but to buy it. And then, if he thinks that he had no choice but to buy it because she was pretending to be pitiful…
‘He will hate me.’
Like that noblewoman who looked at her with contempt and never came again.
So, Ibi quickly turned her gaze away from anything she was looking at.
As if she wasn't interested. As if she had never wanted this.
The problem was that there weren't many eye-catching stores in Elam. But the capital was different.
No matter how hard she tried, new and amazing things appeared like magic with every step she took.
Clois felt puzzled as he watched Ibi constantly stopping.
Whenever there was an interesting object or something that looked delicious, she would stop.
But if he tried to say even a word, she would be horrified and drag him somewhere else.
“Um, what are they doing over there?”
“Ah. If you pull the string and the tied stone is pulled up, you will receive the item written there as a gift. Do you want to try……”
“No!”
Even as she said that, she couldn't take her eyes off the sight of other children pulling stones and receiving wooden dolls.
Now Clois was sure.
‘She wants to do it, but she’s holding back.’
In that case…….
He took out a coin from his pocket and handed it to the store owner.
“I’m not going to do it……”
“Ibi, I’m doing it because I want to.”
At those words, Ibi couldn't say anything. He said he wanted to do it, so there was nothing she could say.
Clois picked a few at random. As with these street games, they were all duds.
Now, with one chance left, he focused and said to Ibi, who was watching him.
“I don’t seem to be lucky. Would you like to pick one?”
“Me……?”
“Yes. It’s the last one anyway, so give it a try.”
With those words, Clois handed the bundle of strings to Ibi.
In fact, while watching him do it, Ibi had been clenching her hands tightly as if she were picking it herself.
At the same time, she thought she wanted to try it herself…….
‘This should be okay, right?’
As Ibi hesitated and fidgeted with her hands, Clois smiled and gently urged her.
“Hurry. The next person has to do it too.”
“Yes, yes!”
Ibi looked at the bundle of strings in her hand and chose one with a more serious face than ever before.
“Please……”
Clois couldn't help but smile at the sight of her pretending not to be interested, but closing her eyes tightly and praying before checking the results.
Was her prayer answered?
“Congratulations, little lady! You’ve won!”
The store owner showed Ibi the yellow stone that had come up at the end of the string she had pulled, then took a squirrel doll from the wooden dolls placed on the store wall and handed it to Ibi.
“Oh, this……”
Ibi, as if unable to believe the doll she had picked, handed it to Clois.
“You picked it, so you should have it.”
“But!”
“The one I wanted was the biggest doll over there.”
Clois answered that way and pointed to the human-shaped wooden doll that could only be obtained by picking a golden stone.
“I don’t really want anything else. If you don’t want it, should I just return it to the store owner?”
At those words, Ibi made a crying face and shook her head.
It was the first time she had played such a game. Of course, it was the first prize she had ever won.
If she could have it, she really wanted to take it.
Clois turned around, watching Ibi hug the wooden doll tightly in her arms.
“Shall we go somewhere else then?”
The event had just begun. There was still so much to show.
For some reason, he was excited, and he strode forward.
At that moment, a group of people rushed past him.
When the group, shouting and laughing loudly, had passed by.
“……!”
Ibi, who had been following right behind him, was nowhere to be seen.
