Chapter 17
#17
“Ricardo, it’s candy!”
Nicole, who always took care of Lara like an adult, pleaded with Ricardo, her face slightly excited.
“Wow, candy!”
Lara also looked at Ricardo, her eyes sparkling, following Nicole.
Not only Nicole and Lara, but the other children were also looking at Ricardo with longing expressions at the word candy.
“Okay, I’ll buy it for you.”
At Ricardo’s readily agreeing, the children cheered.
We all rushed over together, and I was pushed along to the front.
“It looks delicious!”
Nicole said, swallowing hard.
I glanced at the front of the stall, but I couldn’t understand what looked so delicious.
The shapes were rough, the colors looked crude, and it seemed like it would only taste overly sweet.
But the children seemed to like it, looking at the candy with excited faces.
“Have you chosen?”
“I want strawberry!”
Nicole chose a red lollipop the size of her fist, as if the answer had been decided from the start.
“I want this one.”
Another boy chose a lollipop shaped like a sword. The children each chose a candy, and the shop owner was busy calculating the prices of the candies the children had chosen, looking delighted.
“Lara, you should only choose one candy, right?”
When I looked at Lara at Ricardo’s words, the child was holding candies in her tiny hands.
“If you eat two of these, Lara, all your teeth might rot.”
“But I like both of them…”
Lara muttered with a sulky face.
Her already chubby cheeks became even chubbier when she sulked.
The sight was so cute that I almost blurted out, “I’ll buy you the whole store, not just two candies!”
But that wouldn’t be for Lara’s sake.
“Lara, life is a series of choices. You’re still young, but wouldn’t it be good to start learning how to make the best choice considering opportunity costs from now on?”
Lara stared blankly at me, her mouth slightly open, as if moved by my words.
“Young lady.”
“Speak.”
“You’re also good at foreign languages, Miss. Wow, amazing!”
Lara’s eyes were sparkling.
I had no idea what foreign language I had spoken.
“That was a bit of a difficult choice of words for a five-year-old, wasn’t it?”
Ricardo said quietly from the side.
“Is it?”
“Since she can’t even read yet?”
Indeed, reading was the problem. When I returned to the orphanage today, I would have to pressure the director to quickly find a tutor for the children.
“Are you going to choose one too?”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Ricardo said with a smile.
At his words, I looked at the candy on the stall.
He wanted me to eat this? This junk food? Me, the Marquess's Young lady of the Croford Family?
Usually, the desserts I ate were made by the Croford Family’s exclusive patissier, who possessed the best skills, or were high-end products bought from the most famous shops.
But he wanted me to eat something sold at a market stall?
I frowned slightly, as if asking if he was serious, and looked at him.
He simply shrugged his shoulders slightly, as if asking what was wrong with it.
“It’s delicious!”
“It’s sweet! Candy is the best!”
Just as I was about to politely decline Ricardo’s offer, praise poured from the mouths of the children who had already started eating the candy.
This… is delicious?
“Delishioush!”
Lara, with her mouth full of candy, mumbled.
I didn’t know what they had mixed in, but Lara’s lips were stained purple, even though she didn’t seem to have eaten it much.
To be honest, it was a bit bizarre.
“Ah, how about this one?”
Ricardo was about to reach out towards the stall.
“Thief!”
A sharp, tearful voice of a woman rang out.
At the sudden noise, everyone stirred and looked around.
The children also craned their necks towards the direction of the sound.
“Get out of the way!”
A man was running from over there, pushing through the people.
“Kya!”
“Nicole!”
The man pushed Nicole, who was standing in front, hard on the shoulder, and she almost fell onto the stall where the candy was placed.
If Ricardo hadn’t quickly caught Nicole, that is.
“Thief! Someone catch the thief!”
The voice of a pitiful woman was heard again from far away.
“Bianca, take care of the children!”
Ricardo, who had straightened Nicole up, shouted hastily and was pushing through the crowd.
“Ricardo!”
The moment he ran out to catch the thief, I realized.
That the owner of the voice that had asked to catch the thief was Maria.
That Ricardo would now catch that thief, and that he would finally meet Maria, his destined partner.
“W-wait!”
I had to stop him.
I had to prevent him from catching the thief.
I hurriedly followed after Ricardo, trying to somehow interfere with their first meeting.
“Waaah.”
“Lara!”
Lara suddenly fell forward, perhaps pushed by the movement of the people.
I quickly picked up the child and examined her, and thankfully, she didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.
“Are you okay?”
“Is there no blood?”
Lara asked, pouting her lips.
“It’s okay. There’s no blood.”
I reassured Lara with a smile.
“Nicole, take care of Lara.”
I quickly handed Lara over to Nicole and followed the direction Ricardo had gone with my eyes.
“Peter, stay with the children. Don’t go anywhere, stay here.”
I instructed Peter, who was the oldest among the children, and I jumped into the crowd.
I ran aimlessly towards the direction Ricardo had disappeared.
Bumping into people I didn’t even know, listening to them grumbling at me and even hearing them curse at me harshly.
“Haa… haa…”
When my rough breath reached my throat, I finally found Ricardo.
“I-I’ll give it back! I’ll give it back!”
He had knocked the pickpocket down to the ground and was twisting his arm behind his back.
The pickpocket was begging Ricardo repeatedly, seemingly in pain, with his face pressed against the ground.
I quickly looked around, but I couldn’t see the woman who seemed to be Maria yet.
That was a relief.
“Ricardo…”
I was going to quickly call him and disappear from here with Ricardo.
“You bad guy!”
But a woman popped out from behind me with a panting voice.
“That’s money for what!”
Red hair fluttered.
“It’s my mom’s hospital bill!”
Slightly tearful green eyes.
“Thank you so, so much.”
A woman smiling at Ricardo with a face full of relief and gratitude.
At a glance, I recognized her.
It was Maria.
The female protagonist of the book.
The woman who would fall in love with Ricardo.
“Is this yours, Miss?”
Ricardo said, holding up the pouch he had received back from the pickpocket.
“Yes, it’s mine. Thank you for finding it.”
Maria smiled brightly once again and held out her hand.
“Proof?”
I muttered quietly, looking at Ricardo.
It was a scene I had seen several times, and it was a short line.
I didn’t want to memorize it, but it was memorized on its own.
“Proof?”
Ricardo didn’t intend to return the pouch to Maria and stared at her intently, asking.
Just like in the book.
Now Maria would get angry.
“Excuse me? Are you saying that I’m lying that it’s mine when it’s not? I may live in poverty, but I’m not that kind of person!”
“I just want to know if this pouch is really yours. I caught the pickpocket with great effort, so I can’t give it to the wrong person.”
“…You’re right. If someone else pretended to be me and took this, I would be really angry. That’s really important money to me.”
“So, the proof?”
“My name is embroidered on the pouch. My mom embroidered it.”
“Is that so? Then what’s your name, Miss?”
“Maria. My name is Maria.”
“Maria…”
As if engraving the name in his head, Ricardo repeated her name.
I knew what would happen next.
Maria would ask Ricardo for his name. And she would say that she wanted to repay him for catching the pickpocket.
Ricardo would refuse at first, but eventually, he would give in to her persistence and go for juice together.
And he would gradually fall for Maria.
That’s how the two would fall in love with each other.
“Ricardo…”
There was nothing I could do.
I could only watch the future lovers staring intently at each other in front of so many people.
Even if I tried to interfere, would the people who were destined to meet eventually meet?
Was it all predetermined to be this way?
Then Ricardo, are you really going to fall in love with the woman standing in front of you now?
And in the end, are you going to stab your sword into my neck?
“What’s your name?”
“My name?”
“Yes. You’re no less than my savior, so I have to ask for your name.”
Maria smiled and asked Ricardo again, as if telling him to tell her quickly.
“My name is…”
It was the moment Ricardo was about to tell Maria his name.
His eyes met mine. In that instant, Ricardo’s eyes widened.
“Bianca?”
Looking at Ricardo’s expression, I finally realized.
That I was crying.
That I was crying while looking at the two of them.
That I was shedding tears in front of so many people without knowing shame.
I didn’t want to see it anymore.
Ricardo, Maria, and even myself.
“Bianca?”
Ricardo’s voice called me from behind, but I turned around.
And just like when I ran here, I started running, pushing through the people.
As always, like anything else, the first time was difficult. The second time was easy.
Pushing a few people, bumping into a few more, I ran.
I wanted to run away.
But could I really run away?
From the miserable fate of a villainess?
