Chapter 413: ‘Necessary’ Sacrifices
Of course, when these older boys and girls saw that Eris, Toby, and Mabel had come over, they too ran over and greeted them enthusiastically.
It didn’t matter to them that these three were nobles from the most powerful family in Misty City, they were, first-and-foremost, friends and benefactors, so none of children felt any kind of reservation around them.
Again, some of the braver boys tried to strike up conversations with Eris, hoping to impress her with stories about ’adventures’ they had been on recently, or breakthroughs in their cultivation they had made.
The older girls all rolled their eyes at these pointless attempts to show-off before snatching Eris away to discuss more important things, like what was popular among the noble girls nowadays and how the love triangle between her, Christina, and Lucas was going.
Of course, Eris denied the latter charge vehemently, but from the knowing expressions on all the girls’ faces, she could tell they didn’t believe her.
Desperate to avoid any more awkwardness, Eris dashed off to the kitchen and offered to help them with preparing dinner.
However, knowing how ’skilled’ she was at cooking, the 5 staff who were in charge of dinner tonight simply thanked Eris for her offer, and for the large chunk of meat she had brought, while ’politely’ refusing, insisting that a young noble daughter not trouble herself with such menial work.
"That’s not what you all say when Tina volunteers to help..." Eris grumbled under her breath, well aware of what was going on. In the end, though, she didn’t insist, knowing her own limitations.
With her escape route cut off, Eris prepared to face the interrogation of the older girls again, but to her pleasant surprise, after a long hard day of either working or playing, most of the children had crowded around the bathroom for their evening wash.
A few of the older kids had taken the wagon and barrels to fetch more water, but the others were all now busy cleaning themselves up.
Eris thought about chasing after the water-fetching crew, but she quickly recalled that her Senior Brother’s ’Urban Development Team’ had recently installed handpumps in all the wells in the southern district, making it much faster and easier to draw water.
With nothing else to do, Eris made her way to the main hall to wait. She planned on sharing her evening meal with the orphans tonight before passing out the cookies, but sitting there in a quiet room, her mind couldn’t help drifting back to earlier today.
She certainly had a lot of fun over the past few hours, but Eris hadn’t forgotten about that strange man from earlier, or about how uncomfortable he made her feel.
"Young Lady Eris?" A voice suddenly called out.
Startled out of her thoughts, Eris turned to see Director Tilly approaching her freshly washed clothes from earlier.
Standing up, Eris accepted the shirt, pants, and cloak while thanking the older woman before asking the question that had been lingering in the back of her mind since she arrived a few hours ago, "Aunty Tilly, who was that man who was visiting the orphanage?"
Caught off-guard, Director Tilly’s face soured for a moment before she quickly composed herself.
The bitter look had been on her face for less than a second, but Eris’ senses were unnaturally sharp, so she didn’t miss it.
Something was clearly wrong, and since it concerned people she considered her friends, Eris wasn’t about to just let the matter drop, so she pressed a bit harder, "Aunty Tilly, if there’s a problem, you can tell me. I may not be as smart as Lucas, or as strong as Tina, but I can still be of help."
While cursing herself for being unable to remain composed in front of a young child, Tilly now found herself facing a dilemma.
Currently, there were a great many thoughts swirling around her head, and none of them was very pleasant.
Glancing over and seeing the genuine curiosity and concern on Eris’ face, Director Tilly was tempted to try to brush the matter aside and pretend it was nothing important; however, over the past few months, she had learned just how stubborn all the Marquess’ Disciples could be.
If she didn’t provide Eris with a satisfactory answer here, the young girl would surely dig into it herself.
Now, the other staff in the orphanage wouldn’t go blabbering about the situation, and as far as she knew, none of the children were aware of the circumstances yet, but Tilly wasn’t going to bet against Eris being able to figure things out on her own.
Even if Eris couldn’t uncover the truth, the middle-aged woman was absolutely certain Lucas would be able to. That boy was far, far too sharp and intelligent for his own good, and his ability to gather information, analyse it, and draw accurate conclusions was absolutely terrifying.
Since things were more than likely to come out in the end anyways, Tilly ultimately felt it would probably be for the best if she just confessed.
What’s more, unlike a curious local from the neighbourhood, a friendly small-time merchant they bought supplies from, or even a low-level official from the city, Eris might really be able to help.
Not personally, of course, but in Misty City, there really were very few problems that couldn’t be solved by invoking the Balfour Family’s name.
Still, realizing that she, a 55-year-old Third Step Core Formation Realm Practitioner had to resort to asking a 13-year-old Body Tempering girl who was missing her right arm for help made Tilly feel incredibly embarrassed. Doubly so when she thought about just how much Eris had already done for the orphanage.
In the end, however, the situation had grown beyond her control, and now that Eris had latched onto the fact that something was afoul, Tilly had little choice but to swallow her pride and seek her assistance.
Motioning for Eris to sit down, the middle-aged orphanage Director sat across from her, lowered her voice, and asked, "Young Lady Eris, I’m sure you’re aware of how... difficult it is to operate a place like this, yes?"
"En," Eris nodded, a rare seriousness filling her face. Over the past few months, Eris had seen first hand the kind of struggles the poor orphanages of Misty City went through.
"Then," Tilly took a deep breath, "you must also understand that in order to support the majority of the children, sometimes some... sacrifices have to be made."