MTO C49

Chapter 49

The promised day with the Headmaster had arrived.

Heart emerged from the storeroom at last. Outside, in the front yard, the entire orphanage had gathered. Children clung to the Headmaster’s legs, smothering him with nauseating affection.

“Headmaster, you must win!”

“You have to look carefully, don’t miss any on the ground!”

“Trust me,” the Headmaster said with a pasted smile, patting their heads one by one. “I’ll bring back a whole basket so you’ll all eat well!”

Heart glared coldly. But when Leon draped his own red birthday cloak around the Headmaster’s shoulders, Heart turned his face away altogether.

Since the day the thugs came, Leon had stopped following him, choosing instead to trot after that man. He had forgotten how Heart once shielded him from the whip, taking lashes in his place.

Traitors. All of them. Nothing but traitors.

Heart bit down until the taste of iron filled his mouth.

“Heart, you came!” The Headmaster spotted him, calling brightly. Heart answered with a snort, ignoring him. But the man stepped closer, holding out two wide baskets.

“We’ll each use one of these. At the end, we’ll count them in front of everyone. Fair and square, right?”

Heart nodded carelessly. What did counting matter? His victory was assured.

“Only the two of us will enter the forest,” he said bluntly.

“Of course.”

“And leave that man behind.” He jerked his chin toward Sir David.

The knight’s lips narrowed. But the Headmaster nodded.

“You heard him, David.”

The knight sighed with visible reluctance. “Then at least—be cautious.”

Heart felt lighter. If only the two of them went together, he could not possibly lose.

The Headmaster led him to a mark scratched into the dirt.

“The start line. Agreed?”

“Fine.”

Heart sneered inwardly. Why go to all this fuss? No amount of preparation would change the outcome.

“Headmaster, do your best!”

“Bring back loads for us!”

The children’s cheers stabbed Heart’s ears, and he longed to vanish into the trees where their shouting couldn’t reach. Soon he’d return with so many berries their jaws would fall open.

“Heart.”

He crouched, ready to sprint. Annoyed, he turned his head.

“Today I’ll win,” the Headmaster told him gravely. “And tonight, you and I will cut the cake together.”

His voice wavered, fists clenched too tight, betraying nerves.

And strangely… seeing him anxious made Heart’s own pulse hammer.

“Let’s do our best.”

The man thrust his fist out, waiting. Heart frowned. Some kind of threat? With no idea how to respond, he turned his head away.

“Begin!” rang Sister Barbara’s voice.

Heart sprang forward like a deer, racing into the shadowed forest.

The jwi‑myeoneuri fruit grew on low shrubs. He darted to a hidden grove he knew well, scouring near trunks. Of course—not a single berry.

With a sharp stone, he scraped the frozen earth. Sometimes the fallen fruit remained buried under soil. Hands had to work gently lest the shells crack. He dug furiously.

A sound nagged at him.

“Wow, found—oh. Just a rock.”

He snapped his head up. The Headmaster crouched nearby, digging into dirt as well.

When did he get here?

He wasn’t the only one who knew this grove. Long ago, all the children had searched together. And lately, hadn’t Oliver been trailing out to the woods? Clearly that tattletale had told him.

Heart’s lip curled. He dusted his hands, snatched up his basket, and left. No point scratching here; maybe ten berries at best. He knew better patches deeper in. Let the man waste himself.

Slipping away, confidence rose—until the prickling of eyes fell on his back.

“Even in winter… little birds remain. Hello there, what’s your name?”

The Headmaster was only ten paces away, looking up and chattering at the sky as though to a bird. He looked mad, talking to nothing.

What…? How did he follow so quickly?

With a scowl, Heart pressed on. After a distance, he peeked back.

Still there. Still a few steps behind.

“Oh jwi‑myeoneuri~ where will you be~”

He sang nonsense, peering side to side, stealing quick glances toward Heart and then blowing his tune louder whenever their eyes met.

“…Why are you following me?”

“What? Following? No, no, just coincidentally the same path.” His eyes went wide in mock innocence, bald as a lie.

Perhaps little Leon would be fooled. But Heart was eleven today.

He suddenly bolted. Footsteps hurried behind.

“See! You are following!”

The man looked away, face guilty.

“Well, in the place I come from, there’s a saying—know your foe to win a hundred battles. To win, must study the enemy—”

He babbled excuses. Heart seethed, frantically searching ways to shake him before he discovered the secret place.

But then—growl!

His belly betrayed him loudly.

Both froze.

“…Hungry?” the man asked.

“Not me.”

Growl! Louder, crueler.

Heart flushed to his hair. He cursed his useless body. Just one missed meal…! The man would cancel the game if he guessed.

“Here.”

Instead of scolding, the Headmaster loosened a pouch from his belt, opening it. Inside—pale walnut kernels.

“My hidden weapon, but this is an emergency.” He popped some into his mouth, chewing happily, then offered the pouch.

The scent of warm nuts hit. His mouth flooded. Heart’s hand trembled. He wanted to devour the bag—all of it.

“It’s fine. Eat.”

The man smiled easily.

Heart lifted one kernel—then, at the last instant, another voice within seized his hand.

With a furious toss, he hurled the pouch to the dirt.

“My secret weapon!” the Headmaster yelped, bending to scoop spilled nuts.

Heart spun on his heel and shot away, legs churning faster, ignoring the voice calling behind.

These woods were his domain. He knew every track, every escape. He climbed a twisted trunk, nimble as a monkey. From the branches above he watched the man blundering below, oblivious.

Only once he was gone from sight did Heart drop back down. His young face wore the confident smile of a victor.