Dario returned to Gorao after a little while, but Millie decided to stay in the lab with Alec until it was time to use the Poem since she was curious about it and the effects it had on the monsters. She also wanted to bid Milo farewell.

Although most of Milo was still in the lab, Alec had made a symbolic grave, where he buried his arms. Alec had even made a gravestone for him. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was more than Millie would have expected from a stranger who knew Milo for less than a day.

Standing in front of Milo’s grave, Millie couldn’t help but ask,

“Why go so far for him?”

Alec made a grave and mourned. But he also solved monsterification and was currently working on curing it. It wasn’t just for Milo, but it was for Milo.

“It’s my fault he’s dead.”

Millie didn’t look surprised. There was a book next to the bed in the room where she got some time for herself to cry in peace.

The book opened almost on its own from how many times someone had spent staring at the same page. She just glanced at it out of curiosity.

She didn’t see much, and she could hardly read.

But the little she understood, combined with what Alec and Milo both looked like, told her what she needed to know. Scrawny young teens with dark hair and eyes. A life of malnutrition and harsh circumstances.

They weren’t twins or anything. Far from it.

But with what Alec had said about having a resistance to monsterification and being specifically kidnapped by Shim, it was clear that Milo was a test subject meant to compare to Alec.

If Alec hadn’t been kidnapped, neither would Milo. If Alec had looked differently, someone else would have been kidnapped. If Alec had done something, anything, differently, Milo wouldn’t have been kidnapped. He wouldn’t have died.

“It’s not.”

It wasn’t Alec’s fault. He should know better than anyone that Milo and him both were just unlucky. They had been unlucky since they were born, and they would be unlucky until they died. That was just their fate.

There was nothing Alec could have done that would have changed anything.

But Millie didn’t know how to articulate it further. It was also unnecessary.

Alec wouldn’t hear it.

“As orphans, we have no one to take care of us. That leaves us with two options. Either we take care of ourselves, or we take care of each other.” That was why he cared so much about Milo.

“…” Millie didn’t need to say anything back to that.

“It’s about time.” Eventually, Alec could feel that it was time to use the Poem, so he returned to the lab with Millie.

The Poem put Millie in a starry-eyed daze, and she looked around the room in amazement before suddenly whipping her gaze toward the armless monster to see if it had worked. There was no apparent change.

That was why Alec put his hand above the monster’s head and Scanned its brain.

It still was nothing like a human brain, but it looked less chaotic and monstrous than the first time Alec scanned its brain. He just couldn’t tell if it was actually doing something or if the damage had been done already.

After that was done, and Millie had heard the results, they returned to Gorao.

If Alec had to say why, it was because he wanted to see Old George, whom Milo mentioned, with his own eyes. He also wanted to see and hear more about Milo and Alice from the ones who knew them best.

“Millie and Milo,” Alec suddenly said while walking back to the city with Millie.

“?” Millie looked up at him curiously.

“Are you blood siblings?”

“No. Our names were similar, so we ended up sticking together.”

“I see. Were you also close to Alice, then?”

“Also? No. I don’t know what Milo said, but I don’t think anyone was close to Alice, especially not after she came back. She was kind, and she helped many of us even when she could barely take care of herself.

“But she did not let anyone take care of her.

“Her hugs were warm, but I think her heart had already gone cold.”

“Mhm. Milo also mentioned that she was gone for a while. She was adopted by a merchant couple or something?”

“That’s what she said.”

“…”

“Did you see her?” Millie asked.

“Yeah.”

“She was pretty, right?”

“Yeah…”

“You can figure out what her life looked like.”

Alec was silent for a few minutes before gently opening his mouth again.

“Do you think she was taken the first time as well?”

“She would not have left willingly if she was that quick to come back.”

“Did she say anything or reveal anything about who, how, where?”

Millie shook her head. Alice did not want to talk about what she had done or what her life had been during the time she was away.

Millie suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

“She refused to go anywhere near Old George’s after she returned.” Millie didn’t understand why she hadn’t realized it sooner.

But it wasn’t strange. Old George often had easily accessible bread, he worked alone, and he was a heavy-set old man. It was easy to steal from him and get away. His personality only made it easier.

For Alice, who didn’t like to steal in the first place, there was no reason to go there, even if his bread was good.

That was why no one had noticed it.

But now, it was like Millie had been struck by lightning. She saw things clearer and noticed things in her memories she hadn’t known existed.

Alice was pretty, so shops often hired her to advertise or stand in the register and look pretty. They didn’t trust her with any money-handling or actual work, but she still got paid.

She usually rotated between a few different shops for work and for buying groceries.

After she returned, she had avoided places near Old George’s like the plague.

“Holy shit. I think Old George is involved,” Millie said, turning to Alec with wide eyes.

Of course, it could be a coincidence.

Alec nodded.

From what he heard from Milo, he could guess that Old George wasn’t a big fan of the orphans in Gorao.

For some, that was more than what was needed to do something about them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep