Chapter 31: Eisenburg (11)

Holding the box, Mili felt at a loss.

She looked up, meeting the children’s eager yet hesitant gazes.

Their eyes were wide, bright…

Like stars in the wasteland.

Mili hesitated, then timidly approached the nearest bed.

A girl, maybe five or six, lay there, pale, her right arm and leg wrapped in tight bandages…

The girl glanced nervously at Seraphina, then at Mili, her small, grimy hands clutching the sheet, too scared to reach out.

“Try… try it…” Mili’s voice was soft, almost a mumble, as she unwrapped a red candy and held it to the girl’s lips.

She forced a smile: “It’s… for you.”

The girl blinked, looking at Mili, and nodded faintly, taking the candy into her mouth.

“Sweet… right?”

“Mm…” The girl’s voice was faint, but a rare smile spread across her face.

As the candy melted, its sweetness made her squint, as if the pain in her body faded.

Other children, hearing the commotion, crowded over.

“Sister, I want candy too…”

“Me too, me too!”

Suddenly, Mili was surrounded.

She’d never been great with people, let alone children.

Faced with so many expectant eyes, her hands trembled.

She fumbled to hand out candies, a gentle smile unconsciously softening her face.

“Sister, you’re so pretty…” a girl with pigtails said, looking up.

“Sister, your eyes are blue!” a round-faced boy pointed, as if wanting to touch them.

“Sister, are you an angel?”

The smallest child, maybe three or four, hugged a rag-stitched bear.

The kids chattered around Mili, their eager curiosity overwhelming her. Her cheeks flushed, and she sat on the bed’s edge, clutching the candy box, letting them stare.

“No… I…” She didn’t know how to explain her identity.

“She’s the Saintess brought by Her Majesty,” a nurse changing bandages nearby whispered, sneaking a glance at Seraphina by the door.

“Saintess?” The kids’ eyes widened.

“She’s an awesome sister!” the round-faced boy clapped.

Mili: “Huh?”

She felt even more embarrassed.

She’d never been surrounded like this, let alone gazed at with such reverence.

“What’s your name, sister?” an older girl tugged her sleeve.

“I… Mili…”

“Mili-sister!” the kids chorused.

“Sister, are you from outside?”

“Mm…” Mili hesitated. “Sort of…?”

“What’s it like out there?” they chirped.

She thought of her wasteland days but couldn’t bear to tell these innocent kids the truth.

“There are… lots of pretty places,” she said, dodging with memories of the central district. “Cafés, lots of kitties…”

“Kitties!” The kids squealed excitedly.

“Like this?” The girl with the bear held up her toy.

Mili looked closely.

The bear, though worn, was carefully sewn, with little triangular ears…

“Kind of, but real kitties move and act cute.” She recalled the Ragdoll rubbing her leg.

“What’s acting cute?”

“It’s… like, they rub against you and meow.” Mili mimicked the café guests, gently brushing the back of her hand under the bear-holding girl’s chin.

The kids burst into giggles.

In the distance, Seraphina leaned in the doorway’s shadow, watching silently.

Seeing Mili surrounded by smiling children, a dark, unreadable glint flickered in her eyes, an inexplicable irritation rising.

On one hand, she resented the kids’ closeness to Mili…

Why should strangers so easily earn her smile?

—That gentleness should be hers alone…

Yet, she was drawn to the scene…

Such pure, beautiful innocence was exactly what she craved, something to be tightly controlled…

“Time’s up.” Seraphina stepped forward, breaking the warm moment. “We’re leaving.”

The kids looked at Mili reluctantly.

“Will you come back, sister?”

“I… I will,” Mili answered instinctively.

But she quickly realized she couldn’t promise that.

She turned to Seraphina, eyes questioning.

“Let’s go,” Seraphina said flatly, pulling Mili’s hand.

Mili hurriedly handed the remaining candies to the nurse, whisked away from the tiny haven in a blink.

“Bye, Mili-sister!” the kids’ voices echoed behind.

Mili looked back, seeing their small figures waving frantically at the door.

…

Back in the armored vehicle, the air felt heavy.

“Are you… mad?” Mili asked cautiously.

“No.”

“…”

Silence filled the cabin.

Seraphina said nothing, staring out at the passing dilapidated scenery, fingers tapping her knee, her face dark.

“The kids… were cute…”

Mili tried to ease the tension.

“Mm.”

Her reply was curt.

Mili shrank back, nervous.

She’d stepped on a landmine but couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong…

Timidly, she asked:

“Why… do you build these clinics and schools?”

“Investment.”

The answer caught Mili off guard.

“Wh-what…?” She thought she’d misheard.

“Healthy people work longer. Educated people create more value.” Seraphina’s tone stayed cold. “I’m not doing charity—I’m investing in the future.”

Mili opened her mouth, then closed it.

“You’re disappointed?” Seraphina’s heterochromatic eyes shifted from the window to her.

“N-no…” Mili shook her head, scared.

“What did you think I was?”

“A savior?”

“Or some fairy-tale benevolent ruler, saving the masses for love and justice?”

“…” Mili didn’t lean back, her seatbelt pulling tight across her chest, hands curled on her knees.

“Wrong!”

“—I’m a ruler!”

Seraphina’s fingers stopped tapping, clenching into a fist.

“You know,” she continued, voice tinged with displeasure, “even when I’ve set up every contingency and process, these fools still mess up…”

“I’ve given them shelter, rules, planned every step!”

“Follow them, work hard, and you won’t die—you’ll even live better…”

“But they’re always like this…”

“Ignorant.”

“Short-sighted.”

“Lucky!”

“Thinking they’re clever! The exception—!”

“There’s a channel for special rations, but they’d rather steal!”

“Why? Scared of rejection? Their own assumptions?”

“That stupidity will kill them!”

She meant the man who stole the nutrient paste…

Mili glanced at her cautiously.

“Maybe… he really didn’t know…”

“Didn’t know?”

Seraphina sneered:

“The slums’ notice boards clearly list all regulations!”

“But they won’t read! Won’t learn!”

“They’d rather gamble on luck than follow proper channels!”

“Why are so many kids in that clinic?”

“Because their parents are hopelessly stupid!”

Her tone grew heated, thick with anger:

“I gave them safety protocols! Issued protective gear! Built a gray mist warning system!”

“They don’t wear the gear…”

“They don’t hide when mist levels spike…”

“They don’t seek treatment in time…”

“They wait till they’re half-dead to beg for help!”

“And what?”

“They get hurt or sick, dragging their kids down with them!”

“I pour resources into their protection, and this is how they repay me!”

“I’d line up these idiots and shoot them all!”

Mili shrank into her seat, not daring to speak.

“But even so, I still have to protect them…” Seraphina’s chest heaved, suppressing her fury.

“That’s a ruler’s duty…”

“No matter how stupid, how disappointing they are…”

“I’m responsible for their survival.”

“What about… Oasis?” Mili clutched her skirt, whispering. “Why… not work with them? Wouldn’t that… benefit both?”

“Work together?”

Seraphina laughed as if she’d heard a ridiculous joke, whipping her head around.

“You think I should partner with that Lin Lan?”

“If the two factions joined… Sister Lin’s agriculture, your army… couldn’t you save more people…?” Mili’s voice dwindled.

“Then tell me!” Seraphina snapped. “Why should I ally with an idiot who can’t even protect herself!”

“—Why isn’t she submitting to me!”