What Did I Do Wrong?

Following the group back to the orphanage, Mrs. Cole indeed searched everyone one by one, checking whether any bold little brats had dared to pocket some of the donations. When it was Tom's turn, Mrs. Cole curled her lip in disgust. This troublesome thing clearly had such a pretty face, yet he refused to cooperate, costing himself quite a few chances at adoption.

"Why are you wearing so much?! Take it off!"

Tom pressed his lips together and began taking off his clothes. The cold wind against his body made him shiver. That strange warm current had vanished at some point. If he took off any more, he would surely catch a cold. "Is this enough? Mrs. Cole, I'm really cold. It'll be troublesome if I get sick."

Carefully feeling every corner of his clothes, Mrs. Cole paused at Tom's words and threw the garment back at the little brat. "Shut that crow mouth of yours! If you get sick, I don't have money to pay for a doctor!" After shouting, Mrs. Cole spun around and berated the children standing nearby. "What are you all standing around for?! Do you want to go hungry?!"

Having finally gotten a few pieces of meat, Tom carefully held his bowl and sipped the exceptionally delicious meat soup, at least by their standards. He picked up the last piece of bread, dipped it in the little soup left in the bowl, then rubbed his round little belly.

Phew~ Tonight's dinner was the best he had eaten all year. He needed to go back and sleep early. Starting tomorrow, he would be busy—he had to study and continue his experiments. He really looked forward to the days ahead~

"Good night~ Matron..."

Early the next morning, Tom had dressed himself bright and early and followed behind the other children. They were going to begin learning basic spelling. Unlike the other children, Tom understood how important this was and carefully memorized every word Mrs. Cole said.

Shaking his aching wrist, Tom finished the morning lesson. Hugging the picture book whose pages had already come loose tightly to his chest, he reviewed the words he had learned as he walked toward the courtyard, failing to notice the little girl glaring furiously at him ahead.

"You devil!" With reddened eyes, Noma angrily reached out and shoved Tom to the ground. If it had not been for this devil, how could she have been punished by Mrs. Cole? The ruler striking her palms had hurt to the bone. It was all this devil's fault!

Tom lowered his eyes and looked at the scattered pages without saying a word. See? He could not have anything that belonged to him. He had truly wanted to cherish this book, so why could he not even do that?

He had not done anything wrong, had he? Not once had he been the one to provoke someone first. Was it because of his face? Was being good-looking his fault too?

"What did I do wrong?"

Hearing Tom's question, Noma was so angry that she laughed. This devil was actually asking what he had done wrong in such a calm voice?! Had he forgotten how he had thrown her against the wall?! Had he forgotten who had caused her to be left in this awful place?!

"Ha! You devil, you can even forget what you did! Is the harm you caused others just some trivial thing that you can easily forget?!"

Slowly picking up the scattered pages from the ground, Tom rose to his feet. Tilting up his chin, he looked expressionlessly at the furious girl before him. "You were the one who came to cause trouble for me first, weren't you? Perhaps I really should become a devil..."

Without looking back, Tom lifted his foot and left. He returned to his room, placed the picture book on the table, then sat by the bed and stared blankly at the sky outside.