I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[Sister Giada PoV]

Nearly a month had passed since Runa joined our orphanage. At first, she'd needed time to adjust, unused to playing with children her age. That was because she still carried a fear of getting close to others, a result of her painful experiences back where she'd lived before.

"Sister Giada! Look, I can touch things normally now!" Runa suddenly ran up to me, proudly showing off that she was carrying several items.

Before, Runa had struggled not to destroy everything she touched. I figured her progress here was even faster than Deana's had been back then.

"Well done. As a reward, Sister will make your favorite cookies after coming back from the market," I said, stroking the blonde girl's hair.

"Can I come with Sister to shop in town?" Runa asked, eyes pleading.

"No, Runa, the outside world still isn't safe for you yet," I told her gently. "Once you're all ready, then you, Thomas, and Deana can do whatever you like."

"Hmmm... but Runa wants to see the outside world as soon as possible..."

"Everything has its time, sweetheart. Be patient, okay?" I said, smiling at her.

Runa simply nodded quietly at my words. She was a good child, and Thomas and Deana had grown quite close to her lately.

"Giada, I'll be out of town for a few days." Suddenly, Steven, a Tracer from our group, approached me.

"Have you found information about another Cursed Child?" I asked him.

"That's right. This time, rumor has it he's involved with a syndicate active in the black market," Steven answered.

The black market referred to illegal trade and business activities in this world, such as slavery, human or artifact auctions, and the like.

"I'll be heading out, Giada. Watch over the children — with the dragon attack a few days ago, this city's crawling with Inquisitors," Steven said, then left the orphanage.

I'd lived here for nearly ten years now, and not a single Inquisitor from the Temple had ever suspected this place was actually a shelter for Cursed Children, built by The Masquerade.

We'd disguised this place as an ordinary orphanage. A few priests had come to inspect it before, but we didn't only house Cursed Children — we took in ordinary orphans as well.

That's exactly why, whenever the Temple's authority conducted an inspection, we'd hide the Cursed Children and only show the ordinary ones to the Temple's authority.

I walked over to the three children playing in the living room.

"Thomas, Deana, Runa," I called out to them. "I'll be going out for a bit to buy cooking ingredients. Don't cause any trouble here, okay? Joker and Puppeteer will be visiting you this afternoon."

"Yes, Sister Giada! Take care!"

The three of them waved at me — such adorable children, all of them.

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[Runa PoV]

Happiness — that's what I felt now.

Ever since following Joker to this place, I was no longer alone like I'd been back in the village. So many children here had strange powers like mine, and none of them ever avoided me like the other children in my village used to.

"Hey, Runa. Do you know when Joker's birthday is?" a girl my age asked.

That was Deana, one of the children living here. She was the one who talked with me the most, maybe because we were both girls, so we bonded faster?

"I don't know, Deana," I answered her. "Joker never talks about himself with me."

Joker, the man who'd brought me here, sometimes visited in the afternoon and would leave again by nightfall. Usually, he helped Sister Giada cook for us, or trained the children to control their powers, including me.

He told me I had a power called Heat Wave, letting me heat things up however I pleased — that's why people often felt like they were burning if they got too close to me when my power activated.

"But you know, Runa? Today's Sister Giada's birthday!" Deana revealed.

"Huh? Really?"

"That's exactly why I asked about Joker's birthday! If it's the same day, I wanted to give him something too, since he cooks for us so often!"

Sister Giada was such a kind woman...

When I first arrived here, she was always so patient whenever my power slipped out of control. She always smiled and stroked my hair whenever I apologized for breaking things in this place.

She felt like an older sister who always understood my situation. If there was anything I could do to make her happy, I'd gladly do it.

"Do you want to give Sister something as a birthday gift?" I asked Deana.

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"Of course, we've been planning this for a while!" Deana answered, then turned her attention to a boy nearby. "Hey, Thomas! Are we doing it today?"

Hearing his name called, the boy walked over to us.

That was Thomas, the boy who often played with Deana. If I remembered correctly, he had the power to move objects however he pleased.

"Of course," Thomas answered, showing several coins in his palm. "Runa, do you want to come too?"

"Eh? Come where?" I asked back.

"Out to buy a gift for Sister Giada, of course!" Thomas answered, sounding excited.

"B-but didn't Sister forbid us from leaving the house?" I recalled Sister's words before she'd left earlier.

"That's exactly why it's called a surprise! Sister Giada won't expect us to give her a gift on her birthday!" Deana shouted. "Come on, Runa! It'll be so much fun seeing the city!"

After being pressured by the two of them, I finally agreed to join my friends. Honestly, I wanted to make Sister Giada happy too. I hoped that giving her a gift on her birthday could show her how we felt, after she'd always cared for us so well.

Deana, Thomas, and I then left the house through the kitchen window, since the front door had been locked by Sister.

Once we got out of the orphanage grounds, we saw carriages passing along the street. Deana flagged one down.

"How can I help you?" the carriage driver asked.

"Can you take us to the city center?" Deana asked.

"Of course, the fare is 30 kufer for all three of you," the driver answered.

Thomas then handed the driver some bronze coins. After paying, we climbed into the carriage's cabin, ready to enjoy our journey to the city center to buy a gift for Sister Giada.

"Hey Thomas, where'd you get that much money?" I asked, curious.

Hearing my question, the boy smiled slyly. "Hehe, with my power, I can easily pick up money that's fallen on the road and collect it."

"Don't believe him, Runa," Deana said, giving Thomas a skeptical look. "He got that money from inside Joker's pouch while he was busy handing out food to us."

"I-I'm not lying! There's no way I'd steal money from him!" Thomas stammered.

After riding the carriage for a while, we finally arrived at the city center.

It was so lively...

Countless people moved along the streets, and I saw massive buildings I'd never once seen back in the village. This was my very first time visiting an urban area.

"Come on, Runa, let's look around!" Deana said.

"Eh, wait a moment, do you two even know where we're supposed to buy a gift?" I asked them.

"Of course, let's explore this place!" Thomas said, walking ahead of us.

Deana and I followed him. Honestly, I doubted Thomas actually knew his way around this place. Had he ever left the orphanage before?

We arrived at an area that seemed even livelier than before, the smell of various foods filling the air.

"Buy here! Grilled squid for just five kufer!"

"Cheap skewered steak, just 15 kufer!"

So many people were selling food here. I couldn't help but hold my stomach, which had been aching with hunger for a while now.

Thomas then walked over to one of the vendors and came back carrying three skewers of freshly grilled meat.

"Here, Runa! I bet you've never tasted street food from a big city before!" Thomas said, handing me one skewer of grilled meat.

That was true. Back in the village, I'd mostly only eaten fish the villagers caught from the river. We rarely ever ate beef like what Thomas had bought.

Taking the skewer, I tried a bite.

I easily bit into the meat and swallowed it whole.

"How is it? Food in the city's way better than in the village, right?" Thomas said, taking a bite of his own skewer.

I could only nod in response to his question.

We continued exploring the city streets. There were so many new things to see here, things that never existed back in my village.

Thomas, Deana, and I eventually arrived in a quieter part of the city than before. Fewer people passed through this area.

Thomas then led us into one of the buildings there, where I saw many gleaming necklaces, bracelets, and jewelry displayed on tables covered with glass cases.

"Sir, we'd like to buy a necklace as a birthday gift," Deana said to the shopkeeper. "Would you know which one would suit a young woman?"

"How much money do you have?" the shopkeeper asked.

Thomas then pulled out every coin from the pouch he carried. But the shopkeeper suddenly sighed, seeing the amount Thomas had.

"Your money isn't even enough to buy the cheapest piece of jewelry in this shop," the shopkeeper said. "You'd best look elsewhere."

Thomas and Deana looked disappointed hearing this. Still, there was nothing we could do, so we left the jewelry shop.

"Ughhh... sorry, I didn't check the prices here beforehand," Thomas said, hanging his head in embarrassment.

"It's alright, let's look somewhere more ordinary," Deana suggested.

We continued our search for a gift for Sister Giada.

The next area we arrived at was much livelier than before. I saw many people standing still in specific poses, being painted by artists working in the area.

"Come choose! Plenty of lucky charms to find here!"

We then approached a merchant selling accessories made from wood.

"Sir, do you have a lucky necklace suitable for a woman?" I asked the merchant.

"Of course, sweet girl. Wait a moment," the merchant answered, searching through his pouch. "Look, this is a longevity necklace from a very distant land called Nordica."

I took the wooden necklace. It had beautiful engravings and writing I couldn't read at all.

After examining it closely, I tried it on and showed it to Deana and Thomas.

"How is it? Do you think this necklace would suit Sister Giada well?" I asked them both.

"You look even cuter wearing that necklace, Runa!" Deana said, hugging me.

"I think Sister would look great wearing it," Thomas said.

After getting a good impression from both of them, I took off the necklace and asked the merchant for its price.

"You can have it for fi-seven silver coins!" the merchant said.

Thomas then handed over every coin in his pouch to the merchant. We'd finally managed to buy a gift for Sister Giada today.

"Let's hurry back before Sister finds out," Deana said.

Thomas and I nodded, and the three of us headed toward where the carriage had dropped us off earlier.

On the way, I kept looking at the wooden necklace we'd bought. This was the first time I'd ever bought a gift for someone. I hoped Sister would love it — I wanted to make her happy, since she'd accepted us even when everyone else in the world always rejected our existence.

—Bruk!

Suddenly, I fell — it seemed I'd bumped into a pedestrian.

"Are you alright, sweet girl?"

I suddenly realized everyone on the street was staring at me, which made me quite nervous.

In front of me, a grown man extended his hand to help me up.

I took his hand and stood up. But suddenly, the man screamed in pain. He yanked his hand away and quickly backed away from me.

"Aghhh! My hand! What did you do!?" the man shouted.

"Eh? I didn't do anything!"

But because of this incident, more and more people began staring at me with strange looks. It was the same look the villagers back home had given me whenever they rejected my presence.

"Aghhhh! My hand feels like it's burning!"

"Huh? Why is smoke suddenly coming off your clothes!"

The people nearby looked confused, watching this phenomenon.

This was bad — why was my power suddenly slipping out of control again, at a time like this? What should I do? Stay calm, breathe slowly, don't panic.

"That kid's the one causing this magic!"

"Why are you using such dangerous magic in public!?"

They'd noticed...

The townspeople here began surrounding us, my heart pounding faster than usual. I couldn't calm myself down in this situation.

"Aghhh! My leg's burning!"

"Damn it! She's activated her magic again! Quick, call the guards to arrest that kid!"

No, I never meant to hurt any of you. None of this is my fault — please don't look at me like I'm some kind of monster.

Before long, several grown men carrying swords began arriving.

"Runa, we have to run!" Thomas shouted.

Deana and I nodded, and the three of us began sprinting away from the urban area as fast as we could. But the sword-wielding men began shouting and chasing after us.

Ughhh... why was everything falling apart like this?