In his dream, Shushu had gone into the forest with his mother to pick wild berries.
Because thick snow piled high caused his feet to sink deep and wobble with every step, he didn’t whine or ask his mother to carry him.
They finally reached the wild berry patch they had scouted out earlier.
Working with tiny, sparrow-like hands, he eagerly picked the berries and tossed them into the basket.
The biting wind chapped the tip of Shushu’s nose and cheeks, but he was actually grateful for the fierce northern cold because it meant he could roam freely outside the house.
Northern residents bundled up in thick coats, hats, scarves, and gloves to maintain their body heat—which meant that even if Shushu and his mother covered themselves up completely, nobody would find it the least bit suspicious.
[Let’s get going now, Shushu.]
[Mm-hm.]
Wearing his mittens, Shushu took his mother’s hand.
Together with his mother, who carried the basket brimful of wild berries, they descended the snowy mountain.
Stopping by a fruit shop to sell the berries, she beamed broadly.
[Let’s go buy something delicious to eat today!]
[Yay!]
At seven years old, Shushu was still not very fluent in speech.
Because they had been forced to keep running without ever staying in one place, he had never once received a proper education.
Even so, he wasn’t such a fool that he didn’t even know what his own name meant.
His mother had told him that “Shushu” was the name of a puppy raised by the young lady of the noble household where she used to work as a maid.
The maids had cared for the puppy Shushu very dearly, and its small, cute white fur had always gleamed with luster.
Her mother had always envied the puppy, watching it eat only good things and receive the master’s affection, considering it the most enviable existence in the world.
That was why, when she had a child of her own, she named him “Shushu” so that unlike herself, he would grow up eating only good things and receiving precious care.
Shushu entered a restaurant with his mother.
As they stepped into the indoor space filled with the radiant heat of the hearth, his cold-numbed body felt as though it was melting away.
Guided by a waiter, they sat down at an empty table.
Shushu pointed his finger at the cheapest potato soup on the menu.
[One potato soup, please.]
[Aren’t you ordering anything else?] the waiter asked, glaring with wide eyes after taking his mother’s order.
[……Yes.]
Looking apologetic, she bowed her head and replied in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper.
Afterward, the waiter slammed the pre-meal soup roughly onto their table and walked off—all because they were two people sharing a single order of soup meant to be eaten before a meal.
Handing the spoon to Shushu, his mother told him to eat up quickly before it got cold.
[How about you, Mom?]
[Mom isn’t hungry. Eat up lots, our Shushu.]
She stroked Shushu’s head as she spoke.
Shushu took tiny, microscopic spoonfuls of the potato soup, then started whining that he was full and didn’t want to eat anymore.
[Try eating just a little bit more, okay? You have to eat a lot to grow tall.]
Shushu’s height was on the shorter side compared to other children.
Worried about her child, his mother scooped up soup with the spoon and urged him to eat quickly, but Shushu kept his lips tightly pressed together in stubborn refusal.
Inevitably, the potato soup left behind by the child became the mother’s share.
Famished, she shoveled the potato soup into her mouth in a rush.
Though a single bowl of soup wasn’t enough to banish true starvation, the warm food entering her stomach warmed her from the inside out.
Only after licking the bowl clean with her tongue did she regain her senses, paying hurriedly like a guilty criminal and leaving the restaurant.
Hand in hand, they headed toward the shelter where escaped Gems hid in secret.
Before entering the shelter, her mother dug under a large tree and slipped the daily wages she had earned today into a cloth pouch.
Then she covered the frozen ground back up with dirt and snow to conceal it.
Having been in the North for six full months, she had managed to save quite a bit of money.
[Mom, can Shushu buy a house?]
[Yes, we just need to save money for one more week. You’ve worked so hard all this time, our Shushu.]
Shushu beamed and hugged his mother tight.
[I love Mom.]
[Mom loves Shushu, too.]
Clutching her child tightly, she stepped into the shelter.
Today, too, the shelter was packed with strange men.
Terrified, Shushu clung tightly to his mother’s back.
Kevin, who managed the place, scolded her, asking where she had been.
[I’m sorry. The child felt cooped up, so we went for a walk.]
[Just try running away. Catching you and your brat and selling you off as slaves is child’s play.]
Trembling violently, Shushu clung desperately to his mother’s legs.
Seeing this, Kevin clicked his tongue.
[Get ready quickly. You’ve got a customer coming, don’t you?]
Her mother picked Shushu up, carried him into the room where the Gems gathered, and opened the wardrobe to put him inside.
[You must never come out. Not until Mom tells you to come out, absolutely. Promise?]
[Mm, I promise.]
Contrary to a mother’s earnest wish that her child would remain entirely oblivious to the atrocities committed inside that space, Shushu knew all too well what went on inside the Gems’ shelter.
Having come here solely on rumors that it protected Gems, his mother was now being subjected to sexual exploitation through blackmail and violence.
If not for him, his mother would never have come all the way to the North to suffer like this.
Pinkies linked in a promise, her mother had left to service a customer.
He cursed his powerless, childish body that could do nothing at all.
Sobbing softly, Shushu woke up from the dream.
Opening his eyes again, he saw the spectacled kidnapper.
Fortunately, he wasn’t inside the tower that felt worse than a prison, but in a bedroom decorated so luxuriously that one could easily believe it belonged to an imperial prince.
“Are you feeling alright, young master?”
“…….”
The man appeared to be a doctor.
Checking Shushu’s condition with a stethoscope, he raised his voice toward Meiyou.
“Lady Meiyou, this is a stand-in we barely managed to find. Do you intend to turn him into an idiotic fool just like Damian by casually beating him?”
“I barely hit him, he’s just playing the victim. Joseph, do you want to die? How dare you raise your voice at me?”
Seeing Meiyou conjure flames in the palm of her hand, Joseph immediately lowered his head into a deep bow of submission.
