Chapter 34 The Bad Luck Never Ends

‘Ugh, I really shouldn’t have had any expectations.’

Getting out of the carriage, Elia’s mental chibi went completely numb.

The Morning Light Orphanage was founded by Viscount Jorrit, who came from a fairly well-off family. Viscount Jorrit also personally served as the director and resided there permanently… Therefore, in Elia’s anticipation, the orphanage’s sanitation conditions should have been much better than the slum.

However, the reality was that the orphanage was not much better than the outside world; it just didn’t have excrement everywhere.

Upon entering, one could see many dirty children playing in the mud, engaged in mud fights.

‘Ugh, they’re not doing this to show their liveliness and innocence, are they?’

Seeing some mud deliberately splattered near the Royal Knights’ soldiers, Elia became even more speechless.

Although most of the time he was battling wits with thin air, this one time, Luke had to admit that the scummy pinkette’s judgment was correct.

And the idiot who instructed the orphanage children to do this was precisely the middle-aged man who walked out to greet them next, Viscount Jorrit.

‘Welcome, everyone!’

Although he appeared very eager and solicitous, the bishop and various noble officials, upon seeing the dirty children misbehaving, all instinctively frowned, and their opinion of the orphanage consequently dropped a notch.

But don’t misunderstand, this was not the outcome Viscount Jorrit desired. The reason Luke judged him as foolish was because he genuinely believed this would make them likable.

And tracing the source of this idea, Luke could only offer a sigh of resignation.

The last time Jorrit sought sponsorship for the orphanage, the inspection personnel of the sponsor, seeing the children neatly lined up, having even changed into clean clothes for the first time in a while, said:

‘Are these really pauper orphans? I thought they were boy scouts, not lively at all… Viscount Jorrit, are you plotting something?’

Thus, Jorrit panicked. Facing this even more important inspection, he completely reformed his approach, overcorrecting and thus making a grave mistake.

‘Deep trace!’

Luke secretly employed a stronger ability, then sighed again.

By reading the few remaining pieces of information, he learned the true thoughts of the previous sponsor’s inspection personnel, who were actually implying that the Viscount should team up with them to skim off sponsorship fees.

However, Jorrit didn’t catch on at all, ultimately leading to the failure of the cooperation.

And the failure of various previous sponsorships or collaborations was actually due to similar reasons: no one was willing to believe that the well-to-do Viscount Jorrit was genuinely running an orphanage; everyone thought he had ulterior motives and wanted a share of the profits.

Some people even imitated him, cleverly setting up various aid activities. Afterwards, the money from noble officials was returned in full, while civilian donations were split three-to-seven, with the larger share going to the influential gentlemen… The result was that no one believed in such aid anymore, and even the genuinely charitable Viscount Jorrit was affected, unable to raise a single penny.

And his so-called well-to-do family fortune had been completely depleted over the years due to the continuous increase in orphans.

For this, he had even sold his family’s antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and furniture.

His family had already fallen out with him over this… If he couldn’t use this inspection to gain reputation and find sponsors, he would have to choose between the orphanage and his family.

Although Jorrit had always considered himself a good person, unlike other nobles, when faced with such a choice, he could only reluctantly make a painful sacrifice.

Fortunately, this inspection had Elia present, and Jorrit had staked everything on this renowned Saintess.

To this, Luke could only say that Jorrit had placed his trust wrongly.

Because that scummy pinkette, ever since getting out of the carriage, had been solely thinking about quickly leaving this dirty place.

Things like the miserable lives of commoners needing change, or the corruption of nobles, she had never considered, nor did she care about them at all.

She only ever cared about herself.

‘It truly stinks. The outside smell is drifting in, and it’s so dirty here, and everything is so old. Viscount Jorrit, what on earth are you doing? How can a dignified noble let an orphanage become this dilapidated? Are you perhaps trying to garner sympathy and scam for funds?’

She even projected her own thoughts onto others, considering the truly kind Viscount Jorrit to be a crow as black as anyone else.

Expecting such a person to save the orphanage was less realistic than hoping for pies to fall from the sky.

Worse still, she intended to exploit this misery to win over public support, and deliberately displayed an expression of profound distress.

‘Ah, as expected of Her Highness Elia, truly so kind.’

‘With Her Highness Elia so concerned for the world, our country will surely prosper and grow stronger day by day!’

Everyone offered another round of awkward praise, but unusually, a portion of the people were very clear-headed, immediately thinking that it was dirty and ugly here, and even the Saintess seemed barely able to contain herself.

Although this wasn’t 100% accurate, it was undeniable that while Elia accumulated fame, she also harbored thoughts of using this expression to alleviate the pressure of her disguise.

Unfortunately, Viscount Jorrit was not among them.

Seeing Elia’s performance, Viscount Jorrit immediately believed her, thinking that heaven helps those who help themselves.

So, after welcoming a group of important inspection officials into the somewhat simple orphanage main house, Jorrit immediately rushed to the back kitchen and, to the already nervous and anxious children, excitedly said:

‘Everyone, the opportunity has come! Her Highness Elia is very attentive and caring towards us. As long as we try harder, we will definitely be able to reverse the orphanage’s crisis.’

Thus, the children, burdened with immense pressure, lined up one by one, carrying tea and snacks, and entered the main hall, preparing to properly entertain the various high-ranking officials.

However, this action was undoubtedly a terrible move.

‘No way, at a time like this, they’re not even using servants, but letting small children do this kind of thing? The smallest one… is only seven or eight years old, right? What a black-hearted boss employing child labor! This show is way too much.’

Not only the scummy pinkette, but others in their hearts also thought the same, immediately labeling Viscount Jorrit as hypocritical.

But heaven help them, Jorrit had actually dismissed all unnecessary servants, leaving only the chef and the dorm mother who also served as a doctor.

Among the children, older ones were encouraged to look after younger ones as much as possible, to save expenses for hiring a literacy teacher who only came once a week… Unfortunately, there were too few people in this world who could read minds and memories, and Luke couldn’t expose his abilities to help him.

Regrettably, once a person’s luck turns bad, it often stays bad.

Orphanage children were more precocious and self-reliant than average children, but after Jorrit inflicted so many ‘DEBUFFs’ on them, even the most mature among them would be somewhat flustered.

And the most nervous girl among them made an error without any suspense.

As she walked, her foot stumbled, and her body swayed.

The teapot she was carrying instantly tilted, and the hot tea inside spilled all over someone nearby.

‘Damn it, what have you done?!’

Almost all the inspection personnel angrily jumped up.

And the orphanage children, as well as Jorrit, showed expressions of despair.

For no other reason than the person splashed with hot water was none other than their hope, on whom they had staked everything: Saintess Elia.