Erica - When a Friend is Obsessed With Me

Chapter 60

"...?"

In the dim corridor of the Sonnet Palace, beneath the white marble eaves, something was trembling.

A small, crouched figure—

'...A ghost?'

No, it was a little boy.

He looked very young, maybe five years old.

"Are you a servant here at the Sonnet Palace?"

Erica knelt down in front of him.

His tiny, fist-sized head gave a little twitch. He buried his face in his thin knees and wouldn't look up, so she stayed close.

"Are you cold?"

He looked as frail as his thin clothes suggested. Erica considered offering her uniform jacket, but it was soaked through.

"Would you like a hug?"

She held out her arms, but the child didn't move, didn't respond at all.

"No, no, I get it. You're expressing yourself very clearly."

Erica shuffled over and crouched down next to the kid, sitting side by side with him.

She raised her head and scanned their surroundings.

The Sonnet Palace was unfamiliar to her.

It wasn't as clean as it pretended to be.

There were no royals in residence here, nor even any of the Tenearha guards.

'No sign of anyone maintaining the palace, either.'

Even abandoned palaces usually had tended gardens, but here, the overgrown grass looked wild and neglected.

Swaaaa!

The blades of grass whipped back and forth in the heavy rain.

"Hey, kid, which palace do you belong to? Are you allowed to skip your duties to hide out here?"

She figured the boy had probably been bullied into coming here by other palace members.

The faint sound of his quiet sobs reached her.

"Who gave you trouble?"

"..."

"What's your name?"

"..."

"Are you going to answer, or should I just leave?"

Try as she might, she couldn't get an answer. He was a very determined little boy.

With a sigh, Erica stood up.

"I'm really leaving, you know?"

She took a step out into the rain.

Crunch!

Thunder cracked across the sky.

Erica glanced down to see the little boy clinging tightly to her leg.

"..."

Crazy. He was way too cute.

She reached down and gently smoothed his damp hair, feeling him shake with each muffled sob.

"Were you scared?"

Natural phenomena isn't scary!

Thunder and lightning aren't the sky's wrath, they're just noisy.

Maybe she should tell him what her teacher once told her when she was little?

She lifted him by his arms, scooping him up with one arm, and ducked back under the eaves to escape the rain.