Sera hugged Loyola tightly. She began sobbing loudly in her mother's embrace. Loyola could do nothing but softly stroke her long hair and say a few comforting words.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm so incapable. If only we could live somewhere else, then you wouldn't be forced to do something like this...", Sera said.
Loyola shook her head. "No, my child. It's not your responsibility. You're still young, let your mother settle all the current problems."
Shiro did not understand a single thing they said. From selling the body to the Anti-Pirate Federation, nothing made sense to him!
Was his mom part of a human trafficking scheme?
Were there pirates somewhere?
And most importantly, why did they have to collect taxes?
Shiro wanted to ask, but his sister cried even louder. So he could do nothing but just keep quiet and watch them by the sidelines.
Of course, he felt a stinging pain in his heart.
He couldn't bear to see his mom and sister crying so miserably. He felt a single tear rolling down his left cheek.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm really sorry.", Sera apologized over and over again, her voice getting louder each time.
Shiro couldn't bear the pain anymore and decided to exit his home. He ran off in another direction without giving any notice to Sera and Loyola.
After a few more minutes of crying, eventually, Sera pulled away from Loyola.
"Are you okay now, Sera?", Loyola asked.
Sera nodded. "Go put on some clothes, mom. I will make us some food to eat."
Loyola got up and picked up her clothes that were strewn across the floor. Sera walked out of the house to call Shiro and ask for his help to make some food, after noticing that he wasn't in the house.
"Shiro, come and help me cook!", Sera called out. She waited for a while for a response from Shiro.
But to no avail, there was not a single peep from Shiro. Usually, without Sera, Shiro wouldn't wander around and even if he did, he would just sit near the seashore admiring the sea. It was quite close to their house so her voice could be heard easily.
However, since he didn't reply, she thought that he was somewhere else.
Sera became confused as she called out his name again, slightly louder than before.
"Shiro?"
After a few seconds, she realized Shiro was nowhere near the house either.
She panicked as she recalled what might Shiro have gone through when he would have seen them cry, seen Loyola naked, and seen all the bruises on her body.
She rushed back into the house to inform Loyola about what had happened.
"Mom, I think Shiro ran away!", Sera said in a panicky voice.
Loyola who had just finished putting on her clothes looked at Sera confusedly.
"Shiro?"
"Yes! He and I witnessed the naked men coming out of our house, in fact, he saw it way earlier than me. Do you think mom, he might have understood why we were crying?" Sera asked and explained, expressing her concern.
Loyola's eyes widened. "Oh, my heavens- We need to find him."
The both of them exited their home to search for Shiro.
"Shiro! Where are you?", Sera yelled loudly.
Loyola kept looking behind rubbles and rocks, thinking that she could find Shiro behind any of them. Alas, he was nowhere to be found.
They then walked close to the seashore, trying to find him, but he wasn't present there.
Sera and Loyola began asking everyone in the village whether they had seen Shiro or not. Most of them shook their head as a response, while some did say yes, telling that he was playing with other kids – of course, this was much earlier and Sera wanted to know if they had seen him right now, currently.
When she asked about that, everyone shook their heads except for one person.
"Mister, have you seen my son, Shiro?", Loyola asked as she bumped into a man dressed casually.
"Loyola?", the man looked at Loyola, whose clothes seemed a bit revealing. She hurried to search for Shiro.
Loyola looked up at the man and gasped.
"Doctor! Forgive me…", Loyola apologized repeatedly.
"It's okay. What were you saying about Shiro?", the doctor asked.
"Shiro, he… He ran away. I can't find him anywhere… Have you seen him, doctor?"
The doctor widened his eyes. "What happened…?"
"Why do you say that he ran away?", Mornil asked.
Loyola remained quiet, unable to tell anything.
"I haven't but, if you'd like me to, I can help you find him.", Mornil changed the topic when he saw some bruises around her neck.
"Oh, that'll be too troublesome-"
"Please, I insist. How could I just stand by and watch you frantically search for Shiro? Plus, the more people looking for him, the higher the chances of finding him.", he said.
Loyola pursed her lips as she stared at him. He was really adamant to look for Shiro with her.
"Alright, please inform me immediately if you spot him."
The doctor nodded as he ran in the opposite direction.
Actually, ever since Loyola had visited him with Shiro as an infant, he had always been intrigued. After all, Shiro looked nothing like Loyola nor his older sister, Sera. Furthermore, Loyola wasn't pregnant, how could she give birth to Shiro?
But regardless of that, he didn't pursue the matter and decided to accept and agree with whatever she said.
So, one day, he decided to follow Shiro from behind. He witnessed how happy Shiro was playing with his friends, and how excited he was to meet his mother and sister.
Nonetheless, there was a place he would go when he wanted some time alone; behind a rock by the seashore. The doctor accidentally stumbled upon his hiding place one day while enjoying a sunny day.
To be precise, it was not just a small rock, but an array of rocks forming a path. Shiro would walk on that path to arrive at a small cave-like place where he would spend most of his time, when his sister Sera and Loyola would be away fishing or trying to trade.