Crackle— Crackle—
"Mhm…"
The sounds from the bonfire echoed in the area.
A pair of ruby-red eyes groggily opened.
"You sure took your time sleeping, huh?"
The sudden voice startled the young girl who had just woken up from her sleep.
She looked towards Regis warily.
However, seeing the roasted meat in his hands made her eyes soften.
Grrrrrr~
It wasn't an animal nor a monster of some kind.
It was the girl's stomach rumbling from the sheer hunger she was feeling.
~~~
An awkward silence permeated in the air as Regis stared at her speechlessly.
The girl pursed her lips as she stared at the ground.
However, the slight illumination provided by the bonfire made the soft blush on her cheeks visible.
"Here."
Regis chuckled slightly as he handed her one of the skewered meat he was roasting.
It was the meat of a few rabbits that he had hunted in the nearby forest.
As someone who had experienced journeys as a demonic human, looking for food in the forest was nothing to him.
The young girl reluctantly grabbed the skewered meat from his hand.
Still, the slight illumination provided by the bonfire made the sparkle in her eyes obvious.
Munch—
'She's like a puppy…'
Regis chuckled softly as he watched her eat to her heart's content.
He proceeded to give her more skewers whenever she was done eating hers until she was full.
This lasted for about half an hour.
Burp—!
A loud burp came from her as she hurriedly covered her mouth afterwards.
"Pffftt…!"
Regis couldn't help but giggle.
However, as he saw the young girl's embarrassed expression, he promptly stopped.
"Hey, what's your name?"
He asked as softly as he possibly could.
A few seconds passed by and the young girl still hadn't replied.
Just as Regis was about to give up, he heard a soft voice.
"...dora."
"Hmmm?" Regis scooted over to her a little closer.
The young girl flinched a little.
"M… ..ame… s… …..dora."
Regis raised both of his hands, "Don't be too nervous, I'm not a bad person."
"Hmmm, since you're still quite shy... How about this, let's talk about something first "
The young girl silently stared at him with her big, ruby-red eyes.
Regis tapped his cheek a few times before speaking, "How old are you?"
The young girl also tapped her cheek a few times, obviously copying him before raising her fingers one by one.
Regis counted before smiling, "Oh! You're also 9 years old? We're the same age!"
A slight smile could be seen on her lips.
Seeing this, Regis also smiled as he asked again, "Why are you staring at that pile of rubble earlier?"
The young girl looked to where he was pointing.
It took her quite a while to answer.
Still, Regis patiently waited for her to speak without showing an ounce of impatience.
He just silently stared at her.
His blood-red eyes met her ruby-red ones as he did so.
"....y …ouse…"
"Ohhh, is that your house?"
The young girl nodded in response.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry about that…" Regis scratched his head in embarrassment.
"My… mo… nd… da… …ere."
"Your mom and dad were there?" He tried his best to decipher what she was saying.
After all, he found her in a bad condition. So he knew that she was still recovering.
The young girl nodded again.
'Ugh, what am I doing…' Regis facepalmed as he felt bad.
He was supposed to break the ice and befriend her, but he was doing the opposite instead by touching sensitive topics.
"I'm sorry for your loss. You must be sad now, huh? Well don't worry, I can understa–"
However, before he could finish his words, his eyes widened as he saw the young girl shaking her head slowly.
"W-What? Don't you feel sad?" Regis felt confused.
Still, the young girl shook her head again.
"They… al..ways… hu..rt.. me… a..nd th..ey.. s…ay… ..ad.. w…rds… t… me…"
Regis silently listened to what she was saying.
"...ey… d…n't.. l…ve… me…"
…
As she kept talking, her face didn't show any kind of expression.
Her expression remained deadpan.
However, Regis frowned more as he listened to what she was saying.
If he heard her right, then she was practically abused all her life and was treated as a maid by her parents.
She was also discriminated against due to the color of her eyes.
However, the fact that she was able to say all this with a deadpan expression made Regis quite confused.
He spoke a few minutes after she finished telling her story, "Then if all you have with them are bad memories, why were you staring at that pile of rubble?"
"Because… I don't… know… what to do."
The younger was able to speak clearly as she seemed to be recovering.
She continued, "They… were bad… to me… but… at least… they… tell… me what… to do…"
"Now… I don't… know… what to… d–"
Before she could finish, the young girl suddenly found herself in Regis's embrace.
"Don't worry. From now on, you have me."
"I… don't… really kno..w… what… that… mea… sniffle… sniffle…"
The young girl found herself having more difficulty speaking as she felt a lump on her throat.
All she could see was the sincerity behind his blood-red eyes.
Strangely, she felt a sense of companionship with him.
Though she thought that it must be because of the similar color of their eyes.
She felt that the boy before her was able to understand her at a much deeper level than others.
After a short moment, the young girl spoke again, "...dora..."
"Mhm? Oh, I'm sorry."
Regis broke their hug as he realized what he had done.
'Shit, she must've become more uncomfortable…'
However, what he saw was the young girl's sweet smile, "My name…"
"Oh?"
Regis's eyes brightened as he listened to the girl's words carefully.
"...is Pandora."
Regis smiled in response, "And I'm Regis."
Although he still had the question of how she survived, he felt that it was not the right time to ask her.