ON THE OTHER hand, Wren was shocked because of the kid's sudden outburst. And also because this just showed how important the original was for this kid and to the orphanage.
Unfortunately, the original had forgotten that so when he was on the verge of breakdown, he thought that he had no one to rely on. Wren also knows that the original didn't want the people of the orphanage to know his misgivings; that's why he didn't visit them.
For him, he can't rely on the orphanage because the orphanage was relying on him as well. He would only burden the people there, which he really didn't want to happen so he took everything alone.
On the other hand, Priestess Carmela was surprised because of what Lina had said. It was not her to make the kid feel like what she was doing was separating them from their brother Wren but for the good of everyone.
Her intention was the same as the original. They think that opening it up will just burden the other so one keeps it to himself as he fell in depression to a lonely death, while the other keeps it away from the other in thought that they could solve it on their own.
They all thought that what they did was a consideration of each other yet unknown to them; that wasn't the case and will never be. Wren knew it, based on what happened to the original. So what he needed to do now was to help the priestess and keep her from making the same mistake. Whether to end up the same as the original or to fail miserably.
"That's right, Mama. If you are keeping it out of consideration, then it's not helping. You know you and the orphanage will never be a burden to me. I may have been out of sorts for the past few months but you know I still care for you all. We are a family after all. Just like Lina said, I am still part of the family. Your problem will also be my problem and it will never be a burden. You and the orphanage will never be a burden to me, Mama."
Priestess Carmela started to cry silently; both touched, relieved and happy with Wren's words. She let go of her hold on Lina as she helped herself wipe her tears away.
"I know that, Wren. You know that wasn't my intention. I just didn't want to add to your problems but I didn't know that it would result in this. I thought I could solve it alone, like I always did before, as this girl said. But maybe this time, I don't need to shoulder everything on my own since I already have you and the others from the orphanage who could manage to help."
"Maybe I am just thinking highly of myself. Because I have been managing the orphanage since I started this, the pride it brought me before had turned into pridefulness, and I started to lean on my own ability instead of my own capacity. I'm already old yet I am still acting high and mighty. I'm sorry, Wren, Lina."
Wren didn't speak and let the priestess understand all her misgivings on her own. Which she successfully did. Although it made the old woman cry so much that she couldn't speak properly. He could only have Lina help the priestess wipe away her tears.
"So, what was really going on with the orphanage?" Wren seriously asked after seeing that Priestess Carmela had calmed down.
Priestess Carmela and Lina looked at each other and had a tacit talk through their eyes. They even nodded to each other after a few seconds of maintaining eye contact, then they simultaneously looked back at the screen where Wren was.
"I will explain it to you, brother Wren. This all happened a month ago. A group of thugs-looking men came into the orphanage claiming that the land as well as the orphanage had become a collateral property of Mama's ex-husband after that moron had lost all the money he had borrowed from the thugs' leader. They had apprehended the moron but the lunatic had actually chosen to kill himself before the thugs rather than pay the amount. Unfortunately, they still have to let someone pay his loans and that's why he came to the orphanage to collect some money."
The longer Lina talks, the bigger his mouth opens from shock and disbelief at what he is hearing from the other.
First of all, Wren was really shocked that in this life, there were still those thugs living out of someone's misery. He hasn't experienced them in his past life but it's not like he didn't know their existence when cases of death and suicide back in his world were because of these evil thugs.
Second was, just what the hell was on the mind of that so-called ex-husband of the priestess? Looking at it, the other might be awakened, unlike Priestess Carmela. How can the other still get the strength to gamble when he is old and wrinkly?
Then the memory from the original appeared, making him aware of this so-called ex-husband.
Carmela Garcia was actually the only daughter of the Garcia clan—the biggest and best-known family in Pinas—one of the big cities in Orientale. Their family was composed of successful, career-driven people who had been making many professionals in different industries: politics, entertainment, business, and even the hunter association.
Carmela came from the family of the head of the clan and was the only daughter out of five sons. She's also the youngest so she became the treasured princess of the clan.
Not until she reached eighteen and was announced awakened. She was the first and only Garcia who was unawaken and it became a shame to their family. To hide that, her parents decided to marry her to a big family from the capital but at that time, Carmela had already fallen in love with Kenneth De Guzman—a young mercenary she met when she was about to be kidnapped.
Kenneth had also fallen in love with her so he suggested that they should escape.
Carmela hesitated at first, but her parents started to force her to meet the young heir of the Velasco, her supposed-to-be fiance. She keeps on denying and even threatened her parents that she will elope with Kenneth if they keep on forcing her.
But her parents still denied her and Kenneth's feelings for each other. Even telling her that Kenneth is not a good man for her. Unfortunately, she didn't listen to them and agreed to elope with Kenneth.
They escape to Del Sur, where Kenneth originally lives and get married there. Even if she was disowned by her clan, she was happy living with Kenneth. And that didn't last. Not even a year since their marriage, the real Kenneth started to show.
He loves getting drunk and gambling, and the money they both painstakingly earned from taking jobs was all put into gambling. Carmela was greatly disappointed but she didn't want to make her parents aware of what happened to her so she left Kenneth with a divorced paper that she had already signed.
Using her own money, she came back to Orientale and hid in another city near the capital. There, she bought land and started a small shop. She didn't know that Kenneth would easily find her and when he did, he started threatening her. As an ordinary human, Carmela would be afraid of an awakened person, so she agreed when Kenneth took her remaining money as well as made the shop and the land a conjugal property before he signed the divorce paper.
And with all of that, Kenneth left her after taking some hits to her. Unknown to her, she was actually pregnant and when he hit her, the unborn child died in her womb. It made her depressed—everything seemed against her.
When she was about to end her life, she found a newborn baby left at the back of her house. That's when she found new hope and inspiration. She took the child and changed her connecting house and shop into the orphanage she had now. And there he took in any child who was abandoned by their families.
Because she could feel resonance with them—she was also abandoned by her parents, clan, her husband, and even her unborn child. And through them, she feels needed. This was also the reason why she thought she had to handle all the problems on her own. Even until her death, because that was only her coping mechanism to tell everyone, especially her parents, that her past actions were never wrong.
Anyway, what Wren was trying to make a point in this long flashback of other people's backgrounds was how the bastard used the orphanage as collateral, as well as how those thugs were trying to squeeze the priestess with all she had.
"Okay, enough. I am getting your point now, Lina." Wren decided to cut off Lina, who seemed like she even wanted to retell him the history of the orphanage and how she became enthralled with storytelling.
He moved his gaze to the old priestess. "How much were they asking?"
Wren opted to get straight to the point with asking. This scene was already long and if he tried to stall, it might be divided into three parts, which he couldn't allow to happen.
His directness surprised the priestess but no longer delayed. She showed his hands with two fingers showing.
"Two million?" Wren guessed and the other nodded.
"To be precise, it's two million dungeon coins," Priestess Carmela added.
This new word made Wren slightly confused, as he didn't know what's the difference between a dollar, which was the currency used in this world, and these so-called dungeon coins.
He was about to ask her what's the difference between the two when the system notification surprisingly popped out before him.
[Congratulations! You have triggered your first mission!]
[A new task appeared.]