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"What\'s your name, Mister?" she asked once her crying had subsided.

"Leon," I replied, offering her a smile.

"Leon..." she blushed. "Um, I\'m sorry you had to see me crying like that. It must have been quite a sight. I apologize for showing you that." She bowed her head, displaying manners her mother must have taught her.

"No worries," I assured her. "Oh, and here, if you want." I handed her the box of cake.

"What\'s this...?" she asked, tilting her head cutely.

"It\'s a cake," I replied.

"Cake?" she repeated, her eyes lighting up. "Something to eat?"

"Exactly," I confirmed, rising to my feet. "Oh, would you look at the time." I glanced at my phone to check. "I\'ve got someone waiting for me inside," I lied. Truth be told, I had no one to meet, but I needed an excuse to start our conversation and get her to open up a bit. I wasn\'t planning on going inside the sanatorium. "Well then, I should be off.

Hopefully, we\'ll meet again."

"Uh, o-okay. I hope so too... And thank you for this," she said softly.

With that, I bid her farewell and departed.

***

Zeruel\'s POV

When school ended, I made a quick stop at the dorms to grab the money I\'d saved up. Then, without delay, I headed straight to Milham\'s Sanatorium. The cash I\'d scraped together from selling newspapers on the streets and working as a waitress was meager at best.

I doubted Selene had much more than I did, and together, our funds probably didn\'t even amount to ten percent of what we owed for the bills at the sanatorium.

As I walked through the familiar streets toward the sanatorium, a nagging thought gnawed at me: "Is there really no other choice?"

The doctors at the sanatorium delivered a harsh ultimatum: if we couldn\'t cough up the cash, they\'d cut off the magical treatment keeping my mother alive and kick us to the curb. Once that magic lifeline was severed, my mother\'s time would be up.

The magical intervention came with a hefty price tag of one gold coin per day. That alone would have me slaving away for a month straight. But my mother had been relying on it for over two months now. That meant we owed the sanatorium sixty-plus gold coins. Crunching the numbers, it meant I\'d need to grind for sixty-plus months to settle the debt.

But the doctors gave us only a week. Where on earth could I rustle up sixty gold coins in that time? It seemed like an impossible feat. Currently, I only had three gold coins on me. Maybe if I begged for more time and promised to enter the King\'s Game, vowing to pay up if I won... But let\'s be real here.

The doctors weren\'t idiots. They wouldn\'t put their faith in someone like me, and frankly, I doubted my own abilities to come out on top. The King\'s Game was no joke; it drew adventurers, mercenaries, warriors from distant lands, and magic knights. A mere student like me stood no chance against them. Even if I possessed a powerful skill, it wouldn\'t be enough to take on dozens of seasoned fighters.

So what then? What other choice did I have?

When I arrived at the sanatorium, I made a beeline for my mother\'s room. There she lay, peacefully slumbering as if she were merely taking a nap with no complications whatsoever. Tubes snaked from her body, connected to the magical intervention device—a large green gem that emitted a soft glow. It was this magic intervention that kept the mana flowing through her, sustaining her life.

Taking a seat in the chair beside her bed, I gazed at her serene expression as she rested. She looked so peaceful, as if she were simply asleep.

As I stared at her, the door to her room creaked open. I assumed it was Selene, coming to check on our mother, but to my surprise, it was Doctor Natalia.

"Doctor Natalia...!" I exclaimed, jumping up from the chair and rushing towards her. I reached into my pocket, retrieved the three gold coins, and pressed them into her hand. "I... I know this isn\'t nearly enough, and I feel like a total beggar for even asking, but with my mother\'s life hanging in the balance, I\'ll do anything...! C-Can you extend the deadline for just two weeks, or even one? I...

I don\'t think I can scrape together 60 gold coins in such a short time...! These coins... They\'re not payment, but a plea for an extension... Please...!" Tears welled in my eyes as I pleaded with her.

Doctor Natalia regarded me with sympathy. She\'d been kind to us during our time here at the sanatorium. "I\'m sorry, Zeruel. As much as I wish I could help, this is beyond my control," she said gently, pushing the coins back towards me.

I was fully aware of that fact, of course. Doctor Natalia and the others weren\'t the ones eager to toss us out on the streets. It was the heartless owner of the sanatorium who held all the power, not them. But I still had to try something... So I dropped to my knees and prostrated myself, pressing my forehead against the cold, hard wooden floor.

"Please, Doctor... Please... I can\'t bear to lose my mother..." I pleaded.

"Zeruel..."

I sobbed on the floor, feeling the desperation creeping in. This was the same tactic my mother used to employ with the owner of the tenement we once lived in, begging for just one more month\'s stay, promising to scrape together the rent by then. Sometimes, when pleading failed, she\'d resort to offering her body as payment.

That\'s why now, I found myself pleading...

If this didn\'t work, then I...

The doctor pulled me up from the floor, her expression sympathetic. "All the doctors here managed to scrape together 30 gold coins for you, but that\'s the best we can do. We don\'t exactly have hefty salaries, you know?" she explained, handing me a bag filled with coins. "Even with this, I\'m afraid it won\'t be enough to keep you and your mother here for long...

Your bill will keep mounting until it becomes unmanageable, not just for you, but for the staff here who are trying to help you. You have to understand, Zeruel..."

"Uhm, th-thank you... sob... uuu... sob... sob... T-This is more than enough help...

Thank you, doctor," I sobbed gratefully. The doctor hugged me and began to pat my back soothingly.

Receiving 30 gold coins was a tremendous relief... But I still needed to find the rest... I highly doubted the sanatorium owner would be generous enough to grant me an extension. The King\'s Game was just a week away, but waiting until then would be too late for my mother. She wouldn\'t survive until then. So what should I do...?

***

That night, I remained in my mother\'s room. Selene was also here, curled up in a corner, fast asleep. It was her birthday today, and she had just turned sixteen. But there was no celebration, not with our current circumstances. I glanced sadly at her, wishing we could have done something special. Yet, Mom wasn\'t well enough to mark the occasion.

Or perhaps, it was more accurate to say we couldn\'t afford any festivities. My gaze drifted to the table beside Mom\'s bed, where I noticed something peculiar. It was a small plate with what appeared to be a piece of bread on it. Curious, I approached the table and examined it. There was a letter accompanying the plate, written by Selene.

Given her lack of formal education, her writing wasn\'t the best, and her grammar left much to be desired. Nevertheless, I could make out the message.

The note said, "Eat this, sister. It\'s called cake, and it\'s good."

As I savored the cake, its deliciousness overwhelmed me to the point of tears. It was a taste unlike anything I\'d ever experienced before. Sure, the cafeteria food was decent, but this was on a whole other level. Even the academy\'s fare, which we received for free as top-ten students, couldn\'t compare. I could only imagine how much this cake must have cost. Where had Selene managed to find it?

Pushing aside my curiosity, I returned to my seat beside my mother\'s bed. Gently, I took her hand in mine and pressed it against my forehead. "Mother," I murmured, seeking strength from her touch, "Please give me the strength to endure..."