[Little Silaya, she's so cute!]
[No parents at such a young age? How tragic...]
[I wonder what's in that sack Silaya's dragging.]
Chu Xi froze for a few seconds, then turned around, puzzled. She watched Little Silaya's retreating figure, pulling the sack behind her.
"Silaya can't see us?" Paimon asked.
"I've been wondering," Alhaitham replied. "There are noticeable differences between this place and the real Sumeru City. For example, that tree over there is much smaller. It seems we've been transported back to Silaya's childhood."
"Time travel?!"
"We are indeed in different timeframes," Alhaitham explained, "but it's not quite time travel in the conventional sense. Everything here is a clue Silaya left behind. More accurately, what we're seeing are her memories."
"Alhaitham is right," Nahida said. "If my memory serves me correctly, this should be Sumeru from thirteen years ago."
Paimon and Chu Xi had been trailing Little Silaya closely. Hearing Nahida's words, they exclaimed in surprise:
"Thirteen years ago? So that means Silaya is only five years old now?"
"Silaya told me her childhood wasn't easy, but I never imagined it was this bad..." Chu Xi added, her voice trembling.
The group continued to follow Silaya, eager to see where she was headed.
Little Silaya's face was smudged with dirt, but her skin was strikingly fair. If they could have touched her, they would have scooped her up into their arms and showered her with care.
Dragging her cloth bag, Little Silaya led them to a stall. Since it was nighttime, the stall was closed.
Silaya's stomach rumbled loudly, the sound clear to Lumine and the others.
The stall was covered with a cloth, beneath which the outlines of fruits were visible.
Silaya's stomach rumbled again, and she gazed at the stall, her large, beautiful eyes filled with longing.
Chu Xi's eyes welled with tears. She desperately wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do.
"Silaya, hurry and grab one to eat!" Paimon urged. "The boss won't mind if you're hungry!"
At that moment, Paimon desperately wanted to give Silaya all the food she had been saving.
Lumine and Alhaitham sighed silently, while Nahida fell into contemplative silence.
Silaya watched for a moment before dragging her cloth bag away. But she had barely taken a few steps when a Sunsettia fell from the stall, slowly rolling to her feet.
Her large eyes darted around in confusion before she bent down to pick it up.
Just as everyone watched expectantly, hoping she would eat it, Silaya instead walked back to the stall, lifted a corner of the cloth covering it, placed the Sunsettia inside, and carefully pulled the cloth back into place.
Finally, she gently patted the covered cloth before leaving.
Silaya's actions left Lumine and the others speechless.
Paimon: "Little Silaya, eat it! It's okay, it's just a Sunsettia!"
Alhaitham felt both deeply moved and heartbroken.
When he had first met Silaya, her circumstances had already improved somewhat. He had only learned from that noisy fellow that her previous life had been dire, but he had never truly understood the extent of her suffering.
Lumine glanced at Nahida, wondering if the fallen Sunsettia had been her doing.
Even if she were starving, she wouldn't eat... Silaya was truly... adorably foolish.
Lumine gained a clearer understanding of the Pure Soul's nature this time.
The group continued following Silaya. This time, she walked over to a trash bin. Being small and young, she looked around for a moment before struggling to move a wooden stool over and standing on it.
She poked around in the trash bin with her small wooden stick, her practiced movements tugging at the heartstrings.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and a smile bloomed on her dirty little face.
She fished out a half-rotten piece of fruit, examined it carefully, wiped it clean with her clothes, and brought it to her mouth to eat.
After eating part of it, the rest was too rotten. Silaya tossed it back into the trash bin.
The group followed her for a while longer until they reached a sheltered corner, protected from the wind on two sides.
Silaya crawled into the cloth bag she always carried, leaving only her small head peeking out.
Perhaps because of the rotten fruit, she curled up, her little face twisted in pain.
Lumine: "I remember Sumeru has a Children's Home. Why is Silaya..."
Alhaitham turned his head away, his expression conflicted.
"The Children's Home was only established in recent years," Nahida explained.
Chen Xiyao felt a pang in her heart. Even though these events had already passed, she still felt a deep ache. She longed to rush in, hug Little Silaya, take her out for a proper meal, and tuck her into a warm bed.
Such a foolish child, she thought, not thinking of herself at all. I wonder how she became so clever later on.
[Ugh... As a parent, I can't bear to watch this...]
[So that cloth pouch she always carries around is for sleeping?]
After Silaya fell asleep, the scene before them shifted.
They were still in Sumeru City, but now it was daytime. Silaya had grown a little, and based on Nahida's explanation, she appeared to be about six years old.
"So," Paimon said, "Silaya really survived for a whole year by scavenging for food alone?"
No answer was needed; the truth was painfully clear.
Silaya sat beneath a tree as a golden-haired boy slowly approached, holding a wrapped snack in his hand.
"Hello there, little one," the boy said, crouching down in front of Silaya with a warm smile. "My name is Kaveh. What's yours?"
"I... I'm... Silaya..."
Paimon: "So this is Kaveh, the one Silaya said adopted her? He was just a kid himself back then!"
Alhaitham leaned in for a closer look. Young Kaveh did indeed appear more agreeable than his present-day counterpart.
"At this time, Kaveh's mother had just left Sumeru, leaving him all alone. He was living in the Akademiya's dormitory, and it was roughly a year later that he formally adopted Silaya."
Lumine: "Speaking of which, how could such a young child adopt someone? Would Sumeru law even recognize it?"
Alhaitham: "You can consider it a one-sided act of support and sacrifice. Kaveh never sought legal recognition."
Chu Xi gazed at Kaveh.
Is this Silaya's closest relative?
At twelve years old, Kaveh's face lacked the typical childishness of boys his age, likely due to his family circumstances. He carried himself with remarkable composure, consistently showing Silaya his most warmhearted side.
Silaya clutched the food Kaveh had given her, her adorable face filled with confusion.
"These... are mine...?"
Kaveh nodded reassuringly. Once assured of ownership, Silaya began to devour the meal in large bites.