These days, heroines with tragic backstories involving sexual abuse are rare, unless you're playing an adult game. However, just twenty years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for heroines with such traumatic pasts to appear, even in all-ages games.

Of course, those scenes were never shown explicitly; they were often glossed over with a simple, “This character has had a miserable life.” Yet, even with that, the setting was still gut-wrenching in retrospect.

Claire Fangriffon, however, while being classified as a heroine character, was never a character you could pursue. At least not in the series I played.

In fact, pursuing her wasn't the issue—saving her was impossible.

Although the series is now 20 years old, the current world within the game only started five years ago. The 14th installment came out five years ago, and there have been three more games since then.

By the late 2010s, characters with backgrounds like Claire’s were already outdated.

Still, there’s a certain appeal to a character like her… if you could call it that. Tragic backstories can add depth to a character, after all.

She might try to cover up her dark past by pretending to be cheerful or become more mature than her peers. Maybe she acts tough to appear stronger or finds redemption from her bleak history, reconciling with her estranged stepsister.

Those are the types of character arcs often attached to such tragic backgrounds, though that kind of misery doesn’t need to involve “degradation” to be effective.

Whether it was due to the developers’ preferences or because the same scriptwriter had been working on the series for 20 years, the shocking aspect of Claire’s backstory always seemed to hold back her popularity as a character.

On top of that, a few players constantly dragged her past into every discussion, further lowering her image, at least in the domestic scene. I don’t know how things went in Japan.

Eventually, whether the developers intended for this to happen or not, Claire ends up rejecting the emperor’s orders and sacrifices herself for her stepsister—the emperor’s real daughter—in the last installment of the series.

Despite the controversies surrounding her character, no one criticized that storyline. "She was unhappy until the very end, but she chose her fate on her own terms." That’s always been a popular trope.

“Hmm…”

The problem is that the Claire sitting nervously in front of me now hadn’t yet earned the surname Fangriffon nor experienced the horrors of her future.

Claire was sold to a brothel by the head of the orphanage.

In fact, the orphanage itself had a special arrangement with the brothel. It masqueraded as a regular orphanage but was, in reality, a place where children were selected and provided as needed. When one of the brothel’s unfortunate children was broken and discarded, a new one would be supplied from here like a replacement part.

...The child who was “adopted” recently probably ended up being sold for a similar purpose.

Gender didn’t matter much when it came to those with “special tastes.”

A girl from a brothel becomes the emperor’s daughter. It doesn’t make sense under normal circumstances, but there’s a story behind it.

Claire had a unique talent.

During one of her routine assaults, she snapped. Unable to endure any longer, she killed the “customer” she had been forced to serve.

On her way out, she grabbed a fork and severed the carotid arteries of the large men who had come running at the sound of the scream. Then, by accident, she knocked over an oil lamp, setting the entire brothel ablaze.

Without proper fire safety measures or regard for human life, the fire quickly spread from the dilapidated brothel to the slums, resulting in a massive inferno that claimed countless lives.

Ironically, many nobles who had been opposing the emperor perished in that fire, dealing a significant blow to the aristocratic faction.

While investigating the incident, the emperor discovered Claire and adopted her as his daughter.

Many of the emperor’s “children” were loyal only to him, having been brought into his fold in similar ways.

However, they had no rights to the throne; they were merely tools for the emperor to further his ambitions.

Claire’s true origins remain a mystery, even up to the latest game. There were hints that her biological parents might be revealed in the next installment, but that’s all we know.

Anyway, since she hadn’t yet taken on the Fangriffon name, she hadn’t gone through any of those horrors yet.

...But, conversely, that means this orphanage is the very place connected to that twisted brothel.

Yes, that means not only Claire, but even I could be sold off.

The reflection I saw in the mirror was that of a mystical-looking young girl.

And what difference would it make if the mind inside was that of an adult man? To the nobles buying children for their perverse desires, that would just make it all the more entertaining.

“We’re screwed.”

“Sc-screwed?”

“Ah.”

Claire mimicked my muttering.

I buried my face in my hands, watching her innocent attempt at copying me.

For the past month, I hadn’t been able to do anything.

Not that I hadn’t thought about it. I’d considered trying to escape this orphanage and find somewhere better to hide.

And I know a place where I might have a chance.

The main protagonist of this game is a diligent and kind person. Naturally, his parents are the same. They belong to a respectable baronial family with a long history in the capital, and in line with their reputation as a noble and kind family, they run a proper orphanage.

Not one like this, which only pretends to care for orphans. No, this was a genuine orphanage, one that sincerely cares for the children, raising them with love until they reach adulthood.

I’ve platinumed every console version of Azernian Chronicle, and I even bought the Japanese versions before the official Korean releases, using a dictionary to write detailed walkthroughs. I know the layout of the imperial capital. If this world is truly the game world I remember, I could at least navigate using the map in my memory.

But the problem is the game’s scale.

Unless you’re a Western studio with a massive budget, it’s nearly impossible for a game company to recreate an entire city within a game. For a small company with only about 40 employees, it’s out of the question.

They did a decent job of representing some areas, but they only included the key locations necessary for the game. In terms of distance, it would only cover a few blocks, with about eight key areas featured in the game.

Everything else was an outside battle field, and since this was a JRPG, the fields had monsters and treasure chests, making the layout illogical. The outside areas were designed purely as dungeons, so it’s no surprise that the city’s outskirts in this world might look entirely different.

So, I’ve been stuck here, waiting.

“Sylvia, is something wrong?”

The other children had grown quite fond of me.

Maybe it was because the previous leader of the group ruled through fear. The children would be punished if they caused trouble, so they kept quiet and out of the way.

Even though I was never hit myself, perhaps it was because of this pretty face.

...As odd as it feels to say it, I suppose this face must be considered beautiful from a child’s perspective. From an adult’s view, it would be a “face with potential”...

And to a criminal’s eyes, it would be a face they’d want to possess right away.

I don’t know why I ended up in this orphanage with such a face.

In a web novel, this would be the point where I save the child in front of me, and the story would begin to take a completely different path from the original—

—but how?

I glanced at the other children who were staring at me.

They were all attractive in their own way. It was almost uncanny how the orphanage had managed to gather only such good-looking children from the back alleys.

...Perhaps they weren’t just orphans after all. I have no way to prove it, but still.

Sure, being reborn in another world is exciting. Meeting the heroine during her childhood is thrilling. Honestly, when I first realized it, I was touched.

Magic, airships soaring through the sky, incredible steampunk devices—all of it was stuff that stirred the heart.

The problem is that I’m destined to be sold off and exploited long before I get a chance to enjoy any of it.

For all I know, Sylvia Black could be an actual character. Maybe there’s a backstory where she knew Claire before Claire became the emperor’s daughter. Maybe Sylvia was sold off and disappeared before the main story began.

“......”

No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t find a solution.

There’s no status window, no sudden voice offering me guidance. I don’t seem to have any extraordinary abilities either.

“Sister?”

“......”

Even though the language is similar to English, it has that distinct tone unique to Japanese games, and it’s probably not just my imagination.

In fact, it’s likely that my age and Claire’s aren’t too far apart. At most, we’re separated by a year, or perhaps just a few months. Based on our heights, we’re about the same.

Yet, because the old woman said I was the oldest, all the kids call me sister.

“...It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

I tried my best to be kind to them.

After all, I couldn’t do anything else for them.

I’ve never been the type of person who empathizes deeply with others or tries to help everyone. That’s just not me.

If I can’t do anything about a situation, I’ll stand by and watch from a distance. That’s my position.

But even so...

I could at least offer kind words to children destined for a tragic future.

...Looking back, maybe that’s why the kids here took such a liking to me.

The day of farewell came sooner than expected.

“Claire!”

And it arrived in the worst way.

“Someone’s here to take you! Come on, be happy about it!”

“...”

Normally, when kids leave this place, they’re more excited. After all, they’re escaping from a place where they’ve only known abuse.

And the kids still don’t know that they’re being sold.

They just think they’ll be adopted into a wealthy family, where they’ll live comfortably.

...They don’t realize that nobles and rich folk aren’t coming to take children from filthy slums like this.

Despite that, Claire just looked up at me.

Her eyes were filled with fear and regret.

Had she grown attached to me in that short time?

“...I’ll walk you to the front.”

I stood up and said it gently.

Claire, looking uncertain about what was to come, smiled up at me.