Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Potato Soup That Soothes the Soul
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‘I wonder if donations will pick up a bit with the holy day coming up...’
Ralph from the orphanage was busy as always today. In truth, he was always busy.
His job was to go around to those with means and plead with them to help the poor.
Of course, it was never an easy task.
Is it my fault they’re living in poverty?
People who said things like that were the decent ones, at least. Their words weren’t wrong.
So what could he say in response? “I don’t know, just hand over the money,” would make him a thief, not an orphanage worker.
He’d talk about mercy, about love, drag in every argument under the sun, but getting someone to open their wallet was no simple matter. Sure, there were the generous souls who gave freely.
But they were never the majority. Taking money from someone else’s pocket was just that hard.
The poor are like cockroaches. Even if you wipe them all out, they’ll be back tomorrow. I’m genuinely curious—what good does it do society to keep feeding them?
The ones who truly believed the needy weren’t worth helping were the hardest.
When he met people like that, Ralph craved a smoke. But even when he reached for his pocket, there were no cigarettes. The money for tobacco could buy corn instead—make corn bread or boiled corn, or even corn soup to feed one more person. For the same reason, he had no wristwatch.
He’d sold his gold ring,
and the lavish heirlooms from his family home.
With that money, he ran the orphanage. Even he thought himself a weirdo.
But it was because of weirdos like him that the world hadn’t grown completely cold.
“Hey, what’s that? Is it a person?”
He’d been out fundraising along the shopping district late into the night, desperately wanting a drink but pushing the thought away to save the money for food ingredients instead. He was trudging back with heavy steps when he spotted it.
Someone lying stiff and frozen on the ground.
Their pockets had clearly been rummaged through—the wallet was gone, and their clothes stripped off. Not fully naked, but down to their undergarments, face-down and unconscious. Ralph hurried over.
“Leprosy...”
Upon realizing what it was, Ralph couldn’t hide his instinctive revulsion. Even a man of his character hesitated to reach out. He grabbed the filthy hands of beggars without a second thought, but a leper? He lacked the courage to touch one bare-handed.
“F-First, cover yourself with this. Come on, pull yourself together and stand.”
So he took off his overcoat. He draped it over the fallen woman, and only then did he help her up. He didn’t know if the coat would block the leprosy, but that thin barrier between them eased his mind psychologically.
“Let’s get you to the orphanage first. Ha, how did it come to this...”
Ralph sighed. Poverty wasn’t someone else’s problem.
People so desperate they’d strip a leper’s clothes weren’t from some far-off land—they were right here nearby. We just chose not to see them.
“So you brought her here?”
Clark, who’d been making potato soup from donated potatoes, freaked out at the sight of the leper his colleague had carried in. He glanced around and sighed.
“Look, Ralph. I’m not saying the woman should die, but this is too dangerous. People already don’t like this orphanage. If word gets out we’re feeding a leper—and it’s not just rumor, but fact—what do you think will happen?”
“But we can’t just leave her to freeze to death.”
“Of course not. We have to save anyone who’s dying. But what I’m saying is, once she recovers a bit, we chase her out. No choice. This isn’t just about donations drying up.”
In the worst case, public backlash could brand the orphanage a nuisance facility.
They could get run out of the city.
“For now, lay her by the fire. The potato soup’s ready, so give her a bowl, then we’ll figure it out.”
“Should we take her to the temple?”
“You know how temples treat lepers? If you do, suggesting it makes you a murderer. If you don’t, you’re an idiot. She’d be dead for sure. Locked away on some isolated island prison to starve.”
“Then...?”
No matter how much Clark thought, there was no answer.
Leper patients were despised by the whole world—what could just the two of them do?
Even putting their heads together yielded no clear solution.
“...Water.”
A groan-like sound shattered their thoughts.
Startled, they looked over. A woman whose face was so ruined her features were unrecognizable let out a long, ragged sigh. She didn’t even have the strength to speak properly.
“Water...”
“Here’s some water. Easy now, sip it slowly.”
Water that was neither hot nor cold—just comfortably warm.
Ralph carefully poured it into her mouth. Some leaked out and dripped to the floor, but she managed to swallow a bit. Life slowly returned to the princess’s eyes.
Faint as a candle flame, flickering unsteadily.
“...Was it you who gave me water?”
Her voice was as weak as her ragged breathing. The princess spoke.
Ralph nodded. Only then did she notice the bubbling soup.
Her empty stomach now ached fiercely. She could feel her belly skin sticking to her back.
The aroma of the boiling potato soup was sweeter and more beautiful than nectar. But she couldn’t even ask for any. A stone from some nameless child had shattered even her last shred of pride.
“Eat. Warm yourself up.”
So when Ralph offered her the soup, the princess was stunned.
Stunned to the point of tears. She wanted to ask if they were mocking her, but her lips wouldn’t move. Only when he handed her the spoon did she realize it wasn’t a joke.
“For real...?”
“We don’t joke about food.”
The princess took a spoonful of potato soup and quietly choked up.
It was too delicious. Even Ralph thought this simple soup made from humble ingredients was tasty. Because the potatoes, the main ingredient, were good. Of course they were—who had sent them down?
To the princess, that potato soup was a revelation.
A dish so moving it changed her favorite food from roast pork to potato soup.
“I came to this city looking for Priest Kyle.”
Regaining her senses as she silently ate, the princess continued.
She shoveled the soup like mad. Hunger had briefly overtaken her reason.
Only once her stomach was somewhat full did she remember her mission. The princess asked.
“If you know him... no, even if you just know his home, could you tell me where? I came from far away seeking him.”
“You came looking for a priest named Kyle?”
Ralph and Clark exchanged glances simultaneously. The princess looked puzzled by their reaction.
“What of it?”
“The man who donated the potatoes you’re eating right now—the ingredient in that soup—is him.”
“But his fame shouldn’t have spread that far...?”
A trivial coincidence they could brush off as chance.
But if not coincidence, it was truly wondrous. Ralph pondered deeply before speaking.
“Then when dawn breaks, I’ll take you to his house. But... I can’t guarantee he can cure your disease.”
“If you’d do that, I’d be deeply grateful.”
Only then did the princess adopt a more respectful tone. It was an acknowledgment.
She set aside her royal pride and recognized Ralph as her benefactor. After all, these two had reached out to her, and no one was more precious than those who extended a hand in your darkest hour.
“Rest for now. I’ll wake you at first light.”
“I should repay you somehow... Ah!”
“Your wallet and clothes were already gone when I found you. Probably taken by some lowlifes in the back alleys.”
If she hadn’t had leprosy, they might’ve taken her body too. The back alleys at night weren’t safe.
‘Ha, haha... I really have nothing now.’
Despair made her drop the spoon. She truly had nothing left.
Not even clothes—she was borrowing Ralph’s overcoat. Not a single coin to repay her benefactors.
Her only asset, her body, was rotting from disease. Truly nothing. The grand title of royalty was long rusted and crumbled.
‘Really, nothing at all.’
But cruelest of all,
was how her weary, exhausted body ignored her mind and sought sleep by the fire.
Sorrow faded, her head grew foggy. Sleep came drifting down.
And so the princess dozed off.
“Master, just say the word—”
When she opened her eyes again,
a beastkin girl with jet-black eyes was glaring at her fiercely.
“I’ll take out the trash.”
It was Roca.
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