Repaying Kindness with Enmity
I never knew that freshly baked bread could be soft. I had never been taught that there was water in this world safe enough to drink without making you sick.
"Haa, haa...! Someone! Anyone! Yes, you! You filthy peasant over there! Save me!"
I never imagined a woman's body could give off a scent so sweet it made my nose twitch. And it was the first time I realized a girl's breath could sound so clear, cutting through the roar of the downpour like a sharp blade.
"Cough! Ugh... cough! This is truly the absolute worst day of my life!"
The young lady's pink hair was a tangled mess, and her hands were trembling violently. Yet, even through her pure white gloves, her touch was astonishingly soft and warm.
"Hans...! Alex!!"
The moment she crawled out of the shattered carriage, the pink-haired lady shrieked so loudly my ears rang. I was the one who had pulled her out. I didn't know what had happened, but while foraging on the mountain to quiet my starving stomach, I had heard the frantic, unnatural screams of horses and found myself unable to turn away.
"Oh, heavens...! Are you unharmed, Lady Laura?!"
"Alex is here, milady!"
Two men emerged, utterly drenched in mud and blood. The moment she saw them, Laura, the pink-haired lady, shoved me away with surprising force. As if that weren't enough, she glared at me with pure disgust, peeled off the gloves my hands had touched, and threw them into the dirt.
"What are we going to do about this?! If Father finds out, it won't just end with me being barred from the Academy!"
"Do not worry, milady. The horses were startled, but they appear to be unharmed. We can still make it to the Academy."
"Hans! Do you honestly think I care about whether it's physically possible right now?! How am I supposed to arrive at the Academy looking like this? The carriage is completely destroyed! My dress is ruined with mud! And Emma is dead!"
Screeching loud enough to split my eardrums, Laura pointed a trembling finger at the wreckage. "I refuse to arrive at the Academy without a proper carriage! It's utterly beneath my dignity!"
"B-but milady, procuring a new carriage out here is an incredibly difficult task."
"Why should it be difficult? Is the Arnold family so pathetic that we cannot manage that? For his beloved eldest daughter, Father would surely dispatch another carriage from the estate immediately!"
Laura shrieked fiercely at Hans, a man who looked at least ten years her senior.
"Um, excuse me..."
"A commoner should know their place... Actually, looking at you, you're probably some filthy beggar lower than a commoner. So shut your mouth and don't speak to me."
Glaring at me with venom, Laura snapped her head back toward her servant. "Hans, if we send a letter to Father, he can send a carriage in no time, right?"
"But milady... the Count is highly unlikely to simply hand over another carriage so easily. Especially since this accident was..."
"Ugh, honestly! You are so incredibly dense."
Laura scoffed, then suddenly whipped her finger around to point directly at me. Her sheer arrogance was staggering.
"A noble carriage was ambushed by bandits. It happens all the time, doesn't it?"
...What kind of crazy bullshit is she...
"Why look so shocked? If you want to pry open Father's heavy purse, you need a lie of this caliber. If he hears that his precious, darling daughter was ambushed by vicious bandits—that her maid was brutally murdered and her carriage destroyed—he'll be so worried he'll send help immediately."
Was she actually serious? I had just saved her life. I had ignored my own gnawing hunger to drag her out of that mangled wreckage. Even the wretched street rats living under the bridge understood the concept of gratitude...!
"Hans, you will do well to obey me—the future head of the Arnold family! And as for you? You filthy, stinking rat... you are going to serve as a very useful stepping stone for my future."
Speaking faster than the howling wind, Laura flashed an incomprehensible, chilling smile and thrust her open palm toward me.
—Flash!
"Uh..."
Something brushed past me. It was a mere graze, but a sickening sensation washed over me as the strength rapidly drained from my limbs. I couldn't even twitch a finger, let alone stand. My legs gave out completely.
"W-what... is this... ah..."
Every time I tried to speak, a hot, metallic liquid surged up from my throat, spilling past my lips.
"Lady Laura!"
"Ugh, shut up! This is the only way anyway—"
"There are lines we cannot cross—"
"Shut up—"
My eyelids grew heavy. The world faded into pitch black. I was an ignorant fool who knew nothing of the world, but even I could tell one thing with absolute certainty. I was dying.