Chapter 58
The Count's Secret Maid - Chapter 58
Translation: godsn
For the first time in my life, I found myself wondering how they might be living. I'd always considered them worse than strangers, but I suppose blood ties run deep. Perhaps my hunger and exhaustion had weakened my resolve.
In the end, I returned to Pilton. Looking back now, it was a pointless endeavor. But at that moment, it felt like my only hope.
I'd assumed Father and my youngest sister Alicia were living comfortably. The amount of gold coins they'd received for selling me had been substantial. They'd probably forgotten all about their useless eldest daughter the moment they spent that money on luxuries. They might have even left Pilton altogether.
The house I returned to was on the verge of collapse, utterly desolate, with no signs of human habitation. Had I not encountered someone approaching the house just then, I would have left under that mistaken impression.
I was shocked when I recognized the disheveled figure with a tear-streaked face. It was Alicia, who had always been so delicate and pretty.
"Alicia?"
"Who... Sister?"
Alicia froze when she spotted me. But only momentarily—she threw down the basket she'd been carrying and rushed at me, grabbing both my shoulders and shaking me violently.
"This is all your fault! Everything's your fault!"
"W-wait, what are you— Let go!"
My head snapped back and forth from the shaking. I was already exhausted enough to collapse, and Alicia's outburst turned my stomach. When I finally pushed her away, she fell backward with surprising ease. Sitting hard on the ground, Alicia suddenly burst into tears. I could only stare in disbelief at the sight of my proud, arrogant little sister weeping bitterly, snot and tears running down her face.
After calming Alicia down and entering the house, I asked what had happened.
"Someone came looking for you?"
"I don't know. Some strange men kept asking about you. Father told them he didn't know anything, that it had been ages since he'd heard from you, but they kept coming back and there were several altercations."
My breath caught. Could it have been the butler? He'd personally come to Pilton to retrieve me, so he would have known where I lived. Or... could Vincent have been searching for me? I couldn't be certain. Perhaps it was someone else entirely. In this situation, everything seemed suspicious. Whatever the case, it wasn't a good sign.
"Do you know why they were looking for me?"
"No. They just kept asking where you were, saying they'd reward us if we told them when you came here. But how would we know anything about you?"
"I see... And Father?"
I looked around, searching for that devilish bastard who'd been conspicuously absent since my arrival. He should have been home by this time, but there was no sign of him.
"He's dead."
"...What?"
I stared at Alicia in shock.
"It's been a while now."
Alicia's face was so calm as she said this that for a moment I thought she was joking. The news was simply too unbelievable.
"H-how? Surely not because of those men?"
"No. After selling you, he spent all the gold coins on gambling and drinking until one day he fell asleep in the street. Froze to death."
"..."
It was such a meaningless death it hardly bore mentioning.
Alicia told me she hadn't retrieved Father's body. When I asked why, she explained there'd been nowhere to put it, so she'd left it outside overnight—only for scavengers to pick it clean by morning. They must have been starving to leave no trace behind. A fitting end for a father who'd worked his own children to death for survival.
"Was there no gold left at all?"
"None. He must have spent it all before dying."
"How have you been getting by?"
"How else? With Father dead and you gone, what choice did I have? I had to earn my keep. But there was nothing I could do. I barely managed to get work helping with farm labor at Benny's house across the way, but got fired after one day. Said I was useless."
Alicia sniffled and hunched her shoulders, pouring out all the hardships she'd endured since Father's death. It was a tale of suffering too cruel to hear without tears. With only her pretty face and slender figure to her name, there'd been nothing Alicia could do. And with that prideful personality of hers, she wouldn't have been able to humble herself before anyone.
Seeing my younger sister after so long, it was clear she was no longer the same as before. Her clothes were in tatters, her once-glossy hair was completely tangled, and her skin—once white as snow—now looked rough. Her delicate hands and feet were swollen with raw, angry scratches.
"Sister, what do we do now? How are we supposed to live?"
Alicia's voice trembled, her exhaustion palpable. She looked so fragile, as if she might crumble at any moment. I couldn't bring myself to leave her like this. Maybe it was because my own heart had grown weak, but for a fleeting second, I pitied her. Some of the blame for the way she'd turned out lay with me and Father.
"How? We live the way we used to."
"So how is that?"
"We find work. Somehow."
There was no reason to stay here any longer. I took Alicia and left Pilton immediately. That house was no longer fit for living, and we had to flee before whoever was searching for me found us. We headed straight for Nobelle, the kingdom's largest and most central city.
I'd thought there would be plenty of work in Nobelle. But even there, we found nothing we could do right away. No place to stay, either. Desperate, I dragged Alicia into random shops, begging for any kind of job. But no one would hire two women with no clear background. The only places willing to take us were brothels.
"Not you—just the girl."
"I refuse!"
Even then, all they wanted was my sister—the pretty one, the one they could polish up and sell. Alicia recoiled in horror, adamantly refusing. She threw such a fit, swearing she'd rather die, that I was drained just trying to calm her down.
So we slept on the streets again, scavenging through trash just to survive another day. At first, Alicia whined endlessly, but once she grasped the severity of our situation, she fell silent.
Each day was exhausting, each tomorrow more grueling than the last. Then, when Alicia fell ill with a high fever, things grew even worse. Watching my sister struggle to breathe, I pounded on every door I could find, screaming for help. But everyone turned us away.
No one saves beggars. Being ignored was only natural. That's what made it hurt more—what made me frantic. Standing there, helpless, watching Alicia gasp for air, I felt wretched.
What do I do if Alicia leaves me too?
What do I do if I'm left alone?
After leaving that mansion, I had been so terrified of being by myself. If I died, would anyone even remember me? Would anyone know? That fear had haunted me. The thought of dying without a single soul to acknowledge it—wasn't that just too sad?
That's why I went to find my family. But Father was dead, and the only one left was the sister I'd hated so much. Still, it was fine. Keeping Alicia close wasn't about loneliness. It was fear. If my last remaining blood relative left me too, I'd truly be alone—and I wasn't sure I could endure that. I had grown that weak.
Like a madwoman, I pounded on every door I could find. My hands swelled from the force of it, but finally—miraculously—one door opened. An elderly couple stared at me, eyes wide with shock.
Thanks to their kindness, Alicia was laid on a proper bed and treated. Despite how filthy and foul-smelling we were, the old couple showed us nothing but warmth.
I had always believed kindness like that would never come to someone like me, no matter how desperately I wished for it. Yet here I was, surviving because of someone else's help.
"You'll have better luck finding work in the village next to Nobelle."
Following the old couple's advice, we headed to the small village just outside the city. It was tucked away in such a remote corner that I hadn't even known it existed, but it was larger than expected. Deeper in, near the forest, we found rows of abandoned houses. It was a slum—a place where people like us, with nowhere else to go, drifted in and scraped out a living.
And so, life there began. I managed to find work by cautiously inserting myself among the local women. Most people in this village barely scraped by doing manual labor at Nobelle. For someone without a clear social standing, the only work available was physical labor—and even that was only because they could hire me cheaply.
At first, finding work was difficult, but once I secured a position, the connections naturally followed.
It wasn't so different from Pilton, so adapting came easily. I was used to hardship. Hard labor didn't faze me.
The only problem was Alicia. She complained endlessly about our even poorer living conditions now. But no amount of grumbling could change the reality. To survive, we needed money, and to earn money, we had to endure suffering. Alicia, who had never known hardship in her life, often fell ill, forcing me to work twice as hard to cover her share.
Three years passed like that. Then, one day while walking, I happened to hear news of them. Several springs had come and gone—buds sprouting, flowers blooming and withering—until the time spent in that place felt like a distant memory.
Occasionally, I wondered. Were they doing well? How were they living? And him—Vincent...
I sometimes imagined that, by chance, I might see them again. A passing glimpse on the street, or an accidental reunion through some work connection. But after leaving the Bellunita mansion, I never once encountered them. The only way I ever heard of them was through scattered newspaper articles.
That was all.
Five years had passed since I left the Bellunita estate. In that time, I'd been too busy surviving to dwell on the past. Memories of that place gradually faded into mere nostalgia. They say the more memories fade, the more beautiful they become.
Had it really been five years already? "I'll bring you to my side. Without fail." No—it had been five years since then.
"He probably doesn't even remember me now."
The muttered words were swept away by the wind. These days, I rarely had time to linger in memories. Reality always came first.
The hand-to-mouth existence I'd barely sustained was suddenly cut short. There was no food left. Skipping one meal was manageable, but beyond that was trouble. As hunger dragged on, Alicia started whining about how hungry she was.
In the end, I scraped together every last coin I had and headed to the street bread vendor. The bread was dry and tasteless, but it was cheap, so I bought it often.
But even that was beyond my means now.
"Is there anything... a little cheaper?"
"This is the cheapest."
I sighed. I couldn't even afford this terrible bread. A groan of despair escaped me.
As I hesitated, the vendor eyed me up and down. Then, abruptly, he pointed at something.
"Give me that, and I'll trade you three of my best loaves."
What he pointed at was the hair tie holding up my hair. Somehow, he'd zeroed in on the most valuable thing I owned.
I hesitated. This was something precious, tied to memories. Though now faded and worn, the emotions I'd felt when I first received it still lingered in my heart. That's why I had never taken it off.
But hunger came first now.
After wavering, I finally undid the tie and handed it over.