Chapter 122: How the Girl Became a Maid
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: How the Girl Became a Maid
They say a parent’s love is boundless, but her parents were the exception.
Her parents, who ran a small inn, began taking their stress out on her and her younger sister when the business failed and poverty set in.
Pointless, grueling chores.
A daily barrage of verbal abuse.
Physical violence that came almost every single day.
Though she was young, she knew that if things continued this way, she would soon die. That realization gave her the resolve to take her younger sister and run away from home.
With the money she stole on her way out, she and her sister traveled far. She figured that if they went to a large, bustling city, they would at least find a way to make a living.
However, the city they reached after wandering aimlessly was not the haven they had imagined. The streets were already teeming with children who had the same idea, and adults with dark intentions made no effort to hide their malice as they approached them.
To survive, one had to become cold.
Emma grew fierce, just as her parents had been.
If other children loitered near the alleyway she had claimed, she swung a lead pipe to drive them away. When her younger sister was beaten by adults while begging for food, Emma retaliated by throwing stones.
To survive in the city, she scavenged through trash cans and became a pickpocket.
Emma adapted to that lifestyle well enough, but her sister, Annie, did not.
For every five things Emma brought home, Annie couldn't even manage one. They had run away to be happy together, but Emma forgot that and treated Annie harshly. The more Emma scolded her, the more desperately Annie scavenged through the trash.
"I'm sorry, Sister. I haven't been feeling well lately."
One day, while Emma was rebuking her, Annie clung to her and sobbed. It was only when she felt her sister weeping in her arms that Emma realized her mistake.
Annie’s illness was no lie; her condition grew worse by the day. Despite having nothing to eat, her stomach began to swell, while her limbs withered away to skin and bone. Her face grew gaunt, and even breathing became a struggle.
"I'll bring a doctor."
Goods could be obtained through pickpocketing, but a doctor could not be summoned that way. Those haughty adults in white coats wouldn't budge unless they were paid a proper fee.
The amount the doctor demanded was absurdly high—more than double what Emma had, even if she emptied her entire savings.
"Money... I need money."
Sitting by the city fountain, Emma scouted for a target. Perhaps rumors about children like Emma had already spread, as people were clutching their wallets tightly. Some even had their wallets chained to their wrists.
She decided to target an outsider.
After waiting for a long time, she spotted a well-dressed man. He looked like a stranger to the area, constantly glancing around at his surroundings. Seeing him off-guard, she quickly moved in to do the job—and failed.
A butler standing beside the gentleman snatched her hand out of the air.
"You brat! Do you have any idea who this is?!"
"Let go! Let me go!!"
She flailed as she was hoisted into the air, but the difference in strength between an adult and a child was absolute.
"Sebastian. Put the child down."
At the gentleman's word, the elderly man with a thick beard dropped Emma onto the ground.
"Little one. Do you need help?"
The gentleman lowered himself to eye level with Emma, who had fallen hard on her backside on the stone floor.
He didn't ask, 'Do you need money?'
It was the first act of kindness she had received since coming to the city, and young Emma’s heart began to melt.
"My... my sister is sick."
She still didn't know why she had burst into tears while saying those words.
Upon hearing her plea, the gentleman followed Emma to where her sister was. The butler beside him looked displeased, but he didn't speak up, as if this sort of thing happened often.
After checking Annie’s condition, the gentleman scooped her up and took her to a doctor. Emma was stunned to see the same doctor who had demanded more money for a house call now treating the gentleman with the utmost respect and a polite smile.
"It's only natural, now that he's heard the Master’s name."
When she asked the butler why, he gave her that cryptic answer.
Once the examination was over, the gentleman called Emma aside.
"Little one. The doctor says your sister is already at the end of her strength. The illness was left untreated for too long."
Realizing what his words meant, Emma broke down in tears right then and there.
"No... Annie... Annie..."
The gentleman gently patted the back of the girl sobbing on the floor.
When Emma had cried for so long that she had no more tears left to shed, the gentleman spoke again.
"Do the two of you have anywhere to go? Somewhere other than that alleyway."
"...No."
Emma shook her head.
"Hmm..."
Lost in thought for a moment, the gentleman called for his butler. He gave the man an instruction; the butler seemed to protest briefly but soon nodded in agreement.
Annie was brought out after receiving basic treatment, and the gentleman carried her out of the hospital.
"Come with me," the gentleman said in front of the hospital.
"Where to?"
"I have a villa where I'm staying for a while. Stay there. So that your sister... can rest comfortably."
Annie was asleep in the gentleman's arms, her breathing soft and rhythmic. She looked better than before, but she still looked frail.
"Yes. I will."
Emma had long since abandoned the fear that she might be following a bad person. She was so resigned that she would have accepted it even if the gentleman suddenly turned on them.
But as if mocking her worries, the gentleman took exquisite care of Emma and Annie. Maids washed them clean and gave them beautiful clothes.
"Sister... do I look pretty?"
Annie, wearing a black dress with frills, called out to Emma from her bed.
"You look like a dressed-up scarecrow."
Emma answered bluntly, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.
The gentleman called a doctor every day to check on Annie’s health. The doctor did his best, but he could only delay the inevitable, not cure her. The gentleman provided whatever food the sisters wanted, as long as it wasn't too hard on Annie’s body.
"Sister, I think this is heaven."
Annie laughed brightly as she ate roasted potatoes topped with cream. Seeing her sister’s sunken cheeks, Emma’s heart grew heavy.
Two weeks passed.
Annie, who had held on so tenaciously, did not live to see the next morning.
Emma’s voice, calling out her sister’s name, echoed through the villa, and the maids, who had grown fond of Annie, wiped away their tears.
'Sister, I'm really happy.'
Those words, spoken by her sister the day before while eating a roasted chicken leg, were the last words Emma remembered.
A month passed.
The gentleman visited Emma, who had been shut away in her bedroom.
"We will be leaving here soon."
"......"
"I only came here for a vacation, so it's time for me to return to my original home."
"......."
"What would you like to do? If you wish, I can give you some money to help you start a life on your own."
"......."
"Or, you could stay here and look after the villa. I'm a bit worried about you being alone, but it would be better than the streets."
"Mister. I have something to ask."
"Why are you being so kind to me? I tried to steal your wallet."
At Emma’s question, the gentleman fell silent.
"Unlike you, I'm just a lowly person from the streets. Why are you being so good to me?"
"Do you want something from me?"
Emma’s tearful words struck the gentleman’s heart. He bit his lower lip, pained by the suspicion the girl was forced to harbor.
"Child."
The gentleman knelt down to meet her eyes.
"I believe in the goodness that humans keep deep within their hearts."
He gently stroked Emma’s hair.
"Goodness...?"
"That's right. Goodness. Like the love you have for your sister."
"But..."
"You may have done bad things because your situation was dire, but it was all for your sister's sake. I have no intention of blaming you for that."
"......"
"And social status means nothing to me. It's true that I am a noble, but... I believe every human being is precious. Everyone deserves to be treated with equal dignity."
Society may divide us into high and low based on status, but I do not care for such things, the gentleman added.
"That is why I helped you. I helped you because your heart is admirable, and because you are a person who deserves respect."
"...I see."
"That is why my heart is not at ease leaving you behind like this. Life on the streets is not kind to a young girl like you."
The gentleman looked at Emma with a worried expression.
"How can I best help you? I will do whatever is within my power."
Emma thought for a moment.
Her gaze drifted toward the door. From outside the room, she could hear the busy sounds of the servants packing their bags to return home.
The sound of things being loaded, the sound of dragging, the sound of bustling chatter.
Emma felt those sounds with her own ears.
"Mister. Can I go with you?"
"Hmm? With me?"
"Yes. Please let me work as a maid in your house."
Emma spoke after a long silence.
*
"That is how I met the Master, and thankfully, he took me in."
When Emma finished her long story, In-ho unconsciously shed a single tear.
"Are you crying?"
Emma approached In-ho with a look of pity. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and gently wiped away the tear trailing down his cheek.
"I didn't expect you to cry over a story from decades ago. You are so kind, Master."
"It's the first time I've heard it."
In-ho protested, his heart heavy after hearing about Emma’s dark past. Emma gave a small laugh at his child-like grumbling.
The sun set, and night fell over the mansion.