Chapter 2

Maxim’s carriage was crossing Kress Bridge, the last gateway into the Rebunto region, and Elena, who had run out of the house, was also wandering nearby.

There was a scab of blood at the corner of her mouth, and her face, swollen from crying, was enough to make anyone pity her.

Maxim looked indifferently at Elena beyond the carriage window.

It was a glance that should have passed by in an instant, but for some reason, the woman’s figure caught Maxim’s eyes.

Her hair, tangled in a mess, did not suit the luxurious fabric.

Judging by the style of the dress and the worn hem, it seemed old.

Having run a department store, his eye had grown only more discerning, and he was more confident than anyone at appraising an item’s value.

From her appearance, she seemed to be the daughter of a noble family whose fortunes had declined.

Maxim let out a hollow laugh.

Just whose precious young lady was she, wandering the streets at nightfall in such a state?

The family that sent a daughter out looking like that was easy enough to judge.

Maxim clicked his tongue briefly and drew the curtain over the window.

The dress a person wears does not determine their worth or dignity.

The woman’s ruined appearance determined the dignity of her family.

There was nothing good about getting entangled with a family like that.

Maxim withdrew his interest in the outside and closed his eyes.

* * *

Elena paced in front of Kress Bridge for quite a long time.

Her heart fluttered.

If she crossed this place, it would be the first time since settling here that Elena set foot outside the Rebunto region.

Rebunto was like a cage that imprisoned Elena.

That was why Elena paced in front of it whenever she felt stifled.

Every time her toes brushed Kress Bridge, a deep sense of betrayal—that she had abandoned her younger sister and mother—would wrap around Elena.

Elena stared blankly at the other side of Kress Bridge.

This place was no different from Elena’s limit.

Elena blinked.

The light visible far away drew closer and closer.

She thought she might have briefly met eyes with the man inside the huge carriage passing by her.

The man’s face, hidden by the darkness, was not clear.

The carriage carrying the man gradually grew distant.

Who might be riding in there?

Perhaps some event had arisen in the Rebunto region lately, for fine carriages had been coming in day after day.

The wind that blew through the neglected outskirts also stirred a wind in her mother’s heart.

It was a far too useless wind.

Today’s commotion had also broken out because of that event.

She did not know what open-hearted noblewoman it was, but she had invited every noble residing in the Rebunto region.

Cecile believed she could marry Elena—who had nothing to recommend her—to a man from a good family.

On what grounds she thought so, Elena did not know.

[Don’t you think your looks are wasted? If I passed down the best to you, you should know how to use it preciously! At the very least, you should be able to marry into a count’s family.]

Looks?

In the virtues of a mistress who managed a household, looks had no place.

Adornment enough to keep up appearances was sufficient.

Even while harboring the shameless thought of selling off her daughter, Cecile did not know why that was shameful.

[What kind of nobles are we! We don’t even have money to buy a single new dress, so what kind of nobles are we? You need money like that to be noble! I’m telling you, I’ll let you live that kind of life! A life truly befitting a noble! So listen to your mother.]

Was that really what it meant to be noble?

Cecile confined the status of nobility to luxury and indulgence.

Elena had not the slightest complaint about altering and wearing the dresses Cecile had worn in her maiden days.

Rather, Cecile had disliked it, calling it miserably shabby.

[Buy the best. Haven’t you heard that when you don’t know what to buy, you choose the most expensive thing? You just need to meet the richest man with the best status. Do you understand what I mean?]

Tears poured down Elena’s bruised cheek.

Her head throbbed.

If she went back home again, she would get into a meaningless quarrel with Cecile, and in the end she might go as a second wife into a wealthy family, just as Cecile wished.

Ah, no.

By now Cecile had probably gone off somewhere with the money she had taken from Elena.

The late hour could not be any obstacle to Cecile.

If necessary, she was the kind of person who would grab a street vendor woman by the collar and wake her.

In any case, Cecile was hell-bent on “selling Elena off for the highest price.”

Elena’s blood-crusted lips trembled.

If only she could escape this place.

If only she could run away across this bridge.

Elena’s expression sank darkly.

For people, crossing that bridge is easy.

The carriage that had just passed Elena was the same.

Yet crossing the bridge was the hardest thing in the world for Elena.

If she crossed that bridge, Elena would be leaving behind everything she was responsible for.

Leana’s face flickered before her eyes.

Elena was the only one who could hold those small hands.

Elena swallowed a tearful sigh.

She could not run away alone and leave Leana behind.

Cecile had judged Leana to be a child who would never be worth money.

Rather, she regarded Leana as devouring money, so she would never buy medicine for Leana.

Had she not just today stubbornly snatched away Leana’s medicine money?

Elena smiled bitterly.

The streetlamps installed on Kress Bridge flickered.

It was lighting time.

Since electricity had spread to the Rebunto region, people had been leading safer and more comfortable lives than before.

The streetlamps, too, were a product of progress.

The world was changing so quickly, yet Cecile alone was no different from before.

The bridge was bright with the electric lights coming on.

It was a moment like magic.

“Pretty…”

The lights rippling as if fireflies had been gathered in one place breathed life into the darkness.

It was one of Elena’s favorite moments.

That road alone seemed to welcome her.

As if saying, I promise you happiness, so come with me.

But despite the lights brightly illuminating the road, Elena could not possibly take it.

Tears kept falling, drop by drop.

The fortunate thing was that no one was watching her in this state.

Elena held her breath and wept.

With the relief that no one was around, the dam holding back Elena’s tears collapsed at once.

“Huuuaaaah…”

Her chest felt as if it would burst with grief.

Elena, too, had many things she wanted to do and many things she could do.

She wanted to go to the Academy.

There were many things she wanted to learn.

Elena loved to write.

Rebunto was far from the capital, so even people who could read and write were rare.

With the literacy she had learned from her late father, she could help with translation work, but Elena’s world was narrow.

Elena could not even dream.

For what reason was her life continuing?

Elena sobbed and hiccuped, then caught her breath.

As she stood glaring at the bridge in resentment, a carriage approached from behind.

Naturally, Elena thought the carriage would pass her by and cross Kress Bridge.

But the carriage, drawing closer and closer, stopped behind Elena.

It was the moment Elena turned her head with a startled face.

The carriage window rolled down.

A pale face steeped in melancholy was revealed between the window frames.

It was a man she had never seen before.

He was a gentleman armed with refinement.

The emblem engraved on the carriage was revealed under the streetlamp light.

The man blinked slowly.

The man, with his arm resting on the window and his head slightly leaned, parted his lips.

“You’ll get yourself into trouble like that.”

The man’s voice, as if blending with the darkness, held a chill and a low timbre.

Elena tried to tidy her appearance.

Then she belatedly realized that her appearance was beyond tidying.

She could not even put on the shoes she had left at home.

The man let out a smile on his tired-looking face.

“Every man passing by is staring.”

Elena blinked.

“W-what does that have to do with you?”

Elena, who had answered primly before she knew it, took a step back.

To think she was talking with a man in such a state.

Belated embarrassment rushed to her face.

She bowed her head, her face bright red.

“It’s none of my business. But I did see you. If I see your picture in the newspaper tomorrow morning, I might end up suffering from needless guilt. Rather than wasting time arguing, why don’t you get in quickly?”

Even as Maxim recited exactly what the coachman had said, he regretted it for a moment.

The meddling, so unlike him, was adding to his fatigue.

What did it matter to him how precarious the woman was, how swaggering idlers kept glancing at her, or what nonsense the coachman was jabbering?