Chapter 35🌹

Chapter 35

“Big Sister, did something happen outside?”

At the cautious question, Maya came back to her senses.

The two younger siblings were looking at their sister with worried eyes as she stood there blankly without even taking off her hat after entering the room.

Maya smiled faintly as she looked at Kurt, who had tidied up his shaggy hair to reveal his handsome face, and Dylan, whose cheeks had become smooth and plump from eating well.

Now, they no longer had to tremble in fear, wondering when she or Kurt might be violated, her younger siblings no longer went hungry, and they had a warm, soft place to sleep.

She had never had such a peaceful daily life in all her life.

‘Baroness Tessis is the archangel who saved us from the very heart of hell.’

Moreover, Rosalyn had recognized her even when she was in so much pain that she wanted to die but could not because of her younger siblings.

“You’ve managed to endure all this time.”

“Yes. Kurt has been through so much…….”

“No. Maya, I mean you.”

At that moment, if Maya had not clenched her molars tightly, or if Rosalyn’s attention had not shifted toward Kurt, Maya would have burst into tears.

Rosalyn was the kind of person who would quietly tend to someone’s wounds like that and then ask, ‘What have I ever done for you?’

So…….

‘If Baroness Tessis ever needs my help, I must protect her even if I have to give my life. Whether it’s a secret or anything else.’

Maya took off the bonnet she had been wearing and gave a small nod to herself.

***

It was around the time when the intensity of the sweltering heat had finally begun to subside.

“Do you happen to know someone named ‘Emma Hampton’?”

One day, a fat man suddenly appeared in Tessis and began going around asking the people of the territory about Emma Hampton.

If he had looked like an insignificant country bumpkin, everyone would have ignored him, but he was accompanied by four men with rather unpleasant appearances.

Moreover, he offered a certain amount of money as a reward to anyone who provided information about Emma, depending on the information they gave, so the people of Tessis told him everything they knew.

Even the woman who had worked as the head maid at the baronial residence went to him, hoping to make a little pocket money, and sold him information.

“So, you’re saying that ‘Emma Hampton’ was a maid at the baronial residence, but she went to Herona with the Baron’s family?”

“Yes. But I heard that the building where they were staying in the capital caught fire, and she died along with the Baron and his wife.”

“Who confirmed that?”

“Miss Rosalyn. There’s no way she would have lied about it. She had no reason to lie, and the police even came down from the capital because of the incident.”

The fat man nodded with a strange expression as he listened to her, and the woman answering his questions cautiously asked,

“But why are you looking for her?”

“Ah, she’s my niece. My elder brother and his family passed away, so I came to tell her about it, but…….”

“Oh my, what a shame. Even your niece died…….”

“What can I do? Human lives are in God’s hands.”

He smiled faintly, slightly removed his hat, and put it back on as a substitute for a greeting.

Then he had a man who appeared to be his subordinate place two silver coins in the woman’s hand.

Once the woman left, the man raised two fingers into the air and wiggled them, and the subordinate, as though accustomed to it, placed a cigarette between those fingers and even lit it for him.

The room remained silent until he took a deep drag of the cigarette and exhaled thick smoke.

“Phew……. Rowanson.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Do you really think that Rosie died?”

At his question, the man called Rowanson wore a troubled expression and tilted his head.

“They say the young lady of the baronial family confirmed it. Surely a lump of charcoal that had been completely burned to ashes couldn’t have come back to life, could it?”

Then another man standing beside him joined in.

“The police even came, didn’t they? I think she really did die.”

But the fat man quietly watched the cigarette smoke dispersing before letting out a sardonic laugh and shaking his head.

“It’s strange. From what people say, it’s certain that she died, but why do I feel like that bitch is still alive?”

“Boss…….”

“Think about it. If Rosie were a person who followed ‘common sense,’ she should have become Viscount Turner’s mistress by now. But that bitch disguised herself as a maid and slipped away.”

Abnormal anger flickered in his gleaming eyes.

“This Gale Showman has been chasing her for more than two years! A woman who knows nothing except how to sell smiles!”

Gale Showman. That was the man’s name.

He was the leader of the traveling troupe <Mulberry>, a terrifying man involved in every crime imaginable, including human trafficking, loan sharking, prostitution, fraud, theft, and violence, and he was also a fairly powerful figure in that underworld.

For a man who had wanted for nothing, his ordeal had begun about two years and five months ago.

On the day he sold the virginity rights to Rosie, the heroine of his troupe, to the lord of the Turner territory for a high price, Rosie knocked out the maid ‘Emma Hampton’ who was washing her, put on her clothes, skillfully disguised herself, and escaped from Viscount Turner’s estate, the territory, and Gale Showman’s grasp.

More humiliating to Gale than being slapped by the enraged Viscount Turner was the fact that the young woman he had believed was entirely his property had vanished so completely.

From that moment on, Gale began chasing Rosie.

“You all know, right? I can’t rest until I chase down and kill anyone who cheats me out of my money or betrays me, even if I have to follow them to the ends of the continent. Rosie, that bitch, especially…….”

He dropped the shortened cigarette butt onto the floor and ground it out with his foot.

“By the way, Herona, huh? I guess this is fate, too.”

When his subordinates looked puzzled at the uncharacteristic word ‘fate,’ Gale continued.

“As it happens, someone invited me to go into business with them. I’ll wrap things up here and head straight to Herona. While I’m there, I might as well confirm that Rosie really is dead.”

“But how are you going to confirm it? The body must have been buried and completely decomposed by now.”

“I’ll have to meet the young lady of the Tessis Baronial House who supposedly survived alone. And I’ll look through the police investigation records, too.”

“We’ll need to make some preparations to enter the capital. We’ll have to forge identification documents and a certificate of criminal record, too…….”

“If I send a telegram to the guys who want to become business partners with me, they’ll make them for us.”

Having decided to head for the capital, Gale met Glen, the steward who served as the baronial house’s representative, and told him his long, sorrowful story about searching for his niece, asking him to help arrange a meeting with Rosalyn.

Glen, who felt sympathy for Emma’s circumstances, was deeply moved by the story and wrote a letter of introduction with his handwritten signature, and after obtaining it, Gale left Tessis without hesitation.

Among the people who wondered about the identity of those who had appeared and disappeared so suddenly, one person suddenly spoke as though he had just remembered something.

“I thought that man looked familiar somehow, but doesn’t he resemble the leader of that traveling troupe who came here before?”

“He only looks the same because he’s fat. Why would that man abandon a troupe that makes good money and go wandering around separately?”

“Come to think of it, that’s true…….”

The people of the territory soon forgot Gale’s existence, and the storm began heading toward Herona.

***

“All right, then, try doing exactly what I told you.”

At my instruction, Kurt straightened his posture despite his face being tense with nervousness.

Maya and I had recently been putting all our effort into training Kurt to become a proper messenger, and today was the day to see how much progress he had made.

“G-good day. I am Kurt Libel, the messenger of Baroness Rosalyn Tessis. I have come to deliver a letter that Baron Tessis sent to Mr. Arthur Gottfried.”

“That’s it! See? You can do it!”

Kurt’s voice was trembling quite a lot, but I ignored that and enthusiastically applauded him.

If a child who used to hide behind his sister and merely tremble had become this presentable in only a little over two months, I had to praise him without holding back.

The only thing that had changed during that time was not merely that this timid and shy boy had become capable of speaking to other people.

‘As expected, he’s handsome. He’s going to make quite a few women cry without even meaning to.’

Nobles were willing to pay extra to hire handsome servants because they considered it worthwhile, and Kurt, with his hair neatly cut and his posture corrected, was so dazzling that I wondered whether I should really be hiring him at this salary.

He was still young enough to fall into the category of a pretty boy, but depending on how he developed from here, his potential seemed limitless.

“Until you become accustomed to talking with other people, I’ll mainly have you serve as my messenger, delivering my words within the Count Brough estate.”

“Yes, Baroness Tessis.”

“Let’s put you into actual practice right away. Go to Countess Brough now and greet her. Tell her that you’ll be working as my messenger starting today.”

Although he had practiced what to say several times already, the moment he heard that he was actually going to meet someone as important as the Countess, Kurt’s complexion turned pale.

But unexpectedly, the child did not hesitate or bite his lips while looking at his sister.

“Then, I’ll be back.”