124 - Pieces of the Broken Glass Slipper
Shattered Glass Slipper Shards 124
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“How did you get here… No, wait, you….”
My face lit up with joy for a moment, but I lost my words at the sight of the wounds all over the child’s body.
Aside from the thin clothes that were unsuitable for the season, the mottled bruises on her neck, the scabs on her lips, and the countless scratches on the back of her hand as she handed me the menu were all too clear.
The dry patches and rough skin all over her face were proof that she wasn’t eating properly. Her bloodshot eyes even looked hollow.
What on earth happened to this child?
In fact, it is common for children around Arina’s age to be beaten by adults while working.
It was common to be kicked in the calf with hard wooden shoes, or to have their hair pulled or be slapped for being as slow as a grub.
They worked hard all day, enduring insults, just to earn enough money to buy a single hard barley bread.
But if she’s regularly delivering water to a Count’s family, she shouldn’t need to work here, right?
You wouldn’t be able to deliver water to a noble family without considerable trust and connections.
And yet, Arina looks much more shabby than before. What does this mean?
When Arina sees my gaze directed at the back of her hand, she quickly hides her hand behind her back and smiles awkwardly.
She says, ‘I got scratched while playing,’ as if making an excuse, and pretends to be fine, but her face is full of fear of the person who hurt her.
“Please decide on your order quickly. The madam here is very impatient and will kick you out if you don’t order food quickly.”
At the child’s words, the Crown Prince says, “The most delicious snacks and alcohol.” Arina nods once and quickly disappears towards the kitchen as if running away.
“Do you know her?”
“A little.”
“Just a little? You look very serious.”
The Crown Prince has been paying attention to my expression and asking me questions since earlier. This is also part of information gathering, so the very act of answering is annoying. I pretended to ignore his question.
“It’s just sympathy. By the way, you shouldn’t drink too much alcohol.”
“I’ll try.”
A little later, Arina comes out, staggering under the weight of a large wooden tray full of snacks and alcohol.
It looks too heavy for a child to carry, and it’s pitiful to watch. Sure enough, Arina loses her balance and falls to the floor.
“You stupid girl!!!”
Is that the person Arina called ‘madam’? A woman with a gaunt face and a nervous expression walks out quickly and roughly grabs the arm of the fallen child.
Then she slaps her hard across the cheek. Arina just hangs limply, taking the woman’s harsh violence.
“You can’t do anything right. You troublemaker! How long are you going to keep causing trouble like this? If you’re going to crawl in here to pay off your father’s debt, you should work harder!”
Then, a man drinking alcohol at the next table picks his ear with a nonchalant expression and says to the landlady.
It was more of a tone that he couldn’t stand the noise of the situation than sympathy for Arina.
“Geez, there’s not a day that goes by without you hitting her. It’s noisy every time. Why don’t you hire someone else?”
“I can’t. I can’t let her go until her father pays back all the money he borrowed from us. Who would benefit from that? But she causes trouble every day, so I’m just losing money. I’ve never seen such a useless girl. There’s nothing I like about her.”
The woman punches Arina’s head again with her fist. The child stood still, even as harsh violence poured down on her body.
Her lips, barely visible through her disheveled hair, were pressed tightly between her small teeth. She was holding back. Unable to bear it any longer, I held out my hand to the Crown Prince.
“What?”
“Give me the money you’re going to pay now. Give me all the money you brought. The money you gave me earlier doesn’t count because I threw it away.”
“Huh? What are you….”
“Quickly! Quickly!”
With an uncomprehending expression, the Crown Prince takes out a silk money pouch from his pocket and gives it to me.
I take the pouch, get up from my seat, and approach the woman called madam. Then I ruthlessly grab Arina’s other arm.
“You little brat, still acting like this?”
“What is it, miss?”
The woman looks at me with wary eyes. I put a little more strength into it, turning Arina’s body towards me. A groan mixed with pain escaped from the child’s mouth, but I pretended not to notice.
“This child’s father owes our madam some money. I was going to follow her to find out where she lives, but after hearing what you said, I couldn’t stand it. If this little thing is working to pay off her father’s debt, it’s the same as our madam not getting any money at all.”
The woman’s eyes change. When I casually say ‘our madam,’ she seems to think I’m a prostitute from a brothel and immediately changes her attitude.
She glances at me and asks, ‘Haven’t you received any customers yet?’ Compared to her neatly groomed face, her clothes are still shabby, so she seems to think I’m a newbie taking care of a high-class prostitute.
“Not yet. But I will soon.”
“If a beauty like you receives customers, all the customers from the surrounding brothels will dry up.”
“Oh, well, that’s obvious. Anyway, how much money does she owe?”
“What do you want to know that for?”
“Our madam told me to bring the child if the father couldn’t pay the money. She’s quite pretty.”
Imitating the Baroness of Flanders, it sounds plausible even though it’s a ridiculous story.
Of course, I could feel the stinging gazes of a few people who felt sorry for Arina, but I had no choice in order to save the child. So I lifted my chin as if it were nothing.
“Five Silver coins. That includes the interest. Can you pay it?”
Arina lifts her head sharply at the madam’s words and blurts out as if shouting. The child’s face was miserably distorted with shame and anger.
“That’s a lie, that’s a lie! It was only one Silver coin. How did it become five Silver coins? My father’s medicine was only that much!”
“You, you impudent little brat! Where do you think you’re shouting? What about all the food you’ve eaten, the place you’ve slept, the washing you’ve done, and the things you’ve broken in the store? I’d rather sell you to a brothel!”
I opened the pouch and quickly took out six Silver coins. Then I put them in the madam’s hand.
Only after seeing the Silver coins in her hand does the madam finally calm down. The woman’s hand was already off Arina’s arm.
“Then this child is now my responsibility. Bring back the food that was spilled on the floor.”
The madam bites the Silver coins with her teeth and nods casually. She seemed happy that she had received one more Silver coin.
I took Arina to where the Crown Prince was. Then I took out a handkerchief and roughly wiped the dust off her cheeks.
“What are you doing?”
I didn’t answer the Crown Prince’s question. Instead, I carefully examined the child’s cheeks to see if any of her teeth were loose or if there were any scratches on her skin.
Arina was looking at me with somewhat puzzled and suspicious eyes.
“You weren’t a maid?”
“Yes.”
“Then are you really going to sell me to a brothel? Did my father really take out another loan?”
“No, it’s a lie. I was acting.”
“Really? Then why did you pay off that money?”
“Think of it as me paying back the debt I owed you.”
The child had an expression that she didn’t understand what I was saying. But she didn’t ask any more questions and kept her mouth shut.
This clever child seemed to have noticed that I didn’t want to explain it to her.
“Well, I guess we can’t eat here. Let’s get up and leave.”
The Crown Prince sighs and gets up from his seat. I explained that the food would be out again, but he seemed to have lost his appetite and walked straight to the door.
Arina was looking back and forth between the Crown Prince and me with a frightened expression.
“It’s not your fault. Do you have any luggage to take?”
“No.”
“Then let’s go.”
The landlady ran up to me as I got up from my seat and started spouting nonsense. She said that Arina was a lazy troublemaker and that she couldn’t be taught well without hitting her.
“We’ll take care of the education. We’ve paid off the debt, so don’t look for her again.”
“Well, that’s what I should be saying. Don’t come back saying you’re going to cancel the debt repayment.”
I grabbed Arina by the scruff of the neck as if to show off and said in a cold tone.
“Don’t worry, that won’t happen.”
Then I dragged the child’s body away. Arina obediently entrusted her body to my hand, as if she knew what I was doing.
Her frail legs, with nothing but bones left, dragged pitifully, creating a long shadow.
I roughly opened the door and threw the child’s body out of the door. The landlady seemed to like my actions, as she was constantly grinning and enjoying herself. I frowned and slammed the door of the store shut.
Next to the Crown Prince, who had gone out in advance, stood a man who might have been his subordinate.
He said to me, who had come out of the store, as if he was very sorry, ‘I guess we have to go back now.’ And he added the words ‘Do you want me to help you?’, as if he thought I was going to Arina’s house as it was.
“No. There’s no need. I’m going back as it is.”
“Really? That’s good. Just wait a moment and Lüce will come this way.”
It seems that his subordinate found out the way back while we were waiting for the food to be ordered.
It was quite unexpected that Lady Roshan was coming all the way here, but I didn’t take it seriously since it was already arranged.
“Then what about me?”
Arina asks me with a worried expression.
“Come to Bischwartz’s mansion tomorrow. Tell your father that you’re going to work at the Count’s family.”
“He won’t allow it.”
Arina replies in a sullen voice. I stroked her cheek and said gently, as if whispering.
“But you’re the one working, right? Right? Surely he won’t just oppose you if you say you want to do it? So be sure to come tomorrow.”
“Yes. Then can I go home now?”
The child had a face full of excitement, as if she couldn’t believe that she could go home.
I nodded. Arina looked back and forth between me and the Crown Prince once more, then hugged my waist tightly and said, ‘Thank you. See you tomorrow.’ And she ran out with light steps.
“Are you always so full of sympathy?”
“This is when you should show consideration by pretending not to know.”
The Crown Prince seemed amused by my answer. He laughed a few times in a low rumble, then lightly tapped my shoulder with his finger. It was a casual attitude, as if he were treating a friend of the same gender.
In fact, I don’t know what I was able to gain through this outing. Even if it has become easier to deal with him, that was when I was ‘Idi,’ and it’s different from the Crown Prince’s true self.
Being cared for in front of others was already part of the contract, so it was nothing special.
No, I learned that he values his friends more than the Empress, so could that be considered a gain? Or that he’s good at gambling or provoking? If not, could it be that I was able to bring Arina to me?
I was also concerned about whether the Crown Prince had gained everything he had planned in advance through today’s schedule.
He insisted on going into a restaurant to eat, then suddenly changed his mind and went outside to meet his subordinate.
Looking back, the action of going to the Witch to hear a prophecy in the first place is questionable. Therefore, I couldn’t be sure if he really wanted to go outside to play.
