Ch#296
Fragment of the Broken Glass Slipper Side Story 5 Episode 3
Second – Cause
The woman bowed her head to avoid eye contact. Her throat felt torn from constant coughing, but she forced it down. Her head spun with each unsteady step.
But she couldn't collapse here. A woman in a tattered robe standing alone in the alley was as good as proclaiming herself an old whore ready for customers.
Thus, despite her exhausted body, she couldn't sit anywhere to rest.
The illness had consumed not just her body but was now ripping her soul apart. Even breathing felt like death drawing near.
The woman coughed violently. Blood poured from her open mouth. Tears welled up with the dry heaves.
She wiped her lips with her filthy sleeve and wept silently. She couldn't bear her wretched fate.
Just months ago, she had been a noble lady commanding several maids in splendid dresses.
Every day, she donned lavish gowns, ate delicious food, and attended plays and operas. She occasionally stopped by jewelers for necklaces or earrings, or visited hat shops for the latest fashions.
Pondering which bird's feather to adorn her new hat with had been her secret pleasure. Yet it had all crumbled in an instant.
The woman recalled the day soldiers stormed the mansion.
It was the day after a distasteful ball. She had risen late for a belated lunch when a commotion erupted at the front gate.
Startled, she went out to find imperial regular troops swarming in, kicking the maids, and seizing her and her daughter without a word.
She screamed for help, but no one aided her. Everyone watched as if it were natural. Even her daughter did the same.
Her daughter spoke to the despairing woman in a calm tone.
'It's over now that Roena has caught the Crown Prince's eye. We've lost to her in the end. Give up, Mother. No one will help us.'
The worst, most wicked daughter of all, yet still her beloved child. Seeing her own flesh and blood bow her head as if it were finished tore at her heart.
Thus, she struggled desperately to survive somehow.
But as her daughter said, no one looked their way. Instead, they spat and cursed.
And loudly condemned them as if ready to hang them at any moment.
Had it not been for Roena's mercy, the woman and her daughter would already be dead.
Her daughter hated Roena's kindness. It was a reaction incomprehensible to her as a woman. Wasn't living better than dying?
Yet her daughter ground her teeth fiercely at the filthy mansion crawling with rats and insects. Her face twisted horribly.
'Better to die. She's taking revenge on us in her own way.'
Soon, the woman realized what her daughter meant.
It was a hellish daily existence where survival felt like death. Outside, people who recognized their faces threw stones or objects; indoors, it was cold and hunger.
The maid sent by Roena to check on them mocked the woman and her daughter while smashing the brought food on the floor and stomping it.
Roena was repaying the humiliations she had suffered upon them in the name of kindness.
And now with illness added, it became a life worse than death.
The woman's health deteriorated day by day. Without money for a doctor or even herbs, recovery was impossible.
What began as light coughing soon turned to fever, then vomiting blood.
Her daughter, Cisse, ventured out to find work for medicine, but no one would hire her.
Plays detailing their misdeeds were already all the rage in the Capital. Even wandering minstrels pointed at the woman and Cisse, singing songs laced with lyrics calling them bitches to kill.
Street beggars cackled with lewd remarks every time Cisse passed.
The entire Capital had become a prison watching them, save for not being locked away.
The woman wept all day over the withered bread piece her expressionless, wound-covered daughter offered. What they had done to Roena was undoubtedly evil. Thus, it could be called just punishment, as others said.
But human hearts are selfish; the woman deemed her situation unfair. Hadn't she provided Roena with food and clothing?
If Roena had fallen ill, she would have at least brewed medicine. Not tormented her slowly to death like this.
The woman ground her teeth and cursed Roena. They had abused her equally—why were their acts evil, and Roena's mercy?
She felt immensely aggrieved that only she and Cisse knew Roena's true nature.
Yet Roena was the Crown Princess, while she was a sinner locked in a filthy mansion awaiting death.
The woman wept loudly again, thinking of her ruined future and her suffering daughter because of her.
The past glory still vivid before her eyes—her palms still soft without a single callus—now irretrievable memories tormented her. Even sadder was her daughter's heart, watching her dying mother.
Thus, the woman decided to leave. Better to die quietly where Cisse's eyes couldn't reach. Then Cisse wouldn't have to yield food to her sick mother anymore.
Seizing the moment her daughter went out for food, the woman barely rose. Donning the old robe, she took the bread piece Cisse had left. Each step made the world spin dizzily, but she endured and left the mansion.
Her face ruined by severe illness differed greatly from her known appearance in the Capital.
Still fearing recognition, she hunched over like an old woman, keeping her head down and face deeply shrouded in the robe, eyes to the ground.
Fortunately, people grimaced at her sickly appearance and openly avoided her.
Occasionally, mischievous children trailed her, mocking in jeering tones—unaware of her identity—trying to trip her but not lifting the robe.
The woman met the beggar Wagus less than a day after leaving the mansion.
Her slow steps were exhausting just escaping the back alleys teeming with thugs. Hungry children eyed her relentlessly, waiting for her to fall.
Suddenly, someone sneaked up to stone her head, but Wagus intervened, stopping it.
Of course, the woman had no idea he had saved her life. She merely coughed violently, gasping for breath.
"Please sit here."
Wagus said to the woman in a polite tone. Swallowing the blood pooling in her mouth, she looked at him. The ragged beggar had laid his worn outer garment as a seat.
One child, frustrated at missing the chance to stone her, mocked him loudly.
"Think you're a man, seducing an old whore? If the trembling old hag can even take off her pants. What can those shaky hands do? Ugh, get hit by a carriage and die! Ptui!"
He fled far, dodging Wagus raising his hand.
"Such rotten kids."
Wagus clicked his tongue lowly with a sigh. He urged her to sit again.
A woman who once recoiled at dirt now sat exhausted.
She hesitated briefly before sitting on the spot Wagus prepared.
"Thank you."
Even the hard ground felt like salvation momentarily. She gently pounded her swollen legs with her fist, swallowing rising sighs. As relief came, fatigue washed over. She wanted to lie down and sleep.
Then a gurgle sounded beside her. She turned to see Wagus.
His face flushed red, he cleared his throat repeatedly. Only then did she notice the holes in his shoes and pants.
The woman decided to share the bread she had taken when leaving. He was a kind man who readily offered a seat to someone clearly ill. He deserved it.
She pulled out the bread and offered it. Wagus hesitated at the hard piece, meaning he felt sorry to take it.
Fragment of the Broken Glass Slipper
Novel by Yeolmae
Author: Yeolmae
Publisher: Kwon Tae-wan, Woo Cheon-je
eBook Publication Date: 2024-05-07
Production: CL Production
Address: 1108-ho, 41 Digital-ro 31-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul
This book is published as an eBook by KWBOOKS under contract with the copyright holder.
Unauthorized reproduction of this book's content without the publisher's permission is prohibited by copyright law.