Chapter 58
58
58. The Maid Left Alone (2)
For the first time in my life, I wondered how they were living. I thought they were worse than strangers, but I guess family is family. Maybe my heart, worn out by hunger and fatigue, had weakened.
In the end, I returned to Pilton. Looking back, it was a pointless thing to do. But at the time, it felt like the only hope.
I thought Father and Alicia would be doing well. The amount of Gold coin I was sold for was considerable. They would have quickly forgotten about the existence of their first daughter, who was useful for the first time, indulging in luxury. Maybe they even left Pilton.
The house I actually returned to was dilapidated and on the verge of collapse, and I couldn't find any trace of people inside. I would have had such a misunderstanding if I hadn't met someone approaching the house at that moment.
I was shocked to see a face stained with tears in dirty clothes. It was Alicia, my beautiful and lovely younger sister.
'Alicia?'
'Who... Sister?'
Alicia froze when she found me. But only for a moment, she threw away the basket she was holding and ran to me. Then she grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.
'It's because of you! It's all because of you!'
'W-Wait, what! Let go!'
My head shook up and down. I was already exhausted, and Alicia was turning my insides out. Eventually, I couldn't stand it and pushed her away, and Alicia fell backward so easily. Alicia, who fell on her butt on the floor, suddenly burst into tears. I was dumbfounded by the sight. My sister, who was so haughty and arrogant, was crying so sadly with tears and snot running down her face.
I soothed Alicia and brought her into the house, and I asked her about what had happened.
'Someone came looking for me?'
'I don't know. Some strange men were looking for you. Even though Father said he didn't know and that he hadn't heard from you in a long time, they kept coming and arguing several times.'
Suddenly, I felt suffocated. Could it be the butler? He took me directly from Pilton, so he already knew my house. Or... is Vincent looking for me? I couldn't be sure. Maybe it's someone else. Now that things have turned out this way, everything is suspicious. Whatever it is, it wasn't a good sign.
'You don't know why they're looking for me?'
'Yeah. They asked where you were, and said they would reward me if I told them to come here. But how would I know about you?'
'I see... But where's Father?'
I looked around, searching for the Devil spawn who hadn't been seen since earlier. He should be home around this time, but he's nowhere to be seen.
'He's dead.'
'......What?'
I was so surprised that I looked at Alicia.
'It's been a while.'
Alicia's face was so calm when she said that, that I thought my sister was joking for a moment. That's how unbelievable the news was.
'W-When? Could it be because of those people?'
'No. He used the Gold coin he got from selling you to gamble and drink, and then he fell asleep on the street. He froze to death.'
'......'
It was a death too absurd to even talk about.
Alicia said she didn't take care of Father's body. When I asked her why, she said that she didn't have a place to put the frozen body, so she left it outside for a while, and birds ate it all up overnight. They must have been so hungry that the body disappeared without a trace. It was a fitting end for a Father who killed his own children and survived.
'Was there any Gold coin left?'
'No. He must have used it all up before he died.'
'How have you been?'
'How else would I be? Father died, and you're gone, so what else could I do? I had to earn my own wages. But there was nothing I could do. I barely managed to ask Benny Ajumma, who lives across the street, to help with the farm work, but I got fired after one day. She said I was too bad at it.'
Alicia sniffled and curled up. And as if to vent her grievances, she told me about the things she had experienced after Father left. It was a story of hardship that I couldn't listen to without tears. All she had was a pretty face and a slender body, so there was nothing Alicia could do. With her haughty personality, she wouldn't have been able to bow down to anyone.
The state of my younger sister, whom I hadn't seen in a long time, was definitely not the same as before. Her clothes were rags, her once glossy hair was all tangled, and her snow-white skin looked rough. Her beautiful hands and feet were also scratched and swollen.
'Sister, what are we going to do now? How are we going to live?'
Alicia, who was sobbing, looked so exhausted. I couldn't bear to leave my sister, who looked so weak as if she would crumble at any moment. Maybe it was because my heart was weakened, but for a moment, I felt sorry for my younger sister. It was also my and Father's fault that she grew up like that.
'How else are we going to live? We have to live like before.'
'So how?'
'We have to find a job somehow.'
There was no need to stay here any longer. I immediately took Alicia and left Pilton. After all, that house was no longer a place where people could live, and we had to run away from the people who were coming to find me. We headed to Novelle, the most central and largest city in the country.
I thought there would be many jobs in Novelle. But even there, there was nothing we could do right away. There was no place to live either. I took Alicia and went into any store and asked for a job. But there was no place that would hire women whose identities were not clear. The only places that would accept us were places that offered prostitution.
'Not you, just that girl.'
'I don't want to!'
Even then, all they wanted was my younger sister, who would be pretty if she was cleaned up and polished. Alicia was horrified and refused, saying she would rather die. I had a hard time calming her down because she was making such a fuss.
We went back to sleeping on the streets and rummaging through trash cans, making a living day by day. Alicia, who had been whining at first, closed her mouth after realizing the seriousness of the situation.
Every day was exhausting, and tomorrow was hard. Eventually, Alicia suffered from a high fever, and the situation worsened. Seeing my sister looking like she was about to die, I knocked on any house door and shouted for help. But everyone ignored us.
No one helps beggars. It was natural to be ignored. That's why I was sadder and more anxious. I was miserable because I couldn't do anything but watch Alicia, who was panting.
What should I do if even Alicia leaves?
What should I do if I'm left alone?
I was so scared while living alone in that mansion. If I die, will there be anyone who remembers me? Who will know about my death? I was so scared of that. I was afraid that no one would know about my death even if I died like this. That's too sad.
So I went to see my family. But Father was dead, and the only one left was my younger sister, whom I hated so much. But it was okay. It wasn't because I was lonely that I kept Alicia by my side. It was because I was scared. If even my only blood relative leaves, I'll be truly alone, and I'm not confident that I can endure such a life. I had become that weak.
I knocked on every door that looked like a crazy person again. After knocking so much that the back of my hand swelled, a door miraculously opened. An old couple found me and widened their eyes.
Thanks to the kindness of the kind old couple, my sister was able to lie in bed and receive treatment. The old couple was kind to the dirty, smelly young girls.
I thought that kindness from someone would never come to me, even if I desperately wanted it. I survived by receiving help from someone like that.
'It will be easier to find a job in the next village than here.'
Following the advice of the old couple, we headed to a small village next to Novelle. It was located in such a remote area that I wondered if there was even a village in such a place, but it was not as small as I thought. When I went further into the forest, I found abandoned empty houses. It was a slum where people like us, who had nowhere to go, flowed in and lived.
That's how we started living there. I found a job by sneaking in among the women. Most of the people in this village made a living by doing manual labor in Novelle. The only thing a person whose identity is not clear can do is physical work. Moreover, they can be used cheaply.
It's difficult to find a job at first, but once you get a job, it's a structure that continues through connections.
It was no different from Pilton, so it was easy to adapt. I was used to living a hard life. Manual labor was not difficult either.
However, Alicia complained about the poorer life than before. But no matter how much she complained, there was nothing we could do. To live, we had to earn money, and to earn money, we had to suffer. Alicia, who had never suffered in her life, often fell ill, so I had to suffer even more for Alicia's sake.
One day, three years later, I accidentally heard news about them while walking down the street. The sprouts sprouted green and the flowers bloomed and withered several times, and so much time had passed that life there now felt distant.
I was sometimes curious. Are they doing well? How are they living? He, Vincent...
I thought that someday I might see them by chance. Seeing their faces in passing while walking down the street, or accidentally reuniting at a workplace introduced by someone, something like that. But I haven't met them even once since leaving the Bellunita mansion. Instead, I could occasionally hear news about them through the newspaper.
That was all.
Five years have passed since I left the Bellutina mansion. During those years, I was too busy living my own life. The memories of that place gradually remained as memories. Isn't it said that memories become more beautiful as they fade?
Already 5 years.
'I'm going to bring you to my side. Definitely.'
No, it's been 5 years since then.
"They probably don't even remember me anymore."
The words I muttered were swept away by the wind. Now, even the time spent immersed in memories is short. Rather, the reality in front of me was more important.
The life of earning a living day by day was suddenly cut off. There was nothing to eat right away. We could skip one meal, but the problem was after that. As the hunger grew longer, Alicia started whining that she was hungry.
In the end, I emptied out the remaining money and headed to a street bread vendor. Street bread is hard and tasteless, but it's cheap, so I often bought it.
But even one was impossible with the amount I had now.
"Is there anything cheaper?"
"This is the cheapest."
I sighed at those words. I can't even buy this tasteless bread. Poverty made me sigh involuntarily.
When I hesitated to buy the bread, the owner scanned me up and down. Then he suddenly pointed to one side.
"If you give me that, I'll give you three of the best breads."
What he pointed to was the Hair tie that tied my hair. I don't know how he knew, but he pinpointed the most valuable thing I had.
I hesitated. This was an item with precious memories. It's old and faded now, but the emotions I felt when I received it still remained in my heart. That's why I never took it off my body.
But now, hunger came first.
After hesitating, I finally untied the Hair tie and handed it to the owner.
