Chapter 11
Rebecca paused.
Canna's hand, which was brushing her hair, trembled.
"And Rebecca-nim is not at fault. The Count doesn't know the details of what happened last night. So, the Count still..."
Canna's brushing stopped. It was because Rebecca had grabbed her hand.
Hurt blue eyes glared at Canna.
"What is this? Did Zeppelin tell you to try to win my favor like this? It's useless. You saw Alice's end, so you know. Run away before it's too late. If you value your life."
Canna stared silently at Rebecca's thin hand holding hers.
Her hand was warm. Nothing had changed.
Canna knelt before Rebecca. And she took out a handkerchief from her bosom.
"This is something I've cherished more than my own life."
Rebecca accepted the handkerchief. There was a clumsy rose embroidery on the handkerchief.
Rebecca, who had been tracing back to the past for a moment, widened her eyes.
"You...?"
"Yes. That's right. I'm the child who jumped in front of the carriage, the one Rebecca-nim saved."
Canna's eyes reddened.
That day was a warm spring.
But for young Canna, it was a chilling season.
Her father sold Canna to a brothel because of gambling debts. It was a common occurrence in the back alleys that didn't even attract attention.
Red wallpaper and naked women were visible. She was dizzy from the strong perfume and alcohol smell.
"She's too skinny!"
"But the dead kid's mother was pretty good. Give her a good price."
"Tsk. That's all you can give!"
"What?"
Taking advantage of the gap between her father and the madam bargaining, Canna ran away with all her might.
She had been stealing like eating meals since she was young to avoid starving. She was confident in running away.
She heard her father's shouting voice behind her.
There was no plan.
But if she could just get out of the hands of her only family, she felt like she could do anything.
Her breath was up to her throat, but Canna didn't stop. Even if she fell several times, she got up again.
It was when she went out of the alley and onto the main street.
A large carriage stopped with a roar.
"You! Are you crazy trying to die?"
The coachman shouted.
It was a dizzying moment. The excited horse raised its front hooves.
Canna closed her eyes tightly, thinking that the angry coachman would whip her.
"Are you okay?"
But what she heard was not the sound of a fierce whip, but a kind voice. It was a voice that was tearfully sweet and soft.
Canna slightly opened her eyes and saw Rebecca reaching out her hand.
She saw dazzling blonde hair like the summer sun. Sapphire-like eyes were looking at her.
Canna thought for a moment that an angel had come down.
"My name is Rebecca. Oh my. You're badly hurt."
"Canna! Where is this bitch!"
Her father's voice broke through the crowd. Canna trembled reflexively.
Rebecca frowned slightly and looked at Canna's father.
Rebecca, roughly estimating what was going on, lifted Canna up in a flash.
Canna was startled and struggled. The blood dripping from her knees stained Rebecca's dress.
"Lady, noblewoman! Don't do this! Your dress..."
"You're so light... Don't worry. It's just a dress. You're more precious than that."
Just a dress.
Canna instinctively realized that the dress Rebecca was wearing was more expensive than the price her father was trying to sell her for.
Rebecca sat Canna in the carriage and knocked on the carriage.
"To the Liberta Poorhouse."
The carriage moved smoothly.
It was hard to believe that it was the movement of the coachman who had been shouting earlier.
"Is the person who was shouting just now someone you know?"
Canna thought for a moment and then shook her head. She didn't want to be caught that such an ugly person was her father.
Rebecca seemed to know Canna's heart and didn't ask any more questions.
And she took out a handkerchief from her bosom and tied it to Canna's knee.
"I made it to give as a gift to someone else... but, it'll do as a temporary measure, right?"
Canna didn't know what to say, so she just stared at the rose embroidered on the handkerchief.
Rebecca wiped away Canna's tear marks with her hand.
"The place we're going to now is called the Liberta Poorhouse. Everyone there is a good person. I'll make sure the person who was shouting earlier doesn't come near you."
Rebecca stroked Canna's head, saying that it was okay now and that she had suffered a lot.
Canna only blinked her brown eyes as if she was dreaming. And she mustered up the courage to ask Rebecca falteringly.
"Is the noblewoman also there?"
"I might be able to visit sometimes. But I'm in a position where I can't go outside as I please..."
Rebecca trailed off. She lowered her gaze and clenched her fist tightly.
Canna thought that she looked very lonely, so she unknowingly put her hand on Rebecca's arm. And she was startled and took her hand away.
"I, I'm sorry! I didn't know my place and put my dirty hands!"
But Rebecca held Canna's hand again. And she gently stroked the hand she was holding.
"Dirty things can be washed away."
Canna couldn't take her eyes off Rebecca's warm smile, which was beaming.
The rustling texture of the dark green dress. The subtle scent of perfume. The spring sunlight shining through the carriage window and Rebecca's golden hair that sparkled as much.
And even the warm touch that she had never received before.
Even after entering the Liberta Poorhouse, Canna had never forgotten that moment. No, she couldn't forget it.
It was even more so after she learned that her benefactor was living unhappily in the Count's Residence.
Trials came to her life from time to time, but she endured with only that one memory.
There are people who live their whole lives with a moment's memory. Canna was like that.
Canna was already shedding tears.
"I have never, not even once, forgotten Rebecca-nim. It doesn't matter if you've forgotten me. I can do anything if it means you can be happy."
Rebecca was speechless for a moment and stared blankly at Canna's tears.
The first thing she did after becoming the Countess was to establish a poorhouse.
There was no big reason.
As she gave alms every time she went out, people gathered and she just needed a place to accommodate them.
Zeppelin readily granted her request to create a poorhouse. He seemed to like the reputation of being like a Saintess.
The place that was created in that way was the Liberta Poorhouse.
The members of the Liberta Poorhouse were mostly powerless children, women, and the elderly.
Adult men who could tempt Rebecca could not enter.
Zeppelin allowed Rebecca's poorhouse outing on good days.
It was the only place that Rebecca, who had no place to turn to, had an attachment to. Later, even that became impossible.
Zeppelin was stingy with donations. The poorhouse's funds were always insufficient, so they did anything that could make money.
Knowing the situation, Rebecca always felt sorry and secretly sold her jewels to donate money to the poorhouse.
The Liberta family, who lived and worked together, were tightly united and moved like a kind of organization.
If someone touched a person from Liberta, they would all gather and beat them up. If that wasn't possible, they would throw stones at them as they passed by.
They were weak as individuals, but strong when united. They were more than family.
Rebecca didn't know.
That Rebecca herself was standing in the middle of the tightly knit Liberta people.
It was Rebecca who connected them, who were not connected by blood.
Each had a different story, but most of them were people who had received Rebecca's help.
Canna was also one of those Liberta people.
"It was a cold winter. My father sold me to a brothel because of gambling debts. I was only ten years old at the time. I ran away desperately. And I jumped in front of Rebecca-nim's carriage."
She remembered.
Rebecca looked at the handkerchief Canna had handed her.
It was not long after she got married. Rebecca gave Zeppelin the first handkerchief she made herself as a gift.
She had no talent for embroidery, so it was clumsy, but she still put her heart into it.
But Zeppelin laughed at Rebecca's gift.
'It's terrible. Rebecca, you clearly don't love me. Otherwise, you wouldn't give me such a piece of trash.'
She should have run away from the Count's Residence as soon as she heard those words.
But Rebecca couldn't do that. She loved Zeppelin too much at that time.
It was when she believed that was love.
That day, Rebecca headed to the poorhouse because she felt frustrated. And she met a skinny girl.
She looked like she was about to collapse at any moment, but the girl's eyes were vivid. Rebecca put the child in the carriage.
When Rebecca discovered blood flowing from the child's knee, she tied the handkerchief she was going to give to Zeppelin to the wound.
"I'm not asking you to trust me right now. But please use me. If you tell me to kill Zeppelin, I will, and if you tell me to break the legs of his concubine, I will. I want to be on your side."
Canna looked up at Rebecca with a determined expression.
Rebecca's heart was pounding.
Was it really a coincidence that Alice left and she came? Is she really going to be on my side?
Rebecca wanted to grab Canna's hand right now and say she would.
She wanted to believe it to death. She needed a warm embrace.
But she couldn't believe it rashly.
Alice's venomous last expression kept lingering.
Rebecca bit her lip and fell into thought for a moment.
And she slowly got up from her seat and took the hand of Canna, who was kneeling, and raised her.
"You are Zeppelin's person now."
"I came in under the Count's instructions, but it was only to be by Rebecca-nim's side. I will never be that bastard's person, even if I die."
"No. You have to become Zeppelin's person."
"Yes?"
"If you really want to help me, gain Zeppelin's trust. And become my eyes and ears, and even my feet if necessary. But before that, you have to prove that you're on my side."
"Just tell me what to do."
Rebecca paced around the room. Her long hair flowed down over her shoulders as she was brushing it.
Canna watched the scene with fascinated eyes.
Rebecca, who had been fiddling with her hair for a moment, raised her head as if she had come up with a good idea.
"Cut off Zeppelin's hair. It would be even better if you cut it messily."
"His hair...?"
Zeppelin, who cherished his body terribly, would not easily give up his hair just to deceive Rebecca.
It was an almost impossible mission. If she backed down here, she was thinking of giving her some jewelry and sending her out.
