Chapter 4. Wrath (8)
“Go quickly.”
“Uh, unnie! No, unnie!”
Nelly burst into tears once again. She struggled, begging the servant to put her down, but was ignored and forcibly loaded into the carriage. The door closed, and Nelly clung to the window. Even at her tears, Marilla only gave a faint smile. The carriage departed, leaving her all alone.
As the carriage moved away, Marilla got to her feet. She walked on her own toward the officers who came running after hearing the commotion. It was a movement without hesitation, perhaps fearing that the officers might chase after the carriage and capture Nelly as well.
“I am Marilla.”
She was arrested without resistance.
***
Inside the enclosed carriage, only the sound of sniffling continuously echoed. The irregular noise was far more grating to the ears than the sound of the running carriage, constantly interrupting his thoughts. Finally, Grand Duke Canis snapped in an irritated voice.
“Just how long do you intend to cry?”
Nelly’s shoulders trembled greatly as if startled. She curled up even more and sobbed. It was a cry full of sorrow.
“If you’re so reluctant to part, you can chase after her even now. I won’t stop you.”
At the Grand Duke’s words, Nelly firmly covered her mouth and tried to hold back her tears. Though she still sniffled, it was less than before. Watching Nelly cry while holding her breath, the Grand Duke let out an incredulous chuckle.
“The will to live overcomes even guilt.”
Her mother had been dragged away, and a woman had even sacrificed herself to save her life, yet seeing Nelly hold her breath because she still didn’t want to die seemed to demonstrate just how remarkable and tenacious human survival instinct could be.
Perhaps newly realizing that she too would have to stand on the execution platform with just one word from the Grand Duke, after that she was quiet enough that he didn’t need to worry about it. The Grand Duke continued his thoughts. The most urgent matter was certainly how to dispose of the girl before his eyes.
Her appearance wasn’t too bad, she was still young, and she was even pure. It seemed she could be sold for a decent price. The problem was that the current situation wasn’t very good. Everyone would surely be keeping their heads down. If they got caught doing something wrong, it would become troublesome.
But she wasn’t particularly attractive enough to send somewhere as a concubine, nor did she seem to have any outstanding talents. If she had such things, there would have been widespread rumors of people coveting this child long ago.
It might be better to push her forward when the timing was right, and until then, just have her quietly do some work. Send her to the duchy to work at the castle, or send her to some employment agency…
While he was pondering, they seemed to have arrived at their destination as the carriage’s speed gradually slowed. The Grand Duke got out, followed by the servant and Nelly. Nelly looked around with a thoroughly frightened face, seemingly anxious. Her steps were full of hesitation.
But what could be done? Now there was no one around her, and the situation wasn’t good for her to stand alone. All she had learned was to stay quiet so as not to be a hindrance. She had picked up some minimal knowledge about dealing with customers by watching the older girls from the corner of her eye, but she had never had a chance to put it to use.
She couldn’t even guarantee she would be able to use it in the future. If the atmosphere of catching and executing prostitutes continued, it would be better to learn something new instead.
So she had no choice but to follow behind the Grand Duke. Nelly struggled to hold back her tears as she took her difficult steps.
“You’ve arrived.”
Osian, who had come to greet the Grand Duke, opened his eyes wide when he discovered the girl following behind. Nelly too seemed to remember what she had forgotten, as her heavy eyelids that had been filled only with despair and fear now curved lightly with hope.
Humans were this cunning and simple. The sadness of losing her mother was clouded by the joy of meeting Osian again. The feeling that had made her risk danger to try to pass along a note with an address, thinking she might never see him again, surged up once more. She was enveloped in relief just from the fact that she wasn’t alone.
The Grand Duke, who had no interest whatsoever in the two people exchanging glances in delight at their reunion, realized a fact he had also forgotten and came up with a solution that would satisfy everyone.
“Right. That fellow was here. I was just thinking we needed one more person to attend to things.”
The Grand Duke stepped onto the stairs. As he strode up, Osian hurriedly followed. Nelly, who had been reading the atmosphere, gained courage from Osian’s glance that seemed to tell her to follow and moved her legs.
Since it was a building with a different structure from last time, they didn’t need to walk down long corridors and came to a hall of reasonable size. With a structure that seemed to combine several rooms, spaces that would originally have been separate were gathered in one place. A fireplace devouring logs was positioned in the middle, with a bed and a table displaying shoes on the left, and a display case with displaced sculptures on the right.
Ronen, who had been sitting on the bed, got up when he spotted the Grand Duke. Canui, who had been sitting in front of him wielding his brush, did the same.
Since he had no intention of letting him go anywhere until the painting currently in progress was completed, Canui’s room had been decided as being across from where Osian and the gatekeeper stayed, with the first-floor stairs between them. To handle everything within this building, it seemed they would need about one more attendant.
And conveniently, they had gained a maid.
“You.”
When the Grand Duke pointed at Nelly, her shoulders, which were already intimidated, shrank even more. The Grand Duke turned his finger to point at Canui and said,
“From now on, you’ll attend to that fellow, so know that.”
Everyone looked at Nelly with bewildered expressions at the unexpected words. She was no different. To attend to the painter who used to frequently visit her establishment… However, that was the end of the Grand Duke’s words. He stood in front of the painting and began to calmly appreciate it.
Nelly looked at Osian with a tearful expression. Osian, noticing her difficulty, carefully opened his mouth.
“You mean… she’ll be staying here from now on?”
“Yes. Until this painting is completed.”
After that, he planned to either take her to the duchy or sell her somewhere. Though he was happy that he would be able to stay with Nelly, Osian, who was also confused about various things and just rolling his eyes around, spoke up again.
“Well, then… there’s only the attic room left, should I tell her to stay there?”
“Do I have to tell you everything? Figure it out yourselves. Whether it’s the attic or that fellow’s room.”
The Grand Duke spat out in an irritated voice and jerked his chin toward Canui. Both Canui and Nelly were greatly flustered, moving their wide-open eyes anxiously. Osian hurriedly bowed.
“I understand. Since Canui-nim’s room is complicated with various tools, I’ll guide her to the attic room and return.”
“Fine.”
The Grand Duke didn’t even glance over, as if he had no interest. She was nothing more than baggage he had ended up shouldering, and since it was difficult to dispose of her before the right time came, he just needed to get her out of his sight.
Osian gestured to Nelly as if telling her to follow quickly. Nelly, who had been reading the situation between them, quickly approached Osian’s side. The two headed toward the attic room, stroking their chests in relief.
“Thank goodness there’s one room left. It’s a bit dirty, but it’s quite spacious. I’ll give you my blanket.”
“Then what about you?”
“I can share with someone else. Anyway, the room is too small for three people to sleep in, so we don’t need many blankets.”
The gatekeepers took turns staying up through the night, so there was often a blanket left over. Thinking there was no need to mention that detail, Osian roughly cleared away the spider webs that had been built up under the roof and asked,
“But didn’t you say you were leaving? How did you end up working here? Well… I’m happy about it though…”
Osian, who had been trailing off and blushing, made a puzzled expression when he got no answer from Nelly. When he turned his head, Nelly’s face had darkened considerably and her shoulders were rising and falling greatly. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
“Ne, Nelly? What’s wrong?”
When he approached in surprise, his worried voice seemed to bring emotions rushing up, and tears finally burst forth. Nelly sobbed sorrowfully as if pulling out all the emotions she had been pressing down and enduring.
“Huuk… Mom… kkeuk, Marilla…”
He could tell without hearing more. So the thing he had feared had finally happened. Osian’s complexion turned pale as he approached Nelly, who was crying sadly. Though his own situation wasn’t particularly good either, now wasn’t the time to worry about such things.
“…I’m sorry for asking so thoughtlessly. Don’t cry.”
Feeling sorry for Nelly, who must have been barely suppressing and enduring everything, Osian pulled the pitiful girl tightly into his arms. Nelly poured out tears in that embrace for a long while, as if believing that if she expelled all her emotions, she would feel at least a little better.
***
The officers were still rummaging through the streets, and dozens, sometimes hundreds of people lost their lives each day, but on the other hand, daily life continued peacefully as if asking what was happening.
Ronen was the same. Since he too was a male prostitute, the officers were certainly chasing after him, but perhaps because the Grand Duke was cutting off the tails one by one to hide him, he was spending boring day after day without really feeling it.
The Grand Duke didn’t seem bored either, spending every day either looking through documents brought by servants or, if not that, just appreciating the canvas where the posed Ronen and Canui were. Like raindrops falling drop by drop into a placed bowl, time flowed very slowly but steadily.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
