“…Thank you.”
“Good. And remember—if you ever see a suspiciously handsome man who looks like he’s swallowed every kind of loneliness in the world, you must tell me. Got it?”
The child nodded faintly and quickly ran off.
“It looks like everyone who needed to take them already took them.”
Shasha, who had been helping her, informed her that the long line had finally ended.
Vendia looked around at the now-empty space and tilted her head back toward the sky with a hollow expression.
“Damn it.”
Nothing. Not here, not there. No matter how much she searched, there was no sign of a “mad dog” anywhere.
Soho Street wasn’t small either—this was like finding a needle in a haystack.
So she had spent all the money she had on bread and handed it out to starving people, thinking the target might show up for free food.
But—
“No luck.”
So it wasn’t even a reverse-harem pick-up story?
At this point, it felt like she had just done charity work for nothing.
“Are you serious? You’re really doing this to me?”
She glared up at the sky, even though she knew it was pointless.
If someone forcibly dragged her into a possessed-world scenario, they should at least give hints, right?
This was seriously unfair. Seriously.
“Let’s go.”
Vendia stood up and left Soho Street with Shasha.
“Please wait here! I’ll get a carriage right away!”
Shasha ran off to find a hired carriage.
They had come here by rented carriage too. The count’s house had not provided one.
Because her family had deliberately refused to give her one after the divorce. Petty as always.
Shouts echoed from the busy street entrance:
“Today only—lowest price sale!”
“New dessert café, Monchou! Soho Street 2-1, please visit!”
“When are you heading south?”
“In two weeks! Still plenty of space for supplies. Stay at the Blue Moon Inn if needed!”
Standing amid the noisy merchants, Vendia suddenly turned her head.
A wagon loaded with cargo—likely a supply carriage—was talking to a passerby.
Leaving in two weeks?
“Excuse me!”
She rushed forward and stopped the coachman just as he was about to leave.
Not far from the entrance, at an alley near stacked discarded goods from shops—
Two figures peeked cautiously toward the market entrance.
“Hyung! Hyung! That lady!”
The smaller one pointed at Vendia, standing alone in the distance.
“That lady found hyung!”
The child, speaking with a lisp, raised his voice excitedly. Bread crumbs were stuck around his mouth.
“…A noble?”
The older one muttered while observing Vendia.
Her flowing blue dress suggested she was not a commoner.
Despite his messy, unkempt hair covering half his face, the man’s jawline and nose bridge were strikingly refined.
“Y-yeah! The maid-looking lady said she’s Rose! She said her name is Vendia Rose!”
At the child’s words, the man’s black eyes narrowed sharply.
“Rose Count’s daughter… why is she looking for me?”
He thought carefully.
He needed to find out. Why she was searching for him. What she knew.
Back at the estate—
“…A broke girl like you acting like some saint?”
As soon as Vendia entered the mansion after the bumpy carriage ride, an accusing voice greeted her.
A man with a face she could barely stand was waiting by the door.
“Wow. You really came out just to offend my eyes. Amazing. Impressive, brother.”
She gave a slow clap and tried to walk past him. Kalbasa followed, veins popping on his neck.
“Have you completely lost your mind? How can a person change this much?!”
“What are you even talking about.”
“And what is this?! The family is on the verge of collapse, and you’re out there handing out free bread in the market?!”
So news travels fast.
Of course Kalbasa had already heard about Soho Street. There must be a rat in the house.
“Hey! Answer me! How dare the one who ruined this family act like a saint?!”
“Ugh, move. Your breath stinks.”
She pushed him aside while climbing the stairs.
“I’m already in a bad mood because I wasted my time.”
“What? My breath?!”
“Brush your teeth.”
She looked at him with disgust and continued upstairs, while Kalbasa turned red with humiliation.
“You little—how long do you think you can keep this up?! You’ll regret this! You’ll kneel and beg me later!”
He was openly announcing his own schemes. Truly impressive.
She raised her middle finger behind her back and entered her room.
Time passed quickly.
The day the Saxen Marquis was supposed to arrive had come.
Despite being fully prepared, Vendia kept pacing near the window.
Her eyes scanned the road leading to the mansion gate.
But not a single soul was there.
“…So they’re really not coming?”
She muttered, biting her nails in irritation.
She was waiting.
For a carriage marked with the grand emblem of the ducal house.
But there was nothing.
And yet she couldn’t let go of the feeling.
Vendia still hadn’t abandoned her “regret story” expectations.
Given everything so far, it still seemed the most likely genre.
When she learned that her father and Kalbasa were planning to sell her off to the Saxen Marquis, she had honestly felt a little anticipation.
A cliché rescue scene—the male lead arriving like a prince on a white horse.
Maybe Denros Kalvermer would hear the news, get furious, and come to take her back…
A faint hope.
“…Yeah right. Like hell.”
She scoffed and put on all five lace gloves she had prepared.
“You’re completely out. Even if you cry and cling later, it won’t help…”
For a moment, she imagined that handsome face shedding tears.
If that face cried…
“…Are you insane? No way.”
She shook her head violently and layered all five gloves properly onto her hands.
There was no time left.
No contract remarriage candidate had appeared, and the only one coming was that old marquis.
So she had to proceed as planned.
The stolen seal had already been returned quietly. Letters would arrive soon.
It was nothing serious. Just a small “gift” she had prepared for sausage-like Kalbasa.
“Only I would care this much about my brother.”
She grabbed her bag, tied a rope to the window in advance, and climbed down.
Even though she was on the third floor, the windows were low and the flower bed was directly below—safe enough.
She landed lightly, hid the rope, and slipped out through a dug passage in the garden to avoid the servants.
She wasn’t stupid.
She wouldn’t just wait to be rescued.
“I don’t care anymore! I’ll live well on my own!”
Damn family.
Still not satisfied, she muttered insults at Denros over and over while standing by the empty road.
And then—
A presence appeared behind her.