Vendia was about to flap her arms and run away, thinking she had been caught.
“P-please take me with you!”
“Huh?”
Turning her head, she saw Shasha there. And just like her, Shasha was carrying a packed suitcase.
“I-I can do laundry too, and I’m good at cooking! I can do all kinds of small tasks! If I go with you, it’ll be more convenient than going alone! I’m useful!”
It seemed Shasha had made up her mind, because her expression was determined. Vendia let out a small sigh.
She had no idea how Shasha had found out about her escape plan, but she was already barely managing on her own, so she could not add one more burden.
“I can’t pay you a salary. And how do you even know where I’m going?”
“Anywhere is fine! Please let me come with you. Okay?”
“Shasha, we’ve only just seen each other’s faces. You do not know much about me, so why are you trusting me? Just go back. It’s better to work at the count’s house. The working environment is better, and so is the pay.”
Her escape plan did not include anyone else, so she firmly refused.
“Didn’t you know? The count’s household is famous for not paying its servants.”
“……”
She had not known that. But somehow, it made sense. From the count’s usual behavior, it would not be strange at all if the house was a black company, no, a black family.
“Rather than suffer here, I want to serve someone who’s worth following. When Lady Vendia shared bread with the starving people at Soho Market last time, I was so moved!”
“That was……”
It had been a diversion while she was trying to find the mad dog, but… she could not bring herself to say that when the innocent-looking girl was gazing at her with such sincere trust.
It hurt her conscience.
“You so readily spent half of your own wealth… I don’t have much either, but even I couldn’t spend half of it…”
Was that praise?
Or was that just another way of confirming she was a beggar?
Because of that sausage, rumors that she was a beggar had spread everywhere.
“Still, no. You need a salary to live too. I told you, I can’t pay you.”
“Even so?”
Shasha suddenly opened her suitcase wide. Inside were glittering necklaces and rings.
“You….”
Vendia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I secretly picked up everything that Lady Vendia dropped after stealing the mistress’s things.”
“……So that’s why it looked like something was missing.”
While making her plan, she had secretly stolen her mother’s valuables that could be sold for money. Later, when she checked, some pieces seemed to be missing, and it turned out Shasha had slyly picked them up.
And then she had kept them without telling the mother, and followed her here?
That was a little touching…
“If you don’t take me with you, I’ll return them to the mistress as they are. And then, if I’m questioned by the mistress, I’ll have no choice but to tell her that Lady Vendia disappeared from here.”
“That little….”
The tears that had not even formed yet vanished instantly.
She had thought she might have one ally, but Shasha had actually been saving the jewelry to use as leverage. This girl was not ordinary.
“But if you take me with you, there’ll be no such danger, and these jewels will be yours again, Lady Vendia. I really do want to go with you…”
After threatening her in every possible way, Shasha lowered her shoulders with a dejected expression. And even that looked sincere. She really did want to go together.
Just then, the sound of hooves and the rattling of wheels broke the silence and stopped beside them.
“You don’t have time to dawdle, so hurry and get on.”
A gruff-looking coachman spoke. He was the owner of the luggage wagon that had said two weeks earlier that he was heading south from Soho Street.
“Please…”
“What are you doing? Hurry and get on.”
Vendia quickly looked back and forth between the coachman and Shasha.
Then, with an irritated shout that seemed to come even from herself because she did not understand her own feelings, she shook her head and finally held out her hand to the coachman.
“One more person.”
After paying extra, Vendia and Shasha climbed into the cargo compartment.
“Thank you! Thank you so much.”
Shasha kept bowing her head again and again, her face full of gratitude.
“If it turns out you’re collaborating with the count’s family, I’ll split your backside north, south, east, and west.”
“Yes, yes! Of course! That will never happen!”
Even after such a terrifying warning, Shasha still smiled brightly as if she was happy about something.
“Haa. I do not know anymore.”
Leaning her back against a pile of straw, Vendia slowly closed her eyes.
Still, it would be less lonely with a clever helper number one than alone.
“By the way, where are we going?”
At Shasha’s question, Vendia raised a hand and touched the old pocket hanging around her neck. It was the only thing her ex-husband had given her.
“To the southern territory of Rims.”
At that moment, she did not know what was waiting for her there.
“We have arrived.”
The person who had introduced himself as a broker finally stopped walking ahead of her.
Vendia, panting from trying to keep up with how fast he walked, lifted her head.
“This is it?”
“Yes. This building is your mansion.”
She could not believe it, and her mouth opened slightly as she blinked in silence.
“Oops…”
Shasha let out a short comment, as if speaking her mind for her.
“A mansion? …This thing?”
What was called a mansion was a three-story wooden building so old it looked like it could collapse any moment.
It gave off such a gloomy atmosphere that it was like a haunted house.
Perhaps it had not been maintained properly after construction, because the wooden exterior was peeling and ragged in many places.
The fence surrounding the mansion was also full of gaps, as if it had missing teeth.
“Trees?”
And in the middle of the yard stood a single tree that seemed strangely sacred.
The only decent point was the shape of the building.
True to the name “mansion,” it did not resemble the usual noble estate here, but rather looked like the apartment building she had lived in before coming to this world.
“Haha. Of course. That bastard…”
Grinding her teeth, Vendia imagined beating up everyone except Denros’s beautiful face.
It was because she had, in fact, expected a little.
Even though she had received not a single coin in alimony, the night before she left the ducal house, Denros had come to see her and handed her a necklace with an old pocket attached.
“What is this?”
“It is old, so it will not be taken away.”
“I asked what it is.”
“It is compensation for the period during which we remained married. It will be more useful to you than cash. Use it when the need arises.”
She had not understood it then, but she understood after returning to the count’s family. He had meant it would not be taken away.
Denros had already known. He knew that her family would covet everything she had.
And his prediction was exactly right.
Even after her belongings, account, and suitcase were all stripped away by her family, they had not paid a bit of attention to the necklace around her neck.
Thanks to that, Vendia had been able to escape to the southern Rims territory.
Inside the pocket were an identity tag bearing the name “Dia” and a map of the Rims territory.
Vendia, who had to leave the count’s family immediately and run, chose Rims as her first destination.
Afraid that someone might catch her trail, she had changed carriages several times over the course of a few days before finally arriving in Rims.
She only realized why he had said the pocket would be useful when she passed through the checkpoint.
Thanks to the identity card, Vendia had become “Dia,” not “Vendia Rose.” Even if her family searched for her, they would not be able to find her.
And because she was now effectively a different person, as long as she was not discovered, no one could take her property away.
On top of that, after showing her identification and entering the territory, the broker told her an unexpected piece of good news: there was a building registered under her name.
She had barely been able to hide her excitement.
So that’s how it is!
There was no way they would not have given her at least something in alimony!
But the result?
A collapsing, run-down mansion that would not even sell if she put it on the market.
“Miss Dia. Please sign here.”
The broker, who knew nothing of her feelings, held out the receipt.
“If I don’t sign, does that mean it won’t be mine?”
“The owner is already listed as Miss Dia. This is just a formality.”
He looked like he understood why she was upset, but he was absolutely unmoved.
She did not want it.
She really, really did not want it.
If she kept it, it would become a burden and a money-eating monster. The maintenance cost would definitely be enormous.
This is not right. This is…
Just as Vendia was sinking into despair, she suddenly lit up and grabbed the broker’s hand desperately.
“Then I’ll sell it right now! Please sell it for me!”
“That is impossible.”
“Why not!”
How could that be! If you can buy something, you should be able to sell it too!
“The imperial law says that once a building is sold, it cannot be resold for three years. It is written on this receipt too.”
Vendia snatched the receipt and read it immediately. It really was written there—in tiny letters above the signature line.
“It’s too small! How am I supposed to read this?”