Part 2 <-- The Woman of the Expelled Ducal Family --> Sinya Criseis Clark. She was a beauty counted among the top three in the Empire. The youngest daughter renowned for her dazzling beauty among the beautiful young ladies of Count Kollon's family and the Emperor's princesses. And Sinya, who was showered with the Duke's abundant love in House Criseis.
Countless men fervently courted these beauties who stood out in the Empire. However, after Duke Criseis's death, the men who had once wooed Sinya acted as if they had never done so, pretending not to know her.
Sinya Criseis Clark, who had to take her mother's surname—the mother who had come from a foreign country as a maid—instead of her father's, and use her father's surname as her 'middle name.' She was an illegitimate daughter.
She was a child born of the Duke's affair with his wife's maid, and because the wife opposed passing down the family surname to the child, she had to inherit her mother's surname.
But her father loved his daughter terribly and wanted to let everyone know she was a member of House Criseis somehow, so despite his wife's opposition, he stubbornly attached his own surname to his daughter's middle name.
Though she was an illegitimate daughter, the fact that she received her father's love and affection was well known in high society, and had one married Sinya, the Duke was the type who would have passed much of his fortune to his son-in-law despite the Duchess's fierce opposition.
But that was only possible when the Duke, the head of the family, was alive. The Duke was dead. That soon meant that Sinya Criseis Clark's only shield in House Criseis had disappeared.
"From now on, do not even think of loitering before the name of 'our' House Criseis. I shall permit you to continue using Criseis as your middle name, only because my husband was so stubborn about it. But other than that, our House Criseis will no longer be entangled with a low-blooded wretch like you. Not financially, nor in any other way."
Sinya huddled under the tent, recalling the cold words her mother had left her with for the last time, and rubbed her forearms that had broken out in goosebumps from the cold.
As soon as her father's funeral ended, the Duchess Criseis, as if she had been waiting, had maids drag Sinya out.
Had Sinya not spoken up that she would leave on her own two feet and stubbornly insisted, she might have been dragged out quite unsightly before the eyes of many.
Other than the clothes she was wearing at that moment, Sinya could not take even a single one of her belongings from the house. Not even the gifts her father had given her.
As if adding insult to injury after being expelled with nothing, empty-handed, rain began to pour down like a waterfall. Sinya entered an empty shack to avoid the rain coming down so fiercely that she wondered if a hole had been punched in the sky, unable to hide her despair over the uncertain future ahead.
"A j-job. I need a job."
She could go hungry for a day. She could stay in this shack, which looked like it had been abandoned by its owner for a long time, for the time being. What Sinya urgently needed right now was a job. She desperately needed a job where she could work rightfully, receive monetary compensation, and buy food and clothes. But where could she find a job...?
Though she was an illegitimate daughter, Sinya was the Duke's only daughter and had grown up without ever suffering physically. It was not easy for the precious young lady of a ducal house to suddenly find work on the streets with empty hands.
In this situation, the only thing Sinya could do was move her two feet herself. Though the rain was still pouring down fiercely, after a very brief hesitation, Sinya paid it no more heed and stepped out of the tent.
The wine-colored dress that her father had gifted her, praising that it suited her as if she were an angel descended from heaven, was soaked by the rain and had lost its fullness and splendor, and was dirtied here and there with wet mud.
Holding up the hem of her dress slightly, Sinya stopped in front of a certain house where a sign said 'Closed Today.' She couldn't tell what business it was because there was no signboard, but anywhere she could earn money was fine.
Sinya knocked on the door. But perhaps drowned out by the rain, no one opened it. It was clear someone was inside, as light could be seen through the door crack. Sinya did not give up and knocked again.
For Sinya, this was the first time in her life she had struck something so hard.
"We said we're not open today..."
While her hand hurt from hitting the door and she paused for a moment, the old door opened and a woman with a gentle impression came out. Perhaps expecting a customer who ignored the sign, the woman's face was full of annoyance and fatigue.
But the moment her eyes met Sinya's, the woman stopped talking, rolled her eyes, and looked Sinya up and down. Though Sinya was wearing fancy clothes, they were now half-tattered; she had snow-white skin, emerald-colored eyes, and soft brown hair. The woman could recognize her immediately. She couldn't not recognize her. Rumors that the illegitimate daughter cherished by Duke Criseis had been expelled had spread throughout the entire Empire.
On top of that, that illegitimate daughter was one of the three most beautiful women in the Empire. Though she looked like a rat completely soaked by the rain, Sinya was beautiful.
"Excuse me..."
It was her first time asking for a job, so Sinya trailed off, not knowing what to say first. The woman said nothing, opened the door wide, and made enough space for Sinya to enter. It was a gesture to come inside.
As Sinya hesitated and came inside, the woman closed the door and seated Sinya in one of the many chairs inside. Dragging her fancy dress, which now felt cumbersome, Sinya sat in the worn chair and rolled her eyes to observe the interior.
Looking at the pungent smell of alcohol, several tables, and the rest of the interior structure, it seemed like an old, aged tavern.
"I don't have much to serve a noble young lady, so there's nothing proper, but... I'll warm up some milk for you first. It's much better than lukewarm beer, right?"
"I... I'm not a noble anymore. So you can treat me comfortably."
She had never been a noble to begin with. Sinya's position among the nobles was truly ambiguous. To say she was not a noble—since her father was the Duke, she was in a position that couldn't be treated carelessly; yet to acknowledge her as a noble—she hadn't inherited the family surname, and other than the Duke, she was despised by her mother and siblings.
"Alright then, miss. First of all, I'm not a kind and good-hearted person who readily gives food to a stranger. But I am someone with enough kindness to provide a place for a woman wandering the streets in this heavy rain with nowhere to go to take shelter from the rain for a while."
At the joking words of the good-humored woman, Sinya was able to smile for the first time in a truly long while. As the woman poured slightly warmed white milk into a cup, steam rose up with the warmth.
Receiving the cup filled with milk, Sinya blew on it with a hoo, hoo to cool it down and carefully took a sip. Because she had been in the cold the whole time, the warm milk felt even sweeter and more delicious.
"Do you run this shop alone?"
When Sinya asked carefully, the woman nodded with a slightly bitter smile.
"Once, I set up the shop with my husband. Back then I was young, and among the men who came to the tavern, some of them hit on me even though they knew I had a husband. My husband would fight those bastards until blood burst, prepared to lose customers."
"..."
"He was a man with a severe temper by nature. That was his only flaw... He went out to drink separately with friends, got into a fight with his companions, took a bad hit, and passed away just like that. I wondered if running this shop without my husband was possible, but it turned out to be possible."
"... "
"Living alone as a woman—it's only hard at first; later, it all just becomes nothing special."
As Sinya rolled her eyes, unable to find words to say, the woman smiled benevolently.
"I just said that because seeing a young lady who looks like she has nowhere to go reminded me of my old memories."
"...Were you comforting me?"
"I'm glad if it sounded that way."
The woman's fingers were thick-knuckled, and her skin looked rough and thick. They were hands that had suffered much.
The woman, who opened up part of her own life story and comforted a girl she was seeing for the first time, felt like a mother to Sinya, and Sinya's eyes reddened at the rims.
"Miss. If you really have nowhere to go, you're welcome to stay here for a few days."
Emboldened by the woman's kindness, Sinya carefully opened her mouth to say what she had originally intended.
"Um... Could you..."
The woman quietly listened to Sinya's slightly trembling voice.
"Do you... need someone to work...?"
She said it. Sinya, who had barely spat it out, hung her head. She was afraid of the woman's answer that would follow.
"Oh, heavens, miss..."
And as expected, the woman dragged out her words as if troubled.
"I know you need work urgently, but why don't you look for something else? This isn't a place for a delicately raised young lady to work. It's obvious that old drunkards will make passes at you, and the work itself is hard."
If she were going to back down easily here saying "I see," she wouldn't have brought it up with such difficulty. Listening to the woman's words, it didn't seem like she didn't need workers at all. She needed a little more courage to persist.
"It's true I grew up without ever suffering, but I know there is no easy job in this world. I, I'm really confident I can work hard. I won't whine about work being hard, and also, also..."
"..."
"It's only hard at first; later, it will become nothing special."
Unable to choose her words and rolling her eyes round and round like a child, Sinya soon regained her composure and quoted the woman's words right back at her. Then the woman, her eyes widening, burst into a hearty laugh and smiled warmly at the surprised Sinya, shaking her head.
"I can't beat a young lady's stubbornness, can I?"
"..."
"Then, let me guide you to a room where you can stay first."
That was the woman saying she would allow Sinya to work there.