Episode 5 — The Woman Cast Out from the Ducal Family
At first, she waited continuously, just in case. But by midnight, there was no sign of a guest, let alone a single ant. Sinya went out to see if the other shops were the same, but unlike Sinya and Madam Ali’s situation, the other shops were bustling with business as usual.
“No wonder I thought business had been going too well since you arrived, Sinya. There are bound to be days like this.”
“……”
“Rather, this is for the best. It’s been so hard lately, so let’s close up early today and get some rest.”
Though she looked every bit as bewildered as Sinya, Madam Ali forced a show of composure and closed shop early. Not that they had really started business in the first place, since no customer had ever set foot inside.
The bigger problem was that this situation repeated itself the next day.
“These are hard times. It makes sense that business isn’t going well.”
That was what Madam Ali said as they closed up early that day, too. But it was strange that only the tavern run by Madam Ali was completely deserted, in the same hard times where everyone else was struggling to get by. This state repeated itself for over five days. On the fifth day, they had to turn away the children who flocked to the window as usual, unable to give them bread.
To make matters worse, the old man’s dementia had grown more severe, and lately he had even shown violent tendencies. He had thrown a flowerpot at Sinya, claiming she was a demon pretending to be his daughter, and had hurled a plate because the soup was too hot. The old man’s violence was the same toward everyone—neither Sinya nor his own daughter, Madam Ali, was exempt. As the situation grew more difficult with each passing day, one cause for this inexplicable state of affairs came to Sinya’s mind.
Verdic Criseis. It was clearly the work of her stepbrother. How else could one explain a perfectly successful shop losing even its regular customers like this? And as if to confirm Sinya’s suspicions, on a day when Madam Ali was away, a sparrow tapped on the window.
“Sinya, Sinya—!”
It was the unusually small child to whom Sinya had once given a sausage bun. Sinya was in the middle of lunch, making do with a simple soup, fried eggs, and bread. She picked up the large, hard loaf that took up nearly half her plate and approached the child, pressing the bread into the child’s hands.
“It’s a secret from the other children, all right?”
Times had been hard lately, so she hadn’t been able to give the children any bread. If the others found out she had given some to only this one child, they would surely feel hurt. The child nodded and hid the bread in their bosom, then soon made an “oops” face, as if remembering their original purpose.
“Sinya, something terrible has happened!”
“Something terrible? What is it?”
“It’s a rumor about Madam Ali’s shop…”
From the moment she heard the word “rumor,” Sinya’s fingertips trembled. She hadn’t even heard the whole story yet, but a terrible premonition crept over her.
“There’s a rampant rumor that Madam Ali rummages through food waste to make the food she sells to customers more cheaply!”
“…What?”
“I don’t think that! But other people…”
Seeing Sinya’s face crumple, the child visibly withered. Forcing her expression to relax, Sinya reached out to pat the child’s head but soon gave up. What had started as trembling fingertips had now become her entire hand shaking uncontrollably. Instead, Sinya forced the corners of her mouth up into a barely-there smile and conveyed her gratitude to the child.
“You believe in Madam Ali, don’t you?”
“Yes, Madam Ali gave us bread every day with you, Sinya. Of course, she hasn’t been able to lately, but…”
“Thank you. Madam Ali would never do such a thing. I’ve always watched over her.”
Running the shop since her husband was alive, and continuing to run it alone after his death, had been Madam Ali’s pride. Even if Madam Ali truly had cooked and sold food made from ingredients scavenged from food waste, it would have been stranger that no one had gotten sick from eating it until now.
But sadly, people were easily swayed by such absurd rumors. Sinya thought. Who else could spread such an absurd rumor so far and so fast?
‘Verdic. There’s no one else but him.’
“Sinya, you will come to me on your own two feet.”
She had only now realized that those words had forewarned of this very situation.
***
In the end, it had gone Verdic’s way. Sinya had come to find him on her own feet.
“Huu…”
Unable to contain her anger, she had truly come to find him on her own, but the problem started now. If Verdic was inside the mansion, all she had to do was have word sent to him that she had come. He would have been waiting for her to come find him.
The problem would arise if “Mother” were inside the mansion. She wished for Sinya to no longer be entangled with the Criseis family. Sinya had also given up on becoming family with them; she had only come because of Verdic’s scheming. There was no reason to endure insults from Mother.
‘Don’t be afraid.’
If she was in the right, there was no reason to be afraid. Sinya was in the right, so she had no need for fear.
She headed for the main gate of the mansion garden, which had once been familiar but now felt overwhelmingly large. The gatekeepers didn’t seem to have spotted her yet. Wondering what she should say if the gatekeepers recognized her and how to ask to meet Verdic, Sinya quickened her pace. But her hurrying steps soon had to stop. Because a familiar woman was coming out through the gate from within.
‘Madam Ali…?’
Madam Ali was exiting the castle, escorted by the butler of House Criseis. Sinya hid herself without thinking. The butler bowed and saw her off, while Madam Ali walked away, unable to hide her dark expression. When Madam Ali turned down the road beside the main gate of House Criseis, Sinya finally revealed herself. Just then, she saw the butler giving the order to close the gate.
“Wait!”
When Sinya urgently called out to him, the kind old butler spotted her and looked surprised.
“Miss Sinya…?”
The old butler soon caught Sinya as she nearly stumbled while running up to him, his face unable to hide his joy, his eyes welling up with tears.
“Oh my, Young Miss. What brings you here? Have you been well all this time? Why are you wearing such shabby clothes…”
“Why did that woman who just left the castle come here? Did my brother Verdic invite her?”
Sinya was just as glad to see the old butler, but her emotional state was too much of a mess to show the same joy. Sinya thought that if Verdic had tried to harm Madam Ali under the pretext of looking after her, she would never forgive him. When she asked the old butler this, he made a troubled face.
“I do not know the details either. For now, as you say, that lady is indeed a guest invited by the Young Master… ah, I mean, the Duke. But why do you ask?”
“……”
“Is that woman connected to you as well, Miss?”
SInya gave a small nod.
The old butler had been the butler of House Criseis since before Sinya was born, and was one of the few who had shown her interest since she was a newborn. Of course, strictly speaking, his greatest loyalty was sworn not to Sinya, but to House Criseis itself. But even if he could not directly help Sinya, having been cast out of the house, at the same time, he could not completely turn his back on her, either.
“Please let me see my brother, Verdic.”
“Yes? But…”
“If you tell him I’ve come, he will likely let me in.”
“……”
“Surely Mother is not inside?”
“No. The Madame has gone out for a while, so she is not currently inside the mansion, but…”
“Then it is fine. Please inform my brother that I’ve come.”
She had come this far, and now that she knew Verdic had met Madam Ali personally, she had no intention of backing down until she confronted him directly. The old butler hesitated briefly, but seeing the resolve in Sinya’s eyes, he realized she would not retreat like this, and soon said he understood, admitting Sinya into the mansion.
Stepping back into House Criseis, which she had thought she would never set foot in again, Sinya was struck by spaces that were familiar yet simultaneously foreign. The marble floor, the chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, and even the stuffed wolf pelt decorating the drawing room fireplace were all exactly as she remembered.
The old butler guided Sinya to the drawing room and then disappeared for a moment, saying he would bring Verdic. As she sat alone in the drawing room, familiar maids glanced about and bowed to Sinya. It felt terribly awkward, and she averted her head. Instead, she chose what she would say when Verdic arrived.
‘First, why he met with Madam Ali, and what he said to her. Also…’
She also had to ask whether he was truly behind that rumor. She couldn’t spit in Verdic’s face as she had before, but she vowed that at the very least, she would not concede to him in words.
“Ah, Sinya. You really came?”
A rather long time passed after the old butler went to fetch Verdic. Just as Sinya was checking the time, Verdic opened the door and came in, acting nonchalant as if he saw her every day, and addressed her affectionately. Sinya found his face detestable and glared at him without returning the greeting, so Verdic coughed pointlessly and had the old butler dismiss all the attendants. Only Sinya and Verdic remained in the drawing room.
“For you to come all the way here, you’re quicker than I expected.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I came because I have something to ask you, Brother.”
“Something to ask?”
Verdic asked, pretending not to know anything. Sinya unconsciously ground her molars, barely forcing the words out of her mouth.
“…The rumors about Madam Ali. You’re the one who spread them, aren’t you?”