61. The Remaining Maid (5)
"What happened?"
"I was so baffled! I mean, on my way home, some old man came up to me and outright told me to become his concubine! Said he'd had his eye on me for a long time or something. He stroked my shoulder saying I was pretty—it gave me the creeps. Even when I refused, he followed me so persistently. I had such a hard time shaking him off!"
Alicia made a sickened expression. If she was making a face like that, he must have been a truly strange person. No wonder she was late coming back from the stables when she should have returned already.
Frustratedly pushing aside her disheveled hair, Alicia suddenly let out a deep sigh.
"How did I end up like this……."
Her slumped shoulders and depressed look were pitiful. But knowing the full story, it didn't have much effect on me.
"If I'd known this would happen, I should have grabbed the lord's son when I had the chance."
"Right, why didn't you?"
"I never thought he'd go and get married behind my back!"
Alicia often talked about the times I wasn't around. One of those stories was about the lord's son. He had followed her around persistently, confessing his love, saying she was the only one for him—then one day he suddenly got married. To his pretty little fiancée, no less.
In the end, after playing hard to get for so long, she really did lose him.
"He followed me around saying I was the only one he wanted, that there was no one but me. That bastard!"
"That's because you never gave him a proper answer."
"You're supposed to play hard to get with things like that! If you answer right away, you lose your appeal!"
"Probably because you didn't really like him."
"That was part of it, too. Honestly, that chubby look was a bit much, don't you think?"
Alicia shook her head, but I didn't think it was that bad. He was on the plumper side, but that gave him a cute impression, and his clueless fawning over Alicia only amplified that endearing charm. Having been raised with everything handed to him, he didn't know much about the world, but even that could be called innocence from a different perspective. Plus, considering the fortune he would inherit, he was more than Alicia deserved.
"I was going to settle for him if nothing else worked. I never thought he'd abandon me and get married……."
"You brought this on yourself."
"Hmph!"
Alicia scoffed and refused to admit her fault until the end. her pert nose rose even higher. This was how she acted even when someone gave her advice. At her shameless face, this time I was the one making a sickened expression.
"Stop with the useless thoughts and start thinking about working hard. That'll be faster."
"Go ahead and live your miserable life alone. I absolutely refuse to live like that."
Anyway, she never backs down even a single word.
"Oh right. Has anything strange happened to you recently?"
"Something? Like what?"
"Just, you know, like some man coming up to you and offering to introduce you to a job. That kind of strange thing."
I deliberately kept my words vague as I recalled the two dark-clothed men. The fact that they offered to introduce a job based solely on appearance meant there was a possibility they had approached Alicia as well.
But after considering it for a moment, Alicia shook her head.
"Not really? There have been men who pestered me sometimes, but nothing like that. Why? What's going on? Did someone offer you a job?"
"No, if nothing happened, that's fine."
"Why? What is it? What happened?"
"It's nothing. Go to sleep. You have work tomorrow too."
"What is it! Tell me!"
Alicia, who couldn't stand not knowing something, pressed me for answers. But accustomed to this attitude, I turned away, pretending not to hear. Annoyed shouts echoed from behind me, but I paid them no mind. If nothing had happened, Alicia didn't need to know.
"By the way, he asked about you."
"Who?"
"You know where I sometimes go to collect ashes. The kid who works there with me."
"Ah, that short, ugly guy?"
Alicia immediately remembered Johnny. There was one time when work ended late, and Alicia had come to find me. Johnny, who was working with me that day, fell in love with her at first sight and had been pestering me to introduce them ever since.
When I nodded, Alicia irritantly tossed her long hair over her shoulder. She crossed her legs, tilted her head back, and her posture became haughty.
Still, she seemed pleased that someone had asked about her.
"What did he ask?"
"He asked me to find out what you think of him."
"Hmph. At least he has decent taste."
"So what. If you're interested, I'll pass it on."
"Are you crazy? Why would I settle for a filthy bastard like that?"
It was the answer I expected. Knowing her as I did, I wasn't particularly surprised. I acknowledged her with an agreement and turned away to wash up. The grumbling from behind me was completely ignored.
Things just need to stay like this. If only this peace could continue.
But when has life ever gone the way I wanted?
The peace didn't last long.
It happened a few days later. I was on my way home as usual. From afar, Alicia was running toward me. As she got closer, her face was full of excitement. Smiling broadly—something rare for her—Alicia grabbed both my arms.
"Sister!"
"What, what's wrong. What's gotten into you."
It was extremely rare for Alicia to call me sister. So while I was still flustered, Alicia blurted out her excited words.
"I've decided to go work as a servant at the Count's household!"
"What?"
What on earth was she talking about? As I blinked in confusion, Alicia happily laughed and hugged me. She rubbed her face against mine, stomped her feet, and expressed her joy with her entire body—I felt dazed. I couldn't understand a single word Alicia was saying.
I hurriedly pulled Alicia off me.
"What are you talking about. A servant?"
"Some people were looking for servants to serve in a noble household. At first I was a bit suspicious, but after hearing them out, it's not like they're making us do anything bad, and the conditions were really good, so I decided to go."
"……."
"Come with me, sister!"
Alicia grabbed both my hands.
"This is an opportunity, an opportunity! A chance to leave this filthy, poor life behind and start anew! I'm going to properly seduce a noble scion and make something of my life!"
Looking at her brightly shining face, I felt dazed again. Then I quickly snapped out of it. I organized everything Alicia had said so far in my head. But the more I organized it, the more a sense of foreboding rose within me.
I swallowed dryly and first held down Alicia, who kept bouncing around.
"Wait, hold on. What kind of people were they? By any chance, two men in dark clothes?"
"Huh? You know them too, sister?"
At her counter-question, I immediately hardened my expression.
"No."
"What?"
"No. Absolutely not."
I shook my head. I emphasized repeatedly that it was absolutely not okay. Then the smile disappeared from Alicia's face, and her eyes turned fierce. Despite that change, my stance remained firm.
"Why!"
"Because it's dangerous. What makes you trust those people enough to follow them? Are you crazy?"
"Don't worry. I confirmed that their identities are legitimate. It's not dangerous work. They're just hiring servants. Remember that woman who worked with us shoveling manure at the stables? The one who suddenly quit? She went there too. I'm telling you this after confirming it's safe."
"Still no. Don't even dream about it."
I shook my head again. Even if it truly was a safe place as Alicia claimed, I couldn't dispel my suspicions. No, did it even make sense for the upper class to recruit servants so randomly like this? Who knows what kind of problems they might cause? That alone was incomprehensible. And even with verified identities, it could still become dangerous. Who knows what she might experience after going there.
"I don't care. I'm going."
But Alicia wouldn't back down either.
"Absolutely not."
"Who are you to interfere and dictate what I do?"
"I told you why I came back, didn't I?"
"You said you accidentally caught the eye of your noble master while serving them and ran away, right? That you barely escaped with your life and ended up being pursued. You said you couldn't even settle down anywhere because you were afraid people from that household would come after you."
"Yes. That was a Count's household too."
Alicia clamped her mouth shut. That meant she understood my point. I sighed and spoke calmly, and coldly.
"Go refuse. No, just don't even go and ignore—"
"I don't want to live like this!"
I started at the sudden shout. With a face flushed red in an instant, Alicia screamed.
"My nails are all broken, my hair is a mess! My whole body is covered in scratches! My feet are so swollen I can barely walk! I can't take it anymore! If I have to live this miserably and submissively, I'd rather take the risk and go there—it's better!"
"Alicia!"
"Why should I accommodate your situation? Just because you went through that doesn't mean I have to as well. There's no reason I can't go!"
"……."
She was right. She was so right that I was at a loss for words. Her red eyes glared at me. The malice contained within them churned.
"I don't want to live like you. Even if it kills me, I won't live like you. Miserable, filthy, and nauseating."
The words pouring from her twisted mouth pierced me like sharp awls. Her bitter words always spilled forth without any courtesy. So what if someone like me gets hurt. Still, the reason I don't receive a greater wound is because I'm used to Alicia acting like this.
"I don't care about your situation. You stay here and keep living your miserable life. I'm going there. I'll go and live a proper life."
Having said her piece, her mouth clamped shut stubbornly again. This time, her attitude made it clear she would absolutely not back down. I knew better than anyone that once she set her mind like that, no one could stop her.
I met her sharp gaze and let out a deep sigh.
Alicia and I didn't have a normal sibling relationship. She was the most annoying among my younger siblings, and the least affectionate sister. And Alicia was ashamed of me. Because I was ugly, she didn't even want to acknowledge me outside. Having been constantly compared to Alicia, I had come to realize that pretending not to know her was the better option.
Because we had no one but each other, we grew into the sharpest relationship. In truth, even if we were told to separate and live our own lives right now, we could.
In a way, maybe this very moment was an opportunity to cast off the shackle clinging to my ankle and find my own life.
"I……."
If it's now, I could throw it all away.
"I, you see……."
But on the other hand, a feeling remained that I couldn't bring myself to let Alicia go alone. Alicia was my sister, my only blood relative, and the only person who could prove that I had lived. Without Alicia, I would be nothing more either. There wouldn't even be anyone to spit on my grave after I died.
Truthfully, it wasn't familial affection. This might simply be a concern for 'myself.' It was an indescribable wretchedness.