Chapter 150
“I know too. That our family might go bankrupt. That’s probably why the Imperial Guard came yesterday. I guess Duke Eckhardt knows something more.”
“So, that’s why we can’t meet anymore.”
“Hmph, that’s just what adults say!”
Erika pouted. Veronica looked utterly frightened.
“But, they said if I meet you, our whole family might get involved… I’m sorry, Erika.”
Erika bit her lip. This was the first time she had seen Veronica so cowered. She had always acted like a proper lady and was confident, but now she was completely suppressed.
“When we grow up, it’ll be okay! We can do as we please!”
“…Do you think so?”
“Yeah!”
Erika nodded vigorously. Veronica’s face gradually brightened. Erika’s positivity was contagious to her as well.
“Even if my family goes bankrupt, I’ll come find you again when I grow up! You just have to not forget me, Veronica. If I’m really completely ruined, you can just hire me as a maid.”
“……Okay.”
Veronica hesitated for a moment, then suddenly held out her pinky finger. Erika looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Then, let’s promise. Never to leave each other. I won’t leave you either. Let’s be together forever.”
“No matter what happens?”
“Yeah. No matter what happens.”
“Okay!”
Erika smiled brightly and linked her pinky finger with Veronica’s.
“It’s a promise!”
“Yeah, a promise.”
Veronica looked back at Erika and smiled shyly.
That was their last meeting. Duke Eckhardt turned away Erika’s father, his close friend, who had come to him for help one last time, and Erika’s family was framed for treason and destroyed.
After that, Erika’s family, the Dillon barony, had all their assets confiscated, Baron and Baroness Dillon and their heir, Erika’s older brother, were beheaded, and she was left on the streets with only a few family belongings and some personal jewelry, as if out of charity.
The misfortune that young Erika had vaguely imagined was far too great and immense, so she could only be swept away by it.
Erika’s past was such a pathetic story.
Herick Street had a strangely dark atmosphere even before the sun had set.
Dilapidated houses crumbling down, drunks collapsed in the streets, the stench of foul and rotten food waste, and a drab, grayish color palette with not a single primary color in sight.
A filthy street that could never be clean, filthy people. Erika walked through it with a nonchalant and confident stride. Dressed in moderately priced traveler’s clothes and a gray robe, she looked exactly like a slightly small man or boy. Especially her natural attitude, which didn’t seem awkward in that street, made her look even more so. The beggars and drunks glanced at her and then simply turned their heads away, losing interest.
In a place like this, everyone is penniless, so they don’t even beg. That’s why a beggar begging in this back alley was a very unique existence to the people of this street, though not to outsiders.
She soon stopped in front of a blind man who was begging. The beggar, as if familiar with this, extended his palm upwards and bowed, pressing his head to the ground.
“Please, spare a coin, sir. You will be blessed.”
This is truly out of place in this street, Erika thought indifferently. She had known this old man before. He was a gatekeeper who secretly connected people who needed to meet in this neighborhood.
She was seeing for the first time today that he also did this kind of work, but she had met this gatekeeper before. However, she didn’t bother to act like she knew him. There was no need to.
Clang-
A coin rolled into the beggar’s can, making a clear sound. The blind beggar repeatedly thanked her, groping for the coin in the can. The beggar’s cloudy eyes, which had no focus, widened briefly.
“Heh heh, it seems like I’m having a lucky day today. A distinguished person has come.”
He bowed repeatedly, tidied up his things, and picked up the can. His skillful hands were no different from those of a sighted person. The old man led the way with his belongings, and Erika simply followed him in silence.
He moved forward without hesitation.
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