I sat down on a bench to wait for Lucas and Adrian who’d left to run me some errands.
“That woman is ‘the’ Edith Abina? She’s not as pretty as I’ve heard. Looks a bit shabby.”
As I stared blankly at the bustling platform, someone nearby seemed to recognize me without even bothering to hush their voice.
“I heard that the Marquis of Abina was in debt due to a business failure… What a pity.”
“Is it really her? I never liked her since the dirty illegitimate child pretended to be a noble young lady of the Marquis.”
It looked like they were gathered in a circle and looking at Edith Abina’s figure. In the first place, I never thought that an illegitimate child was dirty – what was wrong with a child that was just born? Also, I haven’t acted like a noble lady for a while, so their thorny words didn’t bother me.
“In the end, it was all because of the marquis. No one is paying attention now.”
I ignore the voice that mocked me, and a large shadow fell over me as I was sitting on the bench.
“Why are you doing that, my lady?”
I heard a low voice and looked up to see Valérez in front of me. He’d just quietly walked away like that, but his appearance was so unexpected that my eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
“Yes?”
“Why are you keeping quiet like that?”
‘Why was I staying still? I was sitting and waiting for the next train.’
Should I have danced while waiting?
I blinked, looking up at Valérez who glared at me with discontent. At that moment, dust got into my eyes and stung.
“Ah…”
My mouth hung open in a daze and I was just about to rub my eyes with my fingers. Valérez sighed and softly held out a white handkerchief to me.
“Wipe it.”
Although there wasn’t a huge number of tears, I quickly took his handkerchief and wiped my eyes thinking he might get embarrassed if I didn’t.
“Lady, where are you going?”
He coldly walked away as if he would never talk to me again, so why did he come back?
I glanced at Valérez not knowing what was inside his mind as he opened his mouth.
“To the Great Temple.”
“Without an escort?”
“Because I can’t afford to hire an escort right now.”
His handsome eyebrows frowns as he shrugged as if he didn’t understand my answer.
“So, you’ve been going around alone this whole time? It’s dangerous.”
It wasn’t that I went alone, but the story of how I picked up the Crown Prince and rescued a slave after being kicked away by the Marquis was too long to tell now.
“It’s alright. I’m smarter than I look.”
He hesitantly moved his lips as I chose not to resolve his misunderstanding.
“I’m on my way to Rodenheim anyway. My lady-”
<WARNING> ‘Lucas’ and ‘Adrian’ are close.
<WARNING> Trouble may arise if three or more target characters gather in one place.
Penalties: Injury, loss of reputation, loss of likeability
As if interrupting Valérez’s words, the system window made a loud notification sound and displayed a warning message.
“Ah! I must go to my companions!”
I quickly got up from my seat, pretending not to understand what he was trying to say. Even with just Adrian and Lucas together, they were already like cats and dogs who’d eat each other alive, but if he got involved too, it could be really bad.
“I will definitely see you in Rodenheim, Ares.”
I smiled at Valérez and I quickly spoke as I walked away.
“Because I also have something left to say.”
* * *
Rodenheim City, where the Great Temple was located, wasn’t a place where anyone could enter. Among the people of the empire, only the imperial family and clergy were entitled to enter and exit without a pass, and no matter how prestigious a noble was, he or she had to purchase a temporary pass.
‘I’m not particularly a prestigious noblewoman anymore, so I’ll have to spend some money to get in, right?’
After passing through the Abre Tunnel and getting off the ‘Pilgrim’s Path’ connected to the city, I diligently walked to find the place that sold passes.
“What? How much?”
However, the priest who openly sold city passes and indulgence was charging exorbitant prices!
“A thousand resos to enter the warp. If you want to walk, you can pay a hundred resos, miss.”
My mouth hung open at the priest’s blunt guidance. If it was 1,000 resos, it was already close to a million won. The path that costed only 100 resos was 50km long and passed through a cliff, a path that only pilgrims walked.
‘In the meantime, the indulgence is five thousand resos.’
This was why it was said that faith can be bought with money. I glared at the corrupt priest and turned my back. Since I didn’t have much cash, I had to sell even the Oriharcon I brought out of the mine. However, in this small town where the only tourist attraction was the Pilgrim’s Path, I doubt there would be a merchant who’d be interested in Oriharcon.
Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 40 chapters in advance!
