Chapter 97

I ordered the squad to disperse and forcibly began walking away with Bianca. A colleague started to say something, but I ignored them and kept moving. Bianca followed me without resistance, even though I was pulling her hand. After walking for a while, I finally let go once we were out of sight of others.

“I’ll see you home.”

Night patrols were being conducted all over the place tonight. There was a chance she might get caught again if I didn’t. However, if she was with me in uniform, there would be no problem. Bianca replied in a voice that was barely a murmur and started walking.

“Are you going to fire me?”

“That won’t happen.”

I believe everyone has their own circumstances in life. Bianca’s home was a small, ramshackle hut built on the riverbed.

“Please, come in…”

Prompted by her, I hesitantly entered the room. It seemed the cleaning was kept up, but it was a cold, musty space.

“Please, have a seat.”

She suggested it in a monotonous, flat voice.

“No, I should be going—”

Suddenly, Bianca began to undress, and for a moment, I panicked.

“What are you doing?”

I caught a glimpse of her bony limbs and hurriedly looked away. I’d only seen it for an instant, but the white skin floating in the darkness was bewitching.

“I cannot pay the fine. Please satisfy yourself with me, so let this be enough…”

It was an inorganic voice, devoid of any emotion.

“I didn’t come here with that intention. There are many patrols tonight, so I only came along to make sure you didn’t get caught again.”

Since I was looking away, I didn’t know what Bianca was doing. Had she put her clothes back on? When I turned my gaze back, she was in the middle of tying the ribbons at her chest. Her eyes were brimming with tears.

“I didn’t want Sir Hinoharu to know.”

I found myself unable to answer.

“You should rest for the night. I had asked you to clean my room the day after tomorrow, remember? I’m counting on you.”

Silence was the only reply. I stood there, unable to move, waiting for an answer.

“I am terribly sorry. But, please, let me quit this job.”

“Why?”

I asked without a moment’s hesitation.

“Because Sir Hinoharu has found out that I sell my body.”

“I don’t discriminate against people for things like that. Please come to work as usual.”

Bianca bit her lip tightly.

“It is painful for me now that you know the truth. …It had been seven years since I last wrote any characters. Since coming to Dresden, this was the first time someone had sent me such heartfelt writing…”

She meant our notes on the table.

“Can you believe it? Even a mere three lines of text can save the soul of a maid.”

I didn’t understand.

“You probably couldn’t understand, could you? I had stopped writing long ago. Paper is expensive, and my late husband would get grumpy if I did such things.”

Apparently, her late husband couldn’t read or write. Perhaps he had felt insecure about it.

“You were from Veneria, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I eloped and came all the way to Dresden. I suffered a great deal because of that. As I was chased by the demands of daily life, I had completely forgotten that I could even write. Exchanging messages with Sir Hinoharu made me feel like I had returned to being a normal human being for the first time in a while. But… in the end, I am a tarnished woman.”

I don’t think you’re tarnished at all.

“It is not good to denigrate yourself like that. You are earnest and wonderful—”

“I was selling my body even before my husband died.”

She probably didn’t do it because she wanted to.

“If you have no intention of taking me, then please, leave…”

I had no intention of taking her, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave, either. Why? It sounds a bit dramatic, but I felt that if I left like this, Bianca might die. I was desperate to do something, anything.

“Then, may I hold your hand?”

I asked as gently as I could.

“My hand?”

She seemed surprised by the unexpected request. The tragic atmosphere inside her thinned ever so slightly.

“Yes. Please.”

I took the hand she held out suspiciously into my own palm. It was an incredibly cold hand. Her chapped fingers were frozen like ice. I sandwiched Bianca’s right index finger between my own thumb and index finger and activated my skill.

I gently massaged her fingertip, slowly trying to help her relax. I had Bianca, who was still standing, sit down on the bed.

“Does it hurt?”

“No… it’s warm.”

Warmth returned to her ice-cold index finger, so I moved on to her middle finger.

“Please tell me about Veneria. I know nothing about the southern region, so please, teach me.”

As I continued the slow massage, I listened to her stories about her hometown.

The warm southern climate, the scent of citrus blossoms, the way the azure sea and sky meet at the far horizon—with my massage acting as a catalyst, Bianca began to speak in a dreamy, wistful tone.

Her family home was a small shipping business that owned its own ship. It was a happy childhood. She spent those days so innocent that she couldn’t believe such unbearable misery existed in the world.

“Please, look at this.”

While still leaving her right hand in mine, she took a book out from under her blanket with her left. It was a handwritten volume, not thick, but bound elegantly.

“I sold everything else—the few clothes and trinkets I had—when I eloped. This book is the only piece of my childhood I have left.”

The title was The Twelve Legends of Veneria. It was a gift from her parents on her 15th birthday. The book, sitting in that dreary room, looked strangely out of place, like a single fish that had wandered into a gathering of birds.

“Even when life became difficult, even when the time came that I had to sell my body, this was the one thing I could never let go.”

Because of my skill, Bianca remained relaxed, and her monologue continued. At seventeen, Bianca fell in love. The man was a sailor in the harbor, working on her father’s ship. With a handsome, rugged face and a silver tongue, it didn’t take long for a sheltered young girl to become obsessed with him. While the man’s behavior was often crude, he was gentle toward her, and Bianca mistook that for his true nature. Half-forced and half-willing, she gave him her purity.

“My parents wouldn’t forgive our marriage. Father probably knew what kind of man he really was.”

In the end, Bianca surrendered to her passion and abandoned her hometown with the man. The life that followed is easy to imagine. The life of a sheltered “miss” and a man who was all talk and no substance could never work out. Before long, they were worn down by poverty, and the man began to drown his sorrows in drink and violence. That husband eventually died five years ago, his body destroyed by excessive alcohol.

“To survive, I had no choice but to stand on the streets a few times a month. If only this body were a little stronger… No, there’s no use saying that now. It’s… already fine. Even if I’m alive…”

So, she really was planning to die. This might be selfish of me, but I didn’t want to let Bianca die. I didn’t know her well. I’d only exchanged a few short notes and seen how she’d polished my room. Even so, I knew her sincerity.

“Are you planning to die?”

“…Let me tell you the truth.”

Bianca pulled her hand away.

“A moment ago, Sir Hinoharu did not try to take me. If you had used me to satisfy your desires, I would have chosen to go on living my life on autopilot without a second thought, just as I always have. But you didn’t. Perhaps I simply lacked charm. But I want to indulge in the delusion that Sir Hinoharu treated me like a normal human being. And I want to pass on while holding onto that feeling of happiness.”

That wasn’t a delusion. I treated Bianca like any other person. But I was troubled to hear her say she wanted to die because of that. I pulled her hand, making Bianca stand.

“Please, follow me.”

The wind outside had died down, but the air was filled with a piercing chill. I started walking toward the river, and Bianca trudged along behind me. I stopped when we reached the water’s edge. Thin ice clung to the riverbank, shimmering in the moonlight.

“Bianca, if you walk into this river, you will surely die. I’ve heard that because your body cools down and you lose consciousness, it’s a relatively painless way to go.”

Bianca was silent. I couldn’t read a hint of fear on her face.

“Tonight, I learned that you have spent your days in pain. I know you cannot see hope for the future. Even knowing that, I do not want you to die.”

Bianca stared at my face vacantly.

“Why?”

“Because I like you. However, I cannot make you happy. I have someone I love. But, I think I can help you find your own happiness.”

Bianca slowly shook her head.

“Sir Hinoharu’s kindness touches my heart. Both from your notes and from what happened today… But I… I am tired of living.”

I took Bianca’s hand once more. To finish the final step I’d interrupted earlier, I poured all the magical power I could muster into my hand.

“Are you truly tired? Please, take a deep breath.”

Her eyes, fixed on mine, looked as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.

“Come now, take a breath.”

With her obedient nature, she followed my prompt and took a deep breath. In that instant, her expression changed to one of pure shock.

“Your chest doesn’t hurt even when you take a deep breath, does it?”

“Yes. Until now, every time I did that, I would always cough…”

“And the chill that clung to your body should be gone, too. Your fingertips aren’t cold anymore. Your fatigue has vanished, hasn’t it?”

“Y-yes…”

Looking at her own body with eyes as if she were witnessing a miracle, Bianca marveled at herself.

“I have healed all of your illnesses. Do you still want to die?”

“That is…”

“I want you to help me with my work.”

It seemed her emotions and consciousness couldn’t keep up with the changes in her own body. The fingers she held in mine were trembling.

“What kind of work?”

“It’s subcontractor work for an angel.”

I pulled her hand and led her out onto the surface of the river.

“The price is witnessing a miracle. I think it will be a fun job if we do it together. Of course, I will pay you plenty.”

The midwinter Reinga River, illuminated in silver, flowed quietly beneath us. If I could, I would like to wash away all of Bianca’s painful memories in this river as well.

“Is this… a miracle?”

The steps of Bianca, who had been shrinking back, became firm.

“Encounters between people are perhaps miracles in themselves. I will ask you one more time. Will you help us with our work?”

“Is a person like me capable of such an incredible thing?”

I gave her a firm nod, and the sound of Bianca’s quiet sobbing mingled with the gentle murmuring of the river.