14

Nelly, a housewife, was tired.

(What was my life, really?)

Nelly’s married family was a merchant house that widely handled ornaments and the like in the Royal Capital.

Business was stable, and Nelly was respected as the mistress there and lived in reasonable wealth.

But Nelly was not happy.

Lately, her health had not been good either, and her proud beauty had faded, and by now she was completely a middle-aged woman.

Nelly looked at her face reflected in the mirror and sighed for what must have been the umpteenth time today.

Nelly had been born as the daughter of...