Kitten Blue Eyes (8)

“I can’t read.”

“Are you insane?!”

Cynthia, beside her, barked out.

Anne shot a sharp look at Cynthia, who was shouting that she had no shame.

It was House Brennel that had made Anne into someone ashamed for not knowing letters.

“Cynthia, Lady Alicia is telling me about my mother. Mind your manners.”

“W-what, what……!”

Cynthia squawked like a noisy Great Hairy Cicada.

Anne braced herself—prepared to have her head beaten in when she returned home—and dared to be bold.

“Please be still, Cynthia.”

Cynthia and the Brennel maids were flustered by Anne’s change in attitude.

“You can learn to read.”

Alicia, as the rumors of an “angel” said, spoke generously.

“Would you tell me about the books my mother wrote, Lady Alicia?”

“It would be my honor. This isn’t a good place to talk—will you come to the marquess’s house with me?”

In any case, if she returned to House Brennel, what waited for Anne was only bullying and beatings.

“The honor is mine. Thank you for the invitation.”

Anne answered without hesitation.

“Lady Cynthia, please convey my words properly to my lord the viscount and the viscountess: that I invited Lady Anne to the marquess’s house. The sun is harsh, Anne. Let’s share a parasol.”

Smiling brightly, Alicia gave Cynthia a brief parting glance and shared her parasol with Anne.

It was a dazzlingly sunny afternoon.

Anne rode in a carriage with Alicia and Daisy.

The carriage was so well-cushioned that even the wheels made hardly a sound.

“Lady Alicia, Brennel has betrayed Rain.”

Anne decided swiftly.

Though she knew the carriage’s owner, Alicia, lacked for nothing, Anne wanted to repay the person who had told her about her mother.

“Lady Anne……?”

Anne knew at least this much: the Alicia who scrupulously called her “Lady Anne,” despite her shabby appearance, was not some naive lady.

“Brennel chose Manners.”

Anne decided to inform on Brennel.

If she stayed on a sinking ship, she would only go down with it.

It was also the most realistic revenge Anne could take.

“Do you have proof?”

“In the viscount’s study safe there are letters exchanged with the chancellor. The chancellor told him to destroy them, but the viscount is suspicious by nature and kept them aside. The safe’s code is the year’s number and the quantity of Aengkeo flowers delivered.”

Alicia nodded.

“Thank you for your courage.”

“Just to be able to meet you, I am happy. To me, you truly are like an angel. When I go back to the viscount’s, I don’t know what will happen to me…… I wanted to tell you before something bad happened.”

Anne smiled bitterly.

Alicia reached out and took Anne’s dust-smudged hand.

“Lady Anne, nothing bad will happen. I’ll protect you. Trust me.”

At Alicia’s words, Anne gave a faint nod—then a firm one.

“I will.”

Anne did not wish for much.

To preserve her own life.

If she had the strength, that nothing would happen to the gardeners and florists of the Aengkeo Orchard who had cared for her.

In truth, Anne was confident she could keep herself alive alone.

With even a single, withering Aengkeo tree, she had the skill to tend it and keep from starving.

What she had realized while enduring every form of abuse in House Brennel was that a person must learn a trade.

Upon arriving at House Rain, Anne bathed in a tub strewn with rose petals.

When she washed her hands in separately prepared scented water, the old grime packed beneath her nails vanished cleanly.

She felt ashamed—and astonished.

After washing, she put on a dress Alicia had lent her.

The garment smelled lovely, as if perfumed.

Once she was dressed, she received a jewelry box brimming with earrings, a necklace, and rings—“a present.”

“Choose what you like, Lady Anne.”

Whatever she picked from the box would likely be worth more than the jewels Cynthia had breathed fire wanting.

Seeing Anne too abashed to choose, Alicia and Daisy tried things on her and recommended pieces.

Everything was so beautiful.

Unable to choose, Anne left it to Alicia, Daisy, Annie, and Lise, who decided by majority.

Shoes, handkerchief, fan.

A vanity and cosmetics.

For Anne, every moment felt like a blissful dream.

The moments of choosing and pondering what she liked seemed as if they might shatter at any time.

She was happy—and uneasy.

The happiest moment was when Alicia read Masquerade, written by her mother Patricia.

Anne was so happy she burst into tears.

Used to being beaten, bullied, cursed, and despised, she was not one to cry easily—but this she could not bear.

Alicia said it was too soon to cry.

Starting tomorrow, a grueling schedule of reading lessons awaited, she warned.

There was also a warning not to run away from her studies.

“Thank you, Lady Alicia.”

Weeping, Anne whispered her thanks.

She shyly said that today was the happiest day of her life—without any sense of shame at the words.

“From now on, you’ll be happy every day.”

Alicia spoke firmly.

Already, her words were as good as done.

Alicia was reading when footsteps approached outside the door.

“Is the lady inside? Daisy.”

“She is.”

“May we enter?”

Anne and Daisy exchanged words.

“Please wait just a moment.”

Alicia closed her book and rose.

As the study door opened, Daisy came in.

“My lady.”

Daisy, carrying a flower vase, spoke.

“Lady Anne is here. But she’s come with Lindsay. Shall I show them in?”

“Yes—have tea prepared.”

Heading for the tea table, Alicia answered.

Daisy set the vase on the table and first readied Alicia’s tea.

Three days had passed since Anne came to House Rain.

The face that had scarcely shown emotion and had been stiff was gradually growing frank.

She had learned to express both laughter and tears.

In three days, Anne had become a completely different person.

Day by day, she changed radiantly—as if facing a new world.

Led in by Daisy, Anne wore a bright smile.

“Alicia.”

“Welcome, Anne.”

Alicia greeted her and offered a seat.

“The tea smells wonderful.”

As she sat, Anne lightened the mood with the gentle phrasing she had learned.

In the few days since coming to House Rain, Anne had truly changed.

And living alongside Anne, Alicia had changed as well.

Alicia’s original plan had been to spark internal strife between Anne and Cynthia.

Lady Patricia’s only heir versus Cynthia, who strutted about in the viscount’s house.

If she went between the two and scratched lightly, the picture seemed perfect for collapse from within.

But Anne’s actual condition when they met was unexpected.

That Anne could not read.

That she had been thoroughly cut off from the outside world.

That not a shred of self-worth remained.

The direction House Brennel intended was painfully obvious.

Anne was already an adult.

She was past twenty by more than two years.

The profits from Lady Patricia’s many bestsellers belonged to Anne.

The Viscount of Brennel had made her sign papers appointing him as proxy and was embezzling Lady Patricia’s estate.

To that end, he had kept Anne illiterate.

Alicia pitied Anne, and seeing how readily she reached out to the one who had helped her, Alicia changed her mind.

She could afford to alter her plan a little.

“Drink.”

Alicia motioned with her eyes to the teacup.

“I came because there is something I must tell you.”

After a sip, Anne spoke quickly.

“What is it?”

“Alicia, look at this.”

Anne tapped Lindsay gently at her side.

With a wary glance, Lindsay rolled up the sleeve that covered her wrist.

Alicia had, on a hunch, assigned Lindsay to Anne as her attendant maid.

Someone had to look after Anne nearby, and the South Annex quarters were isolated.

From Alicia’s perspective, it served multiple purposes.

“…….”

Lindsay’s wrist was mottled blue-black with bruises.

Anne touched Lindsay lightly to prompt her to speak.

“Forgive me, my lady.”

Shivering, Lindsay murmured an apology.

“No. Lindsay, who did this?”

“……My husband.”

In a voice on the verge of going out, Lindsay whispered.

“Lindsay’s husband is enrolled in the swordmaster’s course. For a swordsman to beat a powerless wife—trash. And since there’s no wound on her face, only where it won’t show, it seems he needs the wages Lindsay earns here as a maid.”

Daisy spoke coldly.

“Lindsay?”

“I’m sorry. I tried to get along, but he kept raising his hand, and I found it hard to endure…….”

Dabbing her tears, Lindsay apologized.

The tremor in her voice pained those who heard it.

“When something like this happened, you did nothing but endure?”

“Her husband was introduced through the marquess’s household……”

Fearing she might cause trouble, Alicia warmly took Lindsay’s hand.

“Lindsay—divorce that good-for-nothing.”

Alicia spoke decisively.

“Pardon? But……”

Startled, Lindsay gaped at Alicia’s words.

“Don’t worry about house business. Stay at the marquess’s for the time being and keep helping Anne as you are. Daisy—show the physician the injuries. Ask for a thorough record.”

At Alicia’s words, Lindsay looked as if to ask whether such a thing was truly allowed.

“Don’t worry, Lindsay.”

Alicia spoke to the anxious face.

“I believed Alicia would say exactly that.”

Anne, who had been quiet, spoke with a face full of trust.

Daisy led Lindsay out of the study.

As she left, Lindsay thanked Alicia and Anne.

“Th-thank you, my lady. Thank you, Lady Anne.”

It had not been long, yet Lindsay and Anne seemed to have grown quite close.

Nor was Lindsay the only one.

Since yesterday, Alicia and Anne had agreed to call each other by name.

At first, what Alicia gave Anne sprang from the wish to help the pitiful.

Dresses, shoes, cosmetics, jewels. Theater, books, songs, paintings.

All this was natural to Alicia; to Anne, each drew wonder and interest.

With each quick change as Anne learned something new, Alicia wanted to show her something even more marvelous.

Spending time together, she found herself paying attention to things she would normally pass by with indifference.

She marveled at—and enjoyed—what she would otherwise have ignored.

Fingering her teacup, Anne spoke carefully.

“I worried I might be meddling in the house’s affairs—but it was hard to pretend I didn’t see, so I stepped in. I’m sorry.”

“Not at all.”

“If Lindsay didn’t speak, I thought others would find it hard to know. No matter how hot summer is, wearing long sleeves—even thin ones—takes one who’s tried to hide bruises to recognize. I knew because I’ve been beaten a lot.”

Anne was changing rapidly, but she did not deny or pretend not to know her past.

“Alicia, I brought the item we mentioned yesterday from Brennel.”

“H-how?”

“I said I’d bring it, didn’t I?”

Alicia spoke with easy confidence.

Anne stared at Alicia as if at a goddess.

What House Brennel permitted Anne to keep of Lady Patricia’s belongings amounted only to her old dresses.

The twenty-eight dresses had been cutting-edge when made, but now time had made them dowdy.

Even so, to Anne, her mother’s possessions were precious.

“I brought all the dresses and books from your room. And when I said I was bringing your things, someone dug up the potatoes in your garden patch and gave us three baskets. They said those were yours, too.”

At Alicia’s words, Anne broke into a beaming smile.