Chapter 22 – It’s Just The Beginning, But Already…

The capital city at midday, bathed in dazzling sunlight, was bustling with well-dressed gentlemen in silk hats, elaborately adorned ladies, and carriages rushing by.

In the midst of it all, a flock of pigeons suddenly took flight with a fluttering sound.

Eloise, already tense, let out a piercing scream and was startled right after.

“Kyah!”

Had her mother been there, she would have scolded her harshly, but there was no helping it.

Her heart, which had been startled, kept pounding as if it would burst despite her repeatedly clutching her chest.

‘…Where did all these pigeons come from?’

Even seeing it with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.

The sight of pigeons filling the entrance of the square, more numerous than people, no, more than people! To see so many birds gathered in one place!

The pigeons, startled by Eloise’s scream and stamping feet, flew away only to return shortly, pecking at the ground as if nothing had happened.

Their small, sharp beaks seemed ready to peck at her feet.

‘Ducks are at least cute. These birds are somehow scary…’

But she had to enter the square to buy the advertisement paper. To find a job, she had to overcome this huge barrier.

The only fortunate thing was that there was no one openly mocking her fear of the birds.

Of course, it wasn’t because the people of the capital were considerate.

They were simply neither kind nor free enough to pay attention to everything happening around them.

‘What should I do? Should I just run through? Or…’

At that moment, someone appeared in front of the hesitant Eloise and skillfully shooed away the pigeons with a rolled-up newspaper.

It was an old gentleman who had been resting on a nearby bench.

“Shoo, shoo! Now, go ahead, miss.”

The dust raised by the frantically flying pigeons blurred the surroundings. The sound of their vigorous flapping echoed all around.

“Th-thank you!”

Eloise, with her eyes tightly shut, ran frantically through the dust.

She heard the cooing of the remaining pigeons as they retreated.

When she opened her eyes, she had already passed the entrance to the square.

Looking back, the old gentleman had returned to his bench to read his newspaper, and the pigeons were back on the ground, busily pecking as if nothing had happened.

There are kind people in the capital after all. But what should I do when I need to go back…

“Haa. It’s just the beginning, but I’m already tired.”

Eloise rubbed her tired eyes and walked towards the inside of the square. The square was crowded with people.

The only consolation was that she quickly found the stand selling advertisements.

At least she wouldn’t have to wander around any longer.

The capital of the Kingdom of Wellington, Brightnum, was truly full of surprises.

Eloise’s mouth fell open as she admired the flowers displayed by old women and girls with smiling faces in one corner of the square.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but she hadn’t seen wrong.

‘Unbelievable. Roses at this price…?’

Right now, in Maybury, summer roses would be blooming everywhere.

It was common to pick as many as desired to decorate the dining table and bedroom, as they were such common flowers…

Thinking of buying a bunch to put in her room, Eloise quietly shook her head.

Feeling that buying roses was an extravagant luxury made her suddenly sad, but finding a job was more important right now.

“Can I have a job advertisement paper, please?”

Approaching the newspaper stand cautiously, she asked, and the owner, with a unique beard, holding a pipe emitting smoke, picked an advertisement from a pile of papers and handed it to her.

“Thank you…!”

But to her surprise, someone snatched it away right in front of her eyes.

Turning around, she saw a scruffy man with a wide-open shirt stained with sweat standing crookedly.

“…Excuse me, that’s mine.”

“Why? You haven’t paid for it yet.”

“Hah.”

The shameless attitude made her thin blonde eyebrows furrow deeply.

To her dismay, the stand owner didn’t seem to have any intention of intervening. Instead, the acrid cigarette smoke he was puffing out only intensified her irritation.

Meanwhile, the man looked her up and down, and not wanting to back down in the face of his rude behavior, Eloise glared back at him.

She had to lift her head stiffly to avoid lowering her gaze to his bushy, dirty chest hair.

“But I asked for it.”

“What’s the problem? Just ask for another one.”

“Why are you speaking informally?”

“Huh? Are you some kind of great lady from a noble family? You don’t look like it at all.”

The blatant gaze and the smirk made Eloise’s face flush with anger.

‘Not only is he rude, but he’s also impolite!’

How many more people like him would I have to deal with?

It had only been two days since she arrived in Brightnum, but she was already feeling fed up.

At that moment, Eloise recalled the day Ansel had visited her alone at home and had been particularly cold.

‘Back then, I was so shocked I even trembled, but now that I’m in the capital, that wasn’t even that rude.’

Well, he’s from the capital too. Maybe what I saw that day was his true self.

No, wait. Why am I thinking about him again?

“By the way, miss, you’re not from around here, are you?”

“…What?”

“You haven’t been in the capital long, have you? Right?”

The man, who had handed a coin to the owner, scratched his nose and grinned. His yellow teeth were fully exposed.

Eloise felt her cheeks flush more with embarrassment than with the thought of his filthiness.

It’s not like it’s written on my face that I’m from the countryside. I even wore my cleanest and best clothes today just in case I found a job, so why?

“How… how do you know that?”

Despite her flushed face, she stood up to him fairly confidently, and he laughed heartily as if he found it amusing.

Eloise’s ears turned red with embarrassment.

“Women in the capital don’t wear such dull colors. Maybe an older lady would. The design is also out of fashion. If you want to look like a capital lady, you’ll have to try harder.”

For some reason, Eloise’s heart sank at his words. It was then that she noticed the attire of the women passing by.

She had thought they were all dressed up because the weather was nice, but looking closely, the colors and designs were all unique.

But following fashion trends and buying new clothes while leaving perfectly good ones behind wasn’t Eloise’s way.

Of course, she couldn’t afford it anyway.

“…I don’t think that’s something you should say.”

The man was extremely scruffy, and his body reeked of sour sweat and beer.

Though he couldn’t compare to the elegant and even fragrant Ansel Blaine, he was far inferior even to Archibald, the servant at the Earl’s mansion.

“Seems like you’re angry? Rare to see a girl with such spirit.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

She couldn’t waste any more time talking.

If he had cut in line to buy the advertisement, he should just go away quickly.

“How about I buy you a meal as an apology? What do you say?”

“Hah.”

Eloise rolled her eyes towards the sky and turned back to the owner, ignoring the man’s words.

“Please give me a job advertisement paper.”

“Oh, come on! Wait a minute.”

“Ah! What are you doing?”

At that moment, the man roughly grabbed her wrist, pulling her away from the stand in an instant.

“At least give me an answer. You’re too cute. Not sophisticated, but still has your own own charm…”

Eloise was furious. The fact that she couldn’t physically confront him was only making her more desperate.

“No! Are you satisfied now? If you’re done here, please go away. If you bother me more, I’ll scream.”

“Playing hard to get, huh?”

When he touched her flushed cheek with his fingertip, Eloise slapped his hand away with disgust and stepped back.

The man burst into laughter as if he found her fierce reaction amusing.

“Were you really angry? What a shame. You’re really cute…”

The man, rubbing under his large nose, exclaimed “Ah!” and unfolded the advertisement paper.

Then he noisily tore out several pages from the back and crumpled them into his back pocket.

The front part of the advertisement paper was then extended towards Eloise.

“Here, take it as an apology. I’m a gentleman of the capital. You’ve saved money on the advertisement paper, so cheer up.”

“…”

When Eloise glared at him with narrowed eyes, he waved the paper as if urging her to take it.

“The part I tore out is for mining jobs. You weren’t planning on going to a mine, were you?”

“…I’m going to a factory.”

“A factory, huh… Wait.”

The man’s bushy eyebrows twitched.

After checking the torn pages, he grinned, showing his yellow teeth.

“One of the pages is for a meat factory, so it doesn’t matter, right?”

“A meat factory?”

“Yeah. It smells bad and the work is tough. It’s too much for a cute girl like you.”

His own smell seemed more worse. And his condescending tone was annoying.

With her bright blue eyes glaring, Eloise retorted fiercely.

“Don’t underestimate me. I didn’t come here with such a weak heart…!”

“What? Miss, can you slaughter a pig? You’ll be covered in blood in no time. It also takes quite a bit of strength to cleanly remove the bones and guts.”

“Huh? That’s…”

Eloise, turning pale as a sheet of paper, hesitated in shock, and the man, as if expecting it, forcibly shoved the crumpled advertisement paper into her hand, laughing slyly.

“Here. Good luck, miss.”

“Wait, I’ll pay for it…!”

While Eloise fumbled, the man walked away briskly into the afternoon sunlight.

His shirt, stained yellow on the back, was already far away. The capital was indeed a strange place.

Eloise, spotting a wooden bench in a corner of the square, moved her tired steps and muttered blankly.

“…Let’s not go to the meat factory.”