At the End of the Shattered Remains of Pure Love - Chapter 2

Lord Braims’ daughter Pamela was a composed and calm girl, but not to everyone. The girl who had just turned twelve had a sensitive personality as much as she was precocious, or in other words, she was very sensitive and picky.

Recently, she had taken a strong dislike to one girl.

With a face as white and round as a snowflake and hair as wild and curly as a bush, she was as gorgeous and beautiful as a fairy from a fairy tale.

The girl’s cheeks, which everyone unanimously called ‘perfectly rose-colored’, were doll-like rosy, and since her beauty was already complete, it would be wrong to say that ‘she will become a great beauty when she grows up’.

So she had to admit. The ‘beauty’ that overwhelms the audience is not a matter of taste.

Thus, Pamela was captivated by the girl’s beauty every day, forgetting even her sense of defeat. But when she turned away, she shuddered with unbearable jealousy and envy.

She knew that such a beauty couldn’t be found even if you searched this backwater with a fine-toothed comb. Even her mother, who was quite renowned as a beauty in the area, was said to be mere candlelight before the sun compared to that girl and her mother…

What’s especially impressive were her eyes under the thick eyelashes. It was a rare color. Too subtle to be called amethyst… Her eyes with a very mysterious color shone like the jewels in her jewelry box. So everyone couldn’t help but stare in awe.

“But don’t you think her nose is a bit upturned?”

Pamela asked the maid who was combing her hair. The girl of the same age as her was a gentle child named Bessie.

“Is it? So what? She’s so pretty…”

Bessie laughed innocently. After neatly arranging Pamela’s hair with oil made from basil flowers, Bessie put her hand on her shoulder.

Pamela stared blankly at her image reflected in the mirror. No matter how much she groomed herself, she wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t like this before…

Pamela was a girl with golden curly hair, taking after her fair and slender mother. With bright blue eyes, she was a girl pretty enough to be compared to the daughter of the grand lord of Velobosque, who’s renowned for her beauty. But…

“Cheer up. Today is the day young Master Evon is coming.”

At the mention of Evon, Pamela’s hardened face softened. Evon was her fiancé. A young master three years her senior.

Even though he was from a lower-ranking noble family, it was a much more prestigious family than hers, which had no title at all. It was said that they even had distant connections with the great noble family of Count Spetunia, so he would surely be helpful to her family as well.

“Let’s go out, Miss.”

The sound of horses neighing was heard from outside the square window. Pamela stood up, smoothed her dress once more, and gracefully left the bedroom.

***

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

Jeanne, who had fallen down, quickly got up and apologized to the boy. The boy looked down at his wet shirt and trouser hem, then stared at Jeanne.

Jeanne righted the bucket, which was almost half her height, then looked at him, trembling.

She knew that Miss’s fiancé and his father were visiting the mansion. In fact, that’s why even Jeanne, who had no labor obligations, had to help in the kitchen, but…

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

“Are you alright?”

He kindly asked Jeanne, who was flinching in fear. Jeanne looked up at him, trembling. The boy was smiling, showing his teeth. Jeanne saw the handkerchief extended to her. As she stared with wide eyes, he urged her to take it.

“You’ll catch a cold. Quickly, wipe yourself.”

He offered the handkerchief once more. Jeanne glanced at the gathered crowd, then took the handkerchief, wanting to escape quickly. She wiped her eyes vigorously with the handkerchief. It was a careless motion, typical of a child.

“Cute.”

Suddenly, the boy whispered softly and snatched the handkerchief from Jeanne. Surprised, Jeanne looked up. He gently held her chin and wiped her wet cheeks and eyes. Jeanne felt uncomfortable and slightly moved her foot back. Suddenly, a clear cry was heard.

“Evon!”

Jeanne retreated, trembling violently. The boy put the handkerchief in his pocket, looking somewhat regretful. He turned his head to look at his fiancée. Pamela, with a hardened face, was approaching in small steps, holding up her dress.

“Pamela.”

His face, which had momentarily shown boredom, quickly brightened. Jeanne picked up the bucket, now only half full of water, and retreated three steps. Pamela, who had almost run over, glared at her. An ominous silence enveloped the three.

“Hello, Miss.”

“What’s a mere kitchen maid’s daughter doing here?”

“Well…”

Jeanne blinked, intimidated. Usually, there would have been enough hands, but the kitchen was extremely busy preparing for the guests. Moreover, in the past few days, two of Dirk’s assistants had quit, making it even busier.

With the increase in work for the skilled workforce, including the kitchen maids and Elaine, Dirk was busier than ever.

One can imagine how busy it must have been for even the eight-year-old Jeanne to be recruited for kitchen work.

Her mother, Elaine, would often chase her away, saying there was no need for her to work too, but she couldn’t do that. She didn’t want to play innocently in the yard while her mother was so exhausted. But if she had known it would turn out like this…

“What’s going on here?”

Pamela, who had rushed over, asked while examining her fiancé’s appearance. His frock coat and cravat were soaked, looking terrible. She glared fiercely at Jeanne.

Jeanne, who had been retreating cautiously with the bucket, flinched as if struck by lightning.

“What kind of reckless act is this?”

“Stop it. I wasn’t watching where I was going properly.”

“Evon, are you blind that you couldn’t see properly?”

Pamela snapped sharply. She felt like she was going to die of anger. Not just anyone, but now even Evon… What was this beggar girl thinking… Her fists clenched. The anger she had been barely containing exploded. She turned away from her fiancé, who was looking at the girl with eyes gentler than cotton. Then she slapped Jeanne’s cheek with all her might.

“Ah!”

Jeanne fell down from the hand that flew like a bee. It was the hand of a girl who was barely twelve, not even an adult. Yet it was too fierce and stinging for Jeanne to handle.

Jeanne gasped, unable to even grab her reddened cheek. Her head was spinning as if she had a concussion, and she felt nauseous. It might have been due to the extreme state of tension she was in.

“Filthy girl. You and your mother…”

Pamela gritted her teeth. The resentment on her small face was no longer that of a young girl. The same vicious jealousy as her mother’s was evident in her eyes.

“We took in homeless beggars… To think we’d see such a disgrace.”

Pamela, who had been spitting out each syllable terrifyingly, picked up the bucket. Evon, who had been stunned by the sudden turn of events, tried to stop Pamela.

Instead of slapping her fiancé, Pamela shook him off violently and overturned the bucket towards Jeanne without hesitation. The remaining half of the water poured over the fallen Jeanne.

“Pamela!”

Evon shouted and rushed towards his fiancée. Pamela, with a terribly contorted face, threw the empty bucket at her fiancé before leaving the scene.

***

Upon hearing that her daughter had lost consciousness, Elaine rushed back to the lodging. She had been in the middle of peeling and chopping vegetables. Without even taking time to wipe her hands, dirty with carrot soil, on her apron, Elaine ran urgently.

“Jeanne!”

Although she was prone to minor illnesses, her daughter had never been sick enough to lose consciousness. Elaine couldn’t believe the news that her daughter had collapsed.

Why? For what reason… Trembling, Elaine arrived and immediately pushed through a group of people gathered in front of the child’s bed. Then she cupped the pale, wet cheeks of the child.

“Jeanne, wake up! What’s going on here? Who on earth…”

“Stop it, Elaine. The child has been unconscious for a while. We tried to wake her up, but it seems she can’t get up because of the high fever.”

A skinny man grabbed her shoulder as she stopped patting the cheeks and started massaging the pale hands and feet. But the frightened Elaine couldn’t hear anything.

She kept massaging her daughter’s hands and feet, bursting into tears. Someone said they should call a doctor. However, the mother and daughter were disliked by the master’s family. The reason the child collapsed was also because she was slapped by the young miss, who was no less than the princess of the mansion.

In the end, people turned their backs, leaving only the mother and daughter.

“Jeanne, my baby. What’s going on? Why is your body so cold? Who did this to you?”

Her fingertips trembled as she touched the child. Cold sweat broke out and her breathing became tangled.

She sat down and cried, then picked up her daughter and left the lodging.

There was a resident doctor at the Braims mansion, but he wouldn’t take care of her child. If he were kind-hearted, maybe. The old man with a hooked nose and gold-rimmed glasses was originally grumpy and didn’t like her for having a child alone without a husband.

So she had no choice but to search for a doctor in the village. She picked up the child and started knocking on doors from house to house.