1. Miss Heich’s Misfortune 

 “Have a safe trip, Nelie!”

“You’ll become a wonderful illustrator!”

“Hey, you girls! It’s dangerous to get too close to the departing train!”

The village girls clustered around the train scattered with giggles as the railway worker waved his hands as if shooing away flies. They were all friends who had come to see Nelie off, traveling an hour by carriage from dawn to reach the only station near their village.

“Don’t forget to write letters regularly!”

After squeezing herself onto the train with her luggage, Nelie waved her arms with all her might toward her friends who were calling out to her.

“Yes! I will!”

Peeeep. The long whistle of the steam engine from the only station in all the surrounding villages echoed throughout the mountain valley.

“Goodbye, everyone!”

The train started moving with a heavy sound, stretching like a yawn. Nelie kept leaning out the window, waving goodbye. Only after waving her arms for quite a while did the platform and her friends’ figures fade into dots in the distance.

Only then did Nelie pull herself back into the train and find her spot. Though it wasn’t even a proper seat but a space in a standing room due to lack of money for a proper ticket, that wasn’t a problem. Tumultuous excitement and anticipation constantly heated Nelie’s heart.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Known by her nickname Nelie, Annelie Heich was the daughter of the only printing house in their tiny mountain village.

The workshop, with its metal type and copper plates for illustrations scattered about, was nothing less than a massive playground for young Nelie. One wall was filled with copies of beautiful ancient books that monastery monks had created, showing off their skills. In the corner still remained the pigments and art supplies her deceased mother had used for illustrations. The smell of ink and pigments that permeated the house was, for Nelie, the scent of home.

There, Nelie grew up helping with all sorts of odd jobs at the printing house. From fitting type into the printing press like a puzzle to organizing paper and oiling tools, and……. 

 “What kind of illustration would work well here?”

“For that part… yes, that would be good.” 

 Even reinforcing illustrations.

Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Nelie, who had been doing such work consistently, showed talent in drawing. 

 “Did… did you make this, Nelie?”

“Well, there was leftover pigment. I’m sorry!” 

 Impressed by picture books that had flowed into the printing house from the city, Nelie one day compiled her doodles into a booklet. It was a booklet illustrating old tales passed down in the village.

The book she had made for fun and discarded somehow found its way into the hands of a villager collecting firewood, and after making a complete round of the village, it returned to the printing house. 

 “Hey, Heich! This book came from your printing house, right?”

“Is there no sequel? My children were wondering.” 

 Though the content was fairy tales that adults always told, the illustrations inside were quite decent. Eventually, that thin book made several rounds through houses with children in the small village where entertainment was scarce. Her father, recognizing Nelie’s signature playfully written on the last page of the booklet, supported her in his own way. 

 “Your mother had extraordinary talent for illustrations. She was as skilled as any city artist.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If she were alive, she would have been so happy to see you…… It’s a shame to keep you here like this.”

“But I like it here. I plan to inherit the printing house!”

“There’s a printers’ guild in the city, Nelie. And art schools and famous academies too. Perhaps……”

“Well, I heard they even have something called photography in the city.”

“Child.”

“Even if I study art, it won’t be of any use.” 

 Though she said this, her father openly shook his head. 

 “You don’t know that.”

“But……”

“Photography and art are clearly different. Even after photography emerged, some painters are still respected.”

“……”

“If our family had been better off… I could have sent you to study in the city.” 

 Her father always regretted this point, but Nelie was content with the small honor she enjoyed in this rural village.

‘This much suits me.’

She didn’t want to be too greedy. Rather than taking on something beyond her station, she was satisfied just working on small illustrations for the newsletter.

‘Small scale. Long and steady.’

She didn’t particularly want a life of being recognized as a famous artist. She wanted to do what she liked in moderation, marry a man from a decent family, and have children.

If she were to be a little greedy…….

If the opportunity arose, she wanted to work on illustrations for books. Like the monks who drew in monastery books. And she planned to inherit her father’s printing house. She had already decided to choose a husband who would agree to her inheriting the printing house. That’s how she had made up her mind.

‘If only things could stay just like this.’

It was a fairly satisfying time. A time that should have continued.

However, the peaceful and good times left Nelie in an instant. 

 “Cough, cough.”

“Father!” 

 It happened in the blink of an eye — Nelie’s father suddenly collapsed without warning and fell ill. And while she was distracted by that situation, the neighboring town’s printer who had lent money to her father swallowed up the family’s printing house.

Her father, who couldn’t even walk properly and had to remain bedridden after collapsing, apologized countless times for losing the printing house he was supposed to pass on to Nelie. Though Nelie was just as upset, she couldn’t show it. After all, her father must be more heartbroken about losing the printing house he had devoted his life to. 

 “I’m sorry, Annelie.”

“Please don’t say that, Father.” 

 And it was then that Nelie decided to follow her father’s wishes. She planned to leave for the big city to properly learn the trade, gain fame as an illustrator or artist, and return. To earn money legitimately through commissions and reclaim her father’s printing house. 

 “Nelie, take this at least.”

“Oh my goodness. Father!” 

 Understanding Nelie’s determination, her father sold even his preciously kept wedding ring to prepare final travel expenses for her. That day, the father and daughter held each other’s hands and cried for a long time.

And as soon as she came of age, Nelie departed for the city.

‘It will be alright.’

Upon arriving at the capital, she planned to work at a printing house run by her father’s old acquaintance. She would work hard drawing and selling illustrations to earn money, and once she saved enough, she would formally join the printers’ guild. Once she became a professional illustrator affiliated with them, it wouldn’t be difficult to reclaim the printing house.

“That’s right, I can do this, Annelie.”

Nelie clenched her small fist repeatedly as she made her resolution. 

 * * *

 And so, the country girl emanating the smell of pigments and ink arrived in the southern metropolis after traveling for two full days and nights.

The place was called Tevant. It was a city of arts, famous as a resort where members of the kingdom’s social circles often gathered.

That was the beginning of hardships that would befall the still-naive country girl.

“What? Closed down?”

“Oh my, miss. Haven’t you heard?”

Whether there had been a miscommunication or not, the printing house run by her father’s acquaintance had closed down long ago. The nearby shop owners said he had taken on huge debts trying to expand the business recklessly, and one day suddenly fled in the night, with no one knowing where he went.

“That’s unfortunate, miss. You’d better look somewhere else.”

‘What should I do?’

Even amid the rising panic, Nelie tried her best to maintain her composure. Everything would be fine if she could just keep her grip on sanity. That’s what she thought.

However, the city was a far more cruel place than she had imagined.

“My wallet!”

“Haha! Thanks for the easy money, miss!”

It happened while she was walking weakly through a shabby back alley, wondering what to do next. A pickpocket who had silently approached from behind snatched her bag containing her belongings and money.

“Thief!”

Though she chased after him with all her might while shouting, she ultimately lost him. There were quite a few people walking in the alley, but they all just watched her chase the pickpocket with tired eyes. No one helped.

The police she found after asking around showed no enthusiasm.

“We usually can’t catch those types, miss.”

“Just forget about it. Think of it as scraping your knee.”

“This isn’t a scraped knee, it’s more like a cracked skull!”

“Well, at least you’re not dead.”