“Hey! Anyone going to play cards tonight!”

“Count me in!”

“Excuse me!”

“Anyway miss, you’re not that special of a case. If we gathered everyone like you in this neighborhood, the line would stretch all the way to the capital.”

“Right. If you want a proper investigation, file a report at the police station in the outer plaza, not here.”

After hearing this and actually going there, all she got was a cold response saying it wasn’t their jurisdiction.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Good grief.”

After Nelie’s persistent pleading, they finally took the report, but even that was just a rough sketch of the pickpocket’s appearance hastily scribbled in a notebook, done with obvious reluctance. Soon after, even the plaza police forgot about Nelie and started chatting among themselves. Being an art city and all, they discussed which actor performed better in the latest opera and what the next exhibition would be.

Nelie shivered at the city’s coldness but clenched her fists tightly.

‘It’s okay.’

Even if it wasn’t okay, it had to be. Nelie left the police station while rubbing her stinging nose. Fortunately, among the misfortunes, she had emergency funds hidden in her clothes. She had prepared it separately after hearing that one could get fleeced even with their eyes wide open in the city.

‘Right. I’ve prepared for this, and if I stay alert from now on, things will work out.’

She could find lodging with the remaining money, then find any kind of work to earn money before moving on to the printing guild. She heard there were odd jobs everywhere in the city these days, so maybe she could make it work.

……However, that too was her last hope.

“How can this be!”

“Well, that’s how it is, where else?”

Just one day after securing a shabby lodging with her last money, Nelie was kicked out of that cramped room and forced onto the streets.

“I already paid you!”

“Sorry, but we got another guest willing to pay more than you.”

“How can this be legal! At least give me my money back!”

Despite Nelie’s pleas, the innkeeper just scoffed.

“You already stayed one night, didn’t you? No refunds. If you want to argue, take it to court.”

It was infuriating how blatantly dismissive they were, but there was little she could do. In the end, Nelie almost begged.

“What about the guest who offered more? Let me talk to them. Please?”

“Hey now. That’s none of your business…… Yes, sir, please go right through there.”

While she was arguing with the innkeeper, the guest in question passed by, completely covered from head to toe. Under the cloak, cold eyes swept over her before looking away.

At that moment, Nelie reached out. Her instinctively outstretched fingers firmly grasped the hem of the guest’s clothes.

“……!”

The soft silk shirt between the cloak sagged down to the guest’s collarbone from the sudden movement. A distinct mark below the left collarbone came into full view. As she drew in a sharp breath, the guest irritably shook her off.

“Wait a moment!”

Nelie immediately grabbed the guest’s wrist again, desperately clutching their palm and fingers. The hand felt somehow cool and cold. She heard the innkeeper gasp in surprise beside her, but even that wasn’t her concern anymore.

‘Please.’

She had nowhere else to go if not here. Just as Nelie looked up at the guest with eyes as wide as possible, trying to appear pitiful—

“Tsk.”

The captured guest clicked their tongue in annoyance. As soon as that sound was heard, the innkeeper panicked and struck away Nelie’s arm.

“What are you doing? Want to be reported for assault?”

“What? Assault? How is this……”

“Right here, that’s what! Get out now if you don’t want to be charged!”

Nelie ultimately couldn’t withstand the pressure and was pushed out, left trembling at the city’s coldheartedness.

“Haah.”

That night, she spent a sleepless night in the rest area of the station where she had arrived, along with her meager belongings. Though she felt wronged, scared, and lonely, there wasn’t even time to despair.

“Don’t cry, Annelie.”

She had to hold it in no matter how miserable and upset she felt. It hadn’t even been days since she came to the city. She didn’t want to return home empty-handed. Besides, she didn’t even have money for a ticket home…….

“What will happen to Father if I give up.”

Something welled up inside her when she thought of her sick father who had trusted her and provided the money. She remembered holding his hand and crying for a long time that day. That’s when she had decided. She wouldn’t break down crying, for her father’s sake if nothing else.

She wanted to return successful somehow. She didn’t even have the courage to tell him that she had lost almost all the money.

“You can do it, Annelie.”

So she had to do something.

“I must succeed.”

From the next day, Nelie started going to the labor market that opened at dawn every morning, after asking around among the homeless people she had spent time with in the train station’s waiting room.

Of course, no one wanted to hire a young woman like Nelie for tough farm work or construction. After she showed up for several days, the labor market manager took pity on her and gave her a tip.

“Miss. They’re hiring over at newspaper street.”

“Newspaper street?”

“Yes. They usually hire men to handle type and plates, but for miscellaneous tasks and paperwork……”

“I can do that!”

“You’re confident about miscellaneous work?”

“No! The type work!”

Finally, hope appeared. Nelie nodded with a bright smile. It was her first smile since coming to the city.

At the interview she went to, the boss was quite skeptical of the young-looking Nelie. In the end, Nelie had to convince him by bringing up her special skill.

“I, I can draw illustrations too! If the newspaper needs illustrations……”

“We have photographs these days, why would we…… Wait.”

The dismissive boss remembered how expensive cameras were and looked at Nelie carefully. After calculating various things in his head, he finally hired her.

“Alright. You’ll be in charge of illustrations for our newspaper.”

“Yes! I’ll work hard!”

In truth, while it called itself a newspaper, it was actually a third-rate gossip rag dealing in unverified rumors. Though the boss hired her for a pittance compared to the workload, she was just grateful to have found employment.

“The empty storage room? Well, do as you like. It hasn’t been used in a while anyway.”

Above all, with the other employees’ permission, Nelie was able to use an unused storage room in the corner of the newspaper office as her own boarding room.

‘There really is a way if you look for it.’

Although money wasn’t accumulating well and she couldn’t afford the printing guild membership fee, she was at least doing similar work in a roundabout way. Who knew what might happen if she kept persevering.

‘For now, I need to save diligently.’

So Nelie spent her days doing odd jobs at the newspaper office with its old printing press, and her nights drawing illustrations for the paper. Though it was an exhausting and hard life, it was better than returning home empty-handed right away. Sometimes she would even skip meals to send money home.

It was around when she had spent a season working diligently in her newspaper office boarding room.

“Nelie, did you hear?”

Jerome, an art student at the academy who worked as an assistant at the same newspaper office to earn tuition, came with news. The largest central art museum in Tevant would be offering free admission for a week starting next week.

“The central art museum? That huge museum in the middle of the city?”

“Yes! That’s the one!”

Nelie’s eyes, which had been dulled by the daily struggle to survive, regained their sparkle.

The art museums in Tevant, the city of arts, also dealt with print-related arts. Among them, the central art museum grandly preserved hundreds of years old monastery books and their illustrations that were now hard to find. These were items that Nelie had been desperately wanting to see someday.

“You know how Duke Tevant, who went abroad to study, is returning? They’re opening it to celebrate that.”

“The Duke of Tevant went to study?”

“Ah, you probably wouldn’t know.”

Jerome pushed up his glasses with a slightly flushed face and continued his explanation. He too seemed excited about the museum’s free admission.

“The current Duke of Tevant became duke when he was young because the previous duke died early… Given his age, he was studying abroad.”

“Wow. He must not be much older than us then?”

“Probably. Though I hear he’s been of age for a while now.”

“But his studies still weren’t finished?”

“I heard he went to a military academy to learn various things after graduating from a regular academy. That’s why he stayed abroad longer than in Tevant.”

Jerome nodded and continued his explanation. He seemed twice as talkative as usual due to his excitement. Soon, he recalled something and smiled shyly.

“The artists here must be thrilled.”

“Why?”

“The Duke was nicknamed baby angel since he was young.”

“Oh my. What kind of……”

Nelie couldn’t help but laugh softly. No matter what, such a nickname for a living person seemed too embarrassing and childish. But Jerome answered seriously.

“He was such a beautiful boy that he deserved it. Even while studying abroad, he became a muse for artists there. I heard quite a few works using the Duke as a motif have already been produced there.”

“That much?”

Nelie’s eyes grew round. Jerome nodded.

“He’s the Duke of Tevant, the city of arts, after all.”

“Hmm.”

“Besides, if the Duke likes artwork based on him… he could become a good patron and muse for artists.”

“That’s just……”

Nelie thought to herself.

‘Isn’t that just trying to curry favor with the Duke to get patronage?’