14. Kindness

Even though it was midday, only a single small candle barely emitted light in the dark wooden house. More distinct than that candle, which seemed about to go out at any moment, I could clearly hear someone’s thin coughing.

“Cough, cough.”

The voice of the sick girl was roughly cracked.

I glanced at Annie, seeking her permission.

“May I intrude?”

Annie nodded.

I sat with my legs folded beside the small bed where the girl lay. The girl’s tiny body was so thin that the place where she lay was barely noticeable, just a small raised area.

Occasionally, her small rising and falling breaths reminded me of the trace of life existing there.

“Marie, excuse me for a moment.”

I pulled back the girl’s blanket. The child shivered in the slight breeze that rose. Her powerless body seemed to feel even the cold air as painful.

“Ugh……”

Her cracked voice was dry without any moisture, and that appearance reminded me of someone.

The person who came through the cold night air to deliver flowers upon hearing the false rumor of my illness.

I placed one of my fingers on top of the small fingers curled at the end of her wrist, which looked as if it might break. The child looked so pained that even adding that small weight seemed regrettable.

I began to pray for the sick, just as I had done for my younger siblings.

Through our barely touching fingertips, I could feel the child’s hot fever burning. The child wrinkled her face and curled her body as if in pain.

“Marie……”

I heard Annie sobbing as she murmured her sister’s name.

I too had days when I was as desperate as she was. During times so difficult that we couldn’t seek help from any doctor or pharmacist, my young siblings often fell ill.

The colds that visited them were unusually persistent. So I prayed countless times for my siblings to get up healthy quickly and return to their daily lives.

Recalling those memories, I felt like crying too.

I hated seeing someone in such pain.

Perhaps I thought of another person who might be suffering as much as Marie right now.

But he had given up all help and sympathy from people. What would it feel like to live enduring an incurable disease alone? I could never dare to know.

I carefully grasped Marie’s small knuckles beneath my hand. How much time passed like that?

It was when the candles placed in the room had gradually diminished and become very weak.

“Marie has fallen asleep now. Thank you.”

Annie, who had quietly closed Marie’s door, bowed politely to me. Her haggard face still seemed full of worry. I felt guilty for not being able to treat her sister more definitively.

“No. I’m sorry that this is all I can do.”

“Today, Marie was able to fall asleep quickly without suffering from her severe cold. Thank you so much. I truly mean it.”

Annie quickly countered and picked up my outer garment hanging on the coat rack. I refused her help and pulled the clothes over to put them on myself.

These clothes, which I had worn before entering the ducal family, were more comfortable and fit me well.

I saw Annie smiling faintly as she watched me put on my clothes with ease. Walking ahead toward the door, I asked her.

“Annie, would you like to stay with your sister today? I’ll go back first.”

“Pardon……? But leaving you alone when you have a cold is—”

There was logic in her words. Since I was currently deceiving many people in the ducal family with the excuse of having a severe cold, if Annie, my dedicated maid, wasn’t visible, it would undoubtedly cause a tremendous ripple effect.

“As you know, I don’t have a cold. I’ll confess to Mrs. Wellers that I was feigning illness. That you had no work to do and returned home early.”

“But……”

Annie’s face darkened to an ashen color. It was because she knew Mrs. Wellers’ temperament well. Moreover, the fake illness would probably be exposed to the Duke as well.

Saying the cold had completely healed in one day could be one option, but that seemed likely to lead to yet another lie later.

Constantly making excuses was annoying. I’d just take a good scolding and be done with it.

“Take good care of your sister, Annie.”

Before encountering any further opposition, I quickly opened the door and slipped through the gap.

I quickly grabbed the doorknob on the opposite side to prevent Annie from opening the door. Thanks to this, Annie’s attempt to push the door was blocked by my strength.

I didn’t miss that moment and closed the door. She seemed to be holding the doorknob, hesitating for a moment.

“Thank you.”

After hearing a small whisper from beyond the door, Annie’s presence disappeared.

❀❀❀

On my way to where the public carriage was waiting, something caught my eye. Originally, I should have returned without delay.

However, the violin hanging in the most visible window of the shop reminded me of my sister, Elaine. Walking toward it as if enchanted, I stared at the window displaying the violin.

“How many years has it been since Elaine stopped studying music……”

Due to the family’s economic situation, she had stopped her studies, but recently she had started music lessons again. So Elaine would probably need a decent instrument, and the violin before my eyes looked in good condition, even to me, a layperson in the field.

My sister was so kind. I knew that despite clearly having talent, she had given up private lessons for the sake of our family.

‘It’s boring.’

Was it at a gathering of the whole family one day? We were all shocked by Elaine’s words, suddenly thrown like a bomb.

‘I’m not doing this anymore. I’m tired of it now.’

The surprised family members even tried to persuade her to continue her lessons afterward, but Elaine would get severely angry each time.

Even while giving up her dream, which was practically her everything, Elaine didn’t cry. She acted as if she had never had any interest in music from the beginning. That’s why thinking of her hurt my heart more.

At one point, I almost truly believed she had completely lost interest in music. Just as she wanted.

But I saw it.

At that time, Elaine was probably sitting next to Mother and me to supplement the thread while Mother was making fabric. A small butterfly fluttered and flew to our loom.

The butterfly staggered as if about to be sucked into the frame but soon safely changed its course. At that moment, a small piece of paper fell from Elaine’s sleeve as she startled.

Before the embarrassed Elaine could pick it up, I recognized what it was. It was a crumpled sheet of music, so folded and unfolded that it was full of creases and fingerprints.

Since Elaine seemed not to want it known at that moment, I didn’t tell Mother, but I could tell. Elaine clearly wanted to play the piece written there again.

“Do you like that violin?”

“Ah.”

Being too lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed the owner coming out from the shop door. A slender old gentleman with a stylishly grown beard smiled at me.

“No, I’m not looking to buy it…… just.”

“Would you like to come inside first? Aren’t you curious about how it sounds? You’re welcome to check it out.”

“Pardon……?”

Why was the shop owner showing such excessive kindness to me? Even offering to let me check the sound was too burdensome.

That violin looked very expensive, so why would he go to such lengths to show it? He seemed like someone certain I would definitely buy it.

But my outfit today was my original casual clothes for going out. Unlike the clothes I wore inside the ducal family, these clothes wouldn’t give off any scent of capital.

This time, the jingling sound of the entrance bell was clearly heard.

The moment I saw the clear smile of the old gentleman holding the door, I had no choice but to enter. That smile was too kind to refuse.

Though I was inwardly anxious because I had already missed the time I should have returned, I decided to check that violin very briefly and followed the shop owner.

Inside the shop, a strong woody fragrance rushed toward me.

Various instruments made of well-maintained wood, the subtle scent of rosin, and glossy shelves arranged in various saturations greeted me.

“Here, I have one set aside for display. Would you like to touch it?”

“Pardon?”

“I could tell from the way you were gazing at the violin. Please check it once. See if this violin is what you’re looking for.”

I really didn’t know what to do.

It seemed I had been mistaken for a poor student with a strong passion for music but forced to merely admire instruments due to unfortunate circumstances.

Of course, that was the story of my sister Elaine. But if I had to specify, I was more like the incompetent older sister who pitied her younger sister.

I didn’t have the ability to casually test and touch such an expensive item. So it seemed better to tell the truth rather than clumsily handling and ruining that precious violin.

“Well, you see…… actually, I……”

Jingle.

At the sudden bell sound, I looked toward where it came from.

“It would be better not to entrust it to that lady.”

The person who appeared opening the door had a fierce and ruthless appearance that seemed familiar from somewhere. Like the cruel banker Levery, who had no blood or tears.