‘Just because the outcome wasn’t good doesn’t mean all the effort was wasted.’

After scrubbing it every day, the attic had become clean enough to walk through barefoot. She hadn’t managed to meet the gentleman, but she had been hanging around the clothing shop often enough that she had naturally fallen into the habit of exchanging greetings with the assistants. So even without an exclusive contract, they might call on her when a job came up.

‘Well done, Alisa. You’re doing well.’

Alisa placed her hand on her chest. Then, the way her mother used to do long ago, she patted it at a steady rhythm. Closing her eyes on top of that, she could almost feel her mother right there beside her.

She let the worry that had been sitting heavy inside her drift away, and called out with energy:

“All right, tomorrow morning I’m going to try chanting a spell in the attic!”

You never know. If she wished hard enough every day, maybe one day, without even realizing it, the wish would come true!

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The Madame Marigold advertisement appeared in the magazine two weeks after that.

Hannah was flipping through the magazine over breakfast when she suddenly frowned.

“What is this.”

Hannah stared hard at one corner of the magazine, then shot to her feet. She strode over to Alisa and yanked her by the back of the neck. Alisa, who had been stirring a pot, choked on a cough as her shirt collar tightened around her throat.

“Cough, ugh, Hannah, what are you……”

The magazine was shoved in front of Alisa’s face while she was still coughing.

“This here — don’t tell me that’s you?”

The magazine was pressed so close that her eyes couldn’t focus. Even through the blur, Alisa could make out what it was.

A hand-tinted black-and-white photograph. Inside it stood a small young lady dressed in black from head to toe. Her cheeks had been colored a little more rosy than in real life, but the white curly hair was unmistakably hers.

The figure in the illustration was Alisa herself.

When Alisa didn’t answer for a long moment, Hannah grabbed the back of her neck and shook her.

“Why aren’t you answering? Well? Is that really you?”

“That’s……”

Alisa hesitated, unable to answer right away.

When she had last seen Mrs. Ashford, she had said clearly that due to various production issues, it would take at least a month before it appeared in the magazine. Alisa had planned to swap it out for a different issue by then……

But it was already out!

Speechless, Alisa dropped her gaze.

When she kept stalling, Hannah’s expression said she already knew the answer. She flung the back of Alisa’s neck away.

“Sneaking off to work? And work like this, of all things? Honestly……”

Hannah threw the magazine into the fireplace with a look of disgust. The open pages caught fire, and Alisa’s illustration was the first to blacken. The silver curls burned red, then crumbled into grey ash.

Alisa stared at the photograph without meaning to.

The next moment, she felt something like a flame igniting on her cheek. When she came to her senses, her head had been snapped to the other side.

“Oh……”

Alisa didn’t immediately understand what had happened to her.

Tears that had gathered in her eyes spilled down her reddened cheek. Her skin stung. Only then did she realize that Hannah had slapped her.

Her mind went completely blank.

She had been hit on the head and made to stand with her arms raised as punishment many times before, but being slapped across the face was a first. Alisa raised a trembling hand and touched her cheek. Hannah had swung her arm with such force that the skin was already swelling red.

But the place that truly hurt wasn’t her cheek. The path from her throat down to her chest had gone completely dry, and the heart at the end of it was pounding like it might burst.

Hannah was the one who had hit her, and yet everything felt like her own fault.

She was ashamed. The red handprint on her cheek, her lowered head, every passage through which breath moved — all of it felt like it was burning.

Hannah grabbed her by the ear. She took hold of the cartilage with a rough grip and began to climb the stairs.

“It hurts, let go, let me……”

“Come along quietly!”

Hannah threw Alisa into the room on the second floor. Alisa tumbled ungainly onto the carpet and was still groaning from the pain when the door clicked shut. Hannah’s shadow fell over the small, thin body as she planted herself in front of the door like a guard.

Hannah crossed her arms and bore down on her.

“Does your uncle know you’ve been doing advertising shoots?”

“That’s……”

“Of course he doesn’t. He’d never have allowed his niece to be in the papers wearing clothes like that, would he? I’ll send a telegram to Mr. Robenson right this moment. Stay right here.”

“Please don’t!”

Alisa scrambled up from the carpet and threw herself in front of Hannah with her whole body.

Her uncle was someone who had disapproved even of Alisa’s mother working as an actress. What his reaction would be when he found out about this was obvious.

Not only would she be barred from doing any modelling work ever again — he might even go to Mrs. Ashford and make a scene. She would never be able to face the shop assistants again.

Alisa poured out her words without pausing for breath.

“It just, it just happened by chance. So please don’t tell my uncle. I’m begging you, just this once, Hannah.”

“Hmm. And why should I?”

Hannah looked down at her with arms crossed. Then she pulled the corner of her mouth up and worked her lips in an ominous way.

“If you snuck off to work, you got paid for it. Modelling work — it wouldn’t be a small amount. Am I right? Where did you hide the money?”

A greedy gaze landed on Alisa’s face. She understood then why she had been slapped.

She wanted the money.

A few coins in modelling fees, amount unknown. That was what she had been after — dragging her up here in a rush to frighten her. That was all it was.

Well, her wages had been cut this month, so she must have been quite short on money.

Alisa clenched her small fists. The ragged sound of her breathing quieted, and the shame that had settled over her cheeks faded. The person who should be ashamed in this room was not her.

She met Hannah’s gaze directly. She spoke clearly into those expectant eyes.

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“What?”

“You can send the telegram to my uncle. But I’m not going to tell you where the money is. Because it’s my money.”

When Alisa finished speaking, Hannah let out a scornful laugh.

“When Mr. Robenson finds out, he’ll throw you out of this house entirely. There’s no room at the orphanages in Montrau or even in Lander these days, from what I hear — you might really end up as some household’s maid, who knows.”

“……”

“There’s nothing to be gained by keeping that mouth shut, I tell you. If I send the telegram right now, your uncle will come storming in here before the week is out.”

“Then I’ll tell my uncle myself when he comes. I’m not saying anything here.”

Alisa held her ground and refused to budge, and Hannah muttered a small curse. Realizing she wasn’t going to get the location out of her through threats, she shoved Alisa aside and began searching the room herself.

The blanket and pillow were thrown to the floor. A broom was shoved under the bed, and the wardrobe was flung open. Alisa watched the tidy room turn into a wreck.

After tearing the place apart, Hannah finally found the coin purse inside the wardrobe.

“Here it is! Of course — where else would you hide something.”

Hannah opened the coin purse with gleeful satisfaction. The bundle of notes tucked inside the small cloth pouch was pulled out. Alisa watched her count the money and pressed her lips together.

‘The moment the magazine was discovered, this was already inevitable.’

Even if she had hidden it somewhere else, Hannah would have found that money one way or another. So there was no point in being upset.

Alisa tried not to cry as she started tidying the room. But while she was pulling the blanket back up onto the bed, she caught Hannah’s movement out of the corner of her eye. She had stopped counting the money and was reaching back into the wardrobe again.

“Why……”

Alisa’s eyes went wide. She had expected Hannah to back off once she found the coin purse — so why was she still rummaging around in there?

She felt her heart beating in an unsteady rhythm as she watched Hannah.

The money was all there was. But inside that wardrobe was something more important. The dress the gentleman in the black top hat had bought for her as her very first gift three years ago, and the presents she had received on every birthday since. The thought that those might be taken too sent her stomach dropping.

Alisa cried out in alarm:

“There’s no more money! That’s everything!”

“Well, I’ll just have to check for myself.”

“There really isn’t any……”

Just before Alisa could finish, Hannah pulled a box out of the wardrobe. It was the box where she kept her folded clothes.