Pierre died on January 13, 656 in the Las Palmada Imperial Calendar. The cause of death was excessive bleeding from stab wounds. 

A merchant drinking at the inn, which turned into a tavern at night, fought with his companions over a love affair, and Pierre was stabbed while trying to stop him.

He suffered deep wounds to his chest and abdomen, but there was no medical personnel on site to provide emergency treatment. 

The inn owner, who used the top floor as his home, rushed out at the commotion but couldn’t do much either, and Pierre was left unattended for about half an hour.

One of the servants working with him hurriedly found and brought a doctor, but by the time the doctor arrived, Pierre had already passed away.

Rianna fainted when she heard the news. She couldn’t regain consciousness for a long time, so neighbors had to nurse her. She barely came to her senses but kept fainting throughout the funeral period.

“Rianna, you still have to think about the baby. The baby only has you. Pierre has older sisters, but you said you weren’t on good terms with them.”

The neighbor woman who brought her from the cemetery to the villa patted her back. No matter how agonizing it was, she still had life left. Moreover, her baby was a newborn just a month old. 

She couldn’t die and abandon the child. Was this what they meant by living because you couldn’t die?

So Rianna couldn’t stay bedridden long. Making a living was overwhelming. The inn where Pierre had devoted himself for so long didn’t even give her consolation money. 

She hadn’t expected much since the owner wasn’t warm-hearted from the start, but she hadn’t anticipated such a heartless attitude.

“I didn’t kill him. I didn’t push him to his death either… It’s unfortunate, but you know. It’s not my fault. Who told him to b*tt into someone else’s love quarrel… He should’ve just quietly done his own work. Someone with such a bright future… Oh my.”

The inn owner actually got angry at public criticism. Rianna didn’t bring up consolation money because she didn’t want to hear more outrageous words from him. 

Instead, the brewery apprentices who had shared hardships with him pooled together consolation money and gave it to her.

That was enough. Rianna sold the villa. The memories of being happy with Pierre in a house without Pierre were too agonizing for her. Some people said the home they built with their loved one was everything and lived clinging to it, but not her.

Every hour, every moment was terrible. She simply couldn’t rise from her grief. The dining table where they sat together. The bed where they slept. The razor and cup he used. The dishes… 

The coffee he handed her every morning and even the cradle he prepared for the baby.

She felt like she’d drown in flowing tears and die. If not for her daughter, she would have taken her own life. Because there was no reason left to live.

But Rianna had the baby left. And that child was Pierre’s precious daughter.

So Rianna decided to leave Roderville. After settling some of her belongings, Rianna settled in a village not far from Roderville.

It wasn’t as nice a villa as where she’d lived in Roderville, but the newly occupied villa was also good enough. She planned to start over there. However…

It must have been spring, five years after Pierre died. Rianna, who got a job as a maid at a wealthy mansion not far from the villa, showed up without missing a single day to wash dishes. 

Her job was to prepare ingredients according to the head chef’s instructions and clean the young maids’ rooms whenever she had time.

In the evenings, she did laundry. Just when she was spending such grueling days…

“Ugh, huk!”

Rianna, who had been diligently washing dishes, bent over and started coughing. Her startled colleague turned her head to look at her.

“Rianna, are you okay? Your complexion hasn’t been good lately.”

“I’m… hah! Hup!”

Rianna, who had been waving her hand dismissively, hastily covered her mouth at the sudden burst of coughing. Her other hand holding the dishes clutched her chest. 

Her colleague, who had been worrying about her with a concerned face, patted her back. Rianna was so surprised by her own coughing that she didn’t notice the blood staining her hand.

“Oh my! Rianna. You coughed up blood. What is this…!”

Her colleague, who had turned pale, withdrew the hand that had been patting her back and looked at Rianna. Rianna looked at the blood with a bewildered face. 

Rather than concern for her health, her head was filled only with the fact that this house’s mistress had a cleanliness obsession.

“It, it’s nothing. More than that, Lila, pl-please keep what you just saw a secret…”

“What?”

“I’ve just been a bit unwell recently. I usually cough a lot during this season. But the mistress is different. She’s…”

“Of course! Rianna, I’ll keep it secret, but taking care of your health comes first. Go see a doctor as soon as you finish work. Your complexion has been really bad lately.”

She believed the woman would keep the secret since she was more tight-lipped than expected, but she was bothered by the comment that her complexion had been so bad lately that she needed to see a doctor. 

Though she’d had severe chest pain since last winter, such chest pain had been with her since the winter Pierre died.

If she went to see a doctor over such trivial matters, her household would be ruined. Rianna gave her colleague, who insisted she must listen to her, a faint smile but shook her head inwardly. Thinking that if not for the fire two years ago, she might have gone to see a doctor.

But Rianna had lost everything two years ago due to her own mistake.

While nursing her sick daughter, she’d dozed off and the fire from the stove spread to the wall. Thinking of that winter still horrified her.

It was three years after Pierre died. Her only blood relative and precious treasure her husband had left behind. After losing her first child, Rianna had become pathologically obsessed with her child’s health.

And her daughter had suffered a terrible cold that winter. Rianna, who had been developing pathological delusions that something might happen to her child, devoted herself to nursing the child while cutting back on sleep. Naturally, her stamina was bound to be depleted.

Time passed that way. Rianna barely opened her eyes at the child’s crying. The child was pale blue from the acrid smoke, coughing continuously. She tried to put out the fire quickly, but the flames had already climbed up the wall.

Rianna hurriedly escaped the villa with her child. The villa built of wood was easily consumed by flames. Shocked, Rianna ran around to evacuate people. But the flames eventually took a resident’s life, and Rianna had to take full responsibility.

That January when Pierre had passed away. Rianna lost her place to go. 

She had to give all the assets she’d gained from disposing of the house Pierre left behind and the consolation money his colleagues had offered as compensation. 

Even that wasn’t enough, so she had to borrow money to compensate the residents who’d lost family.

After that, she had nothing left. She sold everything including her belongings and even the jewelry Pierre had given her when they married. She’d lost everything that remained as memories with her husband. She wanted to die. She really wanted to die.

Should she just hold her daughter and drink poison? Throw herself off a cliff? But what crime had this child committed? Why should Ann lose her life because of my mistake?

“I’m sorry, Ann… Really, really. Mommy’s sorry.”

“Mommy… don’t cry.”

The child cried in front of her as she knelt and begged forgiveness. The face of the three-year-old child, flushed red, was still pale. Rianna gritted her teeth once more. She had to protect the child. Pierre’s child at least…

“Yes, my daughter. Mommy won’t cry anymore.”

Rianna barely pulled her lips into a smile. Then Ann smiled. Mother and daughter picked up their small bag and moved on. They lived in Bluebilt Village after that. 

That street, the poorest and most destitute in Las Palmada, was the mother and daughter’s nest.

The reason people avoided Bluebilt Village was partly because it was a terrible town where impoverished people gathered, but mainly because security was atrocious. 

In that sense, Rianna hated that town terribly. But there was nowhere to go besides Bluebilt. It was the only place where she could settle monthly rent for just 50 dants.

Unfortunately, Rianna’s situation was such that even paying that 50 dants monthly was difficult. She raised her child and paid off debts with the money she received from working all day. 

In the past two years, she hadn’t spent a single penny on herself. In such a situation, there was no way she could go see a doctor.

For that reason, Rianna endured chest pain and coughing while working. Even when hurt and sick, because she didn’t want to leave debt to her daughter. And…

“Mommy!”

Then one summer day, Rianna, who had been constantly saying she felt dizzy from the heat, collapsed. Shocked, Ann ran over, grabbed her, and cried. Lila and her other colleagues took the unconscious Rianna to see a doctor.

He said Rianna had tuberculosis. It was quite old and she also had angina, so she needed to recuperate. Young Ann didn’t know what tuberculosis was or what kind of disease angina was, but she answered that she could do anything for her mother.

The doctor, perhaps feeling sorry for Ann who answered firmly even with a tear-stained face, offered medicine and said he wouldn’t take money. Ann cherished that medicine.