CH 13

“Don’t talk nonsense, bring me the money!”

The owner of the grocery store stood up in front of the sales counter, shouted. How terrible was the bad breath that wafted through the air with every gulp of air. It was to the point of nausea.

Duke Dissen frowned and took a step backwards. In this kind of beggar-like neighborhood, the situation of having to deal with a newly-made merchant, and to be forced to be friendly was miserable but there was nothing else he could do.

After the fateful day he got involved with the unlucky officers of the Navy, it became difficult even to enter the gambling house in the back alley. 

The only hope remaining was the gambling tables on the outskirts of the lowly bastards.

He should have been able to raise enough money to buy a decent rental house.

“Please allow me to enter the place just one more time. Then I’ll share some of the winnings with you.”

“My god. You’re robbed until there is not even a single coin left, and you still have a very ambitious dream even on the subject of debt.”

As the store owner started laughing with his yellow teeth exposed, the group of people who were chewing cigarettes with a horrified expression began to join in one by one.

“Not here. Go see your daughter. I heard that she got a man. You might be able to get some pocket money.” (Owner of barbershop)

The owner of the barbershop offered an absurd alternative.

“Odette has a man? You all heard nonsense.” (Duke Dissen)

“You don’t even know your daughter is doing prostitution. You’re such a pathetic bastard.”

“Insult my daughter one more time and you’ll see!”

“Otherwise, from one day on, what is the reason for her dressing up and running around in the night dew?”

“Not long ago I saw with my own eyes from a gleaming carriage in the middle of the night. I don’t know, but it looked like he was a man with money.

“I wish we could all get one chance before he moves up in the world.”

“Look, Beggar Duke. If you want to join the next game, why don’t you bring your daughter? They’ll give you a discount on the price.”

Their faces glistened with sinister smiles as they exchanged jokes and gestured with dirty hints.

Duke Dissen, who was breathing hard with a flushed face, showed his anger by kicking a wooden chest piled up next to the doorway. The sound of broken glass bottles resonated with the shouts of the surprised men.

“You filthy lot! How dare you go after someone’s daughter!”

Duke Dissen knocked down all the remaining chests and left the grocery store.

If only a vein of gold had come out of that mine, he would have regained the territory by now.

If so, his wife would not have passed away, nor would she have incurred the emperor’s wrath.

Duke Dissen gnashed his teeth and cursed the impostor who sold the tin mine. However, what made him angrier was the cold-blooded members of the imperial family.

Deeply disappointed with the daughter for betraying the empire, the previous emperor formally declared her sequestered and then stripped her of her title as princess. It was a decision that seemed like a death sentence as he tried to rebuild the family by becoming the emperor’s son-in-law.

They left for a foreign country to escape the wrath and were able to return to their homeland only after the death of the previous emperor. It was because the new emperor had forgiven his sister. Although the restoration the Duke desperately wanted did not come true, the emperor was still kind enough to give the family a house to live in and settlement money.

Shocked at the fact that she had lost all of the money, Helen collapsed and passed away in agony. It was nothing more than an unfortunate accident, but the emperor blamed the Duke for his sister’s death. He was as heartless as his father.

Still, with Odette, things might change someday.

The Duke of Dissen was hopeful again and folded the collar of his cloak. He had just looked around the corner when he found Odette.

Odette, neatly dressed, came out of the entrance of the building where the rented house was located. The Duke of Dissen, who changed his mind about calling his daughter, hurriedly hid himself between the gap in the narrow building.

Come to think of it, Odette’s outings had become more frequent recently. It seemed that good things had come to her that he hadn’t seen before. It was a very suspicious change.

As he reached that point in his thoughts, an ominous feeling came over him. No way that child…

While struggling to deny reality, Odette came closer.

Duke Dissen stood close to the wall with his back turned. Fortunately, Odette did not look towards that alley. Her destination was a bridge over the Prater River. It was a street corner leading to the downtown area in the center of the city.

After a brief thought, Duke Dissen began to follow his daughter as quietly as a shadow.

***

“Thank you for inviting me, Countess.”

Odette first showed her courtesy with a polite greeting.

The Countess of Trier, putting down her glass of water, studied Odette with supposedly keen eyes. Odette was dressed like a boring governess, but she managed to look tolerable. This was better than looking vain. Men were generally attracted to pretty girls.

“Did I pass?”

After a prolonged silence, Odette spoke first. Her face was as expressionless as ever, but there was a hint of mischievousness in her softened lips.

“You barely escaped the failing grade.”

The Countess of Trier smiled lightly and pointed to a seat across from her at the table. Sitting in the chair the waiter had moved, Odette’s body language had such a grace that made her forget her impoverished circumstances.

Her parents’ once brilliant past. She was a child who seemed to have been created by gathering the last essence of that glorious days.

The capricious spring weather, neuralgia, and last weekend’s disappointing opera performance.

An aperitif was served in the midst of unremarkable small talk.

The Countess of Trier, who dismissed the waiter withholding her order, looked out of the corner of her eye toward the aisle of the restaurant. A succession of well-dressed guests were entering and exiting, but she could not see them yet.

“What happened to that decorative comb?”

Surprisingly, Odette mentioned the events of that night first.

The Countess of Trier naturally turned her gaze to Odette. When she saw the serious concern on her face, she let out a blank laugh.

“Even after being insulted like that, you still could afford to worry about the broken trinket.”

“I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t fulfill my responsibility for the goods you lent me.”

“I’m not very fond of slick words of goodwill, my dear.”

“If the Countess wishes, I will reimburse it.”

“You? By what means?”

The Countess of Trier asked with a cold sneer on her face. A cunning lie or forgot the fraction. Either way, it was equally disappointing.

“I’m going to tell His Majesty the Emperor.” (Odette)

The outrageous reply she heard was the moment she realized that the child was no different from her father after all.

“Are you going to charge the father for the jewelry his daughter broke?” (*Isablle broke the comb)

“Yes. Because that was definitely the Princess’s fault.”

“Do you think he’ll listen to you?”

“Even if he doesn’t care about me, I think he’ll do right by the Countess, the great elder of the imperial family.”

Odette put down her glass and placed her hands neatly on her lap. The Countess of Trier, who was watching her determined appearance as if she had really made up her mind to extract a debt from the emperor, couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Right. It’s troublesome when the Emperor of the Empire can’t properly rectify one of his daughter’s mistakes. As soon as I receive the estimate of the repair cost from the jeweler, I will have the bill sent directly to the Imperial Palace.”

“Can they fix it?”

“Yes. It is thanks to your meticulous collection of the broken pieces.”

“I’m so glad, Countess.”

Odette finally smiled in relief. The softly curved corners of her eyes and rosy cheeks with dimples were fresh.

In front of the man (Bastian) to be captivated, she was no different than a wooden stone, but smiled like a foolish person just because the comb was fixed.

The Countess was quite unsettled, but she chose not to point it out. After all, if Odette didn’t have the skills to play a bewitched woman, she’d better be off being a lofty swan. Might be a far better strategy to deal with the man.

“Isabelle was sent to the imperial summer palace. Now that she’s been imprisoned there, she won’t be able to get in the way between you and Captain  Klauswitz anymore.”

The Countess of Trier lightly conveyed the news of the princess as if it were no big deal.

Instead of responding with a small nod of her head, Odette moved her gaze toward the window facing the boulevard. After a while of sunny spring days, the weather began to cool rapidly last night. Due to the thick clouds, the cloudy streets looked dreary as if winter had come again.

One automobile with golden wheels entered the street just as Odette finished organizing her thoughts. It stopped in front of the building, presumably a visitor to the restaurant.

After taking her eyes off the meaningless scenery, Odette faced the table again. When she thought that this moment was also part of her given task, she was able to sort out unnecessary emotions.

She wouldn’t get hurt if she didn’t give her heart.

It was a lesson like a gift from a scarred life. It allowed Odette to guard her heart against all odds.The riot the princess staged on the night of the ball was no different. It was obviously shameful and upsetting, but it did not hurt Odette.

Proper courtesy and outward appearance.

Odette double checked the only weapon she had, the pocket knife she packed before going out.

After acting like a guest invited to dinner, she would leave and that was it. It would be foolish to get more emotionally intoxicated than necessary.

“I’m starting to get hungry now.”

The Countess of Trier looked down the aisle once more and called for the waiter with a glance. It was then that a customer arrived at the next empty table.

Odette, who inadvertently turned her gaze there, let out a small exclamation. An officer who had just been seated diagonally across from Odette raised an eyebrow at about the same time she did.

“Oh my gosh! Such a coincidence, Countess of Trier.”

The eyes of the old gentleman who sat across from the officer widened. It was Admiral Demel, another matchmaker who received orders from the emperor.

“I didn’t expect to see Lord Demel here.”

The Countess of Trier, who covered the menu board, also had a surprised expression like the admiral.

“It happens to be the seat next to you, so why don’t we have a meal together? We were just about to order.”

“If the ladies agree, it will be a great pleasure for us. Don’t you think so too?”

Admiral Demel looked at the young officer sitting across from him with a friendly smile on his face.

“Of course.”

He (Bastian) gave the answer that was forced upon him. Now, it seemed that all that was left for this script to be completed was the last line, the line given to Odette.

“Are you alright with it, Odette?”

The Countess of Trier turned her head and asked a question leisurely.

Odette raised her confused eyes and looked at the young officer at the next table. This situation must have been absurd, but Bastian had a smooth smile nonetheless. The man who said he would follow the emperor’s orders seemed willing to participate in this obvious play.

“……Yes, Countess.”

Odette paid for a nice lunch with the answer everyone was waiting for. The warmth and meticulous care of the wrinkled hand that caught her as she staggered to her feet. The memory of the warmth and softness of her eyes remained so erased.

Odette knew very well that this marriage proposal could never hurt her.

For she would never give her heart to anything.