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LOS 16
3.
Anna Keating
I walked until the sky grew dim. It had seemed like a short trip when I traveled by car, but heading there on foot, even several hours didn't feel like enough.
Part of it was because I wasn't a fast walker. No matter how much I had built up my stamina by eating, I still didn't fall into the category of the healthy. I felt proud of myself just for having walked this far without resting.
Moreover, I didn't even have shoes. Walking barefoot on the uneven ground caused wounds to form on the soles of my feet quickly. Still, I had to endure it. There was no way I could return to the mansion.
The Salzburg estate was empty. I didn't encounter a single soul until the nearest village became visible in the distance. While it was a relief in one sense, it wasn't exactly a good thing. If I had at least run into a luggage cart, I could have asked for a ride.
By the time I finally left Salzburg and reached the entrance of the village, the sun had already vanished from the sky. Only the light spilling from buildings and the glow of gas lamps illuminated the world. I trudged forward with my battered feet.
I had managed to make it this far, but now that I had arrived, the future looked bleak. What should I do first? I knew nothing of the lives of commoners. It wasn't as if I had spent my entire life being treated as a noble lady, but this was the first time I had been thrown into the world completely alone.
After walking for so long, I was hungry, and since I was wearing only a thin chemise, I was freezing. I was completely defenseless. Even if I gave up on food, I needed a place to warm my body for a moment.
I slightly regretted leaving behind the coat Giles had given me. I had left it because I feared that if I walked around in a coat that clearly belonged to the revolutionary army, word would reach Giles. Winter was drawing closer by the day. Wandering outside for long in such attire was an act of suicide.
As I walked aimlessly, I suddenly stopped. There was a bakery nearby. The bread displayed behind the glass window caught my eye. A single gold coin would probably buy all of that. With that thought, I turned my head and walked away. Gold coins, indeed. I was a woman without even shoes.
I didn't think the situation could get any worse, but I was wrong. I felt something tapping on my head, and then it began to rain. I tried to avoid the rain by pressing myself against the wall of a building, but it was futile. My clothes began to soak through with rainwater.
At this rate, I could actually freeze to death.
"Hey! What are you doing there?"
A woman around my age, who was entering a house, called out to me. She was holding a bag of bread in one arm and an umbrella in the other. My lips were frozen, and I couldn't utter a single word.
"You're not actually trying to die, are you? Standing there in the rain is a great way to become a corpse. Hurry inside. I don't want to run into a woman's body the moment I step out of the house tomorrow morning."
Shivering, I followed her into the house. It was a fairly large two-story home. Judging by the luxurious wallpaper and furniture, it was undoubtedly a wealthy household. I barely managed to open my lips and speak.
"Th... thank you."
The woman, characterized by her freckles, scanned me briefly as I stood there dripping wet, then set her umbrella and bread bag down nearby. She then dragged me toward the bathroom.
"I have a lot I want to ask, but wash up first. Hospitals and clinics these days are packed with sick people, so if you catch a bad cold, you're doomed. You don't need help washing, right?"
I nodded. The woman left me to handle it on my own. Left alone, I looked down at the bathtub. My goodness. A bath in a tub. There was absolutely no reason to refuse. I immediately stripped off the wet chemise and stepped into the tub as it filled with warm water.
Warming my body during the bath made me feel much better. Since I couldn't put the wet chemise back on, I wore the thick blouse and skirt the woman had left for me. They were a bit loose, but wearable.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, the woman was setting the dinner table. It was the very bread that had caught my eye.
The woman gestured with her head, as if asking what I was doing.
"What are you doing? Come and sit."
I sat at the table as she told me to, but I couldn't help but doubt her kindness. Eventually, I asked her directly.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Then should I have just let you die out there?"
The woman seemed annoyed by my question. I shut my mouth, but I couldn't stop the thoughts racing through my head. Even if I died, it would have nothing to do with that woman, would it?
Then, the woman continued.
"Besides, people of Ipswin should help each other. Why be cold to our own? Now that all the Beldam bastards have been driven out, everything here belongs to us. At the very least, there shouldn't be kids wandering outside wearing a single thin layer of clothing like you."
Ah, now all my questions were answered. That woman thought I was a person of Ipswin. I now knew how I should act.
"My name is Sheila Carlton. Just call me Sheila. What's your name?"
While walking here, I had decided on a name to use. I spoke my new name with confidence.
"Anna. My name is Anna Keating."
"What happened to you that you were wandering outside in such thin clothes? What if you'd run into some lunatic? I'm sure you had circumstances you couldn't avoid, but..."
Sheila didn't try to pry too deeply. It seemed she had encountered wanderers like me more than a few times. To maintain Sheila's trust, I put on a crestfallen face as if I were a pitiful Ipswin wanderer and returned to my original lower-class manner of speaking.
We ate bread dipped in thin soup. Throughout dinner, Sheila told me various stories.
"Originally, this house belonged to a Beldam family. As you can see, they must have been quite wealthy. But even after the revolutionary army restored our freedom, they couldn't keep living in luxury. I was recently assigned this house. Another family was supposed to move in with me, but they seem to be a day or two late."
"Then you'll be living with that family?"
"Of course! I can't occupy this big house all by myself, can I? Sharing a house with others was common even before. Well, I have no complaints."
I nodded vigorously. The idea of sharing a home with complete strangers was quite a shock to me, but I tried my best not to let it show.
Anyway, it seemed that because the family scheduled to move in with Sheila was late, I was able to stay for a while.
It was a surprising stroke of luck.
I asked cautiously.
"Then when is that family coming?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but they'll probably arrive around the day after tomorrow. Why? Do you not have a place to go?"
Sheila beat me to the punch before I could answer.
"If you go and give your name and ID and fill out a few documents, those people will assign a house to you soon. Try going tomorrow morning. Until then, well, I guess it's fine to stay here? That family probably won't mind much. There were times when your own family lived in houses smaller than this, so one extra woman living here shouldn't be an issue."
"Where should I go?"
"There's a temporary office run by the revolutionary army nearby. If you want, I'll go with you tomorrow."
The mention of the revolutionary army sent a chill down my spine. This was a neighborhood right next to Salzburg. If Giles noticed I was gone, this is surely the first place he would search.
I had to try not to look flustered.
"I'll take my time."
"You wouldn't say that if you knew how long the waiting list is. It took me a whole three months to get into this house. I was actually quite lucky. Some people can't move in even after half a year because the procedures got tangled up."
"Ac... actually, my family is coming to find me soon. They've probably already finished the residency application."
"Really? Then there's no need to apply twice. Stay here until you meet your family. No matter how free the era has become, the outside is still a dangerous place for a woman."
For the next ten minutes or so, Sheila elaborated on the diverse variety of lunatics she had encountered over the decades of her life. However, I had no stories to reciprocate.
Of course, it wasn't that I hadn't met a madman, but I couldn't exactly bring up Duke Meier in front of Sheila.
"Anyway, if you're in trouble, ask other people for help. Most people will help you. We fought back against the tyranny of the Beldam bastards and eventually won. We're all comrades who shared blood. So, don't stand outside in the rain anymore."
"Thank you for helping me."
"Don't mention it. It was the natural thing to do. Like I said, I couldn't just let you freeze to death."
We finished the bread and soup quickly. Perhaps because I didn't speak much, the mealtime didn't last long.
Sheila guided me to the room where I would stay until the other family arrived.
"Sleep here until they come. Well, looking at you, it doesn't seem like you'll be staying here long anyway. Hey, I tried sitting on it, and the bed is super fluffy. You'll love it."
After she left, I sat on the bedsheets. They weren't as soft as Sheila had emphasized. Of course, for someone in my position who had nothing, it was a blessing, but I was someone who knew exactly how soft and plush the highest quality bedsheets used by nobles were.
I lay down, covered myself with the blanket, and looked at the opposite window. Just a few hours ago, I had been wandering barefoot and shivering, and now I was lying on a cozy bed. I wondered if someone was showing me a sweet illusion.
All of this was likely possible because I looked like a pitiful Ipswin wanderer. Compassion had saved my life several times. It had been so while I was at the mansion, and it remained effective outside the mansion. However, I didn't know how long I could survive on shallow sympathy alone.
Was Giles chasing me? Or had he just given up and gone back? If he couldn't give up on me and was searching this area, that would be funny in its own way. It's not as if something catastrophic happened just because a skinny, shabby woman ran away from him.
Even if Giles had given up on me, the path to survival still felt bleak. What should I do? There was nothing I could do...
Curled up in a fluffy bed for the first time in a long while, my eyelids began to droop. I needed to think... but my mind felt empty, as if it had been wiped clean with an eraser. I closed my eyes.
Getting a good night's sleep was also one of the best strategies for tomorrow.
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