Chapter 16 : News (8)

In my childhood, I did not know that the blood of a marquis ran through me.

No, even if I had known that I had the blood of a marquis, could I have done anything about it?

I was the son of a woman who sold her body. Until I turned five, I didn’t even know who my mother was. Growing up in a brothel, doing menial tasks, I just thought that was how life was.

The year I turned five, I met the woman who was supposed to be my mother, but I just accepted it. The woman didn’t consider me her child, and well, given my circumstances, it was something that couldn’t be helped.

I just thought everyone lived like that. Noble guests would sometimes visit the brothel, but they were from a completely different world from mine.

Then, one day, a gang of hooligans entered the brothel.

It was a high-class brothel that occasionally received noble guests, but in one night, it became a complete wreck. Several women were dragged away, and most of the children in similar situations to mine were also taken.

I often think of those children. What happened to them? If they were lucky, they might have been well-educated and sold as servants somewhere.

If they were unlucky, it would have been better for them to die that day.

I wasn’t one of them.

I was younger, smaller, and scrawnier. Somehow, I managed to hide in a corner, somewhere out of sight.

Thud.

A woman collapsed in front of the bed where I was hiding. I knew her face. The woman who was supposed to be my mother. She had once worked in a brothel that entertained nobles, but, as is often the case with women who sell their appearance, their prime doesn’t last long.

By the time I turned five, the woman was already being evaluated as aging. Perhaps the moment when she entertained my father was the most beautiful moment of her life.

I never thought she had aged poorly. She wasn’t a noble, but she was still considered beautiful enough to attract visits from local dignitaries or officials.

By the time she died, her face had contorted so much that her beauty could no longer be recognized.

Her neck was deeply slashed, and blood was pouring out. Her eyes were wide open, showing too much of the whites, making them look frightening.

She made eye contact with me, but it wasn’t really with me. She was gasping for breath, making choking sounds. The sound of blood trickling out from the gash in her neck filled the air.

Just before she passed away, her eyes rolled upward, and that was when her gaze met mine.

Perhaps she was simply opening her mouth to gasp for air, but to me, it seemed like she was trying to say something.

If she knew that someone was hiding under the bed, and that in that moment, just before her life ended, she was trying to speak, what would she have said?

Help me? Save me?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t have listened to either one. I didn’t have the strength to save an adult.

How long had I been hiding like that?

After the surrounding area became completely silent, I crawled out from under the bed.

It was chaos. Things were broken, shattered, and there were people bleeding to death.

The person closest to me, who was bleeding and dying, was the woman who had been my mother.

Until her last breath, her face was twisted in agony. Now there was no more blood flowing from her neck, and that part was beginning to dry.

I stared at her body for a while, blankly.

I didn’t know what I should be thinking.

She had never considered me her son. Perhaps she had seen me as a “burden.” Despite her aging, she was still beautiful, and someone might have bought her if she had still been desired.

It would have been better for her not to have a child if she wanted to become a mistress elsewhere.

But still, I never thought our relationship was bad. I grew up doing menial tasks since I was little, and maybe I would have grown up to be a male prostitute or a servant, but at least she didn’t kill me.

Sometimes, when our eyes met, she would have a somewhat complicated expression.

With a blank mind, I circled around her body and left the brothel.

Later, after it was revealed that I was the son of a marquis, I learned that the brothel had been run by someone who made money by exploiting the weaknesses of various nobles. The “weaknesses” were often used as weapons against them.

Perhaps my very existence was created as a weapon for the marquis. Perhaps that was why I was never erased.

The brothel, which had been doing well by colluding with high-ranking nobles, had unfortunately chosen the wrong noble to blackmail one day.

The noble cut ties immediately, and without the protection, the brothel’s fate was sealed… well, it was probably inevitable.

For whatever reason, I ended up becoming a free person.

But I wasn’t exactly happy about it.

For the next few years, my life was literally like a candle in the wind.

No shopkeeper would like a filthy child hanging around their storefront. If I approached to beg, I was usually chased away, and in the alleys, other beggars had already claimed their spots.

I don’t even know how I managed to survive.

I can only say it was luck.

And the last day of that life.

Whether it was luck or misfortune, somehow I survived, and a passing merchant threw three copper coins at me, pitying me.

It wasn’t exactly a stroke of luck.

Because of those coins, I almost got beaten to death.

I should have just given them when the other person asked for them, but for some reason, that day, I didn’t want to give them away.

Perhaps, that was the moment when my patience from those years finally broke.

Yeah, I thought, I should just die.

Living like this is meaningless and hopeless. Even if I lived a few more days, who knows if I would have years left to live?

I gave up on everything, but still held tightly onto the three copper coins. I hoped that, as they beat me to death, they might get annoyed with me.

And then, at that moment when I was getting covered in bruises and blood…

“Hey there.”

A voice came from the end of the alley.

It was a beautiful voice I had never heard before.

It wasn’t a coquettish voice like those heard in the brothel; it was a dignified voice, as if looking down at me.

I barely managed to raise my gaze and looked toward the end of the alley.

There stood a woman.

It was a dark night, so she wasn’t clearly visible, but the moon was bright, so it wasn’t impossible to see her.

She wore a thin sword at her waist, as if it could be used for fighting.

Her clothes were not extravagant, but they were quite refined and expensive-looking.

She stood confidently, without a hint of fear, even though three much larger men were in front of her.

“What’s with that woman?”

Was I so angry that I couldn’t think rationally while beating me?

Or did they think they could just kill a woman like that?

No, they might have thought I wasn’t a noble. In fact, they probably never even considered the possibility.

There were no guards around me.

Although she was at an age where it would have been easier to live than I, she was still just another person living day by day.

Those with nothing to lose and no regard for their future, emotions probably came first for them.

“Is it really fun to beat up a kid who barely reaches your waist?”

The woman said.

“Doing it with a group of you. It’s just one kid. Doesn’t seem like there’s much to be afraid of, right?”

One of her eyes was so swollen it was almost shut, and the other eye was barely open.

Yet, through her blurry vision, I could see why she appeared so beautiful.

Then came the curses.

I didn’t see exactly what happened, but I clearly heard a sound as my stomach was kicked hard.

But the sound was clear.

The men charged at the woman.

I should have gotten up and run, but for some reason, I felt like shouting at her to run instead.

Soon, the surroundings became quiet. The men’s curses stopped after only a few seconds. I heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground one after another.

Breathing heavily, I managed to raise my head.

Without making much noise, the woman had already come closer to me.

“Can you get up?”

She asked.

I forced myself to rise.

I thought it didn’t matter if I stayed lying there, but for some reason, I wanted to get up.

With one swollen eye and my body aching, I forced myself to stand and look the woman in the eyes. She slightly widened her eyes and smiled.

Finally, I saw her face clearly.

In the narrow alley, the faint moonlight was coming through the gap between the roofs above.

She had black hair and blue eyes. Her eyes, reflecting the moonlight, seemed to shine on their own.

In the face of such beauty, I forgot to breathe for a moment.

“Do you want to learn how to fight?”

Without asking my name, the woman asked me like that.

I nodded as if in a trance.

But I didn’t nod because I wanted to learn how to fight.

I simply…

Wanted to follow that beautiful person.

The woman’s name was Ayla.

I later learned that in the East, it meant “moonlight.”

I remembered that image from that day and simply accepted it.

Ah, maybe… that day wasn’t such an unlucky day after all.

It was the day I captured the most beautiful stroke of luck in my life.

In the mirror, the woman, who carried the name derived from that word, was quietly staring at me.

When I turned my head, she, with her purple eyes, turned her head to follow me.

After confirming there were no stray hairs or wrinkles on my clothes by turning my head around, I made my move.

I already know how long Ayla spends bathing.

Since coming here, her bathing time has increased, just like other nobles.

No, perhaps it was after becoming the daughter of a baron that it increased.

She was always a clean person, but maybe that was her way of creating an escape for herself.

At least during bath time, she could refuse to be disturbed by others.

On the way to Ayla’s room,

The busy servants stopped and bowed their heads to me.

It wasn’t just because I was the head maid that they bowed.

Those here at least knew my identity. These were the ones selected carefully by my younger sibling and the Marquis.

Living as a noble wasn’t always good.

Especially for a bastard, there were times when being noble but treated as though I wasn’t really a noble was painful.

But it was far better than being a servant in a brothel or living in the back alleys, not knowing when I might die.

After all, my life couldn’t continue without Ayla.

So this time,

I was determined to save Ayla.

Whoever killed the Count, whoever attacked me, I would find them all and eliminate them.

I didn’t know what Ayla would say to me in the end. I didn’t know how she would react when I revealed my true identity.

Would she even remember?

Well, it doesn’t matter.

As long as I have that memory, that’s enough for me.

What I wish for is for all the people who threaten Ayla to disappear.

For Ayla to live freely, doing whatever she wants.

To cut off everything that binds her and set her free—

Just like Ayla did for me that day.

That was the one wish I had.