Chapter 13: Live To Sienna Pt.13
Sienna couldn’t afford the large sum. Although her father was a duke, she was not wealthy enough to spend a lot of money on dresses. Not knowing that before, she had always been happy to wear a dress that was better than her normal clothes, but after she joined the banquet, she realized how shabby she really was in comparison.
Sienna would be laughed at anyway, so she didn’t want to spend any of her time on dresses.
“I’d rather be here than go around the shops exhaustively.”
“My precious lady, you have green water in your hands. What’s more, what do we do about that smell?!”
Sienna and Chelsea were helping Priest Roy in the temple. Chelsea was fed up with the smell of the hemp he had grown as they had been grinding and boiling them for a while now.
Just in the nick of time, Roy, who had ripped out more of the hemp, brought them another basketful of it.
“Thank you for your help. I was worried about what to do with so much.”
“Where in the world are you going to use all this stuff?” Chelsea asked graciously.
“Hahaha, this isn’t enough. There are a lot more children in the capital who are not loved by their parents and have to roam around in the streets than you think. However, if we prepare these beforehand, before the epidemic breaks out, according to the Goddess’ blessings, many children’s lives will be saved by the protection of the Goddess.”
“Children’s lives?”
“Yes. There are a lot more children who lose their lives in the streets every year than you think. They have trouble getting meals by begging and they have to sleep on the streets, so they catch colds very easily. The streets are not a safe place for children.”
“The priest must be familiar with the children of the street.”
When asked by Chelsea, he answered with a cool smile, “Haha, I actually originate from the streets.”
“Sir priest does?”
Sienna and Chelsea were surprised. She had thought he had been raised with love because she couldn’t find a hint of darkness in Roy’s face.
“I’d been on the streets ever since I realized I existed. I’d lived a similar life to the street kids, begging for help, avoiding the rain, and sleeping in the cracks of buildings. But, I was quite lucky. One summer day, I collapsed from severe pneumonia, and a priest passing by just in time found me and treated me. And then, he took me to the Holy Empire and gave me an education. Actually, I’m very lucky. Street children usually die before they reach adulthood, and even when they’ve grown up, girls sell their bodies, and boys do use their fists to work.”
Thinking he was lucky, Sienna was smiling brightly.
“So, that’s why you care about the street children?”
“I’m sorry that I’m the only one who was lucky.”
Next to him, Chelsea burst into tears.
“Was my story that depressing? I didn’t mean for it to be.”
“Who’s crying?! I’m not crying!” Chelsea shouted. She said she wasn’t crying, but her eyes and her nose were dyed red. “It’s because of the smell of the hemp. Did you wash it properly? There’s soil everywhere. I can’t. I’ll have to wash it again.”
She went outside holding the hemp basket that Roy had been holding. Apparently, she was using the pretext of washing the hemp again to go cry.
“I think miss Chelsea is a good person. She’s able to cry for others.”
Sienna nodded at his words. Chelsea was a person who knows what was precious and lived with gratitude.
As for herself, even with her father and brother’s unconditional care and love, she had only looked at Carl. She had thought everything to be worthless and useless as she had not won Carl’s heart. At that time, she had felt sorry for herself for hanging on to him and abandoning everything.
A few days later, Sienna went to an established market near the temple. She went there to buy some medicine for Roy, but there was a lot more to see.
“Jane! Didn’t you say you had some business to look at the market?”
“Yes, I just need to stop by the business that Kelly runs for a moment.”
“Is that so? Then, be on your way.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you went with me?”
“It’s all right. I’ll quietly take my time sightseeing around here.”
Jane thought for a moment and answered, “I’ll be right back. It’s the one at the end of the alley.”
With urgent footsteps, Jane headed toward the end of the alley. The market was located in the capital city, so there was a large number of people passing through. Most of the stores were selling food and cooking ingredients.
While she took her time slowly walking around the market, she stopped in front of a store. It was a pickled food store located next to a vegetable shop. She found the colorful fruits in glass bottles very pretty to look at.
“It’s pickled mir.”
Mir was type of fruit very common in the Laifsden Empire. The yellow fruit the size of an apricot had a strong taste, and it came in salty, sweet and sour flavors.
Sienna didn’t like the sweet, sour or salty pickled mir, but she knew someone who loved them very much.
“Carl.”
Even after he had become the emperor, he had always had pickled mir present at the dining table.
Mir was commoners’ food, and it was unusual for nobles to eat it, so it must have been something he had picked up on his long travels outside of the capital. Upon learning that, Sienna had once prepared the pickled mir herself and had it served at his table.
That was the first time that Carl had smiled at her.
He had enjoyed the taste of her pickled mir even with her poor cooking skills.
In honesty, the taste of the pickled mire had been a complete mess. The silvery powder attached to the mir’s peel had be washed away in salt water to reduce the saltiness, but Sienna, who hadn’t known that had jumped straight to pickling it with salt. Moreover, it had not been the season for mir then, so it had tasted very green.
When she saw Carl eating it so eagerly, without any thoughts to spare, she realized she had put some pickled mir into her mouth like him. Forgetting that she had been in front of the emperor, her face had immediately soured, and her forehead had crinkled. Seeing her reaction, Carl had burst out laughing.
Ba-bump!
It had been a long time ago, but her heart still fluttered when she remembered his smile.
‘You’re such a frivolous heart! You decided not to love him again, and just thinking of him makes you jump like this!’
She stretched out her hand towards the pickled mir, overcome with emotion. The pickled mir, which was a strong yellow color, seemed to have been uniquely prepared.
“Huh?”
As soon as Sienna grabbed the bottle, someone else’s hand covered hers. It was the hand of a man covered in wounds. Somehow, she felt as if her heart was about to drop.
‘It’s not my first time holding a man’s hand. What’s wrong with me?’
Sienna couldn’t take her eyes off the hand. The wounded hand, which seemed to have mastered swordsmanship skills, were strangely familiar to her.
When the man removed his hand from the bottle, Sienna hurriedly put down the bottle and hid her hand. Nevertheless, she could not look up at the owner of the strange hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Hearing the man’s voice, Sienna turned to him.
Dark golden hair, Carl’s symbol, fluttered in the wind. She felt dizzy looking at his olive-colored eyes.
“Ah, ah....”
A groan of despair popped out of Sienna’s mouth, and she strained to keep her legs up and her back straight.
Instinctively, his name came out of Sienna’s mouth, “Carl...”
“Miss!”
Even though Jane had called for Sienna, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Carl. He also couldn’t take his eyes off Sienna, who had called his name. Then, he put his finger on his lips and said, “Shush!” It was a sign for her not to reveal his identity.
“Miss!”
She turned her head to Jane’s call and answered, “... Yes.”
“What were you doing to be so out of it?”
“No, I was...”
Sienna looked back to where Carl had been, but there was no one there.
‘Was it just an illusion?’
Sienna looked back at the pickled mir, which lay in the middle of the stall stand.
“For it to be Carl...”