Chapter 4
***
The next morning.
She went back to the Viscount, but it was in vain.
The Viscount had not returned. This time, even his eldest son, Pietro, had gone to the police station, so Louise had to turn back without any further explanation.
The funeral could not be put off any longer. Louise finally decided to give up on the pearl.
She had to go to Helden's pawnshop to retrieve the loan note and three crowns she had hidden under the floorboards. She must hand over the money and the deed and say that she would sell the pearl.
She felt very sorry for her mother, but she had no choice.
But as she hurried down the hill, her eyes widened: the old gate had fallen off and was lying in front of the house.
Her heart was pounding.
Normally, a burglar would have nothing to steal. But not now.
Louise rushed into the house. The shabby living quarters were a jumbled mess.
She looked nervously under the floorboards. It was a secret room, so secret that she could have fooled her mother.
There was nothing there.
"Ah."
Her breath caught in my throat. Her heart felt like it was being ripped out of her chest.
"Aah................"
She scratched her nails in the sand beneath the floor.
The precious gold coins that would pay for her mother's funeral.
The scrap of paper she had traded for my mother's belongings..................
None of them were there, none of them.
Only her mother, not breathing, remained in this miserable house.
"Hmph................"
The painful tears came late.
She grasped her mother's cloth-covered hand. She was cold and hard as a wood chip in a winter forest, and sobbed widely.
Her choked sobs filled every corner of the messy house.
In the midst of her unending agony, she heard a voice.
"Louise?"
In her wet vision, she saw Mrs. Smith with a white bouquet of flowers.
Startled, she threw the bouquet down, the white petals scattering and falling like snow.
"Aaaaah.................."
The leaves, like snowflakes, fell helplessly like Louise's tears.
***
The pawnbroker's kind face vanished like a lie.
He said he would never return the pearl, no matter how much she brought, without the borrowing certificate. The pawnbroker didn't even bat an eye at Louise's sobs.
If you want it back, he added, don't forget to pay the interest until you get the deed back.
Further frustration made no difference.
In the end, Louise had to call the undertaker Mrs. Smith had told her about to cremate her mother.
As the strangers approached her mother's body, Mrs. Smith tied a black cloth over Louise's eyes so she could see nothing.
Louise let out a new scream.
That her mother, the daughter and the hostess of Ermoli, should pass away in the most ungracious manner.
No one else but Mrs. Smith attended the lowly funeral.
'A different kind of goodbye.’
Cremation was the only option for the common people because of the high cost of funerals, but it was not in accordance with church doctrine.
According to the doctrine, humans had to die and return to the earth. She was not to be scattered in the air as ashes and smoke. Burning the body, it was said, was an indignity reserved for hell.
The church, with the imperial government's acquiescence, was the one who paid for the exorbitant funeral costs, so it was unable to openly criticize or condemn the common people who chose to cremate their loved ones.
It merely emphasized that the dead must be buried in a church cemetery in order to go to heaven. The more her mother’s body burned, the more her heart sank.
Her chest was hot and aching as if she had swallowed a fireball. She was blindfolded, but she could see the black smoke.
The flames consumed her mother.
The flames grew and grew, devouring the innocent mother.
She blamed her own incompetence and foolishness for the flames.
She hoped it was just a terrible dream, that she had called in the undertaker to burn her mother's body.
She could smell burning.
The smell of her burning flesh.
Ah, the smell of her burning flesh.
She was so disgusted. She vomited several times without even eating anything.
Blood seemed to smear before her blindfolded eyes. The blackness before her eyes turned red, then black, then red again.
After a few repetitions, the darkness engulfed her.
Mrs. Smith, holding Louise in her arms, wailed. "You poor thing, you poor thing!”
***
"Did you eat something?"
On the third day after the funeral, Mrs. Smith came to visit, her healthy mother's figure slumped against her back as she searched the kitchen for signs of cooking.
Louise glared at the cobwebs on the ceiling before Mrs. Smith turned away.
She had seen enough of her weakness. Mrs. Smith took the next day off from work to tend to her own wounds at the crematorium. Only after wiping the dew from her eyes did she answer.
"I've eaten well, don't worry."
"Eat well! Do you think you're best when you're stewing in mulligan porridge?"
She nagged her and picked up the bag at her feet.
The flour and cinnamon pumpkin that had just fallen out of the bag appeared. Judging by the size of the pumpkin, it was clearly meant for a family of three.
Louise muttered apologetically.
"..................Why do you keep bringing me things? How am I going to eat all these pumpkins by myself?" she asked.
"I have a lot, a lot."
Mrs. Smith waved her hand exaggeratedly. It was a white lie, for the same reasons.
"You have to feed Vanessa a lot, she’s growing."
"Vanessa is growing, just like you, only sideways! Louise, it's good for her to grow up as thin as you are!"
Mrs. Smith clapped her hands exaggeratedly, and then, disparaging her good daughter, pulled out a newspaper from her packet. Louise's eyes widened this time.
"What newspaper is that?"
"Uh-oh, my husband got it at the market. "What's the matter with the black-eyed one, he asked me to read it to him so he could learn some important news?"
Louise barely managed a smile and opened it.
The day before, she'd been to the Engel’s residence and heard the news. Sure enough, the Viscount had not returned.
Pietro said that if things go wrong, he'll take his sisters and run away at night. It was obvious that the Viscount had suggested it.
Of course, Pietro didn't tell her what he was thinking, because he wanted her to stop coming, lest he get himself into trouble.
As soon as she lost her mother, she lost her job.
She hadn’t even gotten to that yet, but the newspaper the madam handed her was folded so that the personal ads are at the top. It was too much of a coincidence.
When Louise refused to read, the madam urged her.
"What are you doing not reading?"
Even if she couldn't read, she would recognize the classifieds. Unlike the other pages, it was broken into smaller pieces and had an address with a lot of numbers.
"How did you know about ..................?"
The madam pretended not to hear and continued.
"Here! Read this one first. The bigger the letters, the richer the ad, right? Don't ignore it, I know what I'm talking about."
The ad the madam pointed to included a tiny picture, and it read.
"Three-story house for sale in Kerten. Beautiful gates with fan-shaped skylights, windows that go up and down..................."
"A fan-shaped skylight? That's the one! That's great, but next."
She naturally moved on to the next one. After that, she had to read through a few more fluffy ads before she found the one she was looking for.
"Arnoncourt boarding school. Do you want upper-class connections, then................"
"I don't want that one, but the next."
Louise sighed.
"Tutor Wanted."
Madame finally opened her eyes wide.
"Live-in tutor sought in Burg residence. Promise top-notch treatment, aristocratic background preferred. Send a letter of introduction to the following address to arrange an interview."
She didn't know the words well, but she stared at the ad as Louise read it. It was as if she was trying to read between the lines.
"So, that's the address?"
No, she just wanted to find the address.
It was pointless.
If you want to write to the Count of Burg, you don't even need to know the address. Even the post office in the most remote corner of the Empire would know where Burg was.
Louise sighed again.
"How the hell did you know? I'm not able to work for the Engels."
"How do I know? You were out yesterday and back so soon, I thought you'd lost the plot. I pity the lord, but you must starve, too."
The Madam laughed softly and poked Louise with her second finger.
"They say they have the best treatment. Are you going to send a letter of introduction or something? Louise, it’s a very high noble family."
****
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