Chapter 86

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"Uwaan! Billy tore my clothes!"

"No, Lily collapsed my sandcastle first!"

"Lily isn't to blame! Harry told her to do it!"

"Marie, don't tattle!"

"Be quiet! I can't study with all this noise!"

"Uwaan! Big sister Hannah, big brother Mike is angry—!"

Before coming to the capital to work, every day was spent in lively activity.

As the eldest daughter, I, and my younger brother Mike, the twins Billy and Harry, and the younger twins Lily and Marie.

Mike, unlike me, was smart and studied reading and writing at the church. Billy and Harry, and Lily and Marie were still young and needed to be taken care of by me instead of our parents, who worked from morning till night. We managed to get by without extravagance.

One day, my father injured his back and could no longer work as he used to. Mike stopped his studies at the church and started working to replace my father, but physical labor was not his forte, and he couldn't earn as much as my father. As the younger children grew, they required less attention but ate more. They were still too young to work. My mother worked even harder, but the jobs she could get didn't pay much, and our family gradually fell into poverty.

Mike, who was praised for his intelligence at the church, began to frown more often as he was scolded and yelled at in his physical labor job. My mother was rarely home. The younger children missed her, and my father was always apologizing. Hannah, trying to contribute to the household, worked late into the night mending clothes, but there were no requests for such work in the countryside.

We had been living modestly but comfortably until recently...

Hannah's decision to go to the capital to work came quickly.

Fortunately, she heard that seamstresses could easily find jobs in the capital, so she gathered enough money for the carriage fare and came a few years ago.

The capital, with its glittering shops and many people, made her heart leap with the thought of working there... but only for a short while.

...No one would hire her.

She had confidence in her skills... yet...

The rumor that seamstresses could easily find jobs in the capital was a lie.

Later, she learned that she had arrived in the capital at the end of the social season, when seamstresses without exceptional skills were laid off en masse.

The kingdom, with its thriving trade, relied on imports for most fabrics other than silk. Wool and linen came pre-made from the empire, so when the social season ended and the number of custom-made silk dresses decreased, many seamstresses lost their jobs.

High-ranking nobles and the wealthy had their own tailors and seamstresses, so work did not come to those outside. Fur processing was the job of specialized craftsmen, not tailors or seamstresses.

Hannah had come to the capital at the worst possible time.

She couldn't afford to go home, as she didn't have the fare for the carriage.

She had just enough money to eat for today and tomorrow.

The glittering and dazzling commercial district of the capital, which she had stood in for hours, feeling hopeless, would have led her to the slums for a cold winter if the current shop owner hadn't spoken to her.

If she had ended up in the slums, it would have been difficult to find work as a seamstress again.

With winter approaching and no job, what could she do? Sending money home was a dream within a dream.

"Did you do this embroidery yourself?"

The current shop owner pointed to Hannah's clothes.

She couldn't afford new clothes, so she wore old ones given by the church.

The embroidery, which she had added to reinforce the thin and weak fabric, was her original design.

The shop owner liked the unique design, which no one had seen before, and offered her a job as a seamstress during the social season and as a helper at other times.

During the social season, she was paid a salary that was unimaginable in the countryside.

Why did she run away?

The shop owner was her savior and the savior of her family.

Even when busy, she shouldn't have run away.

But the impossible is impossible.

Hannah's embroidery became popular, and she was always busy during the social season.

Each year, she managed to send money home and worked as a helper while waiting for the next season.

However, this year, there were two sudden royal balls.

Just when she thought she had escaped hell, another one came.

Despite working tirelessly, the number of dresses she had to make kept increasing.

Even when busy, she shouldn't have run away.

She shouldn't have run away.

She was the only seamstress in the shop. To stay in the shop during the winter and send as much money home as possible, the shop owner couldn't hire more seamstresses.

The shop owner was not at fault.

The fault... lies with me...

A sweet scent wafted through the air.

A table filled with beautiful pastries she had never seen before.

Three brothers with strikingly golden hair, more dazzling than anyone she had ever seen.

The freckled boy served tea with ice, which was impossible to have in this season, making a cool, tinkling sound.

It was a different world.

Hannah was startled.

Her head was blank, and she was led to the freckled boy's shop in a daze.

Having not gone out for a while, she saw the shop for the first time. The entrance was adorned with fresh strawberries, and inside, it was filled with cute trinkets.

And it smelled wonderful.

The space, which would make any girl fall in love, led to the second floor, which was divided into two parts. One side had a wide variety of high-quality palace silk. The other side, where light meals were served, had fruits that glowed like jewels and a creamy topping that looked incredibly sweet and delicious.

Hannah, already dazed, was even more so by this dream-like scene and was carried by the tall boy.

When they reached the third floor, which was the freckled boy's living space, she felt a sense of relief.

The room was simple and free of unnecessary items.

Unlike the luxurious first and second floors, it was spacious but not so much that a commoner like Hannah would feel intimidated... or so she thought.

Correction.

The curtains on the large windows... she had never seen the real thing, but... they were probably the highest-quality Emasilk...?

That size... no, Emasilk... as curtains...?

Is this guy... sane? When she looked at the freckled boy, he smiled and spoke.

"I'll bring something, please sit down."

The tall boy gently placed her on the sofa, which was so comfortable that she felt it was the first real sofa she had ever sat on.

"Are you okay, miss? Do you feel unwell? Is your hand hurt? Does it hurt?"

The girl with a scar on her cheek, whom she had accidentally knocked over, sat next to her, looking worried.

"You don't look well. Would you like something to eat?"

The girl, who was undoubtedly a noble, seemed genuinely concerned about Hannah.

It was impossible.

To begin with, it was a miracle that she was still alive after bumping into a noble.

The tall boy was also undoubtedly a noble, yet he had carried her, a commoner. In a world where some nobles despised touching commoners, this was... impossible.

"Miss, don't you think that when people are unwell, they can't eat anything? Only you and rubber people can eat and feel better when you're unwell."

The golden-haired boy scolded the scarred girl. ...Rubber... people?

Are they siblings...? ...These three were all worried about her.

...It was impossible.

Shaking her head, unable to accept the reality, she hung her head.

"Is there something troubling you? Talking about it might make you feel better."

The girl, whose hand was even more pale and translucent than Hannah's, who rarely went outside, placed her hand on Hannah's and tilted her head.

As the warmth of the girl's hand seeped into her, Hannah began to talk, bit by bit, about her family, herself, and her work, to the beautiful young noble girl with a deep scar.

A commoner, older, and a runaway seamstress, talking to a noble, younger, and a beautiful girl with a deep scar.

It was impossible.

It was impossible... but...

Help me...

Hannah clung to the small, delicate hand and, without stopping, told her everything.