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11.
Rebecca froze.
Kanna's hands trembled as she brushed through Rebecca's hair.
"And there is no fault of yours in what transpired last night, Miss ‌‌‌Rebecca. The ‌‌‌Count does not know the details of what occurred. So he still regards you as...."
Kanna's brushing ceased. Rebecca had taken hold of her hand. ‌‌
Wounded blue eyes pierced through Kanna with a sharp gaze.
"What is this? Did Zeppelin instruct you to win my favor ‌‌in such a manner? It is pointless. ‌‌‌‌You witnessed Alice's fate—you understand well enough. Flee ‌‌‌while ‌‌‌you still ‌‌‌‌can. If your life means anything to you."
Kanna stared fixedly at Rebecca's thin hand gripping her own.
Her hand was warm. Nothing had changed.
Kanna knelt before Rebecca and withdrew a handkerchief from her bosom.
"It is something I have cherished more dearly than my own life."
Rebecca accepted the handkerchief. Upon it was embroidered a rose in clumsy, inexpert stitching.
Rebecca's eyes widened as she traced through the threads of memory.
"You...?"
"Yes. I am that child you saved, Miss Rebecca—the one who leaped into the carriage that day."
Kanna's ‌‌eyes glistened with tears.
* * *
That day had been a warm spring.
But for young Kanna, it was a bitter season.
Her father, drowning in gambling debts, had sold Kanna to the Brothel. In the back alleys, it was a commonplace occurrence, barely worthy of notice.
Red wallpaper and half-naked women came into view. The acrid stench of perfume ‌‌and alcohol ‌‌made her dizzy.
"She's far too thin!"
"Still, the dead girl's mother was quite beautiful. She'll do well enough."
"Tsk. That's all she's worth!"
"What?"
Seizing the moment while her father and the Madam haggled, Kanna fled with all her strength.
Since childhood, she had stolen as naturally as breathing to keep from starving. Running was second nature to her.
Behind her, her father's voice roared in pursuit.
There was no plan.
Yet if she could only escape the grasp of her only family, she felt she could do anything.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, but Kanna did not stop. Even when she fell repeatedly, she rose again.
It was when she emerged from the alley onto the main street.
A massive carriage came to a screeching halt with a thunderous sound.
"You! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
The coachman shouted.
It was a harrowing moment. The agitated horse reared up on its hind legs.
Fearing the angry coachman ‌‌‌might crack his whip, Kanna squeezed her eyes shut.
"Are you alright?"
But what reached her ears was not the sharp crack of a whip—it was a gentle voice. A voice so sweet and tender it brought tears to her eyes. ‌‌
Kanna opened her eyes tentatively and saw Rebecca extending her ‌‌‌‌hand toward her.
I saw hair as brilliant as the blazing summer sun. Sapphire eyes gazed down at me.
Kanna thought, in that instant, that an angel had descended ‌from the heavens.
"My name is Rebecca. Goodness, you're hurt quite badly, aren't you?"
"Kanna! Where is that girl!"
My father's voice pierced through the crowd. I flinched reflexively.
Rebecca's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked toward Kanna's father.
Grasping the situation at a glance, Rebecca lifted Kanna into her arms.
Kanna startled and thrashed about. Blood seeping from my knees stained Rebecca's dress.
"M-madam! Please don't! Your dress...."
"How light you are.... Don't worry. It's merely a dress. You are far more precious than that."
Merely a dress.
Kanna instinctively grasped that Rebecca's dress was worth more ‌than the price my father had tried to sell me for.
Rebecca settled Kanna into ‌‌‌the carriage and tapped on its side.
"To Liberta Orphanage." ‌‌
The ‌‌carriage moved smoothly.
It was hard to believe it was being driven by the coachman who had been shouting moments before.
"Do you know the person who was shouting just now?"
Kanna thought for a moment, then shook my head. I didn't want such an ugly person to be revealed as my father.
Rebecca, as if understanding Kanna's heart, ‌asked no further questions.
She withdrew a handkerchief from her bosom and tied it ‌‌‌around Kanna's knees.
"I had made this to ‌‌‌‌give as a gift to someone else..., but it should serve as a ‌‌temporary measure, shouldn't it?"
Kanna didn't know what to say and simply stared intently at the embroidered rose on the handkerchief.
Rebecca wiped away Kanna's tears with her hand.
"The place we're going to now is called Liberta Orphanage. Everyone there is kind-hearted. I won't let that person who was shouting come anywhere near you."
Rebecca stroked Kanna's hair, assuring me that ‌‌‌everything would be alright now, that I had endured enough.
Kanna felt as though I were dreaming, blinking my brown eyes. Then, gathering courage, I hesitantly asked Rebecca.
"Will you be there too, madam?"
"I can visit from time to time. But I'm in ‌‌‌a position where I cannot leave freely...."
Rebecca trailed off. Her gaze fell, and ‌‌she clenched her fist tightly.
Kanna found that expression so sorrowful that, without thinking, I placed my hand on Rebecca's arm. Then I startled and withdrew it.
"I-I'm sorry! How presumptuous of me, with these filthy hands!"
But Rebecca took Kanna's hand again. ‌‌‌She gently stroked the ‌‌hand she held.
"Filth washes away, doesn't it?"
Kanna could not tear my eyes from Rebecca's warm, radiant ‌‌smile.
The rustling sensation of the deep emerald dress. The subtle fragrance of her perfume. The ‌‌spring sunlight streaming through the carriage window ‌and Rebecca's golden hair gleaming just as brightly.
And a warmth in her touch that I had ‌‌‌‌never known before.
Even after entering Liberta Orphanage, I ‌‌‌never forgot that moment. No—I could not forget it.
It became all the more so after learning that my benefactor ‌‌lived unhappily in the Count's House.
Though hardship visited me at times, I endured through that single memory ‌alone.
There are those who live their entire lives sustained by a single moment's memory. I was such a person.
* * *
Kanna was already weeping openly, tears streaming down her face.
"I have never forgotten you, not even once. It doesn't matter if you've forgotten me. If you can be happy, I can do anything."
Rebecca fell silent for a ‌moment, staring blankly at Kanna's tears.
The first thing I did upon becoming the Countess was to establish an orphanage.
There was no grand reason behind it.
Each time I ventured out, I found myself dispensing charity, and gradually people began to gather around me. I simply needed a place to shelter them.
Zeppelin readily granted my request to build the orphanage. He seemed ‌quite pleased ‌‌with the reputation I gained as a saint-like figure.
Thus, the Liberta Orphanage was born.
The Liberta Orphanage's residents were predominantly helpless children, women, and the elderly.
Adult men who might seduce Rebecca were ‌‌‌forbidden from admission.
On days when Zeppelin was in good spirits, he would permit Rebecca to visit her orphanage.
It was the only place where Rebecca, adrift and without anchor, had ever felt genuine attachment. Though later, even that became impossible.
Zeppelin ‌was stingy with his patronage. The orphanage's funds were perpetually insufficient, so they took whatever work they could find to survive.
Knowing their circumstances, I would always feel remorseful, secretly selling my jewels to supplement the orphanage's coffers.
The members of Liberta, bound by shared hardship, moved together with ‌‌remarkable cohesion, functioning as a single organism.
If anyone dared to harm one of Liberta's people, they would swarm together and beat them mercilessly. If that proved impossible, they would ensure a stone found its mark ‌‌‌as the person passed.
Individually, they were weak, but united, they were formidable. They were more than family to one another.
Rebecca did not ‌‌‌‌know this.
She did not realize that she herself stood at the very center of Liberta's tightly bound circle.
It was Rebecca who held together those bound not by blood.
Though each had their own story, most of them had been saved by Rebecca's kindness.
Kanna ‌‌was one such member of ‌Liberta.
"It was a bitter winter. My father sold me to a brothel to pay his gambling debts. I was only ten years old. I ran away desperately. And I threw myself in front of your carriage."
The memory returned to me.
Rebecca gazed at the handkerchief Kanna had offered.
It was not long after my marriage. I had given Zeppelin a handkerchief I had embroidered myself as a gift.
My needlework was clumsy—I had little talent for embroidery—but I had poured my heart into it.
Yet Zeppelin had mocked my gift.
'How pathetic. Rebecca, you clearly don't love me. Otherwise, you ‌‌‌would never give me such garbage.'
I should have fled the Count's Mansion the moment those words left his lips.
But I could not. I loved Zeppelin far too much at that time.
I believed ‌‌‌‌that ‌was what love meant.
That day, my heart heavy with anguish, I went to the orphanage. And there I met a gaunt little girl.
She looked as though she might collapse at any moment, yet her eyes burned with vivid life. I lifted her into my carriage.
When I noticed blood flowing from the child's knees, I bound the wound with the handkerchief I had meant to give Zeppelin.
"I won't ask you to trust me immediately. But please use me. If you command me to kill Zeppelin, I will. If you ‌‌‌‌‌order me to break a concubine's legs, I will. I want to be on your side."
Kanna looked up at Rebecca with unwavering resolve.
My heart thundered in my chest.
Was ‌‌Alice's departure and Kanna's arrival truly coincidence? Could she truly become my ally?
I wanted to tell Kanna right then and there that I would take her hand and do exactly that.
I desperately wanted to believe in her. I needed warmth in my arms.
But I couldn't afford to trust so hastily.
Alice's venomous final expression kept flickering through my mind.
I pressed my lips together and fell silent ‌‌for a moment, lost in thought.
Then I rose slowly from my seat, took Kanna's hand as she knelt before me, and helped her to her feet.
"You belong to Zeppelin now."
"I was sent here under the Count's orders, but it was only ever to be at ‌‌‌your side, Miss Rebecca. I will never become that man's person, not even in death."
"No. You must become Zeppelin's person."
"Pardon?"
"If you truly wish to help me, then earn Zeppelin's trust. Become my eyes and ears, and if necessary, my feet as well. But first, you must prove to me that you stand on my side."
"Just say the word."
I paced around the room. My long hair cascaded over ‌‌my shoulders as I ‌‌continued brushing it.
Kanna gazed upon the sight with enchanted eyes.
After toying with my own hair for a moment, I lifted my head as inspiration struck.
"Cut off Zeppelin's hair and bring it to me. Better yet, make it a complete mess." ‌‌‌
"His hair, you say?" ‌‌
Zeppelin, who treasured his own body so dearly, would never willingly surrender his hair for anyone but Rebecca.
It was ‌‌‌nearly an impossible task. If she backed down now, I ‌‌planned to simply hand her some trinkets and send her on her way.
The ‌‌‌Runaway Countess Returns
E-book Publication

January 12, 2022
Author

Ginnamilgabyeol
Publisher

Desert Fox
Published by

Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd.
Submission Reception

naver.me/54VzzLSn
Blog ‌‌‌‌

blog.naver.com/wj_fennecfox
Twitter

@wjt_fennecfox

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Brought to you by ‌‌Valir Scans! To support our team ‌‌and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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