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Chapter 2
Life Pawned
A few days later, in the evening.
Irina picked up the bag she had packed and stepped out of the Count’s mansion’s front door.
Outside, a carriage sent by the Marquis’s estate had already arrived, along with an escort knight waiting for Irina.
The flag bearing the crest of the Ayre Marquisate—where Irina was soon to go—fluttered in the wind.
Count Cosart couldn’t even bring himself to meet Irina’s eyes as she boarded the carriage.
Scarlett pressed a new silk handkerchief—bought just yesterday—to her dry, tearless eyes.
Without a single backward glance, Irina carried her luggage and climbed into the carriage.
Her bag was quite light.
That was only natural—she had taken only two things from that house: her mother’s keepsake and the pendulum necklace left to her by her first love.
Ah, and one more thing: a small amount of emergency money.
Just as the carriage door was about to close, the escort knight who had been about to shut it looked at Irina and spoke.
“We’ll ride without stopping until we reach the gate. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, please let me know.”
Though she tried her best not to show it, her hand gripping the bag was constantly sweating.
Her slender arm trembled faintly. Fortunately, the knight didn’t seem to notice.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll close it now.”
There were many mountains near the Count’s estate, so the nearest teleportation gate was quite far away.
Even reaching the closest gate required about two hours by carriage.
The carriage set off at once as the door closed.
Because the Marquis’s carriage had arrived late at the Count’s estate, less than an hour had passed since departure, yet the sky outside the window was already tinged with sunset.
When she had first left the Count’s estate, she had felt tense and suffocated, but strangely, the faster the carriage sped along, the lighter her heart became.
It didn’t matter whether the person waiting for her was an old noble or anyone else.
“After all, I won’t live long anyway.”
Irina murmured.
If her always-accurate intuition was right this time too, she didn’t have much time left.
Especially since she’d been having nightmares about being killed lately.
And then—
The horses let out loud cries.
At the sound, Irina gripped her bag tightly—just as the carriage lurched violently with a loud crash.
“Kyaa!”
The movement was so large that the carriage nearly tipped sideways, and Irina screamed in shock.
“What’s going on?”
Irina shouted toward the outside of the carriage.
In response to her question, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.
The tilting carriage also steadied.
Irina blinked.
“I can’t see anything.”
Because night travel was dangerous, the escort knight had closed the outer shutters over the windows as well, so even pulling back the curtains revealed only wooden planks.
Irina tapped the window with her hand.
After a few seconds of silence from outside, a coughing sound was heard.
“Ju—just a moment… A wild boar charged at the carriage, so we had a bit of trouble. It’s fine now.”
It wasn’t the voice of the knight who had spoken to Irina earlier.
Since there were two of them, it seemed to be the other knight.
“Is anyone hurt?”
Another silence fell, then the knight replied briefly.
“…No one. We’ll depart again immediately.”
She thought she’d heard a faint groan, but perhaps she’d misheard.
“All right.”
When no further reply came, Irina tapped the window again.
At the same time, the carriage began moving once more.
Soon they arrived at the first teleportation gate.
‘Ugh. My stomach is churning.’
Irina frowned at the strange queasiness.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t ridden one in a long time, but she felt even more nauseous.
They said that until a few centuries ago, magic stones were abundant, and many things—including teleportation gates—were built. But at some point, the supply had dried up.
Still, the Kingdom of Arendor had managed to construct quite a few of these facilities back then, which made travel somewhat more convenient.
Even so, the fees were so high that she hadn’t used one in ages. She let out a dry laugh, thinking she might as well enjoy the experience now, thanks to that wealthy old noble.
After passing through four teleportation gates and riding through the night, the carriage finally stopped at dawn.
The surroundings grew quiet once more.
“We have arrived.”
Irina swallowed hard.
Soon, the sound of the door handle turning came, and the carriage door swung open, flooding Irina with bright light.
The shutters had remained closed throughout, so the interior had been quite dark—she couldn’t open her eyes right away.
After a moment, as her vision cleared, a gloved hand suddenly appeared before her.
“You’ve had a long journey. You must be tired, Lady Cosart.”
Irina reached out her hand, then hesitated for a moment.
He was a man with an air of foreign elegance about him.
The Kingdom of Arendor, where Irina was born, was located in the northern part of the continent.
The Countship of Cosart was relatively mild compared to other northern regions, with less severe cold and snow, but it was still a cold place.
Thus, people’s clothing was generally thick, dark in color, and rarely adorned with flashy decorations.
In contrast, this man looked splendid—as if he were someone who would set the latest fashion in the capital.
And for a servant, his attire was remarkably luxurious.
“Ah…”
As he waited patiently, Irina extended her hand again and stepped down onto the carriage steps.
“I will escort you inside.”
Following the man, she entered a garden so vast that its boundaries were nowhere in sight.
‘It’s like looking at a royal palace.’
That wasn’t an exaggeration—the ground wasn’t simply packed earth and grass.
The entire floor was paved with hard, white stone slabs—rougher than marble, but solid nonetheless.
On both sides of the wide stone path, long waterways had been built, so that even in heavy rain, dresses and shoes would hardly get wet.
‘They said he’s wealthy—truly staggering.’
The man led her into the large mansion and guided her to a certain room.
“I would like to see the Marquis.”
At Irina’s words, the man paused.
“He said that since you’ve traveled a long way today, resting and recovering from fatigue should come first. Please relax and rest; you will be brought before His Lordship tomorrow.”
She had been sold off to settle a debt, and yet they spoke of recovering from fatigue.
Taking it as consideration, Irina simply nodded without further comment.
“Then please wait a moment.”
With those words, the man left Irina alone and departed.
While waiting in the room, Irina looked around.
The room, where nothing seemed to have been brought in carelessly, was filled with the rich scent of wood that calmed the mind.
Even though it looked spotless, the fragrance made her feel as if she were in a forest.
After a short while, a young maid entered. She approached Irina and bowed deeply in greeting.
“My name is Casey, and I will be attending to you.”
She was a cute girl with bright red hair braided into two pigtails.
She looked at least two or three years younger than Irina, who was twenty.
Irina stared at her for a moment, then tilted her head.
She felt as though she had seen her somewhere before…
“Um…”
“Please speak freely, Lady Cosart.”
At the second show of kindness, Irina opened her mouth.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
At that, Casey met Irina’s eyes. She seemed to study Irina for a moment, then tilted her head.
“I’m sorry, but this is my first time seeing you, Lady Cosart. Perhaps it’s because I have such a plain face…”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant. Hm, I must have been mistaken. You just felt strangely familiar.”
“Dinner and a bath are prepared. Please tell me whichever you prefer, and I will have it ready at once.”
Of course, she was a little hungry, and the dress and shoes she’d worn all day made her feel uncomfortable.
But more than that, Irina wanted a moment to rest alone.
“Then I’d like to rest a little first.”
Casey immediately offered to show Irina to her assigned bedroom.
Both the man earlier and this maid were treating her with such courtesy that it almost seemed excessive for someone sold off to settle a debt.
Irina followed the maid down the corridor, then her gaze was caught by something outside the hallway window.
“Hm?”
Some distance away, the man who had escorted her earlier was speaking with someone.
The other person was tall, but due to the angle, more than half of his face was obscured and hard to make out.
Seeing the man bow his head in greeting, Irina guessed that this was the master of the household—the very one who had summoned her.
Irina tilted her head for a better look.
“No? I heard he was an imposing figure.”
Though the face was blurry, overall he didn’t seem to match the image of an elderly man she had pictured.
Irina paused briefly, then resumed walking behind the maid.
—
“If you ever need anything, please pull the bell cord at any time. I will prepare whatever you require immediately.”
“Thank you.”
Bowing once more at a perfect 90 degrees, she quickly withdrew to give Irina privacy.
“So this is where I’ll be staying from now on? Why is it so big?”
It was easily five times the size of the room Irina had lived in before.
It seemed almost excessive for the daughter of a debtor to enjoy such luxury.
The design—neither too lavish nor too plain—wasn’t bad, she thought.
After looking around once, Irina finally set down the bag she had been carrying so resolutely.
After confirming that all the items she had brought were intact, she closed it again and placed it right beside the bed.
Then, instead of sitting on the bed, she settled onto the sofa beside it, leaning back as if barely touching the cushions.
As she slowly closed her tired, stiff eyes, exhaustion finally began to pour over her.
She hadn’t slept a wink in the carriage, too tense to rest—it would have been strange not to feel drowsy.
“When on earth will I get to meet him?”
Her aching body cried out for indulgence as it sank into the plush sofa.
Irina forced her eyes wide open, trying to fight the oncoming sleep.
In the end, however, she couldn’t hold out, and her eyelids slowly slid shut.
—
While Irina dozed off for a short while—
A brief knock sounded at her door, followed by the door slowly opening.
The one who entered approached Irina, who had fallen into a light sleep.
He carefully brushed aside the loose strands of hair that half-covered her face.
