Chapter 3. The Disgrace of a Broken Engagement

“Please let me see him. Please!”

“He’s not in.”

“I’ll go in and wait. Okay?”

“Go back.”

Jane had been arguing with the Hastings family’s gatekeeper for several minutes. In her hand was a newspaper containing the article about Count and Countess Whitney’s execution.

“This is important. It’s a matter of life and death.”

Jane grabbed the hem of her dress and stubbornly attempted to enter.

“Please leave!”

The angry gatekeeper pushed Jane, and she fell, shouting.

“What are you doing!”

“What are you doing, Miss? Do you really not know why we’re acting like this? Are you ignorant because you were raised so preciously, or are you pretending not to know? No matter what happens, you cannot set foot in the Hastings mansion.”

Jane’s pupils shook.

“What…… does that mean?”

“It means His Grace ordered us not to let you in.”

“That can’t be. His Grace told me……”

She had done as told. She broke up because they told her to break up, and she stayed home quietly because they said stirring things up here and there might actually be unfavorable to the verdict.

Jane muttered in bewilderment. The gatekeepers clicked their tongues looking at her.

She was truly a pretty and lovely young lady. She was a kind-hearted person who would open her carriage window whenever she passed by to tell them they were working hard.

They had never doubted she would become the mistress of the Hastings household someday.

But now she was being turned away at the door.

A person’s life was truly cruel.

“There must be some misunderstanding. Please. Let me in. I absolutely won’t say that you let me in. If you need money……”

Jane’s hand, which had been searching her pocket, fell limply. Jane didn’t have a single penny.

The day after the order to confiscate her family assets to the state was issued, her pension and property were all recovered to the national treasury.

All she had were a few pieces of clothing and some jewelry she had been wearing.

‘Right, jewelry!’

Jane took out her earrings. They were ruby earrings that Count Whitney had given her to commemorate her seventeenth birthday.

“It’s not much, but please take this.”

Jane held out the earrings.

“Please don’t do this.”

The gatekeepers were also reaching their limit.

Those above had told them to chase her away even if they had to draw swords, but they didn’t want to go that far.

However, if Jane persisted, they would have to draw their swords. The gatekeepers touched their sword hilts.

“Stop.”

A heavy bass voice came from behind the gatekeepers, who then removed their hands from their sword.

“Wait.”

“Ah! Assistant!”

Jane’s eyes lit up. The owner of the voice was Duke Hastings’s assistant.

“It’s been a while, Phil! I want to meet with His Grace, but there seems to be some misunderstanding and they won’t let me in. I’m so glad you came out. His Grace is inside, right?”

Instead of answering, Phil looked Jane up and down. Phil frowned as he saw her disheveled hair and dress dirtied from sitting on the dirt floor.

“You want to meet His Grace looking like that?”

Jane’s eyebrows rose.

“I’m sorry, but His Grace is out.”

It was clearly a lie. Duke Hastings always traveled with his assistant when he went out. If he had come out of the house, it meant Duke Hastings was also at home.

“Phil……”

“Instead, he gave me something to deliver to you.”

Phil handed over a heavy pouch. When Jane received it reflexively and asked with her eyes what it was, Phil replied in a tone full of annoyance.

“Since you were someone who almost formed a connection with the Hastings family, he means you shouldn’t do lowly things like begging. What else would it be?”

Money.

Jane’s hands trembled as she realized what was in the pouch.

“Don’t say you won’t accept it, Miss. Without that money, you’ll be on the streets immediately, won’t you? You’ll need to arrange a carriage to leave the capital tomorrow too.”

“To, tomorrow?”

“Didn’t you know? I guess that content wasn’t in the newspaper. Your exile date has also been decided. Tomorrow. You must leave the capital tomorrow.”

“If, if I appeal……”

Phil pushed up his glasses and approached Jane closely. His eyebrows drooped, creating a very pitiful expression.

“Who would take on the appeal? Do you have money to file an appeal? Don’t do useless things, Miss. If I were you, I’d leave at dawn tomorrow. Even as a child, you wouldn’t want to see my parents’ heads dangling from the castle walls.”

Jane’s body stiffened. It took time to understand what she had heard.

“His Grace definitely said he would prevent that……”

“You’re naive, Miss. To believe that.”

Phil laughed. Then he quickly left before Jane could grab him. Though Jane couldn’t even move a step to catch him.

Jane felt a chilling sensation on the back of her neck as she stood bewildered.

The knights had finally pointed their swords at Jane’s neck. Because Phil had said “handle it quickly” as he passed by.

“Please go back, Miss.”

Extremely dry words pushed Jane away once more. Jane’s vision went dark.

＊＊＊

The sun rose again without fail. Jane, who had been sitting blankly on her bed, came to her senses from the sunlight streaming through the window.

She had spent all of yesterday afternoon looking for ways to prevent her parents’ execution, but instead of results, she only received wounds.

Fortunately, she was able to hear her parents’ message through a changing guard.

〈Jane must live. We love you, Jane.〉

The moment Jane heard those words, she forgot about the street and cried her heart out. Her crying was so desperate and heartbreaking that even those who heard it shed tears.

Jane sat on the dirt floor in front of the detention center where her parents were imprisoned until late at night. She returned home well past midnight.

And she stayed awake all night packing.

It was time to leave the place she had grown fond of.

“Miss, I’m sorry I can’t serve you.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry. You didn’t even receive this month’s salary. We’re parting after only showing you hardships.”

Elle and several other servants who had remained loyal to the Whitney family to the end wiped away tears.

“We’ll manage to live somehow, but what will you do, Miss?”

“I’ll manage somehow. For now, I’m going to visit my mother’s distant relative.”

She would probably be turned away, but that was the only place that came to mind.

“It’s not much, but please take this, Miss.”

Elle fumbled and pulled out a pouch. It looked similar to the pouch she had received from the Hastings family yesterday. Though it was considerably smaller.

It was money the servants had pooled together, knowing Jane had become penniless.

It was about the same amount Jane used to give them occasionally as spending money.

Jane clenched her fists tightly.

“I’ll just accept your feelings. I couldn’t even pay last month’s wages, so I can’t shamelessly accept this.”

Elle’s lips trembled. Seeing Jane’s haggard face, she couldn’t bear to leave.

“You have to accept this for us to be able to leave, Miss.”

Elle placed the pouch on the nightstand. Jane’s gaze lingered on the pouch for quite a while.

“Elle, instead of money…… could you do me one favor?”

“A favor? Of course! Anything!”

Jane took out a letter from her desk drawer.

“I’d like you to deliver this letter to Cain.”

Last night, Jane had written a letter after much hesitation. It wasn’t a shameless request to meet again as a criminal’s daughter.

She included an apology for the words that had hurt him and her wishes for his future happiness.

“Yes, I’ll definitely deliver it.”

Elle tightly held both the letter and Jane’s hand. Elle bowed deeply to Jane one last time.

Jane was left alone.

The bustling sounds of preparing breakfast, warm smiles, everything disappeared, and only silence remained in the mansion.

But she had to let go even this silence now.

Jane’s heart burned black. The end of a child who had received God’s love was this miserable.

＊＊＊

Jane Whitney—she was a woman who had lost everything. No, let me correct that. She still had many things.

Those were the shackles that bound her as she was thrown into the mud.

Parents who died for treason, astronomical debt, people’s contempt, the disgrace of a broken engagement.

Jane’s daily life was miserable.

She was kicked out of a relative’s house where she had asked for shelter after only a month.

Jane had no choice but to use the money Duke Hastings had thrown at her, money she had kept intending to return someday.

Every time she spent the money, it felt like a blade was scraping her heart, but she had no choice to survive.

With that money, Jane settled in Rouen, a small city where maritime trade was developed.

Settling wasn’t easy. Not long after Jane arrived there, rumors from the capital spread.

The daughter of a traitor. The rebels’ aristocrat.

The labels attached to Jane made it difficult to find work. Even when she managed to find work, there were countless cases where she didn’t receive daily wages.

〈You want to get paid for working like this? I should be the one getting paid. Look at this mess. What can you do properly?〉

〈Did you put grass in your mouth? Say something. What are you trying to do by keeping your mouth shut so stubbornly? Are you dissatisfied? Are you dissatisfied!〉

When she spoke, she was cursed at, and when she kept quiet, she was criticized.

Nevertheless, Jane tried to live cheerfully and brightly.

Living as a woman of a fallen family, she came to understand her parents’ choice.

The world wasn’t fair.

From then on, she regained her will to live. Jane struggled to live like a human being.

Seven years passed.

Many things had changed from seven years ago.

Jane, who had been eighteen, became twenty-five, and with a special amnesty lifting the exile order against her, she returned to the capital.

Having previously done only menial work, Jane started working as a private tutor once the exile order was lifted.

She soon gained a reputation as a highly capable private tutor.

“The wind is nice.”

Jane was teaching in a garden where a cool spring breeze was blowing.

“That’s right, teacher! You remember you promised to play chess with me today, right?”

The little gentleman sitting across from Jane, who had been diligently solving problems, sparkled with excitement in his eyes.