Until the Girl Becomes a Maid

Although parental love is said to be endless, her parents were an exception.

Her parents, who ran a small inn, began to take out their stress on her and her younger sister when their business deteriorated and they began to struggle financially.

Meaningless chores.

A daily barrage of harsh words.

Hands raised in violence almost every day.

She was young, but she knew that if things continued like this, she would soon die.

And that thought helped her make the decision to leave home with her younger sister.

With the money they stole when they left home, she and her sister set off on a long journey.

They figured that if they went to a big city with a lot of people, they would be able to make a living.

But the city they arrived at after walking and walking aimlessly was not as good as they had imagined.

There were already many children on the streets who had the same idea as her, and adults who wanted to take advantage of them approached without hiding their dark intentions.

To survive, she had to become ruthless.

Emma became fierce, just like her parents had been.

If other children loitered in the alley she had settled in, she would chase them away, brandishing an iron pipe.

Sometimes, when her younger sister, who was begging for food, came back beaten by adults, she would throw stones to get revenge.

To survive in the city, she rummaged through trash cans and pickpocketed.

Emma adapted to this way of life quickly, but her sister Annie did not.

If Emma earned 5, Annie couldn’t even earn 1.

They had left home to be happy together, but Emma forgot that and treated Annie harshly.

The more Emma did that, the more desperately Annie rummaged through the trash cans.

“Sister, I’m sorry. I haven’t been feeling well lately.”

One day, Annie, who was being scolded by Emma, clung to Emma, crying, and it was only then that Emma realized her mistake when she saw her younger sister crying in her arms.

Whether it was a lie or not that she was sick, Annie’s condition worsened day by day.

Her stomach grew full even though she hadn’t eaten anything, and her arms and legs became thin and emaciated.

Her face became gaunt, and she struggled to breathe.

“Sister will bring a doctor.”

She could get things by pickpocketing, but she couldn’t call a doctor that way.

The haughty adults in white coats wouldn’t move unless they were paid a fair price.

The amount of money the doctor asked for was ridiculously high.

Even if she emptied all the money she had, it wouldn’t even be half of the amount.

“Money, I need money.”

Emma sat on a street fountain and looked for a target.

Rumors had already spread about children like Emma, and people were hiding their wallets tightly.

Some even connected their wallets to a string and tied it to their wrists.

So she decided to target foreigners.

After waiting for a while, she found a foreigner in neat clothes.

He didn’t seem to be familiar with the area, as he kept looking around.

Seeing his defenseless appearance, she quickly started her work, but she failed.

The gentleman’s butler grabbed her hand and lifted it up.

“You! How dare you! Do you even know who this man is!”

“Let go! Let go of me!”

She struggled in the air, but the difference in strength between an adult and a child was absolute.

“Sebastian, put the child down.”

At the gentleman’s words, the old man with a bristly beard threw Emma to the ground.

“Little one, do you need help?”

The gentleman lowered himself to Emma’s eye level, who had fallen on her bottom on the stone floor.

The gentleman didn’t ask, “Do you need money?”

It was the first kindness she had received since coming to the city, and young Emma’s heart melted.

“M-my sister is sick.”

She still didn’t know why she was crying as she said these words.

After hearing her words, the gentleman was guided by Emma to where her sister was.

The butler next to him showed his displeasure, but he didn’t say anything, as if this happened often.

After examining Annie’s condition, the gentleman picked Annie up and took her to a doctor.

Emma was surprised to see the doctor, who had told her to bring more money if she wanted a house call, treating the gentleman with the kindest expression in the world.

“Of course, after hearing the master’s name.”

When she asked the butler the reason, he gave her a nonsensical answer.

After the examination was over, the gentleman called Emma aside.

“Little one, the doctor says your sister is already running out of energy. The illness has been neglected for too long.”

Emma, realizing the meaning of his words, burst into tears on the spot.

“Nooo… Annie… Annie….”

The gentleman gently patted Emma’s back as she lay on the floor crying.

When Emma, who had been crying for a long time, had no more tears to shed, the gentleman spoke.

“Do you two sisters have a place to go? Besides that alley.”

“…No.”

Emma shook her head.

“Hmm….”

The gentleman, lost in thought for a moment, called the butler.

The gentleman instructed the butler to do something, and the butler seemed to object for a moment, but soon nodded, saying he understood.

Annie came out after receiving simple treatment, and the gentleman carried Annie out of the hospital.

“Let’s go with this gentleman.”

The gentleman said in front of the hospital.

“Where to?”

“I have a villa where I’m staying for a while. Let’s stay there. So your sister can… rest comfortably….”

Annie was sleeping in the gentleman’s arms, making soft noises.

She looked better than before, but she still looked sick.

“Yes. I understand.”

Emma had long since abandoned the thought that she might be following a bad adult.

Even if the gentleman suddenly changed and did terrible things to her and Annie, she was resigned enough to accept it.

But as if to mock her worries, the gentleman took great care of Emma and Annie.

The maids washed Emma and Annie clean and gave them pretty clothes.

“Sister… do I look pretty?”

Annie, wearing a black dress with frills, lay in bed and called Emma.

“You look like a scarecrow in clothes.”

Emma replied gruffly, but she didn’t hide the smile on her face.

The gentleman called a doctor every day to check on Annie’s health.

The doctor did his best to take care of Annie, but he could only temporarily stop the deterioration, not cure it.

The gentleman gave Emma and Annie the food they wanted to eat, within the limits that would not strain Annie’s body.

“Sister, is this heaven?”

Annie smiled brightly as she ate baked potatoes with cream on top.

Emma’s heart grew heavy at the sight of her sister’s sunken cheeks.

Two weeks passed like that.

Annie, who had stubbornly held on, passed away without seeing the next morning.

Emma’s voice calling her sister’s name echoed through the villa, and the maids, who had grown fond of Annie in the meantime, wiped away their tears.

‘Sister, I’m so happy.’

The last words Emma remembered her sister saying were when she was eating a baked chicken leg the day before.

A month passed like that.

The gentleman came to Emma, who was holed up in her bedroom.

“We’re going to leave here now.”

“……”

“I came here for a vacation, so I’m going back to my original home now.”

“…….”

“What are you going to do in the future? If you want, I can give you some money to help you become independent.”

“…….”

“Or you can live in the villa and take care of it. I’m a little worried about you living alone, but it’ll be better than the alley.”

“Mister. I have a question to ask.”

“Why are you being so kind to me? I tried to steal your wallet.”

At Emma’s question, the gentleman’s mouth closed.

“Unlike you, I’m a lowly person who’s all over the streets. Why are you being so kind to me?”

“Do you want something from me?”

Emma’s tearful words struck the gentleman’s heart.

The gentleman bit his lower lip at Emma’s suspicion.

The gentleman felt sorry for the girl who had fallen into a situation where she had no choice but to be suspicious.

“Child.”

The gentleman bent his knees and made eye contact.

“I believe in the good heart that humans keep deep inside.”

The gentleman stroked Emma’s hair.

“Good… heart?”

“That’s right. A good heart. Like the heart you had for your sister.”

“But….”

“The situation wasn’t good, so you ended up doing bad things, but it was all for your sister. I have no intention of blaming you for that.”

“……”

“And I don’t care about status. It’s true that I’m a noble, but… I think all humans are precious. All humans deserve to be treated equally.”

This society divides people into superiors and inferiors based on status, but I don’t like that. The gentleman added.

“The reason I helped you was because of that. Because your heart was admirable, because you were someone who deserved to be respected.”

“…I see.”

“That’s why I can’t leave you alone like this. The street life isn’t kind to a young girl like you.”

The gentleman looked at Emma with a worried face.

“How can I help you best? I’ll help you as much as I can.”

Emma thought for a moment.

Emma’s gaze turned to the door.

The busy sounds of the servants packing their luggage to return home could be heard from outside the room.

The sound of loading something, pulling something, and talking noisily.

Emma felt that sound with her ears.

“Mister. Can I follow you?”

“Hmm? Me?”

“Yes. Please let me work as a maid at your house.”

Emma, who had been thinking for a long time, said.

“That’s how I met my Divine Doctor, and thankfully, he took me in.”

When Emma finished her long story, Inho shed a tear without realizing it.

“Are you crying?”

Emma approached Inho with a pitiful look.

She took a handkerchief out of her bosom and carefully wiped away the tear marks that ran down Inho’s cheek.

“I didn’t think you would cry at a story that’s decades old. You’re such a kind Divine Doctor.”

“It’s because it’s the first time I’ve heard it.”

Inho protested, his heart heavy after hearing about Emma’s dark past.

Emma smiled slightly at Inho’s childish words.

The sun set, and night came to the mansion.