Chapter 40
Life Pawned —
“Looks like we have a guest.”
Howard spoke when he saw who had come to the room.
“…Miss Irina?”
Irina leaned past Howard, who was blocking her view, and looked toward the door.
She shot to her feet.
“Nanny!”
No wonder the voice sounded familiar — it was her nanny.
“Oh my goodness! It really is you, my lady!”
“It’s really you, Nanny!”
Irina ran toward Marie.
“How are you here? How did you know I came?”
Marie hugged Irina so tightly she could barely breathe.
To Irina, she was as precious as her birth mother, Adriel.
“Oh dear, look at you. Your face has gotten so thin. Oh my, oh my—”
“Nanny, I can’t breathe. Nanny, how did you know I was here?”
Still crushing Irina’s cheeks with her tight embrace, the nanny wiped her tears and looked at Howard.
“I was told! That you were coming today. I heard you were with that rascal over there, and I can’t tell you how relieved I was. To think you’d really return. Oh my, oh my!”
Marie referred to Howard as “that rascal.”
Irina suddenly felt cheerful — she’d gained one more person who knew her truth.
She hadn’t expected to see her again.
The nanny unleashed all her curiosity at once.
“You’re well, right? Truly well?”
Irina nodded hard enough to rattle her head.
“Yes, yes! I’m doing well. Howard’s been treating me very well. And you, Nanny? Where are you living now?”
Like Lily, the nanny had left the count’s estate after Irina disappeared.
Rather, she had been driven out by Scarlet.
It seemed Scarlet had begun firing the kind ones first.
Not only the nanny but even the head butler — people who had served for years, even over a decade — were thrown out without a penny of severance.
“No matter how short on money they were, she could’ve just sold my dresses.”
“I’d say it was for the best. I couldn’t stand Marquis Cosat anyway. Sending away a girl as precious as you—!”
“I didn’t go to the marquisate. That’s why I’m here. Nanny, I’ll make sure you get your severance.”
“Don’t say such things. Knowing you’re healthy is all that matters. That money means nothing.”
The nanny again wiped her tears, choked up. Irina comforted her gently.
“You were the one who taught me as a child that money is the most important thing.”
“Oh, what a memory you have.”
“Hehe.”
Irina joked, and Marie rolled her eyes.
Marie explained that she had lived off her savings and recently opened a shop — work kept her busy.
“I’ll visit before I leave. I’m so glad. Truly.”
It wasn’t a war — and yet she had been separated from people so dear to her. It hurt.
“Have you heard… what happened to Father?”
“Yes… I certainly have. My lady, I may be cursed for saying this to you, but…”
“Yes?”
Marie hesitated for a moment, then decided she must speak.
“I believe the marquis got what he deserved.”
“I know. I understand.”
The nanny didn’t stop crying until she was reassured Irina was living a safe and stable life.
“If you ever suffer even a bit, I’ll come storming in!”
“That will never happen.”
“I’ll keep my eyes wide open! Understand?”
Howard nodded.
Marie knew exactly what kind of man he was — and that he was no longer someone one could speak casually to.
Howard had been the one to help Marie after she was kicked out, even helping her open her shop.
The only reason she still dared to speak freely was because he had asked her to treat him the same as before.
“Nanny, you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“As if that’s something I can just stop! But you really do look well. If not for that fox-colored witch—!”
Fox-colored witch.
Irina immediately thought of one person.
Scarlet, without question.
Irina burst out laughing. It fit her perfectly.
“That fox-witch… after you left, she scoured your room like a madwoman. You wouldn’t believe how much we fought.”
“She searched my room?”
“Yes. She kept saying ‘there must be something.’ Always asking where things went. It’s obvious — she was looking for jewelry you might’ve left behind.”
“She’s stolen things before.”
Marie explained how she had thrown herself in front of Scarlet more than once to stop her from stealing Irina’s belongings.
“She kept saying there was nothing left.”
“Yes. Muttering to herself, always furious. And then acting as if she were the lady of the house after the marquis passed! When she was planning to leave anyway!”
“She didn’t know what she was looking for?”
“No. She never said. Or maybe I didn’t hear.”
“Hmm. What could it have been?”
“Ugh, just thinking about it boils my blood again.”
“No, Nanny, don’t. Forget it.”
Her face had turned beet-red with anger. Irina feared she might actually collapse if they kept talking.
Irina quickly changed the topic — about her shop, her family.
Gradually, the nanny’s voice regained its warm softness.
“You’ll be leaving again, won’t you?”
There was deep regret in Marie’s voice.
Irina felt it too.
“…Yes. But I’ll stay a little longer. I’ll visit Father tomorrow first. Once things are settled, I’ll return.”
Marie’s eyes welled again.
The wrinkles around her eyes, deeper than when Irina was young, soaked from tears.
Irina reached to gently trace them.
“Yes. Be happy, my lady. Stay gone. Leave all the bad memories here. Lady Adriel would have wished that too.”
Just as Irina was close with Casey now, so Adriel and Marie had been close.
Noblewomen and nannies always had children around the same age — closeness was natural.
“Yes. I’ll be happy. And I’ll come visit you.”
Marie gave Irina one last piece of advice.
When Irina first left, she had taken only what she desperately needed — most things remained or were discarded.
Whatever Marie could salvage had been neatly stored in the dress room recently.
Irina should take whatever she needed.
Irina felt her heart ache again.
She introduced Casey to the nanny and presented the escort knights.
The nanny gripped Casey’s hands firmly.
“Please take good care of our lady.”
“Don’t worry, Nanny! I’ll protect her with my life!”
Casey declared like a commander heading into battle.
Irina held back a laugh — the knights were protecting her, after all.
By evening, Marie finally returned to her shop with an escort.
She wanted to stay longer, to take care of Irina, but she had her own life now.
After the nanny and staff left and dinner was finished, Irina fell asleep early, thanks to Casey’s attentive fussing.
The next day, as planned, she visited her birth father’s grave.
He lay buried some distance from the count’s estate.
The grave was large but barren, not a single blade of grass — pitifully bleak despite its size.
A grand tombstone that didn’t suit its emptiness.
Irina stared down at her father’s resting place with dry eyes.
If he was to end so pitifully, why lose himself to gambling and abandon his family?
She placed the white chrysanthemum on the grave, placing her bitter feelings on the petals.
Then she took Howard’s hand and turned away.
She probably wouldn’t return until she could forgive him.
When she returned to the ducal house, visiting would be difficult — she would use that as an excuse not to come.
“What did Scarlet want so badly? To rummage through my room like that?”
After Marie left yesterday, Irina had looked around her room, but too much had changed. She couldn’t find anything.
She assumed Scarlet wanted jewels or mana stones.
She wondered if it had been her pendulum necklace — but she always wore it, so Scarlet wouldn’t search the room for it.
The good dresses were already gone — there was nothing left worth digging for.
“I should go see Scarlet.”
She needed to know what Scarlet had been so desperate to find.
Finding Scarlet was easy.
The next day, Howard took Irina to the café where she worked.
Irina sat at a table and waited, arms crossed, until Scarlet came to take the order.
“Huh?”
Irina almost didn’t recognize her.
Her hair was fuller and wavier.
Her skin was even fairer.
She had always looked a little younger than her age, since she liked to dress up — but now she looked as though she’d turned time back five or ten years. Youthful energy radiated from her.
Scarlet was humming a tune as she approached, then froze, eyes wide like a startled rabbit when she saw Irina.
“Irina?”
