4-2 Isabel
My mother was a prostitute. I don’t know anything about my father. He was probably one of her clients.
I was born and raised in a brothel. There were a few other children in similar circumstances, and we were treated like siblings.
Perhaps because of this, I don’t have many memories of being cared for by my mother. She was likely popular as a prostitute. Taking care of children was the job of young girls before they started taking clients.
As we grew up, girls became prostitutes and boys became attendants. That’s the kind of place it was.
It probably wasn’t as bad as others might think. I believe we had our own kind of fun.
However, as I grew older and began to understand where I was, and saw older kids crying when they started taking clients, my feelings gradually changed.
The turning point was my mother’s death.
She died from a disease common among prostitutes. But seeing her in a delusional state just before she died filled me with fear. I thought, “I don’t want to end up like that.”
My mother’s funeral was simple. She was buried in a communal graveyard, and that was it.
However, next to that graveyard was the Holy Haven Orphanage.
After the funeral, I slipped away and knocked on the orphanage door.
When the director came out, I said to her,
“I don’t want to be a prostitute.”
The director looked a bit troubled but then took me in.
The people from the brothel seemed to have come looking for me at the orphanage, but the director firmly denied my presence, saying, “There’s no such child here.” Luckily, this orphanage was run with the support of nobles, so it was under the protection of powerful people. Because of this, even the tough men from the brothel couldn’t force their way in to search the orphanage.
Life at the orphanage wasn’t so bad, but compared to the brothel, there were many well-behaved children, so I, with my rough upbringing, probably stood out. However, being relatively athletic and a bit clever, I managed to gather the more mischievous kids around me and create my own place.
As I began to influence other children, after a few years, I ended up leading the girls at the orphanage.
That doesn’t mean I did bad things. After all, I felt indebted to the director who had taken me in.
What I did was give small punishments to those who misbehaved.
We would ignore them, hide their things, somehow reduce their meal portions, or lock them in the supposedly haunted storage room.
Making such examples pleased my followers and increased my influence. It was killing two birds with one stone.
“Isabel, you must not punish others on your own,”
the director often warned me.
“Why not? They did bad things, didn’t they?”
“Because God will punish them.”
“God doesn’t do anything.”
“God never overlooks evil. Every person will face the consequences of their actions someday.”
“But Director, if God existed, there wouldn’t be any orphans, right? God doesn’t exist.”
When I argued against God’s existence, the director looked sad.
But I can’t live my life assuming God exists. I’ve known since birth that relying on such a thing would make life impossible.
In the end, power is needed to accomplish anything. It could be physical strength, numbers, authority, or various other forms.
At the orphanage, Richard had the physical strength. He solved everything with violence.
Oscar used the power of numbers. He led the boys and did whatever he wanted.
I was always in conflict with them, trying to bring order to the orphanage.
Conflicts arise everywhere. Power is indeed necessary.
However, my life at the orphanage came to a sudden end.
A devil came to the orphanage.
Selina Rosenberg. The duke’s daughter.
She declared that she would choose attendants from among the orphans and proceeded to appraise children as casually as if she were selecting clothes.
At first, I thought she would choose from the well-behaved children selected by the director, but when I heard that Richard and Oscar had been chosen, I felt in danger.
I tried to hide immediately, but it was too late. The director brought the devil to me.
“I’ll make this child a attendants candidate too.”
She was a beautiful girl who looked like she had stepped out of a painting. However, her eyes showed a will that seemed too strong for a child.
“Um, I don’t think I’d be of any use…”
She must have heard about me from the director. The fact that she still wanted to choose me showed what kind of attendants she was looking for. So, I desperately tried to act in a way that would make her not choose me.
“Oh? Does Isabel want to become a prostitute like her mother? What a wonderful dream for the future.”
The devil had accurately grasped the dark stain on my heart. I could feel my face contort with anger.
And that’s how my fate was decided.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
The hell that awaited me at the duke’s house was beyond imagination.
Grueling physical training, strict studies, and even combat training with weapons. All accompanied by soul-crushing verbal abuse.
By any measure, these were skills unnecessary for ordinary attendants. The purpose was unclear.
However, one thing became clear: the well-behaved children prepared by the director certainly wouldn’t have been able to endure this. As much as I hate to admit it, only hardened troublemakers like Richard, Oscar, and myself could have survived.
Louis, Alice, and Emma were odd in their own ways, which is why they could keep up.
In that sense, Lady Selina’s eye for talent was keen.
After a year, we were given dogs.
I couldn’t understand why we, who were desperately enduring each day, had to take care of dogs on top of everything else.
But we had to obey. If we neglected the dogs’ care, who knows what would have happened to us.
I reluctantly took care of the dog, but at first, it didn’t go well.
It just wouldn’t warm up to me. No matter how much I fed it, walked it, or took care of its toilet needs, there was always a sense of distance.
One day, I reached my limit and almost slammed the white puppy to the floor.
But at that moment, our eyes met, and the strength left my body.
I knew those eyes. They were the same as ours back at the brothel. The eyes that were always afraid of something.
…I see. Indeed, I had no choice but to keep this dog.
We needed to face our past selves. Lady Selina had seen through this.
After the dogs came, many things started to make sense.
Lady Selina was always watching us. And with unusual intensity.
Why?
Because there was love.
To Lady Selina, we were [special]. We were the ones chosen by her. Lady Selina was giving us love as both a father and a mother.
The proof was that after enduring the harsh training, we had gained power. Power that could make us knights or anything we wished to be.
I’ll never forget the day we became attendants. After all, we even got to have an audience with His Majesty the King. Me, the daughter of a prostitute.
But I had only been seeing myself.
After our audience with the King, Louis suggested to Lady Selina:
“Why don’t my lady set aside an hour each day to play with our dogs?”
I hadn’t realized it, but Lady Selina actually loved dogs too.
Come to think of it, she’s the kind of person who even brings dogs into her bed. Of course she likes them.
Lady Selina accepted Louis’s proposal and immediately began playing with the dogs.
She looked like an angel as she fell down with a dog in her arms, playing with all six dogs.
Unfortunately, Lady Selina must have thought her appearance was undignified, as she quickly stood up and began interacting with the dogs while standing, but that was lovely too.
We all watched Lady Selina playing with the dogs, burning the image into our memories.
I truly feel fortunate to be able to serve her.
This summer, we’re going to Lake Elfen with Lady Selina. It’s a famous summer resort, but according to Lady Selina, snake monsters will appear there.
I’ve never heard of such a thing, but Lady Selina’s words are absolute, and it’s unthinkable to doubt them.
Whether it’s snakes or dragons, we will become Lady Selina’s sword and shield and fight.
Our lives are for Lady Selina.
TLNOTE : While waiting, I implore you dear readers to read other masterpiece novels that also written by the same author :
- When the Monster Meat I Ate Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
