Episode 67

Her radiant silver hair, shining like moonlight, resembled Arzen’s so much.

Her deep blue eyes, too, were like the color of the sea.

For a moment, I felt like I had met Arzen with long hair.

Though her appearance showed signs of having lived a rough life, she was more beautiful than anyone.

There was a dreamy atmosphere about her, making her seem almost unreal to the onlooker.

The emotions I felt when I first met Arzen flooded back to me.

As if she heard my trembling voice, the girl widened her eyes and looked at me, her lips slightly moving.

“You…”

Just as her melodious voice reached me, a loud shout erupted from behind.

“Stop right there, you little rat!”

Startled by the angry voice, the girl quickly turned and ran off in the direction she was heading before.

“Wait, hold on!”

I called out, reaching my hand toward her, but she was so fast that she had already turned the corner into the alley, vanishing from sight.

My hand hovered in the empty air.

Then, I encountered the source of the shout in a rather abrupt way.

“Huh? Move aside! Ah!”

A man, running quickly around the narrow alley, spotted me sitting on the ground and tried to stop suddenly, but lost his balance and fell flat on his face.

“Are… are you alright?” I asked.

The large man staggered to his feet, breathing heavily.

“Huff… huff…”

Still not fully grasping the situation, he looked down at me sitting on the ground and asked, “Hey, miss. Did a girl just run through here?”

“A girl?”

“Yes, a little thief ran off with my money!”

The man grumbled in frustration.

“That was my entire month’s salary! We’re barely scraping by as it is!”

The man, who seemed to be a resident of the East District, turned red with anger and looked close to tears.

Soon after, a woman came running up behind him, coughing harshly with every breath.

“Cough, cough!”

“Honey, why are you running too?”

“Do you think… cough… I’d just stand still?!”

The woman, looking gravely ill, struggled to breathe.

“Oh my, there’s someone here. Step back, miss. I’m infected with Meslin. You don’t look like you’re from around here…”

She stepped back as soon as she saw me, covering her mouth.

Meslin was the name of the plague that had ravaged the East District.

With Eve’s help, I stood up and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ve already taken the preventive medicine.”

As long as you took the preventive medicine in advance, the chances of catching Meslin were slim.

“Oh, in that case…”

She mumbled to herself and then quickly asked, “Have you seen a silver-haired girl run by? Please, tell me where she went!”

Her face was filled with desperation.

Well, she did lose a month’s worth of wages.

The silver-haired girl had run off down the alley to the right.

But as everyone knew, the alleys of the East District were like a maze, and simply knowing the direction wouldn’t be enough to find her.

Not to mention the time lost when the man fell.

Realizing this, the man sighed in defeat and muttered, “We’ve already lost her. She was so fast, there was no way to catch up.”

Tears began to well up in his despondent eyes.

“How much did she take?”

“…20 silvers. It was my hard-earned money after a month of grueling work…”

The people of the East District were rarely offered good pay for their labor, and even when they found jobs, the wages were meager.

That money must have been precious to them.

‘But…’

Though it was only for a brief moment, the girl they were chasing looked equally destitute.

Her appearance suggested she had been wandering for quite some time, looking ragged and worn.

She must have stolen the money out of desperation to survive.

Stealing couldn’t be justified, but this was a tragedy created by a corrupt city, one that affected both sides.

“I’m sorry, honey. Now we can’t even buy your medicine…”

The man burst into tears.

It wasn’t the lack of money that hurt him the most—it was his wife’s health.

Without proper treatment, the illness could lead to death.

“The medicine will be supplied soon. In fact, it should be available within five days,” I said, thinking of Robert, who was tirelessly working to produce it.

The man hesitated, then cautiously asked, “How… how do you know that? Are you officials from Navon City? Have they finally decided to provide the medicine?”

“No, we’re not connected to Navon City,” I replied.

“Then…”

“I can’t explain the details, but just know that we’re currently mass-producing the cure for Meslin.”

“You mean… enough to supply the entire East District?”

I nodded.

The couple’s faces lit up with a faint glimmer of hope.

They didn’t seem to care whether what I said was true or not; they just wanted to believe in that hope.

“Oh, thank goodness. Finally, this hellish plague…”

“But please, don’t tell anyone else just yet. This is something we’re handling discreetly.”

“Of course!”

“And…”

I rummaged through my pocket.

I wanted to help the couple who had just lost their entire month’s wages, even if it was just a small contribution.

“Huh?”

It wasn’t there.

My money pouch was nowhere to be found!

“Could it be…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“M-my money’s gone. It was definitely in this pocket.”

“Oh no…”

The man gave me a sympathetic look.

“You bumped into that girl, right?”

“How did you…?”

“That’s her trick. She bumps into people, catches them off guard, and steals their money. She’s quite well-known around here.”

At that moment, Eve spoke to me.

“I have some money, my lady. If you need it, I can give it to you.”

“Eve…”

I looked up at her gratefully and said, “Could you lend me 50 silvers?”

“Of course. Here you go.”

Eve handed me five silver coins.

“Thank you! I’ll pay you back as soon as we return!”

“It’s really not a large sum. Please don’t worry about it.”

“But still…”

I walked over to the couple, who were standing behind us, and handed them the money.

The man’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Miss, are you really giving this to us?”

“I feel responsible for delaying your chase after the thief.”

Though I had also been pushed by the girl, in the end, I had gotten in his way.

“This isn’t your fault, miss. But… thank you. We’re in no position to refuse help right now…”

The man accepted the silver with a dazed expression, his voice shaky.

“But really, are you giving this to us with no strings attached?”

“Well, not exactly with no strings. There’s just one thing…”

I thought back to the silver-haired girl who had bumped into me.

“Tell me everything you know about that silver-haired girl. The one we just saw.”

“The girl…? I don’t know much, but I think her name was….”

The man furrowed his brows, thinking hard, and then said, “Ah, yes. Her name was Jenna, I believe.”

“…!”

‘Could she really be Jenna…?’

It was a common name, but the girl’s face, so much like Arzen’s, confirmed that she was indeed the protagonist of this world.

My doubts solidified into certainty.

It had been about three weeks since the explosion at Mount Tesaposa.

‘She must be heading to the capital.’

She was likely at the stage of regaining her memories and trying to find her family.

‘I never expected to run into her like this.’

I thought I would see her debut at the New Year’s Ball, her grand entrance into society.

Who would have thought we’d cross paths by chance here, in this vast southern region?

“She’s become quite a notorious thief in the East District. As you can see, people here are sick and weak, which makes it easier for her to steal from them.”

The man sighed heavily as he spoke.

“Oh, and I’ve heard she’s always with a man in a black cloak. I didn’t see him today, though.”

A man in a black cloak?

The Jenna I knew had always been alone until she reached the capital and knocked on the door of the Selber Duchy.

The orphanage had collapsed, and the children had scattered.

“Well, thieves like that rarely work alone. It’s easier to steal as a pair. But eventually, they’ll turn on each other, and that’s when the knives come out. That’s just how things are in these parts.”

Even though the original story was told from Jenna’s perspective, it couldn’t cover every detail.

‘A man in a black cloak…’

But why does this give me such a bad feeling?