Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 51

51. Beggar Siblings- Quest

Irene and Leo were engaged in a strange race where just as she was about to catch him, he would pull away, only for her to close the gap again soon after.

- Clang!

Irene, enraged by Leo's rat-like ability to evade, threw her sword at him.

But he twisted his body and dodged, and while she retrieved her sword, he ran farther away.

Leo had managed to keep dodging her sword and fleeing through alleyways thanks to the power of his achievements.

[Achievement: A Knight's Foe - Stronger when facing knights.]

[Achievement: Alley Cleaner - Stronger in dark alleys.]

Achievements and scenario rewards were truly mysterious. They guaranteed absolute and certain effects, even though they weren't magical.

Thus, Leo ran faster when Irene got close, and she caught up again when he got farther away.

"Huff, huff."

Of course, Leo was running with all his might. If the crazy woman chasing him caught him, there would be no conversation—his head would fly off immediately.

‘If only I had a sword!’

Leo lamented not having a weapon, but even if he had one, he would still need to run. Irene was as strong as Katrina.

As the distance widened thanks to Irene throwing her sword, Leo spotted a flower shop at the market entrance and smiled.

- Ding!

He burst into the flower shop, startling Soirin, who was watering plants.

“Leo? What’s going on? What happened?”

“Shh! Stay still. Stay quiet.”

Leo planned to hide in the flower shop to evade Irene. But that was too much to hope for. Although Irene lost sight of him for a moment, everyone near the market entrance was staring at the flower shop.

Following their gaze, she rushed into the shop, and Leo cursed and bolted out the back door.

“Kyah!”

Soirin screamed, covering her head in fright at the sudden rush of the knight.

Irene smashed through the obstructing flower pots, chasing the "bastard."

‘I need a sword!’

Leo was running towards the family mansion.

He needed a weapon and planned to join forces with the gangsters to block the knight.

Even if that ended one crisis, it wouldn't end all of them. His identity as a prince had been exposed... What to do now?

The necklace around Leo’s neck had brought disaster. He had thought being in another kingdom would be safe, but that was a fatal mistake.

Who would have guessed someone would recognize them at first sight?

Moreover, Count Gustav Peter had mentioned "our" Conrad Kingdom.

Was he some kind of spy?

But for a spy, the scale seemed too large. He was well-positioned between the Swordmaster faction and the Royalist faction and was a close friend of the marquis. Who knew what other connections he had?

This meant making his sister Lena a princess in the Kingdom of Bellita would be extremely difficult.

To make her a princess, they had to step into noble society, which would inevitably draw the count’s attention.

For Lena to become a princess safely despite his gaze, they needed someone to protect them firmly.

‘But the marquis didn’t protect us...’

Why? When Leo had conversed with the marquis and agreed to be adopted as his son and daughter, the atmosphere wasn't bad.

The marquis needed a new son, after all.

However, over time, Marquis Benar Tatian concluded that Leo was unfit to be his heir.

Initially, he was impressed by Leo’s strange demeanor and bold negotiation in front of him, but Leo's performance as an adopted son was pathetic.

A noble's life wasn't just about comfortably lying on accumulated wealth. At least, that’s what the marquis thought.

If Leo had continued to show promise, the marquis wouldn't have abandoned the siblings even if he knew they were the exiled prince and princess.

He considered the Yeriel royal family a challenge worth facing.

Unaware of these circumstances, Leo cursed his decision to seek out the marquis and sprinted to the leather district, lamenting his poor judgment.

Upon arriving, he pulled out a whistle and blew it.

This was Rauno family territory, with gangsters stationed everywhere.

Leo planned to defeat the "crazy woman" with them and then figure out his next move.

But despite blowing the whistle hard, no one appeared.

‘What’s going on?’

Even Ober was absent. He should have been here at this time...

Without time to ponder further, Leo spat out the whistle and ran. Irene had closed in on him again.

The aid from his achievements had brought him this far. Physically, Leo was no match for Irene.

While Irene was sweating, she breathed easily, whereas Leo was gasping for air, almost swallowing the dust from the ground.

Irene approached with a terrifyingly twisted face, step by step.

At that moment, someone intervened in their race.

Pushed by Leo and caught in the snow overnight, Cassia had been bedridden for weeks.

Lying in a cold shoemaker's shop, she alternated between crying and sleeping, thinking about Leo.

‘Why did he push me?’

Leo seemed devoted to his sister and kind-hearted. Yet, he had rejected her.

They hadn’t spoken muChapter He had only spent one night in her shop before leaving for the Rauno family.

But he had pushed her away like she was something dirty, without a moment's hesitation.

‘It must be because I’m a prostitute...’

Bedridden Cassia, while resenting Leo, gradually began to blame her own life. A woman who sells her body, talking about love! She sneered, mocking and tearing herself down.

And when she finally got up, Cassia was a different person. She headed straight to the brothel.

“…You’re quitting?”

“The contract ended long ago.”

The brothel manager, Brian Sauer, raised his dark gray eyes to scrutinize Cassia.

After being absent for weeks, she had returned with clear eyes and now said this.

He habitually began to say the words to hold onto a woman trying to leave.

“Cassia, what happened?”

“Don’t call me ‘Cassia’!”

Cassia erupted in a fit of anger.

Brian thought, tapping his cheekbone without batting an eyelash at her sharp cry.

'She has changed.'

It had been a habit between them for years: he called her Cassia 'ssi,' and Cassia repeatedly asked him not to.

All the while, Cassia had asked him to drop the 'ssi,' but with an underlying acceptance that it couldn't be helped. Her words were merely a complaint.

She accepted her current life, but it was never satisfying to her—a small, petulant rebellion.

But now, Cassia was vehemently denying the life she had led.

Brian recalled the past when she trembled as she begged for a job.

Or was it when she begged me to save her sick father?

He couldn't remember clearly. Either way, she had come to him on her own.

Back then, Cassia was just one of the many prostitutes he managed. But after a certain incident, he felt a small sympathy for her.

+ + +

A few months into the job, she had no one to turn to and ran to him barefoot, begging him to cut down her father who was hanging from the ceiling.

Out of curiosity, Brian Sauer went to her shoe store with some thugs.

On the way through the leather street, a large man blocked their path, but upon hearing Cassia's story, he followed them.

Behind the small shop she led them to was a low-ceilinged room with a man hanging, emaciated.

She must have thought cutting the rope would cause her father to fall and get hurt.

How ridiculous. Did she think he was alive just because he was stiff and erect?

Even with these thoughts, Brian did not mock her.

While the thugs and Ober took down the hanging corpse, he held her tightly.

Poor girl.

Most women in the brothel had sad stories, but at that moment, Brian Sauer felt Cassia's name etched into his icy heart.

+ + +

Watching Cassia panting in anger, Brian realized the day had finally come for them to part.

"I'm sorry. From now on—no, never mind... I understand."

“You still owe me from the last time I worked. I'm here to collect it, so just give it to me quickly.”

Cassia demanded her share bluntly.

Brian Sauer picked a few silver coins from the drawer... then dropped them and took out a gold coin, handing it to her.

“Here, take it.”

“What is this? Just give me what I'm owed.”

“It’s severance pay. Take it.”

At his firm words, Cassia fiddled with the gold coin briefly, then snorted and stood up abruptly.

"Fine. Goodbye."

“......”

Brian did not extend the usual courtesies of pulling out her chair or opening the door for her.

He simply sat and watched her.

Cassia, noting his changed demeanor, thought, 'Of course,' and turned to leave.

Then,

“Cassia.”

Brian called her back.

Cassia turned around with an irritated look, "What now?"

He hesitated a moment before continuing.

“...Make sure you take all your things from the waiting room.”

“I already did. I'm not a child.”

Grumbling, she left.

'How pathetic...'

Brian regretted not being able to wish her happiness and resumed his work.

Cassia, having received her 'severance pay' from the brothel, went to the market to buy some leather and fabric.

Except for 'that job,' she knew nothing else, but she was determined never to do it again. She needed to find a way to make a living.

Having watched her father make shoes since she was young, she knew the process.

Making shoes started with drawing a pattern on leather or fabric.

Depending on the size and length of the shoe and the style of the toe, the pattern differed. The cut-out leather or fabric formed the outer part of the shoe, called the 'upper.'

The next step was carving a wooden model called a 'last.' The last shaped the shoe and required meticulous consideration.

Cassia struggled particularly with making the last, but initially, she used the ones her father had made long ago.

Covering the last with the cut-out upper and stretching it to fit was a grueling task. It required nailing and pulling with all her strength.

Sweating profusely, Cassia wrapped the last with the upper and then stitched it together meticulously.

Thinking, ‘Father did all this alone,’ she gradually forgave him for abandoning her.

Cutting off the excess upper and attaching the sole, the product finally resembled a shoe.

Feeling a strange sense of fulfillment, she brushed off the tiny pieces stuck to the shoe and polished it with coarse and soft cloths in turn.

It was finished.

But her first shoe was too misshapen and twisted to sell. Dissatisfied, she threw it aside.

She spent several sleepless nights examining the shoes her father had made.

Through these fulfilling and forgiving days, Cassia saw Leo running desperately in the distance on her way back from the leather street.

He didn't recognize her as he passed.

[ Achievement: The Man Who Melted Cassia's Heart - Earned slight affection from Cassia. ]

Seeing him push her away, her heart fluttered again.

Such a bad person.

Pushing someone away like that, even if rejecting them, was really awful. And he was handsome and cared for his sister. No, that's not right. He's awful.

She tried to shake off her lingering feelings, but they clung to her like nails in her heart.

Then she saw a female knight chasing him with a drawn sword.

Of course, bad people always get chased.

Thinking that, Cassia threw herself towards the knight. Why am I doing this?

“What the? Let go! You crazy woman!”

Irene was startled and tried to shake off the woman clinging to her neck from behind.

But the woman clung like a demon, and Irene, in her anger, warned her to let go or die, but ended up stabbing her instead.

Even with a sword in her abdomen, Cassia clung on, keeping Leo's retreating figure in sight.

“You bitch!”

Irene, furious, stopped and took a stance.

Planting her foot firmly on the ground, she spun and beheaded Cassia.

The gushing fountain of blood glowed purple in the sunlight, and the leather and wood pieces Cassia held fell to the ground with her head.

The head kept facing Leo.

[ Achievement: The Man Cassia Gave Her Life For - Earned great affection from Cassia. ]

[ Quest: Cassia's Life - Free Cassia from her shackles. ]

At that moment, a message appeared in Leo's vision as he ran.

This was the first quest he received.