ALPL 02

Chapter: 02

“But if you want to leave this as collateral and borrow money, the amount you can access drops significantly. Hmm… about three crowns,” he said.

“…Only that much? Even if I leave the item?”

Then the man showed her a loan certificate. At the bottom of the certificate, which bore the shop’s name, there was a phrase noting that it had been notarized by the Imperial Bank.

“All secure pawnshops are like this. If you find a place that will lend you more after receiving this, they definitely wouldn’t provide such notarized documents.”

They had already taken a shared carriage for over an hour. Other pawnshops were so far away that the thought of going to them didn’t even arise.

Luise quietly stared at the pearl.

Though it was a baroque pearl, it was a genuine pearl.

Why had her mother kept this pearl so secretly? How had she protected it through all those days spent in a daze, lost in confusion?

What were the last words her mother hadn’t managed to finish?

“When the Crown Prince ascends the throne, take this…”

How much truth was contained in those words? Had she just been wandering through memories with no real meaning?

But now, her mother’s incomplete will was less pressing than the immediate need for a funeral.

Luise bit her lower lip.

The money she had saved so far barely exceeded one crown.

All the money she had earned had gone to medicine, and last month she had even emptied her emergency funds to ensure her mother could receive the sacrament for the sick.

Still, she was grateful she had insisted on the sacrament back then. Without it, she would now be writhing in even deeper guilt.

In any case, by leaving the pearl as collateral to borrow money and combining it with the sum Mrs. Smith had given her, she could get close to five crowns. That meant she only needed to raise another five crowns.

If she was lucky, she could request advance pay from the Engel Marquis family, where she had worked as a tutor for several years.

Just three months’ worth. That would be enough to hold her mother’s funeral in the church. The marquis was generous; he might understand Luise’s wish to preserve her mother’s belongings.

“I’ll borrow three crowns,” she finally replied.

The shop owner looked somehow disappointed and muttered,

“The annual interest is thirty percent.”

Up to now, she had spent nearly all her earnings on medicine, but from now on, she could save her wages diligently.

Even with just two months’ wages, she could fully repay the three crowns and retrieve the pearl, so there was no need to even calculate the annual interest.

After nodding firmly, the man sketched the shape and size of the pearl on three separate sheets of paper.

“You keep the loan receipt, one loan certificate stays here, and the remaining one is kept at the Imperial Bank.”

Then Luise was given a quill pen.

She let out a small sigh and grasped the pen. Since this was a notarized document, she had to write her real name properly.

Luise Henriette Ermoli

Her heart raced as she wrote her name almost for the first time in front of someone else. Seeing her name on the two loan certificates and the receipt felt strange.

She stamped her seal next to her name.

The pawnshop owner seemed to recognize the name Ermoli and paused for a moment, but he asked nothing. The name of a purged pro-imperial noble probably held no significance for him.

Still, he clicked his tongue as he signed next to Luise’s name, as if mildly disappointed.

Luise felt secretly relieved. Judging by his regretful expression, he might not have even realized he had offered her a low price.

After receiving the three crowns and the loan receipt, the man placed the pearl in a drawer and locked it with a key. Luise observed carefully before bowing in farewell.

“I’ll repay the principal soon and reclaim the pearl.”

The owner nodded perfunctorily. Then, as if remembering some urgent matter, he hurriedly summoned a shop runner from outside.

Luise hadn’t even stepped out the door yet, but she didn’t need to know any more.

Ultimately, she had left the pearl her mother had cherished so dearly at the pawnshop.

Luise held the loan receipt close to her chest instead of the pearl. She needed to gather three pounds as soon as possible to retrieve it.

Cunningly, her mindset had changed from when she had suspected the pearl might be fake. It was important, and perhaps that was why her mother had hidden it so carefully.

Carrying something valuable drew people’s gazes anew.

Of course, no one would truly pay attention to a shabby woman like her. It didn’t look like she had anything worth stealing.

She no longer had to endure her mother’s criticisms of her walk or attire.

She trudged along as she pleased, but felt nothing but sorrow.

When she arrived at the walled house, surprisingly, someone was waiting for her. It was a runner from the Engel Marquis family.

The child beamed and handed over a stiff envelope.

“Ms. Luise! My master insisted that I deliver this personally. He said to give it to you right away once you reply. Will you read it now?”

Luise didn’t want to be cold to the child, but her mother’s body lay inside the house. She simply nodded and stepped inside.

While reading the letter, her eyes widened in surprise, then tears inevitably fell.

The Engel Marquis had heard of Luise’s plight and offered to advance roughly six months’ wages. Six months’ wages amounted to twelve crowns.

Even advancing just five crowns would be enough to send her mother to heaven. Then her mother would meet her father in a place free of disease and suffering.

She could not dare refuse the marquis’s kind offer.

Luise hurriedly found a pen and wrote a letter of thanks. She explained that three months’ advance would suffice and that she would come to collect it the next day, repeatedly expressing her gratitude.

Tears fell onto the paper, smudging the ink, but she couldn’t rewrite it in her haste. She folded the letter and handed it to the runner.

“Please be sure to deliver this to the marquis. I beg you.”

She then went to Mrs. Smith to inform her, who rejoiced as if it were her own matter. She even gathered local women to prepare prayers and flowers.

The resolute way Mrs. Smith had insisted on bypassing proper funeral procedures the previous day now seemed like a lie. In the end, she had been worried about Luise’s remaining life and had reluctantly recommended the alternative.

Next, Luise asked a priest to hold her mother’s funeral. She mentioned that the cost could be covered immediately.

After a while, returning home, another letter awaited her. It was again from the Engel Marquis.

He had thoughtfully ordered a coffin for her mother and said he would send money with a coachman to help with the funeral early the next day.

Gratefulness filled her heart. Luise vowed to continue teaching the marquis’s daughters wholeheartedly and raise them well.

Entering the house, she saw her mother lying under a cotton cloth on the bed.

Although it was autumn, three days had passed since her mother had passed. She didn’t have the courage to lift the cloth.

Still, she knelt at the bedside, just as she had when her mother lay sick.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I’ll definitely get the pearl back.”

For the first time in two days, she spoke to her mother.

“So please follow the priest’s guidance to heaven. Meet Father in a place where no one will harm you, and be healthy and happy.”

She swallowed her tears and added one last line.

“I’ll be fine too.”

That same evening, in Burg.

Tony Zimmerman, the pawnshop owner in Helden, lay flat at the feet of the young border count, Kyars, begging.

“I-I’m terribly sorry! I only intended to leave the item as collateral because buying it seems difficult; I had no other intention!”

Kyars remained expressionless, as if ignoring the desperate plea. As his knuckled hands slowly rotated a glass, the reddish-brown liquid inside sloshed unavoidably.

A youthful man, looking like a servant, brought a lit cigar with both hands.

Though the motion was simple, it felt strangely blind, like a hunting dog wagging its tail.

Kyars accepted the cigar nonchalantly and drew several short puffs. Only then did the tip of the thick cigar glow red.

At last, long, white smoke quickly rose above Tony, the pawnshop owner. Only then could Tony hear Kyars’s voice.

“He said he’d pay even for a fake if the purchase succeeded.”

His low voice overwhelmed others effortlessly. His golden eyes glared like a nocturnal predator.

“But you brought the genuine item with a loan certificate, and you have no other intention?”