#19

“May I see Mrs. Vivaroa Arete?”

“I have a bit of advice to give. It’s suitable for the ladies as well.”

When Emily met Haley for the first time, she viewed her as an ordinary person looking for an easy and comfortable job.

‘Here comes another stupid girl. this job must be so hard for her.’

Working as a waitress in the bar was not easy. You have to drink every day and flirt with obsequious and dangerous guests. They also could try to raise their status by becoming the concubine of those noblemen, of course if they were lucky to try.

Such fairy tales did not bound to happen all of a sudden. Even the older women who once managed to seduce the high-ranking nobleman, always ended up in a miserable way. Either being abandoned and coming back to where they were or giving birth to an illegitimate child and raising them on their own.

‘She would cry within a week and run away.’

Emily thought so.

Through Emily’s eyes, she saw how Haley didn’t cower from Madam’s icy stare and said everything she wanted to say, therefore successfully taking photos of the women in the bar with a camera and even published a book in the end. Haley, who was not much older than Emily, had become a successful writer.

Emily adored Haley because she didn’t have any friends who had ever gotten so successful like Haley around. And she wanted to join Haley because the business she was doing seemed to be making quite a lot of money. If Haley couldn’t survive, Emily planned to steal the skill she possessed. At first, she just said it with a light heart.

Emily was born with one of the skills to attract both men and women and to sleep with them. She would stab Haley from behind after approaching her.

‘It won’t be long before my younger brother graduates from the academy anyway, so there would be no way for her to find me if I hide in my hometown after a big fight, right?’

As she was cleaning the bar whilst thinking about how to approach Haley, an older woman who also worked at the bar came in with an excited expression. Then, she made a fuss by calling out the employees.

“Have you all read this book? People are fighting over this book with each other at the bookstore right now. That woman must be sitting on a cushion made of money! I heard from Madam that she’s going to give us some extra money.”

She was a barmaid who didn’t usually visit bookstores. She went to a bookstore for the first time in her life. She bought a copy of ‘The Red’ and lifted it proudly in the air. The commotion made the workers curious and looked at the book together.

“Wow, I look really pretty, don’t I?”

“This one! My picture looks much better.”

“Why don’t we tell our customers that this is actually us?”

“Are you out of your mind? If you do that, you’ll be constantly taken away from the bar to play with them.”

Emily also eavesdropped on them while they were wondering how they got photographed. One of the unnies read the description located beside the picture aloud.

“He turned into a hungry beast… Oh, my God!”

At first, the unnies were busy fussing over their own photos. However after that, they read an article similar to the experience beside the photo, and their faces slowly became flushed. Emily wondered what made them become like that, and read it silently as well. A vulgar article that she could not even express in words.

‘What is that? Isn’t it just a photo album?’

Some of the unnies sneaked out of the bar and bought more of those porn photobooks. Then, they shut themselves in their rooms. After saying that they needed time to be alone for a while.

There had never been a book in the Morris Empire containing such vulgar words and photos. ‘The Red’ almost caused an uproar among the people within the empire. Golden Goose Daily soon became famous as a book publisher company before it became a newspaper publishing company.

“Emily, I’ve read them all. Would you like to read them, too?”

An older woman, who usually knew how much Emily tried to save her money, held out the book to her. However, Emily shook her head.

“No, it’s fine.”

In the photo, Emily knew that no one could find out about her identity because she was wearing a mask. ‘I know, I know, but …. If I had known there would be something like this from the beginning, I would have received more money.’ Emily felt a little upset about it.

How would she describe herself as someone who had such a bad experience in this?

Although Emily did this on her own will, she thought she could quit at any time. If only her younger brother had already graduated from college. She would find a more common job and work with other people. A very elegant business, such as working in a flower shop.

‘I’m not like them, such poor quality women.’

Emily would usually keep her distance from the senior women she works with because of this kind of thought.

Of course, since Emily had a family that always demanded money from her, she ended up meeting someone when she was resting like these seniors and robbed his money and accessories. She never did anything that would embarrass herself knowing that her future husband might know about it later. That alone made Emily consider herself different from the other barmaid.

On the day when the bar was chaotic, Haley stopped to pay Madame Arette a visit again to share the extra profits she got. She didn’t know what the girl discussed with the Madam, but she had a long talk with the woman before leaving. Then, Emily took leave from work and secretly followed Haley.

‘My brother said that he needs a new tuxedo. I may have to rob her.’

Haley definitely seemed to have a soft spot. She could be threatened by telling her family or loved ones about her identity as the author of such a filthy book.

Emily followed Haley until the area near her house.

Haley saw someone was waiting for her in front of the house as he waved happily to her.

“Claude! My little brother! I ordered takeaways at a famous restaurant to celebrate after having earned so much! It must be really delicious. You should try it.”

“Noona. If you’re going to buy and bring something this heavy, you can bring me along. Are you carrying all this on your own?”

The black-haired boy, who seemed to be Haley’s brother, sighed and quickly took the package from Haley’s hand. The younger brother seemed very affectionate to his older sister. Haley’s eyes even seemed to drop honey whilst staring at him.

‘Theo only thinks of me as a money bag.’

The younger brother who always takes her money after saying he needs to buy something, but he doesn’t really seem to want to talk to her like that. Emily’s younger brother, Theo Fiddler, was the one who criticized her for having poor qualities as a human with lower intellectual levels than others.

Emily watched from afar, feeling envious of Haley who had such an affectionate younger brother.

Haley and Claude laughed with each other and exchanged silly jokes several times. When their laughter intensified, two women came out of the house.

“Oh, you arrived, Haley? What’s that? It smells good.”

“Did you just get off work? You must have worked so hard.”

In Emily’s view, these women also seemed to be Haley’s family.

“Mom, I made a lot of money and bought something delicious. I’m in a good mood today, so I treat you all to a delicious meal!”

Haha hoho, the laughter and good ambience among the Haley’s family made Emily feel a bit queasy. Just as Haley, she had a family of four: her, her mother, her younger sister, and her younger brother. Why did Haley look so happy? Why was Haley the only one doing so well? Emily and Haley. Their names are only a few letters different. They even sounded similar.

‘My family only talks about money when we gather.’

Hailey was shining. She would be the main character if this world was a novel. Haley must be shining brightly.

Emily felt annoyed having compared the girl’s life to her own. Is this how relative deprivation feels? Emily returned to the bar with a dejected feeling.

‘What’s wrong with my life?’

It’s been a few days since Emily thought about that.

Someone said that he would buy her a real sapphire necklace if she would go on a date with him. Emily agreed to meet the ordinary man whilst pretending that she couldn’t refuse the offer. The atmosphere of the date was quite pleasant. They ate at an expensive restaurant and went on with the normal activities a young couple would do.

The man looked mean, but he seemed sincere and had money. For a moment, Emily thought that it would be fine for her to walk out of the bar and marry this man.

“Should we go now? I told you I’d buy you a necklace today, didn’t I?”

Emily followed him to the jewelry store, her purple eyes sparkled brightly.

“What? Why is it so expensive?”

The sapphire necklace Emily was fond of and chose was an ordinary necklace with a few small sapphires embedded densely in it. It wasn’t too expensive either. However, the man grabbed Emily’s wrist and went out for a while to have a talk outside the jewelry store, and she was thinking he would make a secret proposal to her.

“Can we do it once a week? It’s something that the barworkers where you work usually do. If you come to my house while my wife is away, I’ll buy you as many necklaces as you want. You do know that the royals have separate lovers lately, right? It must be difficult for someone like you who has nothing to meet a rich man like me.”

When he said so, his hand caressed Emily’s delicate earlobe. The man’s eyes shifted to her breasts and swallowed, Emily instantly felt disgusted with him.

Emily thought he was single, but it turned out that he was already married. What did the man think of her to make such a suggestion? Emily shouted angrily.

“You must be crazy! Do you think I’m funny?”

Instead of regretting not getting the necklace, Emily was more mad at the man’s attitude as he was just thinking of her as one of the bar workers who would do something like that with him. Soon after, Emily slapped the man hard and kicked him lightly when he fell on the street.

She became enraged and started beating him up, but how much damage would it do if she hit him with a fist that felt like a water hammer? They both hit each other continuously. Emily was embarrassed to fight with someone like this on the street, but it did hurt even more after having his pride scratched like earlier.

Then, a police officer from the National Police Agency walked up to them, and she thought she would be taken to the National Police Agency with the man. The part where she was hit by the man began to throb.

Even when Emily tried to ask for help from the people who had been watching the two of them fight against each other, no one was willing to help her. Everyone turned their faces away and hurriedly walked away from the scene. Emily bit her lip hard out of annoyance. Little by little, drops of blood came out of her pale lips.

The person who helped her at that time was Haley Mertes.

“I happened to record the scene where this man hit this woman first. If you need a witness later, I’ll go to the National Police Agency.”

Emily recognized Haley at first glance. Although it seemed that Haley did not remember her.

Somehow, she was caught in an embarrassing situation by someone she didn’t want to run into. However, Emily had a lot of pride in herself, so it was very difficult for her to say thank you to Haley. She swallowed her saliva as an expression of gratitude to Haley. She suddenly felt nauseous as if she had a stomach ache.

‘What’s the difference between you and me? Why do these bad things only happen to me?’

Even so, Emily felt that she couldn’t live with the feeling of being indebted to Haley. Emily’s self-esteem was scratched because it seemed that she had hit rock bottom.

That’s why she eagerly helped Haley to look for an office. Since she even negotiated the monthly rent for her, it would have been enough to make Emily assume that she no longer owed her anything.

Therefore, Emily thought she could hate Haley again. She really thought that way before. Back then, she couldn’t tell whether her feelings for Haley were hatred or admiration.