Siana recalled the incident now. So embarrassing, she thought. She tried to remember a promise they had made to each other back then. But, five years is a long time. She had forgotten the promise that they had made. She was satisfied that she recalled his name, at least. She had no time to reminisce of the past; she needed to think of a way to slither out of Viscount North’s hands.
She tried to calculate anything that might be sellable. She needed to scrape up another 10,000 golds before he came back with his proposal. She desperately needed to find a solution so she could spit it out on his face. She didn’t want to be that ball sac’s fourth wife.
She sighed. If I had divine powers, I could be a priest. The temples accepted people with divine power of clairvoyance. Siana had not gone to be examined because it was expensive. But there were only a few with such powers, anyway. She didn’t think that she would fit in there anyway. I need a miracle, she pleaded, splashing the bathwater everywhere. She imagined a kind lawyer who would find her father’s hidden assets and declare: “You are saved! You don’t need to be sold to Viscount North!”
With a heavy sigh, she sunk deeper in the warm water. Her wishful fancies would never come true.
*
Siana paced and pondered and fretted. Time flew by, and before she knew it, there were only two days remaining in the ‘two-week resting period’ that Viscount North had allocated her. She had not had one day of peaceful sleep with the inevitable doom looming above her head.
After painstakingly selling all her belongings and auctioning the house, she had gathered 13,700 golds. The person who bought the house had paid more than the market price. She had been very grateful to the kind person. He had asked her the reason for being so hasty in selling the house. She didn’t want to bare her personal problems, so she had muttered something about being in debt and hurried away.
Siana sought out a lawyer to verify the accuracy of the information. To her surprise, such law did exist, and it provided her a relief much sought after. She mustered all her energy into securing a job, preferably something that offered room and board since she no longer had a house.
Finding a job like a commoner was unthinkable for an aristocrat but Siana was no ordinary aristocrat. Once she made up her mind, it was impossible to make her yield. Her skill, of course, was in accounting. It was rare to find somebody with a skill in managing accounts, so there were plenty of places with an opening.
It seemed pretty easy for Siana in the beginning. However, the person-in-charge of the companies shook their heads and rejected her application when her name came up. She thought, at first, that it was her elite status that burdened these people to offer her a job, so she erased her surname from the application.
The rejections didn’t end there. Every company rejected her outright. When she couldn’t glean the reason and her frustration overwhelmed her, she grabbed one of the employees by the collar and demanded an answer. He didn’t respond, but when she shook him by the collar and threatened to sue him, he relented.
“Viscount North doesn’t want you roughed up in this manner,” he stammered, “He demanded that a woman named Siana with brown hair and green eyes shouldn’t be given an entry.”
Siana’s face fell. She was so disappointed that it probably showed. “It is possibly going to be the same everywhere you apply,” the man added, not unkindly.
I am such a fool, she thought miserably. I should have expected this. She couldn’t see any solution to her problem. But she had no time to wallow. She went up to the main temple and asked to be examined for any sort of divine power she had.
“It will take at least a month to examine,” said the person at the front desk.
“How in all the heavens could it take a month?!” she asked disbelievingly. She would be Viscount North’s fourth wife in a month! Everything was his fault. It made her blood boil. “You lazy bastards! Damn you all!” she slammed her fist on the table.
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“Our apologies,” said the person in reply to her outburst.
Siana went out of there holding her throbbing hand. The pain seemed to ease a little when she rubbed it gently. Viscount North’s wife, ugh, she thought, seething in anger. At least she wouldn’t starve or struggle to find a place to live in. But when she imagined living under the same roof with that villainous cockroach and sleeping with him every night, it made her shudder with revulsion.
Maybe I can go somewhere in exile and live in secret, she thought despondently. Siana knew it sounded extreme, but it was either that or marrying the vile Viscount. She had the money from selling off her belongings and her house, she could escape to another country and try to make a life for herself.
Thankfully, the imperial language was understood in the entire continent, so communication wouldn’t be a problem. I will send a letter to Yulia, she resolved, then I will head to the plaza square and sneak out when it gets dark.
She reached the Anetta house, which was no longer hers. She had been given some time to pack her things. She wrote a long letter to Yulia describing her miserable state of affairs. She had originally intended to sneak out when it got dark, but after much deliberation she saw it safer to blend with the crowd and escape the country.