A few days ago, Este had just turned five years old after celebrating this week. The little girl mumbled her tiny pink lips because she couldn't believe the ordeal thing talked her through.
Marquise Khanwald (her father's legal wife), whom she had just heard of, came to them in the morning. With an elegant demeanour, the woman ordered the guards and maids to chase away Este and her mother, Sarah, without a second thought. The first meeting between two women who had never met face to face before ended in a flawless victory for the legal wife.
Crying and screaming, Sarah finally passed out and lay on a shady post at the end of the road. The gatekeeper felt sorry for a mother and her daughter who were thrown out in modest clothes without wearing a coat to cover themselves. He decided to approach Este and talk to her.
"Young Lady, the Madam just fainted, so don't worry. Doesn't it feel cold? Because it's still early spring, the air temperature must still be freezing," he said.
Este smiled when she saw the gatekeeper, who was worried about whether she should take off her clothes and give them to her. The girl said, "It's okay, Zach. But why did Marquise Khan Wald suddenly kick us out?"
The gatekeeper wiped the bottom of his nose as if it was hard to answer. He saw bright green eyes that reminded him of a new shoot. He said, "I heard that Marquise Khan Wald finally gave birth to a successor this time; I think that's why you, Miss and Madam, were expelled."
Without further explanation, Este was able to understand everything. The words that rang in his head, namely "successor" and "to give birth", were enough to make Este guess what had happened.
"Ah, the legal wife finally gave birth to a son who would be the successor, then expelled the concubine she had hated all this time?"
Este herself still couldn't believe that she was called Young Miss. The gatekeeper was embarrassed, and he coughed in confusion at the clever words of a five-year-old boy.
"I haven't seen Marquise Khan Wald for months."
As she nodded her head very thoughtfully with her hand on her chin, she could hear a rustling sound; Sarah finally came to her senses.
"Este? My dear?" she called.
Sarah, struggling to get up from her position, could only grimace. But, at the same time, the woman felt relieved when she found her daughter squatting not far from her.
"Oh, Este. Honey, what do we do now?" said the mother.
When the girl saw her crying mother, Este looked frustrated and stood up. "Mom, we can't stay here now, so we have to think of a place to go. It's going to be dark soon."
Hearing those words, Sarah was speechless, shedding tears. Meanwhile, Este felt a little nervous seeing her mother struggling to decide what to do. Sarah could barely stand, but she crawled over to hug her daughter.
"Yeah, let's go now. It looks like there's nothing more we can do to stay here. Why couldn't I have guessed that this would happen?" Sarah said softly.
Sarah, muttering with a confused feeling, tried to take Este's hand and continued on her way. While Zach, who saw them, said, "Madam, it's time for me to go back. If you wait inside the guard post, I'll take you where you can go."
Zach kindly tries to help a lonely mother and daughter.
"Thank you. You've come a long way to get back, thank you very much again," Sarah thanked a gatekeeper for her kindness and regretted her situation, where she had lost her home in an instant.
Este and her mother's mansion was on Goddess Street, where beautiful concubines and high-class nobles lived. Goddess Street is a luxurious residential area that takes about thirty minutes from the south by train.
The location was not far from Ebiz Street, the busiest street in the Arthurian Empire. Sarah, who suddenly lost her place after being expelled, decided to go to an opera on Ebiz Street, where she made her name as an actress.
On the other hand, Erica, a young woman who now possessed Este's body, was also taken aback by her situation in a completely different way than she could have thought. Since Este was previously one of the toys of Marquis Khan Wald (the father), she didn't have to worry about shortages in the future.
But the case is changing now. Este realised that she was no longer a gem to her father. Too bad he was related to her by blood. The figure she called father also left her now.
**To Be Continued**