Chapter 10

"The Aria at the beginning of the story?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, the Aria from the beginning of the story."

Aria's parents died early, and she grew up relying on her younger brother.

The two of them endured contempt from a young age, eating other people's leftovers and wearing clothes others had discarded.

The slum where they lived was freezing in winter and sweltering in summer, inhabited by the city's lowest-wage workers.

In winter, the siblings took turns wearing their only thick cotton coat, while in summer, they spent entire nights unable to sleep due to the heat.

Their sole means of survival came from scavenging trash and relying on their neighbors' charity.

Despite these hardships, the siblings excelled academically and developed strong characters.

Conrad's second project in New York was in the area where the siblings lived, but that district was notoriously run-down and a priority for urban renovation.