He looked at me, puzzled, while Annabelle was clearly impatient. “You damn peasant, what is it now?”
I held out the contract. “This is yours. You left it behind.”
Annabelle snatched it first, handing it to a skeptical Napier.
When he saw what it was, the tight line of his brow relaxed. Then, as I watched, he tore it into pieces.
“I am a free man now. This contract is useless to me.”
I stared blankly at the fluttering scraps of paper.
Napier’s tone softened slightly. “Thank you for making the trip. You should head back. We must be on our
way.”
It was the first time he had ever spoken to me with such gentleness.
As he turned to leave, I called out again. “Wait.”
“What is it now?”
I wrung my hands. “It cost me five taels of silver to buy you.”
He paused, then turned to Annabelle, his voice back to its usual cool tone. “Annabelle, give her five taels of
gold,”
Annabelle pulled a gold ingot from her purse with a look of disgust and tossed it on the ground in front of
- me.
As I bent to pick it up, the carriage rolled past.
Napier lifted the curtain and spoke to me one last time.
“Jane, with your station in life, a butcher would be the most suitable match. Do not aspire to anything else.”
It was the first time he had ever used my name.
As soon as he finished, Annabelle’s mocking laughter drifted from the carriage. “Did you hear that, you peas-
ant? Stop dreaming of climbing the social ladder. It’s not for people like you.”
She was wrong about me again.
I didn’t want Napier as a husband because I wanted to climb some social ladder. When I bought him, he was just a disgraced criminal.
I liked him because he was handsome.
But what good was a handsome face? A man as lofty as him would never deign to look me in the eye.
The carriage clattered into the distance.
5/9
11:45
Chapter 1
11:45
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t
I stood there for a long time, until the carriage was completely out of sight, before I finally started the long,
aching walk home.
S
As I turned into my alley, I saw my mother waiting for me at the door. I was sure she was going to scold me
for leaving without telling her, without grinding the day’s tofu.
But she didn’t say a word. She just sighed. “There’s food for you on the stove.”
Her quiet kindness made me feel even more guilty.
