“I’m very glad you kept your promise. I know you don’t like the opera but since it’s my birthday, I wanted to enjoy it with my dad and eat at a restaurant. Mom and Pierre will be here soon.”

A slim beauty with brown hair grinned and clasped her arms affectionately toward the marquis, opening the box door and entering. Julietta, who was staring at them, turned away, her face expressionless.

She had fallen under an illusion. Even though he was her biological father, he had not seen her face for more than ten years and did not care if she was doing well.

Now he wouldn’t hear her say, ‘Your daughter’s for sale, give me five thousand coins.’

If there had been a love like that, he wouldn’t have left her at this dangerous theatre for so long, which was full of all sorts of perverts.

Julietta briefly spoke ill of herself, being so mistaken for a while, and a few days later she went back to Maribel.

➽───────────────❥

“What did you say?”

Give me an eighty-month installment plan.”

Maribel opened her mouth in astonishment and could not speak. She looked at the girl in front of her for a long time to see if she was joking but she soon became angry when she realized that Julietta was sincere.

“If you’re just kidding around, get out. I’m not free enough to joke with you.”

“I’m not joking. Does anyone joke about what’s at stake in their life?”

“So, you’re serious?”

“Yes. I’ll pay you back the five thousand coins by working. I found out that I could make about 70 coins in a month by working. So I think I’ll be able to make it in eighty months.”

“I’m speechless. Why should I listen to your words in a situation where I can earn five thousand coins right away?”

“You’ll get my gratitude and my grace. On the other hand, if you don’t listen to the offer, you’ll get my grudges and my revenge.”

Maribel remained silent for a moment at the sight of the proposing girl’s glare.

Julietta was not a commoner but the illegitimate child of a Marquis. Half of her was a mixture of aristocratic blood. Even if the bloodline was little of use now, she was not sure what was going to happen. Furthermore, she was smart, and had the guts and grandeur that doesn’t easily back down.

Maribel admitted that something troublesome could happen later, and then she spoke soothingly to the girl in front of her.

“All right, I’ll take your offer. But I’m sure you naturally thought about the interest because you are going to split the money and pay it back over six years, right? What about the interest?”

“Let’s call it even with the work I’ve been doing at the theatre. Since you get five thousand coins for your kindness in raising me, shouldn’t I get paid for my unpaid work in the theatre? Let’s calculate it as the interest.”

Watching Julietta talking to her clearly as if she was not willing to lose any money or be under debt to her, Maribel thought she shouldn’t let this jewel of a child go. However, she gave up her reluctance and nodded, thinking that she would be in danger if the girl came back bearing a grudge against her. She seemed to be more affectionate of this erratic child than she had thought. 

“Okay, I’ll take your offer. Let’s write a promissory note. It’s good to be accurate about anything. Let’s also make it clear that if you can’t pay back all the five thousand coins in six months, you’ll have to sell yourself to pay it back.”

After checking the contents of the promissory note which Maribel wrote and gave her, Julietta declined to sign it and asked, “I’d like to make another copy, please. I need two witnesses. I’ll check the two promissory notes with the signatures of two witnesses on them and I’ll sign them.”

Maribel laughed at the smarts and boldness of the girl who grew up inside the theatre without much education, although she learned simple writing and manners with the theatre’s apprentices.

“Yes, I got it. I’ll get the witnesses. I will call you as soon as they are ready, alright?”

“Yes. I’ll leave the theatre once I get the promissory note. I have to go out and make money so I can pay you back.”

➽───────────────❥

A few days after the conclusion with Maribel, Julietta told Amelie and Sophie, who had raised her, of her plan.

“You’ve decided to leave the theatre?” Amelie was dumbfounded by Julietta’s sudden remarks.

“Yes, I have to live my life now. Amelie, you said the theatre is the most dangerous place for a commoner girl who just had their coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Yes, I did. But what can you do out there?”

“I’m going to be a maid.”

“A maid?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what a dangerous job that is? It’s a job where you can’t go anywhere and complain, even if you’re raped by visitors coming and going.”

“If I’m an extremely fat and ugly maid, I shouldn’t have to worry about that.”

“Are you going to live as a maid with make up on?”

Julietta nodded at Amelie’s words. “Yes. And I’ll dress myself up fatly with cotton in my clothes too.”

Sophie asked Julietta in a worried voice, “Do you think you can work if you’re uncomfortable?”

“I’m not in a position to be choosy.” Julietta murmured, recalling the time when her fate had changed in a moment thirteen years ago, and her soul was moved to a five year old child’s body. She had been so embarrassed. 

➽───────────────❥

Jenna had been eating dinner alone, her companion a TV screen which had not worked well in the last few days. Two years ago, after her parents had died suddenly in a car accident, she hated the house being so lonely, so much that she turned on the TV when she was at home and even when she was sleeping. It seemed like it was broken. She didn’t want to call the appliance center, so she let it go, and now the buzzing noise was fine.

On that day, Jenna was watching TV without thinking, and suddenly the screen, which had been scattered in various colors, turned white. As she looked into the changed screen, thinking it was fixed, a white room appeared, and in the middle of the room she saw a multi-vision device that created a single image on multiple screens.

“Is that a drama? But there’s no one there, so why would it just show me a vacant room?”

After ten minutes of constant exposure to the same scene, Jenna thought it was weird, so she started to search for the remote control and began pressing everywhere.

“Well, it must be broken again.”

She was turning around the clear table, thinking, ‘Either I’ll call the appliance center tomorrow or buy a new one from a second-hand store’, when she heard a voice.

“Are you dreaming of a colorful life? Do you dream of a new world? Call me anytime if you want to get out of your current life. My name is Manny.”

Surprised by the sudden needlessly bright and cheerful voice, Jenna looked back, and there was now a cute little dog inside the TV screen.

She thought that she might have been under too much pressure after adding another part-time job to pay for next semester’s tuition, and she shook her head again to regain her focus. At that moment, she heard the voice again.

“There’s nothing wrong with your body. This is an opportunity. You have been chosen. If you want to escape from your hard life, you just have to call out Manny.”

“Manny? Am I finally going crazy? It’s a poor life with no friends, no parents but I don’t want to go crazy,” Jenna muttered in a melancholic voice and heard the same voice again.

“Well, it sounds like a very dark life. How do you feel? Just call ‘Manny’ once and everything will change. Trust me.”

“Trust you? I don’t even know if this is real or a dream. What do you want me to believe?”

“You’re confused, so just call me by my name and you have nothing to lose. Manny, Manny, Manny, Manny.”

Jenna finally replied, irritated by the unidentifiable dog pretending to be friendly, saying Manny, Manny. “Whew, you’re noisy. Manny! Okay? Will you get out of my dreams now?”