yasinovel Chapter 29 Bread Never Belongs to People
Chapter 29 Bread Never Belongs to People
"Ladies and gentlemen! Viscount Hammond's book salon is scheduled for this weekend!"
The circus twins swept across the tent like a colorful whirlwind, leaving behind a trail of clear, bell-like shouts: "Anyone interested is welcome to inquire; every tip is only five pence!"
Despite the many miracles in the parallel universe's Britain, they didn't miraculously start using decimal currency.
In other words, the evil conversion method is still in effect here: one pound equals twenty shillings, and one shilling equals twelve pence.
The core members of the Gilded Circus earned one pound a week. This was a pay rise after Margaret's arrival and the circus's business improved. However, even with the pay rise, everyone still struggled to make ends meet. Food cost money, daily necessities cost money, and the occasional luxury like meat and beer cost money. Some people didn't want to live in the circus, so they had to rent houses outside, which also cost money...
The people working here are all young, and they inevitably have some entertainment activities on weekdays, so it's impossible for them to save money; they can only consider increasing their income.
It's rare to see someone like Anna who directly enters the casino business. As far as Margaret knows, Anna's mother died in childbirth, and her father was an alcoholic and gambling addict who froze to death on the docks when she was seven. With this family background, Anna learned to roll dice while other children were still rolling hoops.
Some might think that we're about to fast-forward to how unfortunate Anna's childhood was, but that's not the case.
She survived in the casino. Perhaps it was a rare glimmer of pity from a group of adults struggling in the mud, or perhaps it was the pet-like affection of those in high positions for those in low positions. In any case, this casino indirectly killed Anna's father, but took in little Anna.
They fed her, clothed her, taught her to read, and let her roam freely among the gambling tables that reeked of smoke and sweat. There were one or two men who had never started a family who once let Anna ride on their necks. When the patrons at the gambling table were in a good mood, they would guide Anna to the stage to play a couple of rounds and take the opportunity to ask for tips.
During her adolescence, Anna received more pocket money than many of her peers. Of course, she spent most of the money she earned at the casino. The more money she received each day, the more extravagantly she spent it. When she was fifteen or sixteen, she went out to look for work. The circus offered her an apprenticeship with a daily wage of three pence. When Anna heard this, she turned around and left.
The coins she used to grind her teeth when she was seven years old were more than three pence!
A man at the casino tried to persuade her to stay, saying she couldn't stay there forever. Anna thought about it and realized he had a point, so she reluctantly became an apprentice at the Gilded Circus.
On the first day, Anna received her three pence in wages, bought a white bread, and spent all her money. On the second day, with the help of a colleague, she bought a cheaper bread mixed with flour. Then came the third day, the fourth day…
On the fifth day, Anna returned to the casino.
A person can't live on just one bread a day!
She was at the gambling table again, sometimes winning, sometimes losing. Perhaps because her "newbie protection period" hadn't ended, Anna never lost too much. She even developed the illusion that she was born for this—
"You're not a child anymore, Anna," the casino owner said casually, puffing on his cigar. "Paying back debts is a matter of course."
"……How much?"
"Three hundred pounds, that's what you lost today. I don't care if you went to sell yourself or commit murder, I want you to pay me back in three days."
"..."
When Anna agreed to sell her friend Margaret to the casino, she was thinking:
Once I pay back this money, will this place become my home again?
Will you still hold my hand like you did when I was a child, lead me to the gambling table, and tell me "Don't be afraid"?
Bread has never belonged to humans. We come naked into this blood-red world, and we will go to death with nothing.
……
"Anna, Anna!"
Anna, who was lying on her back in the circus tent, suddenly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling without moving.
The sound of the twin sisters and Margaret Lisa talking could be heard in my ears:
"Margaret, have you noticed that Anna has been acting strangely ever since you came back to the circus? Could she be sick?"
"...Never mind her, we'll take your fivepence. Come here quietly, we'll tell you everything we know about Viscount Hammond."
……
"Although Viscount Hammond was active in social circles for many years, he himself rarely appeared in public."
Inspector McLeod Angus carefully confirmed that the Prime Minister's office door was fully closed before standing opposite Winston and speaking, "The reason... have you heard the rumors about him?"
Winston: "He's over sixty but looks like a young man?"
"That's right." Detective Angus grinned and said cheerfully, "Although it's not exactly a hidden ailment, I would also try to cover it up if I were in his shoes."
"Viscount Hammond mostly stayed behind the scenes; the Viscountess acted on his behalf. This lady had a code name: The White Spider."
Winston commented, "That's not a very nice nickname."
"But it's vivid enough—the Viscountess always wore white gauze dresses, her skin was as pale as marble, and she was born with severe deformities. Prime Minister, have you ever seen a person with three legs?"
Winston glanced at Detective Angus's crotch.
Inspector Angus also chimed in, "I'm not referring to a man's thing... I mean the real legs. You'll see when you see her. The reason she's wearing that white dress is because the skirt and crinoline are big enough to hide the third leg that extends from her waist and looks exactly like the other two."
Winston briefly imagined the scene and almost got goosebumps: "Are you sure this is congenital? Not an acquired mutation? How did she survive?"
The extra leg must connect to the pelvis or spine, right? How does the skeletal structure bear the weight? Won't it compress nerves and internal organs? Furthermore, people born with severe deformities often have developmental problems in other parts of their bodies as well…
However, on the other hand, this is a somewhat fantastical world.
Having just read "The Natural Abnormalities," Winston could hardly help but associate it with occult rituals.
The book's author, John Halwick, said that a low level of sanity can lead to limb growth! When Winston read this passage, he thought that the so-called "ten fingers and two arms" was a hallucination caused by a madman, but maybe he was just being realistic?
Inspector Angus shrugged: "I don't know, Prime Minister. I only discovered a couple of days ago that 'White Spider' is a woman with many legs. She's always been very good at hiding it. If we hadn't relentlessly pursued her and almost caught up with her in her changing room, we wouldn't have discovered this astonishing secret..."
As he spoke, Inspector Angus was quite pleased with himself, feeling that he had finally cleared Scotland Yard of its accusations of incompetence in front of the Prime Minister.