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Cinderella shivered, as if she could shake off the feeling of the officer’s eye on her. “I’m off. Send word to Marie Raffin’s residence if you need me,” Cinderella said, snatching up a basket and frayed cloak.
“Yes, Mademoiselle,” Vitore said, bobbing another curtsey as the activity resumed in the market.
Cinderella left the market and its produce and goods behind for the big buyers and sellers—the government-approved merchants. Instead of setting up their goods in open air markets and stands, the merchants owned brick and mortar shops. A few were forced out of business after Erlauf’s takeover, and a few more left when faced with Erlauf’s strict taxes, but many of the merchant families were still around.
Cinderella stopped outside a shop that had a sign emblazoned with a bear walking across a fallen tree trunk. A bell rang when Cinderella entered the store, getting the attention of the shopkeeper. “She is out back, Mademoiselle,” the shopkeeper said.
“Thank you,” Cinderella said, ducking into a back room. She skirted through a hall stuffed with shipping crates and goods and darted past a tiny office crowded with papers and books. “Marie?” Cinderella said, poking her head outside the back end of the store.
There was a small patch of grass where two horses were hitched. A young lady dressed in a comfortable but expensive dress stood in front of the horses, hand-feeding them green tendrils. “Cinderella! What in the name of Trieux have you done to your hair?” the woman said, dropping the grass to embrace Cinderella.
“I chopped it off. A wigmaker gave me a good price for it,” Cinderella said, brushing the slanted fringe of her bangs out of her eyes.
“It looks dreadful,” Marie said.
Cinderella rolled her eyes. “I am ever so glad I can count on you to hearten me, Marie.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s just…it’s so short,” Marie said, tilting Cinderella’s head to get a better look at it. “Did you really have to chop it?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I see. Well, the color is still pretty.”
“Thank you. As much as I loathe Erlauf fashion trends, I am beginning to think I should follow their example and cover my head with a scarf or some such thing,” Cinderella said.
“Why? You look pitiable to be certain, but you are by no means the only girl who has sold her hair in the past few months,” Marie said.
“Yes, but just before I left the market, a flock of Erlauf soldiers gawked at me,” Cinderella said, running her hand through her short locks.
Marie clicked her tongue. “Ruffians,” she said. “A gentleman would behave better.”
“How is business?” Cinderella asked, leaning against the hitching post.
“Well enough, I think. Armel has managed to come home at a decent hour these past few days, and he hasn’t mentioned moving to Loire for the past month,” Marie said.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“And how does your Aveyron fair?”
Cinderella shrugged. “We scrape by. All the farming changes have made it more profitable.”
“Then what drove you to beggar your hair?”
“Taxes, again,” Cinderella said, offering her palm to one of the horses. “With their cost, I can barely afford to pay Aveyron’s upkeep. I swear each month the tax burden grows heavier and heavier. If they don’t increase the tax on every servant per household, Queen Freja places a tax on every acre of farmable land or imposes a tax on glass windows.”
“And you won’t let any of your servants go?”
Cinderella shook her head. “No,” she said, her determination weighing the word down like steel and iron.
Marie sighed and dusted off her hands. “You have a hero complex, my darling Cinderella. Life would be so much easier for you if you were even a little bit selfish, like me.”
“You cannot fool me,” Cinderella said. “I recognize your shopkeeper. She was your nurse until you turned thirteen.”
Marie sniffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. With business improving, Armel hired more help, that’s all.”
“Of course,” Cinderella said. She slid her hand down the horse’s glossy neck before stepping back. “I need to get going.”
“You’re not going to stay for tea?”
Cinderella held up her basket. “I have work. I only stopped by to say hello and to check on my sign. Have there been any inquires?”
“A few. I left the names with my nurse; ask her for the list on your way out.”
“I cannot thank you enough.”
“It is the least I can do for you. It was good to see you, and your lack-luster haircut.”
“Take care, Marie.”
“Cinderella?”
Cinderella stopped at the doorframe and turned to face her friend.
“I, I would help you more, if I could.”
Cinderella smiled. “I know. Thank you.”
Marie mutely nodded.
“I will drop by again later this week. Until then,” Cinderella called as she disappeared inside.
Chapter 2
The following day, the Erlauf army officer showed up again at the chateau’s market stall shortly after Cinderella and Vitore finished unpacking the day’s produce.