Pendleton Revolution
Chapter 10

“Mmm, that was delicious.”

Andrea patted her belly with a satisfied groan as she and Alice left the restaurant. Their next stop was the black market, set up discreetly in one of the back alleys. This alley looked completely different from the one they had walked through earlier that afternoon. Between the old brick houses hung old, broken wood planks in sore need of repair. They swayed in the air, creaking as the wind blew.

Unlike in the other regions of the empire, cleaners were hired to maintain the capital's streets. Despite the alley being free of filth and garbage, it still looked absolutely dreary. With all the brutal incidents happening recently, not many people were shopping at the black market. The alley itself was quiet and desolate.

The shops selling black market goods were set up inside the building, unlike the stalls on the street during the day, which needed to be close to foot traffic. It took a lot of work to tell which stores sold what inside the buildings, but there was an unspoken rule that customers had to buy at least one thing if they were to go inside and browse.

Burly men were hired to coerce the shoppers into buying—this was the black market. It was hard to back out of any deal. Andrea and Alice had to choose wisely before going into a store. Andrea felt as if the entire alley was giving them a hard sell. Instead of leaving it to the luck of the draw, Alice had researched which store to go into in advance.

She quietly let Andrea in on a little secret, too. According to her, the government knew about the black market and kept tabs on it to a certain extent, but they didn’t make it a problem. The black market allowed the commoners to deal with the tricky and bothersome issues the state didn’t want to touch. Since illegal products were being sold underground, the state wasn’t responsible for these transactions—the problem and the responsibility for such deals fell on the commoners.

The girls meandered through the alley to a perfume shop that Alice frequented. There, they bought two bottles of spiced perfume. When Andrea mentioned it was her first time purchasing it, the shop owner kindly explained how to use it. Andrea tested the product by spritzing it into the air, only to be met with a headwind. The direct whiff of the spice made her tear up, sniffle, and cough. In any case, her new self-defense tool proved to be effective.

Afterward, they ran into the old woman Elena had mentioned—the one selling the contraceptives. Unlike the other shops in the black market alley, she was selling the drugs out on the street. Her small stand was lined with all kinds of strange herbs and concoctions. The old woman didn’t seem to have a guard around. Andrea craned her neck at the items and turned to Alice, who discreetly reassured her that she could browse the old lady’s goods as much as she wanted. Andrea came closer to the stand for a better view.

There were the contraceptives with severe side effects that Elena had probably bought. Then there were stimulants and aphrodisiacs that could quickly excite a man and improve the chance of pregnancy with just a few drops mixed into his drink, and cosmetics that increased body heat to enhance the intimacy between lovers. Such were the kinds of products sold at this stand.

To Andrea, the old woman only sold herbs and medicine, which she was not interested in buying. She simply wanted to know how harmful the side effects of the contraceptives were. Ideally, Elena’s benefactor wouldn’t get much pleasure in spending the night with the young girl and settle on courting her instead.

Such depraved, cruel men didn’t usually care about the circumstances of those below them. Elena would have to take a great deal of the cheap contraceptives for at least a month. If Andrea could narrow down the exact side effects, she would be able to help her friend a little more effectively.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Andrea began, studying the products on the stand while organizing her thoughts.

“You…” the old woman wheezed, scrutinizing Andrea closely. Her voice cracked as she asked, “Who is your mother? Your father? What does he do?”

“Good grief, why are you asking about my parents? We’ve just met,” Andrea replied coldly.

The old woman cleared her throat, coughing intentionally. Something about the way she rasped was strange. Andrea felt that the old woman was simply trying to divert her attention. She narrowed her eyes with increasing intensity. The old woman, hacking as though she was about to cough up blood, suddenly stopped.

“I only ask because you remind me of someone. If you’re not going to buy anything, scram,” the old woman finally said.

“Well, I’m an orphan.”

Since they were in prison, Andrea had never even seen her parents before. However, the old woman persistently interrogated her.

“An orphan, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Did your parents pass away?”

Andrea briefly mulled over the question. At least eighteen years had passed since her parents were incarcerated. Having lived her entire life without them, did she really have parents in the first place? To her, they were as good as dead. She was raised at Kalabasta, and her parents had not influenced her. Their existence—or the lack thereof—neither shaped nor affected her life. That was why Andrea could answer without hesitation.

“Yes.”

“I see…”

The old lady quietly crouched down and hunched over. It seemed she had heard everything she needed to know. However, it was now Andrea’s turn to interrogate the woman.

“Excuse me, ma’am. It’s my turn to ask you some questions.”

“What questions?”

“About the contraceptives. I’m worried about my friend who bought them from you recently and might have to take them regularly. Are there any side effects or precautions she should know about before taking them?”

Andrea thought she was asking respectfully enough, but the old woman only stared at her. Eventually, she shook her head. The vendor was upset at the question or wanted to close up shop early due to the lack of customers. Instead of replying, she silently began packing up her goods.

“Can you at least answer me?”

“If she doesn’t want the side effects, she must pay a steeper price. Those popular among the nobles are twenty cens each, and perfumed oil is a condel for a bottle. Does it look like I sell such things? That would be highway robbery,” the old woman griped.

A condel was worth a thousand cens, which was atrociously expensive indeed.

“Aren’t there any known side effects of these pills? Are there any measures to take after a person takes them?”

“Just don’t take them in the first place,” the old woman replied crankily. “The only other alternative is abortion.”

Andrea knew by word of mouth how harmful the abortion drug was for the body. The convent prohibited forced miscarriages. Both intentional miscarriages and induced abortions were forbidden in the Crembell Empire. The thought of an abortion scared Andrea because of the stories she had heard. So, she understood what the old woman meant to a degree. The old woman studied the girl, who was rubbing her chin and nodding.

As she continued putting away her drugs, she added, “Tell her to drink lots of water. Seeing as how her boyfriend is fretting about her, I suppose it isn’t you forcing her to take the contraceptives. Does your girlfriend see a lot of men?”

Andrea was neither a man nor Elena’s boyfriend, but she didn’t bother to correct the old woman. Instead, she focused on getting more information out of her.

“Water?”

“Yes. It’ll dilute the effects a little. I don’t make the pills, so that’s all I know.”

“Then, why are you selling them?”

“A long time ago, a great man invented the drug. He believed even poor women had the right to protect their bodies. He couldn’t develop it any further, and no one in this back alley has the brains to improve it. So, it’s been in its prototype stage for decades.”

Andrea mulled over her words before nodding in silence. The old woman began scanning her face again. Her intense scrutiny was starting to get on Andrea’s nerves. A long time ago, she had gleaned some information about her mother’s past from Mother Superior Martina. The possibility that the old lady might be an acquaintance of her mother, however small, flickered in Andrea’s mind.

For a few seconds, Andrea wanted to ask this old woman who she reminded her of but decided against it. In her attempt to discover her mother’s past, the true circumstances of her birth could be revealed, which could put her at a disadvantage. If she wanted to become an officer, she was better off not establishing any ties with her criminal parents.

They meant nothing to her anyway, and it wasn’t like she had anything to inherit from them either. The only things they could pass down to her were infamy, inconvenience, grudge, and dishonor. If she still wanted to dig into her roots, she would have to read up about them secretly without raising the issue with anyone else.

“In any case, thank you for the advice. If you want to be more discreet, you should work on your voice and gestures. Let’s get out of here, Alice.”

Alice nodded and followed.

As soon as they left the alleyway, Alice asked, “What was that about being more discreet?”

Andrea looked around. Once she was sure they had left the black market area, she twirled the fruit baskets around in her hands as she explained.

“That old woman isn’t old at all. She’s pretty young. She’s probably dressing like that on purpose to avoid any trouble while she does business on the black market.”

“What? How is that possible? I heard she’s been doing business there for decades.”

“Maybe the business is run by a group of people pretending to be one person, or she inherited the shop. Either way, I saw a trace of makeup near her scalp. It’s easy for her to disguise herself with her hood on and her head kept low. When she looked up at me, I noticed something was off. The way her throat and lips moved when she spoke wasn’t natural. Even the way the wrinkles on her face shifted around was off.”

“How did you pick up on all that?”

“Well, after visiting the convent regularly, I learned what the skin of an actual old woman is supposed to look like,” Andrea said casually as if it were no big deal.

Still, Alice didn’t quite seem to understand. Resting her chin on her hands and tilting her head, she continued to look at Andrea quizzically. Then she drew closer and began walking slowly as she changed the topic of conversation.

“By the way, do you think that woman knew your parents?”

“I wondered about that, but I was afraid she might have a grudge against them, and I didn’t want to get caught up in that if it were the case.”

“I see.”

Alice understood at once. The story of Andrea ending up at an orphanage was an open secret among their friends. Her backstory sounded like a work of fiction to the academy’s students, who had lived most of their lives knowing nothing about the underworld. Still, Andrea’s ties to her parents would no doubt pose a serious risk to her if actual criminals learned of it.

“You’re going to become an officer, after all.”

“Hm… Only if everything works out.”

“What do you mean? You’re at the top of your class.”

“Good grades aren’t enough,” Andrea answered awkwardly.

She wasn’t good at receiving compliments. Whenever Alice showered her with praise, she became flustered. It took her a while to finally realize that changing the topic and denying the compliments were signs of embarrassment. Whenever Maria had flattered her, there had been a hint of sarcasm, which invited Andrea to hit back with her own compliment-insult combination. In contrast, genuine compliments made her squirm.

Alice glanced at Andrea’s face. With a smile, she poked her cheeks with her index fingers.

“Your face is red, Andrea,” she teased, making her friend squirm even more with embarrassment.