If Lionel's memory was correct, the girl before him, with a pair of clear emerald eyes and a head of dark chestnut curly hair, was Alice-Clémence Rocher, two years his junior.
Her father, Étienne Rocher, owned a farm at the foot of the Alps, primarily raising cattle and also cultivating potatoes and rye.
It took two hours to get from "Rocher Farm" to Montiel, the small town where the Sorel family lived; the Sorel family annually ordered milk, potatoes, and rye flour from him.
As long as Lionel could remember, Alice often accompanied her father's delivery cart to Montiel.
Being an old friend of the elder Sorel, Étienne Rocher would leave his mountain produce and Alice at the Sorel household before driving his cart to deliver goods to other families in town.
After deliveries, Étienne Rocher would meet the elder Sorel for a drink at the tavern, while Alice would spend the entire day playing with the Sorel siblings in town and the nearby mountains.
One could even say she and Lionel were childhood sweethearts.
Alice-Clémence Rocher brought her youthful, Southern French-style face close to Lionel and put on an annoyed expression:
"What, you don't recognize me after only a few years?
No wonder everyone says 'men become libertines when they come to Paris'!"
Seeing the doorman already casting curious glances, Lionel quickly interrupted her:
"It's so cold outside, let's go upstairs first."
Then, leading Alice, he hurried through the entrance and up to the fifth floor, under the doorman's "reluctant" gaze.
As soon as they exited the stairwell and reached the hallway, they saw Lucien de Pensey, the opera actor and true libertine, passionately embracing and kissing a blonde woman at his room's doorway.
Alice quickly turned her face away and silently murmured,
"Blessed Mother protect us."
Lucien saw Alice, and a look of stunned admiration appeared in his eyes.
While still kissing the woman in his arms, he subtly raised his right hand and silently gave Lionel a thumbs-up.
Lionel: "..."
But this was clearly not the time to explain.
Lionel could only first take out his key, unlock the door, and get Alice inside.
As the brilliant white light of the gas lamps on the walls illuminated the entire apartment, Alice looked at the walls, as white as the first snow of the Alps, and the floors, as bright as the calm Lake Aiguebelle, as well as the furniture and decorative paintings inside, and was so shocked that she was momentarily speechless.
She had followed her father to deliver milk and honey to Father Edmond's house in town and had visited the priest's small house, known as "the paradise of Montiel's widows," but it was far from as exquisite as the apartment before her.
Coming back to her senses, Alice suddenly looked at Lionel with some anger:
"Don't you know what the Sorel family has just gone through?
How can you be living such a good life alone in Paris?
Sister Yvanna's eyes are red and swollen every day!"
Lionel was somewhat distressed; he couldn't easily explain what he was doing to Alice right now, so he quickly changed the subject:
"How did you find your way here?"
The Alps and Paris were one in the south and one in the north; even with the train connections, it wouldn't have been easy to travel between them.
Furthermore, Alice was a woman, and independent long-distance travel was practically impossible for women in this era.
Hearing this question, Alice suddenly became nervous.
She didn't answer directly, but walked to the window, carefully peeked at the street below, then drew the curtains and said conspiratorially:
"I ran away!"
Lionel was startled:
"Ran away?
From the Alps?
To Paris?"
Alice quickly explained:
"Not from the Alps, but in Paris.
—I don't want to be a nun!"
Lionel couldn't process this information right away:
"What?
A nun?
When were you going to become a nun?"
Alice nodded vigorously:
"Yes, a nun.
Mother had a severe illness last year and was close to death.
Father made a vow in church that if Mother recovered, he would send his daughter to serve Christ."
Lionel: "...And Aunt Aisha recovered later?"
Alice: "Later, a doctor who had studied in Paris came to town and cured Mother—Father believed it was God responding to his piety."
Lionel: "..."
Well, that makes sense.
Alice continued:
"Our Notre-Dame de Lourdes convent there was too small; to formally take vows as a nun, I had to come to the Sisters of St. Martha in Paris.
I escaped after arriving in Paris, on my way to the Sisters of St. Martha."
Then she spun around in the apartment's living room:
"As for here... before leaving the Alps, I visited Sister Yvanna.
She showed me your newly sent letter, and I memorized this address."
Lionel pressed his hand to his forehead, feeling his head might explode.
He already had plenty on his plate, and now he was saddled with a "runaway nun."
If the church came knocking, he might end up in jail.
Although French society in the 1880s had begun a full shift towards secularization, and the Church was largely criticized by intellectuals, it still held significant influence among the aristocracy and the lower classes.
At the same time, the courts still largely maintained respect for the authority of the Church.
Although Alice had not formally taken vows to become a nun, she might already be registered with the Church, making her technically a person of the Church.
Alice saw Lionel's troubled expression and suddenly looked at him seriously:
"I know I'm a 'trouble.'
If you don't want to keep me, I can leave tomorrow!
But could you please let me stay here tonight?
It's too cold outside, and I didn't bring any luggage..."
If Lionel were truly a man of the 19th century, he should immediately report her to the police to get rid of this "trouble"—becoming a nun was not considered a bad path for girls by most people of that era.
But the current him couldn't bear to see a woman—even if Alice was a stranger—sent to a convent for such an absurd reason, and likely never step foot outside its doors for her entire life.
Especially given that Alice herself did not want to be a nun.
Lionel could only sigh:
"Come with me."
Saying this, he led Alice to the smaller bedroom in the apartment, and after lighting the gas lamp, he instructed:
"The mattress, pillows, and blankets are all in the wardrobe.
You can make the bed yourself.
Also... don't go out for the next few days.
The Church is probably looking for you."
Alice listened, then looked at Lionel with disbelief.
Immediately, she sprang up and threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly as if he were a lifeline:
"I knew you wouldn't send me away, Lyon!"
Her eyes were already glistening with tears.
Lionel's hands were awkwardly unsure where to go, so he could only gently pat her back.
"Grrrrumble~"
A long, loud stomach rumble arose between them.
Alice shyly released Lionel, placing her hands on her stomach.
Seeing Lionel looking at her with concern, she quickly said:
"It's okay, I'm not hungry...
I won't be hungry once I fall asleep..."
Lionel smiled and shook his head:
"You wait here, I'll go to the restaurant on the first floor and have them send up some dinner—
Don't worry, I have a meal plan here, so it won't cost extra."
Alice dared not speak, fearing it would reveal that she was already choked up, so she could only nod and watch Lionel leave the room.
When the sound of the apartment door closing echoed, she finally let go of the tension, curled up in a corner of the room, hugging her shoulders, and sobbed uncontrollably...
(End of this chapter)
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