세 자매의 전설: 제2권

일반적으로, 세 자매는 벨 마르셰에 발을 들이며 비슷한 반응을 보인다. 셰리즈는 모험심이 강해, 시장의 모든 광경과 소리에 흥미를 느끼고 위험에 주의를 잘 기울이지 않는다. 마리는 건방진 성격으로, 그녀가 보는 모든 것을 의심하며, 자매들에게 끌려다니면서도 듣는 사람이 힘이 빠지게 비꼬는 말을 툭툭 내뱉곤 한다. 한편 브리엘은 자매 중 가장 순진한 인물이다. 그녀는 늘 황야에서 길을 잃은 암사슴처럼 눈이 휘둥그레한 놀란 모습으로 묘사되지만, 이야기가 끝날 무렵에는 좀 더 자신감을 찾고 당당해진다.

일반적으로 이 소녀들의 첫 번째 목적지는 "흰 장미"이다. 이곳은 낮에는 고급 손님들에게 차와 케이크를 대접하고, 밤에는 야한 옷을 입은 남녀 매춘부들로 가득 찬 업소로 변신하는 벨 마르셰의 악명 높은 건물로, 건물의 세련된 외관에 끌린 소녀들은 시장의 혼잡함에서 벗어나기 위해 그곳으로 향한다. 그 안에서 마리는 그곳의 "친절한 신사들"이 보이는 것과 다르다는 것을 가장 먼저 깨닫는다. 당황스러워하는 브리엘과 달리, 셰리즈는 자매들의 만류에도 불구하고 남자들과 춤을 추기 위해 달아난다. 이야기의 다음은 마리와 브리엘이 방마다 문을 열며 안에 있는 다양한 귀족 손님들(셀린 황제가 자주 언급하는)을 마주하는 추격전으로 이어진다. 마리는 이 손님들을 신랄하게 비난하고, 그러던 도중 그들에게 흥미를 느낀 브리엘은 마리 몰래 그들 합류한다. 이 넌더리 나는 상황에 두손 두발 다 든 마리는, 한 드워프와 함께 수상한 기구를 사용하여 불법적인 물질을 흡입한다. 이야기는 이 소녀들을 필사적으로 추격하는 라 베테가 흰 장미에 도착하면서 더욱더 흥미진진해진다.

자세한 내용은 전승에 따라 다양하지만, 이 이야기의 마지막 부분에서 흰 장미는 불길에 휩싸이고, 라 베테는 무수한 손님들을 뚫고 자매들을 찾으려 한다. 그리고 세 자매는 한 매력적인 엘프의 안내를 받아 그 뒷일은 생각지 않고 뒷문으로 유유히 빠져나간다. 그런데 내가 알고 있는 바에 의하면 흰 장미는 건물이 세워진 이후 단 한 번도 불이 난 적이 없고, 애초에 그런 소동이 벌어지지 않도록 많은 수의 경비병을 두고 있다. 그런데도, 발 르와요에 사는 사람들조차 이 이야기가 사실이라고 굳게 믿고 있다.

—베르네흐 요캥 저, 발 르와요의 이야기들에서 발췌

 

Typically, the Three Sisters react in a similar manner upon entering the Belle Marche. Sheryse is the adventurous one, intrigued by all the sights and sounds of the market and the most heedless of any dangers. Marie is the brash one, the most suspicious of everything she sees and the one who makes withering sarcastic comments even if she allows her sisters to drag her along. Brielle, meanwhile, is always the innocent one. She is depicted as wide-eyed and startled, like a doe lost in the wilderness, yet by the end of the tale, she is also the one who bursts out of her shell the most.

 

A common initial stop for the girls, for instance, is the White Rose. It's an infamous establishment in the Belle Marche, serving tea and cakes to noble patrons by day and at night transforming into a house of ill repute filled with male and female prostitutes in elegant dress. The girls go there because the building is fashionable, someplace they can escape from the market's crowds. Inside, Marie is the first to realize that the "friendly gentlemen" are not what they seem. Brielle is scandalized, but it's Sheryse who runs off to dance with these men despite her sisters' protests. This leads to a chase through the White Rose, Marie and Brielle stumbling into room after room where they are confronted with various patrons (Empress Celene herself is frequently mentioned). Marie scathingly berates these patrons, while Brielle is intrigued despite herself and eventually drawn off when Marie isn't looking. Marie throws her hands up in disgust and joins a dwarf in smoking an illicit substance from a wild contraption. It's at this point in the tale where the girls' desperate chaperone, La Bête, appears in the White Rose and things truly get interesting.

 

Details vary, but by the end of this part of the tale, the White Rose is in flames, La Bête has pummeled her way through a legion of clueless patrons, and the Three Sisters are led out the back door by a charming elf—completely unaware anything is amiss behind them. To my knowledge, however, the White Rose has never burned to the ground in its entire existence and maintains a legion of guards that makes such antics implausible. Even so, the tale is stubbornly believed to be true even in Val Royeaux itself.

 

—From Tales of Val Royeaux by Lord Werner Jauquin