The last mory I have with my father was listening to him while he was talking to weakly on his deathbed, his face still showing a genuine smile as if everything is going to turn out fine. My father gave everything he could when it cos to love, attention and feeling of safety. He even made up for the part that my mother should be giving too.
As to why I wasn’t being attended to by my mother, I was the third son in my family out of 4 children. It doesn’t help the fact that I am born male and that my father was only a commoner with no proper title in the household. He was only taken in as a concubine and not an official husband because of his rank.
It seems like he had an inkling that I understood more than I purposely show others to protect myself so he always talked to like how he would usually talk to a grown up. I guess one could only hide the truth for so long from your own father, you know? Knowing this truth about , he started with my lessons much earlier compared to other children without letting the other official husbands, concubines and even my mother know about it.
From the very young age of five, my father has already bluntly laid out to what our status in the family was. I rembered how his voice was very calm and his face was devoid of any emotion as he did so, as if the story he was telling about is not his own and not ours. He also went ahead and told bluntly that I should not expect anything from my mother or that I will be treated nicely by anybody else in the household except for him.
I rember crying my eyes out while he continued telling the plain truth rcilessly. In a sense, he was just preparing for the tis where I had to co-exist with the other people in the household since he can’t look after all the ti so I had to at least know how to protect myself when I am alone with them.
My father never lied about the his circumstances to . He said that he was just a commoner that my mother t by chance and from the start, my mother told him outright that their eting was a mistake. My father, with a numb expression, said that he was just taken in because he accidentally got pregnant by my mother.
That was the first thing he said but eventually he honestly told that he was taken by force once ti when my mother was drunk. At that ti, my mother thought and decied that it was the right thing to do to keep her own reputation. It never had anything to do about liking my father, his reputation or wanting at all.
After he has cald down my loud crying, he pushed my attention to other things and started to lay out to the plans the plans that he had for our future, well for my future to be specific. It was clear that the plan included working hard for my own wealth since it is not like I can fight for things all my life or claim equal inheritance with the children from the main husbands.
One of his more drastic plans was making a deal with my mother for inheritance with in tow. My mother had no idea that I understood what was happening and simply ignored my presence. As to what they talked about, my father had an agreent that I were to leave the household and Ceryneia for good eventually and earn my own resources as he assured my mother that I won’t be fighting for anything with my mother’s official heir.
I rember my mother’s face wincing as if she felt pain as the blunt words of my father stabbed him with facts over and over. Eventually, I rember her sighing heavily and telling my father that when the ti cos that I decided to leave, she will give half of everything she had to make up for all the tis that she couldn’t take care of us.
I rembered my father’s eyes widening in surprise and a scoff escaping his lips. He then said in a mysterious manner that he will take that half gladly as compensation for everything he has been through. He then told my mother to keep their agreent a secret since he doesn’t want the to get killed off by the other children for money or position in the family.
As part of the agreent, he was given permission to work outside the household since he is technically not an official husband in any docunts. In accordance to that, everything he earned, he can freely use on anything he wanted but he opted to simply save it for my future. He said jokingly that I need to have a substantial amount of wealth saved under my na I won’t be bullied in my future wife’s family and in turn, hopefully, I won’t end up like him.
I chose not to comnt on my father’s words and simply thought to myself that I won’t be losing nothing if I follow his advise. He will always have my best interests in his heart anyways.
I worked hard in my studies and even more in earning money after that. Three years before I ca of age, I finally was able to leave ho and get a place for myself in Cobalt City. This move is part of our plan for my independence. I kind of regretted leaving early though since I neglected my father’s well-being in the process.
For so reason, even after my father has aged a bit and also got sick at tis, he just did not stop working even if I was already earning money on my own. It was like he was trying to frantically catch up to so deadline that he set for himself.
I did not know at that point that his ti is really quite limited. I always thought that as mystiques, we would live very long and even if we get sick, we can eventually recover from it.
During one of those days when he ended up very sick that he couldn’t move out of the bed, I went back ho to check on him. He then whispered to the truth about us being plotted on by the other husbands and children after they noticed that I was exceptional from a young age, too much that I was considered a threat to the heir. It seed that I just never felt it because he made sure to take the brunt of it all until I was able to safely leave the household.
When I asked what he ant by that, it seems that he was being poisoned by the them and he even willingly took the poison that was ant for too. He had an inkling that my mother knew it was happening but her hands are tied with all the powerful families backing up the official husbands. My mother gave him antidote whenever possible and that is the only reason why he was able to live this long.
My father also said that he made another deal with my mother about my additional inheritance in secret which is in exchange for not speaking about and avoiding the scandals within the family. In short, it was his life for mine till the very end.
Finally, my father told to make sure to do well in the businesses that we have set up under my na and also take care of the people we have carefully trained to manage the three businesses. He also said that when the ti cos that I find soone that can help leave this place, I have to take everything with , ensuring that my mother and the other mbers of that household will not reap even a single benefit from our hardwork.
After my father succumbed to his health issues, I slumped myself in work, managing the information office, restaurant and auction hall. I patiently waited, as days beca weeks, months, years then decades. I never lost hope that I will et that one being that can help get out of this place. My father missed telling though that there is a possibility that the one that will take away from here is a beautiful and smart woman.
Well, I am now staying in the temporary sanctuary that she promised until the permanent residence has been prepared for all the rfolks. The place is quiet, peaceful and only had a river but it feels way better here and much less stifling than being under the ocean which was supposed to be my ho.
I can’t help but get excited of what other fun and amazing things she will be showing . Who knows if we would only stay as business partners in the future?
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