“Father!”
I entered my father’s office, a stack of papers in my hands, only to find him leisurely reading a book.
“Why the hurry, Nadir?” he said. “What is it?”
“These!” I snapped, slamming the documents onto his desk.
My father picked them up and gave them a once-over. Confused, he tilted his head. “And what’s the matter with them?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’s the matter’?! Are you blind?!” I yelled, snatching the papers from his hands. “The total amount, right here! It’s impossible! There’s a mistake in the numbers! How can you not notice?!”
“Huh, is there? Hmm,” he replied, going over the documents a second time. “I’m bad with difficult stuff like this, so I tend to leave it to my employees.”
“And that’s the issue!” I said, snatching up the papers yet again and pointing at the incorrect figures. “Listen! We don’t need this many funds. We’ll definitely end up with a surplus. And where, pray tell, do you think the extra money will end up?”
“Umm... Maybe it’ll be kept somewhere for a rainy day?”
“The employee who did this will embezzle it!”
My father looked at me in shock and gasped. I wanted to slap him. “Fraud like this happens because you sign off on things blindly! I’ve turned him over to the guards. Now listen! You need to be more attentive!” I insisted.
“But...” he replied, his face stiffening in distress. “Isn’t that too harsh? I feel bad for him.”
“That’s not what you should be feeling bad for!” I snapped, resisting the urge to strike him and thrusting the documents in his face instead. “Obviously he should be punished for embezzlement! It’s wrong! A crime! Stop feeling sorry for a criminal!”
“B-But...” My father’s eyebrows furrowed with concern. “He has young children. We could be a little lenient—”
Noticing my expression, he stopped midsentence, but it was far too late.
My shouts were the loudest they’d been all day.
✦ ✦ ✦
Damn it! Damn this! Ugh!
Enraged, I stormed out of the estate.
“Why must my own father be so stupid?!”
It was because of him that I was saddled with these unnecessary burdens. I was only ten years old, yet I already carried the house’s weight on my shoulders.
My father was an only child, and so he’d been spoiled rotten growing up. All he’d had to do was smile and everyone would fawn all over him. Now he’d grown up into a clueless, kindhearted moron. As for my mother, she’d grown up a sheltered noblewoman, raised to marry, bear children, and stand by her husband at all times. She was completely useless where work was concerned.
Things had been better when my grandfather was alive. He might have been a failure at raising a child, but he’d been competent at his other duties.
“If I hadn’t learned so much from grandfather, our house would’ve gone to pieces long ago!”
Long. Ago.
“But nooo, I’m the one who’s frightening!” What manner of father burst into tears, saying he was scared of his own son? Mine, apparently! “I’m done with this! Done!” Vexed, I hopped into a carriage, with no destination in mind, and just told the coachman to drive.
I took in the unfamiliar scenery. In stark contrast with my inner turmoil, the weather outside was beautiful. Suddenly, I heard the cheerful shouts of children and, glancing over, I spotted a run-down orphanage.
“Stop here,” I commanded.
“Huh?” the coachman replied.
“I said stop the carriage.”
“Y-Yes, my lord!” Hurriedly, the man did as requested and the carriage came to a stop.
I hopped off. “Wait here until I return,” I said, before beginning to walk toward the orphanage.
“Y-Yes, my lord.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise given the sad state of the orphanage, the fence was in poor condition, and I easily slipped in at the back. It was only when I was already inside that I calmed down enough to question what in blazes I was doing, but by that point I was too ashamed to simply return to the carriage without doing anything.
Moving away from the orphanage children’s voices, I found myself in some sort of inner courtyard. There, I sat down with a sigh. “Seriously, what am I doing?”
The joyful, carefree cries of the children had drawn me to this place, but simply striding in through the front would have been out of the question. So here I was, sneaking around. What was wrong with me?
I breathed yet another sigh.
“Hey,” came a sudden voice, making me flinch in surprise.
Hesitantly, I looked in its direction. There stood a child, a little younger than myself. The short hair initially made me think this was a boy, but the skirt gave it away; she was, in fact, a girl.
“Who are you?” she asked. “Where did you come from?”
“It’s none of your business,” I replied.
“I live here, so it’s totally my business,” the girl retorted.
I glared silently at the ground, hoping she’d leave me alone.
“You’re so gloomy,” she said.
“What?” I looked up at her in annoyance.
“Something’s bothering you, right?”
“Why do you think that?”
“You’re a little rich kid in fancy clothes, but you walked into this run-down orphanage. If you were just lost, you’d have asked someone for help and left, right?”
There was nothing I could say to that. This girl had seen right through me, but I didn’t want to admit to anything. As my silence dragged on, more children began to gather around us. Ugh.
“Hey Anna, who’s that?” one asked.
“Hmm. He’s my friend,” she replied.
“What?!” I exclaimed. We’d just met! I wasn’t her friend! How ridiculous!
Seeing my outburst, the girl leaned close and whispered, “If I don’t tell them you’re my friend, you’ll get kicked out of here real quick.”