“How can you betray me like this, Ayana?” A loud voice reached everybody’s ears.
Ulmer was very surprised to hear those words, but he also saw that everyone else at the table looked even more shocked and anxious.
Many men entered the house, with a short-haired, long-bearded man entering the house first. He was wearing a brown uniform with star-badges, making Ulmer wonder if he was some sort of military or police or something.
And he began to look at Ayana and Ulmer and saw that both of them were wearing the same golden rings. And his blood boiled immediately.
“What is the meaning of this?” he shouted.
“Senior Henry,” Dustin tried to calm him down. “Please don’t do this in front of our son-in-law.”
“Don’t do what? I’m supposed to marry Ayana!” he shouted.
“What do you mean?” Ulmer asked.
“Don’t listen to his words, Husband,” Ayana quickly said. “He’s been chasing after me for years, trying to marry me, but I rejected him because he’s a pervert. If he wasn’t an officer, he would be in jail now. How can I marry such a man?”
“Then why did you marry an outsider whom you didn’t even know for more than a day?” Henry barked.
“I will marry whoever I want,” Ayana blurted. “I don’t need to ask your permission to do that.”
“Yeah?” Henry gritted his teeth. “Did you two really fuck each other last night?”
“Henry!” Ayan stood and raised her voice. “Watch your words!”
Ayana was only twenty years old, whereas Henry was thirty-one years old. He was tall, but she didn’t seem to be that afraid of him as her parents were.
Kale took Suki and left the hall and went to another room and shut the door.
“It doesn’t matter who steals your virginity,” Henry said without any hesitation or shame. “I will still make you my wife.” His gaze then shifted to Ulmer. “I don’t know how you managed to get here, but you will regret messing with the woman I claimed!”
“Ayana and I are majors, and we got married in the presence of a priest and many witnesses,” Ulmer said. “We even signed on a register certificate. It is as official as it can get in this city, right? So, I don’t get what you’re crying about right now.”
“Are you ears only for decoration?” Henry growled. “Didn’t you hear me tell you that I have been wanting to marry Ayana for years now?”
“So, you mean to tell me you have been eyeing her even when she was a minor?” Ulmer asked the question which Ayana’s parents never dared to ask Henry.
Henry’s jaw tightened. “You… there is no age-limit for love.”
“There's a big difference in love between friends, parents and their children, and couples. But what you are thinking isn’t love but just lust,” Ulmer said. “And now I get why my wife said you are a pervert.”
“How dare you call ME a pervert?!” Henry glared at him and put his hands on his weapon that looked like a baton. “I guess I should show you your place!”
“Senior,” Dustin quickly pleaded. “Please forgive him. He’s new here, so he doesn’t know how to talk with people in this city.”
“I don’t care,” Henry wanted to shout those words and push Dustin away, but he controlled himself and said, “Don’t test my patience and goodness. Don’t forget that you people owe my uncle some money. It won’t take more than a few words for me to make my uncle seize your restaurant. And then your family will starve.”
“Please don’t do this,” Dustin and even Robin pleaded with him.
“If you don’t want to lose your restaurant and become idiots in front of everyone, then make your daughter divorce that guy,” Henry said. “As per our laws, it is possible to apply for divorce three days after marriage. So, that means, there are two more days left for you all to make a decision. Will you choose to live with a random loser,or will you pick someone who has influence in this city? I hope you all make a rational decision.”
Saying that, Henry once more spared a cold glance at Ulmer before leaving.
Dustin and Robin plopped in their seats, looking very dull. “Why is this happening to us?”
“Mom, don’t worry,” Ayana said. “I’ll get an audience with the emperor.”
“How can we nobodies get an audience with the emperor?” Robin sadly said.
“We should at least try our best, shall we not?” Ayana reasoned.
Dustin, on the other hand, looked at Ulmer and said, “You should have understood it by now. The reason we hurriedly got you married to Ayana was because of Henry. Please forgive us for not telling you about Henry beforehand.”
Ulmer didn’t say anything.
Dustin and Robin couldn’t tell if he was upset or not, but Ayana thought that he was upset for sure.
So, Ayana said, “If you want divorce, I’ll give it to you two days later. It is your choice.”
Again, Ulmer didn’t utter a word and just exhaled audibly.
A few minutes passed since Henry and his men left.Dustin was definitely still anxious but he had to hurry to his restaurant as it was already seven o’clock by then. He forgot to take Ulmer with him.“I’ll go out and take a look around the neighborhood,” Ulmer said.Robin only allowed him to leave after he wore the local clothes so that others wouldn’t be able to easily tell if he was an outsider or not.On top of that, Robin told Kale to accompany Ulmer.Kale just nodded in return.“Why doesn’t he say anything?” Ulmer asked openly.“Uh, about that…” Robin smiled and said, “he can’t speak. He’s born that way.”“Oh…” Ulmer suddenly felt foolish for not approaching Kale to talk with him. Just because Kale was silent, he assumed that Kale didn’t want to speak with him.“But he can use sign language,” Robin added and then spoke with Kale using signs.Kale smiled back.“What did you just say?” Ulmer asked.“I told him he can introduce you to his friends,” Robin said. “He’s happy about it.”
“Dustin isn’t home, either, so he can lick Robin’s feet, too,” another man said, making the rest laugh even more.Ulmer stopped.Kale waved his hands in a cross-manner, telling him to don’t do anything stupid and just keep going.However, Ulmer turned around and walked toward them, looking at the one that just spoke, “Take back what you said.”“Or else what?” all of them stopped playing and surrounded him quickly.It was so obvious that this was their plan from the beginning. Kale quickly rushed away to ask help from the other adults around, but because of Henry, nobody helped him. Kale came back in about two minutes, and everybody except Ulmer was gone.And Ulmer had no injuries on his body or face.“Where did they go?” Kale asked in sign language.“They learned their mistake and apologized before leaving,” Ulmer said.Kale could see that the poker cards, water bottles, and meat packets were still there under the tree. Why would they leave these things here? It didn’t make any sense,
Dustin came home in the afternoon, looking half the man he was in the morning, in terms of happiness.Without Dustin saying anything, Ulmer understood the situation of the restaurant.“If this continues for another couple of days, we won’t be able to pay the rent,” Dustin was telling Robin and Ayana. “We’ll be forced to shut down the hotel business.”Their family was producing lots of vegetables and fruits. Their hotel business was a way for them to use those fruits and vegetables. If they couldn’t do that now, they’d have to sell them from the house itself.But who would come to their house and buy these things when nobody came to the hotel to eat food?In the end, they might be forced to throw away the extra vegetables and fruits.“It seems I might have to become a porter once again,” Dustin was telling Robin.Ayana heard that from outside and frowned.She came to her room and wrote a letter.Ulmer was sitting on the bed right now, and he could somewhat see what she was writing. Her
Ulmer, Ayana and everyone in the house ate the same food in the afternoon and at night because not a single customer came to their shop.Dustin and Robin felt so depressed and ashamed that they didn’t even come out of their room to eat. Ayana had to take the food to their rooms and make them eat.After they ate the food, Ayana stored some food in an advanced yet earthly refrigerator that was in the shape of a giant pot with doors and many compartments. Then, she tossed the rest of the food in the dustbin.There wasn’t a single street dog present in this neighborhood because Henry had his subordinates hunt every single one of them down. It was only the birds and squirrels that came to eat from the leftover food.At night, after Suki finished her reading, Ulmer asked her to tell him about Henry because he wanted to hear a child’s perspective.To his surprise, Suki told him about Henry’s role and authority as an officer. The gold-badged Senior Officers were ranked from one to five stars.
Later that night, both Ulmer and Ayana slept in the same room, and on the same bed.But neither of them did anything other than sleep because the mood in the house wasn’t good.The next morning.Dustin and Robin would always wake up at around three o’clock to cook the food for the restaurant, but today, they were both sleeping even at seven o’clock.This never happened before, so Ayana was so afraid she had to enter their room and make sure that they were both actually still alive and sleeping. Only after silently confirming to herself, she was relieved.Ayana was about to cook breakfast, but then Ulmer entered the kitchen and asked, “What are you doing?”“I’m cooking breakfast.”“Why? Didn’t we store a lot of food in the refrigerator yesterday?” Ulmer couldn’t help but ask.“Yeah, but you don’t have to eat that,” Ayana replied. “I’ll make fresh breakfast for you.”Ulmer smiled. “Thank you, but I’m used to eating food stored in the fridge for days if not weeks. So, don’t strain yourse
The name of the bank situated in this village was called the Bright Moon Bank. Every village bank had a different name, and their managers were different, but they all still answered to the authorities.The banks signaled status in the city.Not just anybody could enter the bank because there’s the rule of paying 1 silver coin every time one entered the bank. This was why the crowds never rushed to the banks, and only those who could afford to waste a silver coin easily would use the banks often. This would include big businessmen.But the likes of Dustin who only had a small restaurant would not dare to enter the bank any more than once a month or once in two months as one silver was not a small amount for the Revers family. And also Dustin was not the kind of person to waste even a single copper coin.As Ayana kept telling Ulmer about the city and about her parents, Ulmer understood that Dustin and Robin weren’t depressed just because there were no customers coming to the shop but a
“Gold card customer…” one of the workers offered lemon juice to Henry. “Please be seated, sir. I’ll check the balance right away.”Henry took the lemon water and then came and sat down next to Ayana because there was an empty chair. He sipped on lemon water and then offered her, “Want some?”Ayana shook her head.“Too bad. Why are you two here anyway?” Henry asked. “Are you trying to open a bank account for that nobody sitting next to you?”“He’s not a nobody. He’s Ulmer,” Ayana quickly said.“Ulmer… how big is he?” Henry asked, making Ayana frown.Ulmer was getting up, but Ayana grabbed his hand and told him to sit down.Ulmer coldly looked at Henry, but Henry found it amusing.Ayana then looked at Henry. “You should just mind your business, Senior. That’s better for everyone.”“Yeah, yeah,” Henry sucked in a deep breath and then purposely blew air in her face.The veins in Ulmer’s arm bulged from his hand all the way up to his shoulder. Even though he looked like a slim man, when he
Henry felt that something wasn’t right when the bank employee ordered the guard to bring fresh apple juice when he had only given Henry pre-made lemon water.However, Henry pushed the discomforting thoughts aside and began to drink the sweet lemon water.But then the employee uttered the words, “Sir Ulmer King. Y-Your bank balance is… 850 gold coins.”“Pfft,” Henry ended up half-swallowing and half-spitting the lemon juice hurriedly, and some of the juice went into his nose, making him cough a lot.“8-850 gold?” the other two officers were utterly shocked. “A-Are you sure you checked it correctly?”“I did, Junior,” the employee quickly said. “There’s no mistake in what I said. Sir Ulmer’s bank balance is 850 gold coins. He’s a ‘true’ VIP customer of the Bank now.”There was only one bank in Syslon, and it was called the Emperor’s Bank, but people colloquially called it the Bank.Anybody with over 100 gold coins in the bank was a VIP customer who would get special services. For instanc