Episode 1
The day my dad disappeared.
That was, in other words, the day my long-cherished wish finally came true.
***
“This house faces south, so it gets plenty of sunlight! Honestly, if the landlord weren’t in a hurry, they never would have put it on the market at this price.”
The real estate agent kept explaining just how popular the place was as he headed up the stairs.
“You said you’d be living here with your father, right?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
“Since it’s a two-story house, it’ll be perfect for your dad to use the first floor while you take the second!”
Though he called it a two-story house, the second floor was really more of an attic. An average person would have to walk around hunched over, but just as the agent said, if it was for me, it wouldn’t be much of an inconvenience.
“The shopping district is close by, too! Plus, didn’t you say you were starting work as an Imperial Palace civil servant? Think of how short your commute will be! This place is just perfect—absolutely perfect.”
“You said it was 250,000 gold, right?”
“That’s right, that’s right. You know the going rate around here is well over 300,000 gold, don’t you? At this price, it’s a steal.”
“Great! Let’s sign the contract!”
With a hearty shout, the agent stepped outside to contact the landlord right away. I took another look around the house.
I’m going to live here with Dad from now on. My heart swelled with emotion.
“The landlord said that since a fine young lady is getting a place to care for her father, they’ll let it go for 240,000 gold! Now then, here is the sales contract. Take your time reading it over, and stamp your seal right here.”
“240,000 gold?”
“Yes, 240,000 gold. Lady, today is your lucky day.”
The real estate agent beamed broadly.
Knocking off a whole ten thousand gold? Suspicion crossed my mind, wondering if this might be a scam, but I took my time reading through the contract first. For this very day, I had memorized The Must-Read Book to Avoid Getting Scammed When Renting or Buying a House from the academy library word for word!
“Ho-ho-ho, young lady. You were meticulous when looking at the house, and you’re just as careful with the contract! Do you really think I’d scam an Imperial Palace civil servant?”
“Ha-ha-ha, true, right?”
I pulled out the seal I had kept carefully tucked away in my bag.
“Alright, I’m stamping it!”
I blew a warm breath onto the brand-new seal I had carved specifically for today.
Gulp. I swallowed dryly for no reason. Thump—a soft reverberation spread across the table.
Nice, perfectly straight.
I looked down with satisfaction at the neat stamp printed squarely inside the box.
“Ho-ho-ho, well then! As of today, this house belongs to Miss Cynthia Violeta. And these are the keys.”
Jingle.
Two keys dropped into my palm with a sharp ring. One had a red ribbon tied to it, and the other a blue ribbon.
After that, the agent explained a few more procedures before taking his leave. Only then did it truly sink in that this house was entirely mine.
“Wow, I finally have my own home in the capital.”
It had been my long-cherished dream. To get a respectable job in the capital, buy a home of my own, and live together with Dad.
To be fair, it was only mine in name; most of the money belonged to the bank. Strictly speaking, you could say I only owned the front door.
As soon as I passed the exam to become an Imperial Palace civil servant, I took my acceptance letter straight to the capital’s bank and took out the maximum loan possible.
Of course, Dad had asked what the point was of living in the capital at his age.
“Well, I’ve already bought the house, so what can you do about it!”
Since it can’t be undone, I should contact him right away and tell him to come up!
-“What? Really, Cynthia… How could you just go ahead and sign a contract like that without saying a word?”
Dad’s sigh resonated through the receiver.
“Stop refusing like that, quit being a mercenary, and come up to the capital. I’m employed now, so what are you worrying about?”
-“Still…”
I put my foot down against his lingeringly hesitant voice.
“If you really want to work as a mercenary, you can just do it here in the capital. We spent most of our time apart when I was little, so let’s at least stay together now.”
-“…Did that hurt your feelings?”
“Of course it did! I genuinely thought you hated me because I was a daughter you found on the street!”
When I was little, I really believed Dad hated me.
How old was I back then? I must have been around seven or eight. Our house was situated halfway up a hill, so we didn’t have much interaction with the villagers. Because of that, I thought every father-daughter relationship in the world was just like ours.
Then, I saw the truth much later.
On the day of the village festival, the sight of other fathers and their children gathered in the square was completely different from us. They walked hand in hand, or lifted their children up high to give them piggyback rides.
The sight of another father laughing heartily while rubbing his cheek against his child’s as they whined for something delicious or a new toy came as a huge shock to me.
I envied those children. I wanted to be the daughter of a home overflowing with warmth, not one filled only with silence.
So on that day, gathering my courage, I ran out to the front door the moment I heard Dad’s footsteps returning from his mercenary work.
“Dad, welcome back!”
The dad’s arms I bravely threw myself into were far firmer and warmer than I had imagined.
My heart beat wildly at an insane speed.
I hoped his large hand would stroke my head. I hoped he would smile, even awkwardly, and ask if I had kept watch over the house well all by myself.
However, what returned was not a tender voice.
“Get away.”
With a cold tone, Dad shoved me away roughly, as if I were coated in filthy grime.
‘!’
I fell backward from that force and landed hard on my backside, but Dad went straight into his room without even looking back.
That day, I went to my room without eating dinner and cried.
Was it really because I was just a daughter he picked up off the street? Would he have cherished me if I were his biological daughter?
The more I indulged in meaningless assumptions, the more miserable I felt.
After that day, I let go of my last thread of hope regarding Dad. I no longer waited for him, nor did I initiate a conversation first. Under the same roof, we remained in a silence worse than that between strangers.
I didn’t know back then. That the reason Dad headed straight to his room as soon as he got home was that he didn’t want his young daughter smelling the scent of blood lingering on his body.
The reason I came to understand Dad’s true feelings was because of the academy.
The Selmon Royal Academy I attended was a place only nobles could enter. Consequently, the tuition was exorbitantly expensive. To the point where our family, noble only in title, could never dream of affording it.
Even when the tutor who taught me mentioned during a parent consultation that they hoped I would go to the academy, I thought it was completely out of the question.
However, as soon as Dad heard that from the teacher, he sent me straight to the academy.
After enrolling in the academy, I can’t describe how shocked I was to hear the tuition fee for a single semester. It was more expensive than our family’s living expenses for an entire year.
Did we have that kind of money? Contrary to the rumors, had he received a handsome reward from the Emperor? Or had he picked up a massive job through his mercenary work? I had wondered.
Yet, when I returned home during my first summer break, I found out. That to raise the tuition money, Dad had sold the sword he cherished above all else. It was a sword bestowed by the Emperor, one that Dad had treasured dearly. To the point that he even slept holding it.
Only then did I realize that Dad’s blunt, raised voice was his own way of expressing affection.
-“Not a chance!”
A smile spread across my face at Dad’s flustered voice.
“That’s why! Stop refusing and come to the capital. You know my academy graduation ceremony is this week, right? You’re coming to the graduation ceremony anyway. Let’s just move your things over then. Okay?”
A deep hum of hesitation echoed across the line.
-“…Alright, fine.”
“Great! Everything you need is already prepared, so just bring yourself! I’ll buy all your clothes too, so throw away those tattered clothes of yours!”
-“Why throw away perfectly good clothes? I can still wear them for another ten years.”
“If you wear them for another ten years, people will talk!”
I babbled on with my nagging while holding the low-quality dormitory phone receiver, and only hung up after finally hearing Dad say okay.
***
And on the day of the graduation ceremony.
I was waiting for Dad at the academy entrance.
“Seriously, when is he getting here?”
He isn’t walking all the way here just to save carriage fare again, is he? The distance from the station to the academy is no joke.
Just then, a carriage pulled up in front of the academy, and someone stepped out.
“Cynthia.”
It was Dad. Since it was my graduation, he had even brought a bouquet of flowers for me.
When I waved my hand, he showed a faint smile. I knew very well that was the best smile Dad could manage.
“Dad!”
It was right around the moment Dad started waving his arm back at me.
Thud—
The luggage bag and bouquet Dad was holding dropped to the ground.
Watching the bouquet roll away across the ground, I raised my head.
“…Dad?”
Dad had suddenly vanished.
