NOVEL WEB Chapter 283 - Marius
As far as I can remember, life wasn't this hard in Ceryneia. My grandfather always told me that the ocean was kind to merfolks and it will provide us everything we need. He said that though the human oceans do not have mana, it will still give us a place to stay and food to eat.
My ancestors from a few hundred years back come from the innermost circle of Ceryneia. We were part of nobility, a branch family that is close related to the royal family. Those were things that happened before I was born though and throughout the years, a lot of political strife that resulted in murders and betrayals pushed my family to becoming what we are today.
When I was born, my family have long lost their previous noble status, power and wealth. I was born in the third circle, Cobalt City. As I grew older, for some reason, my close relatives died one after the other until only me and my grandfather was left. They were either sent for foraging missions but as if we were unlucky, they never returned, even my own parents.
At the time of my grandfather's death we were already forced to leave Cobalt City and was living in the outskirts of Ash City for about 5 years. At his deathbed, my grandfather told me the story of our family's downfall. He said that our family was betrayed and a victim of unfounded vengeance.
My grandfather started his recounting of our family's story during the time that Ceryneia was just being built. He said that my great grandfather and the king at that time were brothers. My great grandfather, as the younger one, was given the status of a duke when he got married while my great grand uncle, the king. My great grandfather, Duke Caspian and his older brother, King Triton were not only brothers but also the best of friends until they fought because of a woman, my great grandmother Odessa.
Being brothers, they coincidentally have the same type when it comes to women. They simply had a deal of "May the best man win" but when great grandmother Odessa chose Duke Caspian, King Triton wasn't the good sport that he said he was. It started with decreasing Duke Caspian's territorial budget, not approving his requests for assistance, decreasing his responsibilities in court, spreading rumors to destroy his reputation and eventually false accusations of corruption that stripped him of his noble title.
King Triton did everything to make my great grandparents' lives difficult, thinking that if great grandma Odessa experienced hardship, she will leave grandpa Caspian and choose him who was the king at that time. He underestimated my great grandparents love for each other though. Eventually, great grandpa Caspian got pregnant and gave birth to my grandfather. They were the happiest at that time but when the king found out, his sanity snapped due to his obsession with grandma Odessa.
My great grandparents left Indigo City and hid in Cobalt City for their safety. They change their names, how they dressed and even their hairstyles. When my grandpa was about 8 years old, his mother left to work in Ash City as a hunter and forager but never came back. Mates can sense if their partners are still alive and one day, grandpa Caspian felt grandma's life end. He was in so much pain that his health started declining abruptly. At the age of 15, my grandfather was orphaned.
Before grandpa Caspian's death, he made sure that my grandfather was married into a good middle class family and that he was skilled enough to fend for himself. My grandpa only had one child which was my mother who looked exactly like his mother, Odessa. Her face was the key to King Triton finding their whereabouts, something that my father did not find out until it was too late.
They lived their lives as commoners peacefully until a series of unfortunate events occurred from someone getting in an accident and dying, people losing work due to injury or false accusations, business getting bankrupt, poisoning and missing people that eventually being found dead. One by one, not only my father's family members, even close friends were snuffed out. Before my parents left for a job in Ash City, they forced grandpa to come with them and hide somewhere with me since they already have doubts that someone is really after our family.
To confirm my parents' doubts, on the day our family left Cobalt City, we were followed. My grandpa and I separated from my parents along the way to travel to Ash City. I was barely 3 years old at that time. My parents were able to come back from their missions a couple of times in good health but the more they went out, the more injured they were whenever they came back until they never came home.
The last time I saw my parents was when I was 20. I started doing odd jobs from a young age to make ends meet. My grandfather never stopped working as well. My grandfather was a workaholic and very frugal too as if he was saving up for something extremely important.
A month before his death, he suddenly gave me a storage ring as an heirloom and when I looked inside it contained all the wealth that our family have accumulated since the time of great grandfather Caspian. It turns out that our family is pretty rich but we were forced to live like dirt poor merfolk to hide from that crazily obsessed great grand uncle. He already got married and even had a bunch of kids but he still wouldn't let go of our family. Bad merfolks really have long lives!
He eventually admitted that he already knew that he was dying for almost a year. He said that it was a curable illness but that is only if you do not have other illnesses or not at his age. He opted to use the remaining time he had to work hard and save more money for my future. He said that everything he owned was added in the storage ring.
For his last instruction, he told me to escape to the land where humans lived so that the crazy guy will never find me. He told me that the best place to start was in Sklavryet since it is a place that accepts different races and they co-exist just fine with three other races living in sanctuaries near them. If possible, find someone to marry there and never come back to Cyreneia for my safety and peace of mind. His last will, I definitely followed and the only way to do it was to pretend that I am selling myself as a slave.
After escaping Cyreneia in the guise of being a slave, I changed my name back to the real one and decided to carry my father's family name, instead so I can't be traced. I can't do anything about my physical characteristics though so I left it at that. I paid the slave trading hall to feature me as the prized product on the day I told them to.
As to why I chose the date when I met Luna, that was no coincidence. I have been staying in Sklavryet for more than a year now disguised as a contractual laborer. I have also heard about the rumors that the new queen of Eieneos has appeared. It was an open secret that Noir owns this territory and their organization was established by Eieneos so if the queen will reappear, she will definitely get in touch with her loyal subordinates first.
I waited patiently and finally my patience bore fruit. A few months ago, subtle changes started happening in Sklavryet. At first it was just the cleanliness of the street, the barrier around the territory, the quality of food, availability of medicine and herbs and finally, the start of a new large-scale construction within the premises of the headquarters.
In the eyes of others, it was nothing but planned improvements to the territory but for someone who has been looking forward to her return and waiting patiently for a year, these changes simply told me that Sklavryet has suddenly received funding and new ideas to improve the quality of life in the territory. Based on my research, this has not happened for at least the last century or so which means, she has finally arrived here. She was the leader and the financier after all.
I observed all of their movements, almost becoming one with their shadows. After almost a month of stalking, I finally saw what she looked like. She looked nothing but plain and it seems she was disguised as a contractual laborer at the port area. I started working for the places she worked in while making sure that our paths will not cross.
Fast forward to today, she actually decided to bid and buy me from the auction house. I was also quite shocked at how easy it was for me to become part of her life. It only took a few phrases for me and she has marked me as hers. Whether it was a slavery mark, soul mark or a mark of a vessel, I don't care as long as I am now hers.
My grandfather told me to marry someone from the dry lands but he did not tell me not to marry up or marry another mystique for that matter. I noticed she liked useful people by the way she talked and gave me instructions. She surprised me even further by catching me in my lies. I will definitely show her that I can be useful in any way she wants me to be so that I can stay by my cunning and beautiful future wife's side.