CHAPTER 540: CHAPTER 540 - LEVI’S POV (BACKSTORIES PART 4)

The last memory I have with my father was listening to him while he was talking to me weakly on his deathbed, his face still showing a genuine smile as if everything is going to turn out fine. My father gave me everything he could when it comes 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 me 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 me, 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 me what our status in the family was. I remembered 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 me about is not his own and not ours. He also went ahead and told me 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 remember crying my eyes out while he continued telling me the plain truth mercilessly. In a sense, he was just preparing me for the times where I had to co-exist with the other people in the household since he can’t look after me all the time 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 me. He said that he was just a commoner that my mother met by chance and from the start, my mother told him outright that their meeting 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 me that he was taken by force once time when my mother was drunk. At that time, 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 me at all.

After he has calmed down my loud crying, he pushed my attention to other things and started to lay out to me the plans the plans that he had for our future, well for my future to be specific. It was clear that the plan included me 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 me 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 agreement 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 remember 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 remember her sighing heavily and telling my father that when the time comes that I decided to leave, she will give me half of everything she had to make up for all the times that she couldn’t take care of us.

I remembered 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 agreement a secret since he doesn’t want the me to get killed off by the other children for money or position in the family.

As part of the agreement, he was given permission to work outside the household since he is technically not an official husband in any documents. 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 name 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 comment 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 came of age, I finally was able to leave home 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 some reason, even after my father has aged a bit and also got sick at times, 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 some deadline that he set for himself.

I did not know at that point that his time 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 home to check on him. He then whispered to me 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 seemed 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 meant by that, it seems that he was being poisoned by the them and he even willingly took the poison that was meant for me 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 me to make sure to do well in the businesses that we have set up under my name and also take care of the people we have carefully trained to manage the three businesses. He also said that when the time comes that I find someone that can help me leave this place, I have to take everything with me, ensuring that my mother and the other members 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 became weeks, months, years then decades. I never lost hope that I will meet that one being that can help me get out of this place. My father missed telling me though that there is a possibility that the one that will take me away from here is a beautiful and smart woman.

Well, I am now staying in the temporary sanctuary that she promised me until the permanent residence has been prepared for all the merfolks. 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 home.

I can’t help but get excited of what other fun and amazing things she will be showing me. Who knows if we would only stay as business partners in the future?