Emric knew that this was unusual. Even though he was not experienced in thievery, he knew it was not the norm that thieves would find themselves suddenly employed by the household they had been trying to steal from.

But that didn’t stop him from enjoying the warm soup. It was either that Gertrude was the best cook in the world, just like she claimed, or Emric’s hunger had blinded him from all previous favorites—he felt like he had just gobbled up the most delicious soup in the world.

Gertrude basked in the glory of his compliments. A few minutes ago, she was eager to have him punished, and now she was all smiles with his praises.

He went home, carrying the food he had initially stolen, now given for free. He had never expected praise from his mother, just less criticism. But he couldn’t even get that.

“Why did you keep disappearing on me?” she complained.

Emric put down the food, cut the bread, and served it on the dinner table. “Have some, Mother.”

It had been hard for him, and it had been harder for his mother. She acted like a noble lady—she had been one before her family disowned her for her extramarital pregnancy that resulted in Emric.

Emric had been exposed to poverty since he was young, so it was easier for him to adjust to the new life.

On the other hand, Anja had been raised in a rather comfortable home, even though it was achieved through debts, as her family of low nobility insisted on maintaining an excessive lifestyle beyond their means.

At that time, the family had hoped they could elevate their status by marrying Anja to a middle or higher nobility and clear their debts with the dowry.

That hope was crushed when Anja got pregnant with Emric.

“You’re just like your father!” Anja spouted, pointing fingers at him while he was peeling the potatoes. “Do you think I didn’t know? Oh, I noticed, Emric, I did! You left home every day because you couldn’t stand being with me.”

She sat at the dining table, her hair was unruly, and she was still wearing her nightgown. Anja was always saving the best dresses for outings. She wanted the neighbors to stare at her in awe for her fashion choices, for her expensive dresses that she had purchased a long time ago.

“I had so many suitors. They were lining up to take my hand for marriage,” she ranted.

It was always the same thing, and Emric had listened to it a thousand times. But he would never cut her off because this was the only thing that would make her calmer. If she couldn’t rant, she would explode, one way or another.

“Handsome men, rich gentlemen, kind men. You name it—I had them all under my palm. But I didn’t even glance at them. You know why?”

Because of my father, Emric thought. He knew the answer, but he didn’t want to steal Anja’s satisfaction of revealing it for the thousandth time.

“Because of your father!” she said. “He was a mere Count—”

But you were a Baron’s daughter…

“—and I chose him, among all the others!”

It was uncertain how much of what she told him was the truth and how much was exaggerated.

“He promised me marriage, and I believed him!” Anja threw her hands in the air. Then she chuckled, laughing at her own foolishness. “I should have known that he was a coward. That he wouldn’t have the guts to choose me over his family.”

It was a tale of old, of how Anja Bronach, the only daughter of Baron Bronach, got fooled by a young Count, who chose the appointed wife his family had chosen and discarded the pregnant Anja.

“He didn’t care that I had you. He didn’t even think about you. All nobles are like that, you see. You’re kept near when you’re useful. But once you’ve run out of usefulness, you’re discarded.”

After he was done peeling the potatoes, he said to her, “Mother, they should be enough to last for the rest of winter. It’s spring soon. But you still need to ration carefully because we don’t know what could happen.”

“What?” Anja raised an eyebrow. She had never dealt with kitchen stuff. House chores, including cooking, had always been Emric’s job.

“I’ve prepared them for you,” Emric said. He would get more food in Schloss Artig starting tomorrow—warmer and better quality. So he gave everything to his mother. “I work for the Duke now.”

Anja scoffed. She didn’t believe it. Why would the Duke want to employ someone like Emric?

Sure, he was a young man, and a young man could be useful in a lot of ways in a house that big. He could tend to the horses, he could organize supplies, he could help with the garden, and so on.

But that wasn’t the only reason why she couldn’t believe it. Emric had grown up being taught that nobles were inherently evil. They would only use people like Emric and Anja, who were powerless.

She didn’t believe that her son would be that stupid.

“The pay will definitely be better than months of hard labor,” Emric said. For Emric, it was just the pay. He was employed, so it was only natural that he would be used. That’s why it was called work, not charity.

“Is this how you’ve become now? A gold-digger?” Anja shouted.

But it wasn’t about digging gold—it was about surviving.

When Emric was still too young to understand, life was good. He didn’t have to beg for work on the street because there would always be food on the table. He didn’t know how because his mother never worked a single day in her life.

They also managed to live in a nice small house, appropriate for a lower noble. It was due to the funds his father had sent for their living expenses. He figured his father must not be as bad as Anja made him seem. If he truly didn’t care, why would he send money when she wasn’t even his wife?

Until one day, the funding stopped.