Emric was still too young, but he already understood that they would die without food. His mother wouldn’t lift a finger, so he must be the one to do it. He resented his mother for it.

The memory of him begging for food resurfaced in his mind. When he got older and was able to take menial jobs, he had stopped begging for food and started working for it.

“Where are you going? I haven’t finished speaking!” Anja’s voice bounced against the walls as Emric disappeared into his bedroom. There weren’t many of his belongings that were worth taking with him.

He opened a cupboard and took out a locket. It was a teardrop-shaped obsidian black stone. Smooth but slightly imperfect. Framed in tarnished gold, it looked old, like some kind of antiquity from long ago.

Emric touched the clasp and did everything he could to open it, but the locket remained tightly shut as if the clasp was broken or glued.

The real owner of this locket was unknown. Somehow, it got into Emric’s hands under mysterious circumstances.

One day, when Anja was taking baby Emric on an outing, she had suddenly found him holding the locket. She didn’t know where it came from.

“Have you lost your mind?” Anja barged into the room. When she received no answer, she pushed his back. “Are you really going to work for those coin-fed swine? Are you their lapdog now?”

She kicked the small hand-sewn cloth bag that Emric put his belongings in. The few layers of clothing he had placed in it scattered. He sighed, but was determined not to respond. Anja’s bouts of anger would stop once she felt satisfied after letting out some steam.

What Emric didn’t take into account was that this was different. Anja’s anger was triggered by a new event, not a memory of her painful past.

“Have you forgotten, Emric? We were used by those swines! They drained us and left us to suffer the drought. They didn’t think about the consequences of their actions, as long as it filled their pockets.”

She pushed him harder, provoking him to get some kind of response.

What a hypocrite, Emric thought to himself.

If you hate nobles that much, why do you desperately cling to that lifestyle? If you hate nobles so much, shouldn’t you stop dressing like one? Shouldn’t you throw away the silverware in the house? Had we sold this house and bought enough food with it, I wouldn’t have had to resort to theft.

“All nobles are the same,” she roared. Her deep, blue eyes bulged. Her thin, arched eyebrows moved as her expression changed swiftly.

She pointed her index finger at him. “They’re going to use you just like your father used me! You’re nothing for them, Emric, just another desperate boy, poor and starving—”

Oh, so you do know I’ve been starving, Mother.

“—who would do anything for them for a few coins. Do you think you’re anything special? No! You don’t matter to them.”

And I matter to you?

Hearing nothing from her son frustrated her. She screamed. Her hastily pinned-up hair loosened. As she moved her body around like a madwoman, her hair flailed around in the air.

“This is not how I taught you. I’ve never taught you to grovel at those swine’s feet for gold.”

Emric suddenly turned around and replied, “Without gold, can we buy food, Mother? Without food, can we live? Should we just die, then?”

Gold didn’t come to them like rain would. Someone had to work to obtain it, and since Anja refused to do any work, it was all on Emric.

But Anja didn’t like being challenged. She didn’t want anyone to challenge her pain and what she had been through. “Is that all you have in mind? Huh? Luxury and riches? Is that it, Emric?”

No one said anything about luxury and riches, but Anja associated gold only with those things. She conveniently forgot that gold could be used for their basic needs, as well, such as food, proper clothing, and shelter.

“Why are you doing this to me?” she groaned. The veins around her neck bulged as she used her full power to show her dissatisfaction. “Oh, I know!”

Her expression changed. The rage disappeared, momentarily replaced by a knowing face as if she had caught him doing something bad red-handed.

“You’re doing this on purpose,” she hissed, full of suspicion. She took a few steps back, squinting her eyes and baring her teeth. “You want to torment me. Just like your father.”

Emric grabbed his scattered clothes and threw them into the bag, including the broken locket. He didn’t have a particular fondness for the locket, it was like an automatic gesture as he focused only on getting out of there as soon as possible.

He rose to his feet, closed his drawer, and headed out. Anja was closely behind, holding her nightgown skirt so she could move faster and catch up with her son.

“Hear me, Emric, they will bleed you dry, and they won’t care if that will kill you, and it will,” she shouted. “You think you could climb up the social ladder by being surrounded by them? Well, you’re wrong. You’ll only ever be their footstool. Nothing more.”

Emric passed by the dining table, where the bread he prepared had not been touched. Without stopping, he exited the door and turned around to face his mother. He didn’t know when he’d see her again.

She flinched, not expecting that. She stood at the threshold, while Emric was already in the front yard, which was two steps below her.

“Mother, I’ll send you money for living expenses, but you need to take care of yourself. You should strip off your pride, otherwise you won’t survive,” he said.

Emric knew that even after he told her that, she might still splurge on dresses and jewelry instead of spending the coins on food. But she would have to manage on her own. This time, he wouldn’t be there to earn more money to satisfy her vain desires.