Ingram’s Lantern - Chapter 2

At the man’s words, Janir stood in front of the table with his mouth shut. Then the man asked.

“Have you ever hit your child?”

“Well, that’s…”

The man raised his hand expressionlessly at Janir’s stuttering reaction. His hand cut the mountain of gold coins in exactly half. He asked again.

“Have you ever spoken abusively to your child?”

Again, when Janir couldn’t answer, the man split the gold coins in half.

“Did you feed her properly?”

Janir had no choice but to stare with a completely red face. The man’s hand pulled back a handful of gold coins. After that, a few more questions came and the final amount of gold was only ten.

The man said coldly.

“I can’t pay you any more than this.”

Janir opened his eyes wide as if someone falsely accused him.

“Sir, if you know how much I’ve spent raising her—!”

The man raised his hand and interrupted Janir’s words. A cold warning flowed from his mouth.

“I could have cut your belly instead of the gold coins. You’re lucky she’s in front of you right now. You survived because of that.”

Everyone in the room could tell that the threat was genuine. Janir stumbled as if his body had lost its strength.

The fascinated Asha suddenly came to her senses. No matter how many times the number decreased, an Anitz gold coin was still enough to buy a stallion.

Even a child could clearly understand this situation. Asha stuttered with her jaw trembling.

“D—Dad…? No way…?”

Janir, who had been collecting gold coins, turned to her. His bloodshot eyes were filled with greed beyond hiding.

Janir said in a troubled tone.

“I’m sorry.”

“Dad!”

Asha hung on Janir’s arm, crying. Even though Janir held the girl who ran to him, his eyes were glued on the gold coins.

“My daughter, you shouldn’t cry. If you follow him, you can eat delicious food and wear pretty clothes.”

That’s a lie. The man didn’t say a word of that. Asha’s cry grew louder.

The man watched them with a hard face and opened his mouth.

“I will get a carriage for the child to ride.”

Then he turned his back and slipped out.

After the man left the house, only the father and daughter remained at home. Large gold coins, which did not fit the dark house, shone softly on the table.

Asha pleaded with a face filled with tears and a runny nose.

“Dad, please don’t let me go. I’m good at running errands and I’ll do my chores right now. So please don’t throw me away…”

“Noisy! Stop crying!”

At Janir’s roar, Asha tried to stop crying, but it was difficult. When Janir saw her hiccuping with her mouth shut, he kicked the chair roughly. Then he sat down and adjusted his eye level to Asha.

“Asha.”

His tone was even softer than before.

“My dear. I’m sorry.”

Then Janir said something completely unexpected.

“Now I’ll tell you, you’re not my real daughter. Ten years ago, I passed by here and accidentally picked you up at the beach as a baby. I thought you were a lost child of a noble family. I brought you here at the thought of getting a reward, but your parents never came for you.”

Asha’s eyes widened. It was the first time she heard she was not his actual daughter.

“That’s when it started. I lost my money because I hurt my leg and couldn’t work as a mercenary anymore. From then on, I felt like you were the one who held me back, so I resented you.”

Janir sighed.

“You must be a child of a noble family. Look, anyone can tell that just by looking at your face. That man must have come to pay a reward and to get you back. So let’s just go back to the places we belong.”

I felt some desperation in Janir’s voice when he said that. He picked up a gold coin with his crude hands.

“With this money… I think I can start over.”

Instead of answering, Asha glanced at her Dad’s face. Only then did she realize that the two of them did not resemble each other at all. Why didn’t she notice it until now?

No, it may be because she didn’t want to notice it. She had known for a long time that her dad didn’t love her. She tried to make her dad happy, but she always failed.

Her Dad could be happy if he received the gold coins from the man. In order to do that, she had to leave on her own.

After thinking, Asha said, biting her lower lip tightly.

“… I will go.”

Janir’s wrinkled face stretched out for the first time. It was a bright smile that Asha always wanted to see but never did.

“Thank you.”

Asha quietly packed up. Even though she packed all her belongings, embarrassingly, only one small bag fit it all. She didn’t even have proper clothes.

Seeing the girl sitting quietly waiting for the man, Janir seemed to think about something. He soon brought scissors he had from his barn job.

“Let’s get you a haircut before you go.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure that sir won’t like that mess. I must tidy you up a bit myself.”

Convinced, Asha gave her head. Her golden hair fell off a little by little.

The man came back about an hour later. Behind him was a slim brown horse and a roofless wagon.

His expression changed as soon as he saw Asha, who showed up with a haircut. The man glanced at Janir with his sharp eyes.

“What the hell?”

“Well, she’s going to your house, so I’m trying to make her look a little prettier…”

Of course, the haircut was far from being groomed. The man said coldly.

“You don’t think I know? You cut off her hair to sell it for the last time to earn another penny.”

“Ugh.”

Janir flinched. In fact, Asha’s pretty colored hair sold quite expensively as a wig, so he has been cutting her hair several times so far in the name of beauty.

The man’s eyes staring at Janir turned to the frozen Asha. He said in a somewhat softened tone, but still sharp.

“She’s my child now. If you touch her one more time, I’ll cut your whole wrist off. Fortunately, you’re lucky that’s not going to happen anymore.”

Janir hurriedly shook his head.

Completely ignoring him, the man said to Asha.

“I couldn’t get a good wagon. It may be uncomfortable, but could you bear with it a little?”

Asha nodded silently. She had never been on a wagon in her life. Moreover, what does that matter in terms of being sold?

“Is that all your things?”

“Yeah.”

Asha answered with her eyes down. The man’s face became strange at the sight of the miniscule bundle in her one hand, but he said nothing more.

The man lifted her waist carefully as if he were dealing with delicate pottery and sat next to the horseman.

“Can you stand it even if it’s uncomfortable? After we go to a village bigger than here, we can change to a better carriage right away.”

He said carefully again. Somehow, he seemed to think that Asha would be dissatisfied with the carriage. Asha shook her head. Then she saw Janir’s stark face behind the man’s back.

“Dad…”

Before the separation, the father and daughter confronted each other awkwardly for the last time.

Asha thought. Today might be the first time I’ve ever faced my father properly. I wanted to say a lot, but there was only one thing I wanted to ask.

Did dad love me?

Swallowing the words in her mouth, Asha tried to smile.

“Thank you for raising me. Don’t drink anymore.”

Janir looked like he had been punched.

The man, who easily climbed to the rider’s seat, skillfully held the reins. The carriage set off slowly.

Asha turned around and looked back. Asha tried to read her Dad’s expression but eventually failed as Janir got smaller and finally disappeared.

The flat roofs and dirty mud streets of the town where she lived for ten years quickly passed by. After leaving the village, the wagon sped up.

Bye, Dad.

Tears welled up in Asha’s eyes. Dad asked for each of them to go back to the place that they belong to, but she didn’t want this kind of place from the beginning.

“Did you love your father?”

The man asked, with his eyes on the front. Asha nodded, wiping away her tears.

“Even though he treated you like that.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter…”

The man’s jaw hardened. Did she make him angry? Asha looked around and covered her mouth. Her dad used to frown whenever Asha retorted. She doesn’t know what the man in front of her is like, but she didn’t want to offend him by saying things she shouldn’t have said.

But instead of getting angry, he fell silent with a serious face.

Meanwhile, the village became smaller and smaller. As the wagon entered the narrow trail, the forest slowly obscured its appearance until it was no longer visible.

Asha struggled to adapt to the shaking of the carriage she was riding for the first time. She felt nauseous, as if she was going to throw up, and even when she covered her mouth, she kept getting hiccups.

The man turned his head when he noticed that the girl’s complexion didn’t look good.

“Do you have motion sickness? Is this your first time traveling by carriage?”

Then he explained when she tilted her head because she didn’t know what motion sickness was.

“It is a phenomenon in which the body is still while the view shakes and makes you feel nauseous. You’ll feel a little better if you close your eyes.”

Asha closed her eyes as the man said. When the shaking earth and sky were out of sight, it really seemed a little more comfortable.

“Thank you, uh…”

“Kiltz.”

The man muttered.

“My name is Kiltz.”