Chapter 641 – Returning Home
“Hmm… No?”
“Yes…”
I guess it was a mistake on my part to think that Shepard wanted my secretary.
〈 Do you think everyone is the same? 〉
Cosmos gives reprimand.
“Chairman. Actually…”
Shepard began to tell me Emily’s sad story.
Emily sold her body to pay off her father’s gambling debts. The funny thing, she said, was that the guy named Abi squandered the money on gambling again.
“I think the Chairman is well aware of this problem.”
“That’s right. It’s nonsense for a father to sell his daughter.”
If I were in the same situation as Emily, I think she would have just run away.
Emily didn’t have a Karazpan Shimcheong.
Rania appointed Emily as my secretary.
I think we need to do better in the future.
“Don’t worry. I will take good care of Emily, my dutiful daughter.”
“Chairman. Well, that’s not it.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Shepard opened his mouth as if he was frustrated with me.
“Chairman. This is human trafficking. No matter how much it is said to be because of a gambling debt, human trafficking of such a young child is something that should not happen.”
“Emily… Is young?”
“Yes! I am a child who is barely over 50 years old and has no idea about the world.”
“…”
‘Emily’s sister?’
The initial growth rate of Zephyrians is not much different from that of humans. Aging stops when she reaches her twenties, when her physical prowess reaches its peak.
It is common to see women who look like they are in their teens or twenties on Earth, no matter how many hundreds of years old they are.
In the long life of Zephyrian, if you are 50 years younger, you may be younger, but if you are younger than 50… Am I a baby?
I think it would be overprotective to say that they grow similar to humans until their 20s…
That’s just my opinion.
The Zephyrian culture itself states that people usually stay with their parents until they are 80 to 100 years old, so there was no way to refute Shepard’s statement that Emily was young.
“That guy called the father?”
Anyway, isn’t that guy the biggest problem?
“I am now regretting my mistakes and repenting.”
“…”
“… I decided to repay his debt on his behalf. You can think of it as having transferred the person who will pay his debt to me.”
“You?”
“… Yes.”
Are you going that far?
Shepard didn’t look like that much of a pushover…
I can feel some strange stubbornness from him.
I first called Emily.
This is because it was difficult for me to make rash judgments since my family history was involved.
Shepherd looks uncomfortable when he sees Emily coming out of the side door of my private lounge.
Her face was somewhat flushed, and her clothes were slightly disheveled as she was in a hurry to get dressed.
I guess you barely noticed what was going on there just a moment ago.
I spoke to Emily.
“Your father said he was looking for you.”
“… My father made me…”
Emily’s eyes shook at the news that her father was looking for her.
Her father is a terrible parent who sold himself. Nevertheless, it looks like that…
Is that the affection of blood and flesh?
I was raised by normal parents, so I couldn’t understand her feelings.
“He said you can pay your father’s gambling debts back to the bully here… No, Shepard. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I am…”
*
*
*
Guardians headquarters, in front of the main gate.
A dirty man was pacing around with an anxious expression.
He was Jason.
And when he saw a man and woman coming out of the front door, he was startled and ran towards them.
“Oh! Emily!!”
Jason, seeing Emily’s face, shed tears of joy and bowed his head to Shepard.
“Hehe! Thank you! Shepard! I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life!”
And he said to Emily.
“Emily, I’m sorry about this father!! I’ll never let you go again!!”
Jason was somewhat relieved that her daughter’s complexion was better than he expected. Somehow, I feel like my skin is more shiny and prettier than before.
He knew he wasn’t getting Emily back in the normal way, but what mattered was that she didn’t lose her only daughter.
“Quit gambling, and start living a new life.”
“Ah, I understand!! Shepherd! I’ll keep that in mind.”
Shepard let out a small sigh as he saw the father and daughter walking away side by side.
He thought there might be quite a bit of friction in getting Emily back.
This is because Chairman Bach, who was initially working for justice in the slums, felt uneasy as he saw things slowly changing these days.
However, Chairman Bark gave Emily away more willingly than expected.
Shepard was a little relieved to see that.
However, it is not a situation where one can feel completely at ease.
‘Rania…’
There was a high possibility that it was because of her that Chairman Bark changed.
Shepard felt his head hurt as he thought about how to resolve this issue.
*
*
*
Emily chose to return to her father.
When Chairman Bark gave her choice, she had some doubts whether he would really let her go,
Those doubts were nothing more than unfounded.
Bark let her go without saying anything.
Although Emily was a little disappointed, she also felt sorry for Bark letting her go.
Because her life as a secretary was better than she thought.
Being hugged by Bark was something she had planned on doing from the beginning. And he felt better than he thought.
The pleasure increased day by day.
She liked how useless thoughts disappeared when she was in his arms and gave herself over to the pleasure.
Emily felt that little by little she was developing a slight fondness for Bark, and she thought that living like that wasn’t such a bad thing.
But when her father said he was looking for her, her heart was shaken. And she couldn’t bear to ignore her father.
This is because in Emily’s memories, there were far more good memories of Jason than of him becoming a gambling addict.
My father, Jason, wasn’t that kind of person from the beginning. He was a good father who greatly cared for his daughter.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that he became a gambling addict.
That may have been why.
She couldn’t let go of her father.
Emily thought her relationship was over when her father sold her to a pawn shop.
She didn’t even expect to see it again.
However, she was surprised that her father did not forget her and came to visit her, but she also had a small hope.
“Emily. What is this?”
Jason was surprised by the generous feast laid out on the table and asked Emily.
“The chairman gave me some money.”
“Well, I see…”
Jason was speechless.
It didn’t go down her throat well as she thought it was a reward her daughter received for sleeping with the Guardians’ boss.
*
*
*
Emily’s mother left her home not long after her father became addicted to gambling.
She never found her mother who left her house.
The city was large, but as I searched hard, I was able to see a face.
Her mother was working at a small fruit shop in her city center.
She had already remarried the owner of the fruit shop. Her stomach was full, and her face looked as happy as it had before her father had become addicted to gambling.
Her mother spoke with complex emotions on her face, although she was a little happy to be reunited with her daughter.
“Emily… I don’t want to ruin my current life. I’m sorry…”
Nodding her head quietly, Emily parted ways with her mother.
I think she cried quite a bit when she came home that day.
After that, Emily never looked for her mother again.
Emily, who had been sleeping in her bed, woke up to a rustle.
Her eyes were moist.
Because I had a dream about the day I last saw her mother.
– Rustle.
I don’t think the rustling sound was an auditory hallucination. Emily shifted her gaze to the source of the sound.
In her eyes, she saw the figure of a man squatting in the dark and searching through a drawer.
It’s a familiar back view.
It was my father, Jason.
“…”
Jason, who was searching through the drawers, pauses as he wonders what he found.
And I took out a bundle of money from inside the drawer.
It was money received from Bark.
Jason’s face was extremely bright after discovering the bundle of money.
Having achieved his goal, Jason quietly muffled his footsteps and left Emily’s room.
Emily, seeing Jason like that, quietly closed her eyes.
*
*
*
Less than a week later, Emily came back to me.
Shepherd, who had some business to attend to me, looked at my secretary, Emily, who was standing next to me, and asked with her mouth open.
“He, she…”
“Emily? She said she was sold again. But we still had a moment together, right? I couldn’t bear to see her go to the brothel, so I told her to bring me back.”
“Is that so?”
“Is she going to pay her debt again?”
“Oh… No.”
Shepard no longer said anything to release Emily.
However, his face was bright red and he looked quite feverish. That anger wasn’t directed at me.
*
*
*
“Shepard! I’m sorry! I’m a mortal! Furthermore, I can’t resist another temptation!! Please save my daughter just this once. This time… It’s the last time!!”
“One last time.”
Shepard’s eyes looking at Jason were quite cold.
“Yes!! This is really the last time!!”
“Okay… Okay… Okay… Let’s go to a quiet place and talk.”
“Oh, I understand.”
Jason followed Shepard with a bright face.
Since that day, no one has said they saw Jason at the gambling house.
*
*
*
“Why did you accept me again…”
Shepard returned and Emily asked.
It was rare for her to ask me a question.
‘Isn’t this the first time?’
Emily was so reticent that I wondered if she should say a word a day.
“… Why?”
“I left the Chairman.”
“What a big mistake it was to say that you would follow your father…”
“Still…”
“There must be a big reason. I just like you. Do you hate me for coming back?”
“That’s not…”
Emily’s always expressionless face seemed to have softened a little.
