Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!
Chapter 143 - 143 - Checking on Lark 1

As I opened my eyes, what welcomed me was a dimly lit room that had hardly any furniture in it except a bed, a small clothes cabinet, a chair and a desk. This is way more minimalist if you ask me since I am quite sure this was fully furnished when I rented it a few months ago. I just realized that I somehow ended up with a habit of closing my eyes whenever I teleport as if I am trying to surprise myself stupidly when I was the one who set the place where I will re-appear. My thoughts have been going haywire again. It has been happening more frequently too. I am anxious and then suddenly I will feel sleepy or grumpy for no apparent reason. I even feel forgetful sometimes and a little picky on food too. I am a picky-eater but not this much. WAIT. Why do I feel like I am getting the pregnancy symptoms instead of Ioannis? Damn it. I hope this goes away soon. COME ON BRAIN! WE CAN DO THIS! LET'S FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND, SHALL WE?!

Going back to where I am right now, it is definitely the same room I have rented for Lark in the entertainment district but it seems that everything inside has disappeared or have been moved out. It looked old, gloomy and dank. It smelled of old wood and it should use a little bit of disinfection through sunlight, I guess. For some weird reason, I started cleaning the place with magic. I even cleaned the sheets, blankets, pillows, curtains and all the surfaces in the room thoroughly. I opened the curtains to let some of the light in but it did not do much. I wasn't content though and I really ended up using light magic in the form of a small ball of sunlight to disinfect the whole place. I feel like molds and mushrooms will grow on me if I didn't. I even deodorized the whole place with magic too. I looked into the clothes cabinet and saw the sparse amount of clothing Lark has. Just a few home and sleeping clothes and about 2-3 clothes that he must be using when he needs to sing on stage. This is quite few for a man that is being kept by a woman as others call it. The one keeping him is me so it feels like I was indirectly insulted. I will definitely drop by that handsome tailor to get new clothes for this guy. I am not that poor to not even afford him a few sets of clothes. When I ran out of things to do in the room, I then ended up sitting on the bed while waiting for the guy to come back. I spent my time double checking the list of things I plan to do once I arrive at Sklavryet. Should I stay at an inn to be more believable then rent a house after I earn some money for a week? That should be a good cover story since I will be pretending to be a contracted worker in there. I wonder what jobs I can take there to make it believable that I can afford a house in a week? This should be taken into consideration. I guess, I really need to get in touch with Noir since I need insider information. They better cooperate with my cover or else... I was busy with my thoughts that an unknown amount of time passed and because of my busy planning, the waiting did not bore me to death.

About an hour after I arrived in his room, the guy I was waiting for has finally come back. I kept the light dim and I also placed stealth magic on myself so he won't know I am here. I made sure to return the things the way they were. When he came in, it gave me a shock. He's gotten a lot thinner and his skin a bit gaunt even under all the make-up he seemed to be wearing to make him look a bit healthier. He immediately started removing all his clothes. Once the robe fell, I saw all the scars on his skin that barely stretched on his bony body. They seemed to be lash marks and cigarette butt scars. What the f*ck is happening here? He immediately went to the bath and I saw him struggling to even get into the tub since the water was damn cold. Why isn't the heater working in this place? I saw him wince as the cold water touched his body and I saw some new wounds on his hands. Is somebody asking him to do hard labor in this place? I silently watched him finish his bath (Yeah, call me a pervert if you want). Once he finished his shower, he dressed up in plain clothes and went back to his bedroom again. This time, I followed him to see how his usual afternoon goes.

I followed him to the back door of the building and there I saw that there were several piles of clothes. They seemed to be separated individually by the people who own them. He looked at it and sighed. He then sat near a well and started pouring water into a basin. He then started taking the clothes from the first pile and started scrubbing it in the basin. Why is he even washing clothes for other people? I never missed giving him his monthly allowan e so he should be fine. I was about to remove my stealth to confront him when I heard some footsteps coming towards where we are so I had to stop. I then saw a handsome guy that looks quite young. He must have just recently had his coming of age ceremony. He then approached Lark and dumped his clothes on the ground. He then shouted as if ordering a slave, "Wash mine first! I'll pay you extra." Lark simply looked up and then nodded. He then said that he will do the pile after the current one he is finishing. Why do I feel Cinderella vibes in this whole situation here? The guy then sighed, shook his head and told Lark, "What is the point of you being bought out of this place by your master if you still live here and in a worse situation too? You sold all the things in your room and started getting chores from others for some extra coins. Are you trying to pay off your debt to her as quick as you can even at the cost of your own life?" Lark simply said, "I have to pay it off so I'll stop being a burden to her. Maybe once I don't owe her any money, she'll forgive me for my past mistakes and finally give me a chance to be with her." The younger guy looked at him with pity, "If resonance makes you end up this miserable, I hope I never experience it in this lifetime." He then walked back in the building after he placed a few silver coins next to the pile of clothes he dropped on the ground a while ago. Lark eagerly took the coins and placed it in his personal storage then continued washing the clothes in the basin.

Out of curiosity, I checked on his personal storage and saw that he has saved a huge amount. It was already equal to more than half of his debt to me which is honestly surprising if all he did was sing on shows and do these chores. What has he been through and what has he been doing to earn this much in just a couple of months? I watched him wash piles and piles of clothes one after another tirelessly. He washed a total of eight piles and he seemed to be already an expert at doing so. It just shows that he has been doing this task for quite some time and is used to the process that he can perform it like a robot. After the pile of clothes are done, he went back inside the building. He then started scrubbing the floors on the stage and the areas around it. He then went to the kitchen and helped in preparing the meals for dinner and also washing the dishes afterwards. I have been following him around for about 4 hours now and just watching him made me feel extremely tired. Damn. This has to stop today.

I continued following him and finally at 8pm, he finally went back to his room. I honestly am to blame for this. I did give him a monthly allowance and paid for the room he will be staying in for the next six months during my last visit but I failed to notice that he did not use any of the money I gave. That's on me since I never checked on him personally afterwards. I believed his reports via the earring I gave him that he is doing well. The allowance money I gave him every month just kept adding up with nothing being taken out at all. He must have taken his daily necessities from the coins he earned from his shows and the chores that he does. He purposely gave up on the other things in his room that he thought wasn't necessary and sold it to others to get more coins. He also purposely chose to just eat the free meals provided to employees which come in small servings and it barely had any taste or nutritional value. He also chose not to avail of hot water in his bathroom since that is something extra that he has to pay for. It was not included in the room rental amount that I paid for him. What kind of punishment is he doing to himself?!