Sadly, the days seemed to flow fast after that, and soon enough Cid found himself waving goodbye to David, Pauletta and Benjamin.

  The Princess waved along with him and Cid looked at her and saw that she was standing straight, waving like a Princess.

  Did she have some more lessons then?

  The King had not given her many lessons all these years and when she was young, she had not been paying attention.

  She told him once that she had wanted to get into trouble, she wanted her Queen mother or King father to punish her but…She took a while to understand that she was only getting punished by others and scolded by others. Only her elder brother would speak to her with words that were directly for her.

  At least her elder brother looked at her in the face and cared…

  “You are growing up, Princess!” Cid stated.

  “I am already grown!” Bethany retorted, making Cid let out a short ugh to feeling that her mature look disappeared as soon as she opened her mouth!

  “Are you ughing at me?” Bethany stated, putting her hands over her body, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

  “Yes!” Cid stated, taking a quick step back and then turning.

  “Cid…”

  Stopping in a quick moment, Cid looked up to see the Prince, who was looking at Bethany.

  “My dearest younger sister…”

  “Elton!” Bethany smiled and ran up to her brother, hugging him, “You’re back!”

  “Prince Elton.” Cid dropped his head and formally bowed.

  “You may rise, Cid. I was only here to see David, but it seems that I have arrived too te.”

  Looking up at Prince Elton, Cid looked towards the direction that David had left in and didn’t see the carriage. “They will be gone for a month, Your Highness, surely you will see David again soon.”

  “Indeed. Come Bethany, I had only spoken a few words before I left the pace. We should return back together.”

  Cid saw Bethany turn to him, so he nodded at her and waved.

  Watching the royal Prince and Princess leave in a carriage, that had shown up at some point, Cid sighed.

  He had not wanted to burden Pauletta into staying and now the Princess was probably going to be busy with her brother, so…Perhaps it was a good time to get lost into his work.

  Maybe he could come up with yet another idea?

  It had been early so far on this day, and Cid went to the factory to start working.

  Now…It seems the days grew longer.

  It felt like an entire week went by, but it has really only been two days.

  Cid had not seen anyone beyond the workers in the factory and his stepfather. Yet, he didn’t know that one thing had come to pass in the st day, which only started Cid to feel like he was heading towards a blocked pce in his heart…

  When he got home that day, Cid ate dinner and bathed, which was a nice change, but…He didn’t expect to see his stepfather leaning against the doorway upon finishing his bath.

  “Leonard?” Cid felt uneasy straight away.

  What was he doing here?

  Most of the time they came when I wasn’t here, this…Is weird…Why didn’t he just call for me? Cid was a bit lost in thought and honestly had no idea why Leonard would be waiting for him just like this.

  “I found your little stash, you sneak! How dare you use my study pce to hide your little things!”

  Swallowing, Cid couldn’t help but look at Leonard with wide eyes…

  He found it!

  Calm down, he told himself, it doesn’t matter…

  “I see that you had quite the amount of money, I’m feeling very generous and will give it back to you…On one condition.”

  Leonard smirked. He knew that he couldn’t make things too terrible for him, as he still needed the little sneak to work for him!

  Cid knew straight away about the ‘one condition’.

  “Sign it over!”

  Swallowing again, Cid took a deep breath in and repeated to himself that everything was alright and that he had already accepted that this was going to happen.

  Nodding his head, Cid spoke, “I will sign.”

  “Good boy!”

  Cid couldn’t even get dressed properly before Leonard put down the real property ownership papers of his father’s bcksmithing shop on the only surface that he could sign it on.

  It seemed that his stepfather had already thought of this before, as he watched his stepfather quickly set up ink and a quill.

  “Go on then, sign it and see that I will make the shop much better!”

  With each step that Cid took towards that piece of parchment, Cid could remember his father’s words.

  ‘My boy, do you know why I chose to become a bcksmith?’

  ‘Cid! Watch this! See that? That could be the start of a new type of armor!’

  ‘Go to your mother and say I’ll be home te, but we’ll go do something fun tomorrow!’

  Seeing his hand shaking, as he picked up the quill, Cid took a sharp breath in and tried to concentrate.

  He knew this was probably going to happen, yet why did he feel like he was surprised?

  Why did he feel like he couldn’t take it?

  Why…Why does he have to give his father’s shop away!?

  “Cid…You said that you would sign it…Here, see, I keep my word.”

  Watching his stepfather bring out money, that seemed about the amount that Cid had stashed away, Cid suddenly wondered where he would hide that now.

  Wouldn’t he just loss it?

  What was he going to do?

  “Come on boy, sign it!”

  With a hit over the head, Cid fell over the table surface and flinched. His head had gotten better but he felt sensitive because that had hurt.

  Clenching his fist, Cid signed the parchment, feeling pathetic.

  It was done…

  I gave away my father’s shop to retrieve back my own money…That will probably be taken away from me anyway…And that was all Cid could think of…

  Dropping the quill, Cid stood there, bowing his head in shame.

  “Good boy! I’ll be off now, don’t be te tomorrow morning!”

  How did he sleep at night?

  Why, why do they torment me like this!?

  Smming down his fist on the table, it rattled, being old and just about ready to break down.

  Seeing the money fall and flutter to the ground, Cid let out a small ugh.

  Should he even bother to hide it?

  If he hid it, they’d only find it…

  Falling to the floor, Cid took in a deep breath and looked out through the small window.

  ‘My boy, what are you talking about? I’m not going to lose business just because someone else came with their own shop! I have my unique ways that will keep me going! Don’t worry…’

  Right…

  Nodding absentmindedly, Cid took in another deep breath and remembered about his goal.

  He will be his own man! He will escape from this!

  Picking up the money that fell to the floor, Cid stared at it for a moment and wondered where he would hide it.

  The Princess!?

  Could I let her hold it for me? He wondered.

  Putting the money together into one bundle, Cid put it into a keepsake, small box and put it on the table.

  Should he rely on the Princess?

  Smiling, he knew that he could trust her, it’s just…

  He felt like he would be cheating if he did that…Wasn’t he going to stand up on his own two feet?

  Besides…It was about time to get ready to leave this family…Wasn’t it…

  He knew that there was only so much he could endure and knew that he had started a path to be on his own two feet, it was just…He had hoped it would be easier than this…