Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 109: Sending Off

A long conversation, deep in the night unfolded between Calvin and Charlotte.

In the middle of the conversation, Calvin found out that Charlotte had no marketable skills at all apart from her several years of experience when it came to cleaning beast hides and assembling matchsticks.

There wasn't really any problem with these skills, but Calvin told her honestly that if she kept on working in those factories, then she wouldn't live long to see her daughter grow up, marry, and have her own family.

In response, Charlotte merely bit her lips and replied that she understood what Calvin was talking about. But she had no choice since she really didn't know what to do to earn money. Back when her husband was still alive, he spoiled her a lot and gave her everything that she needed.

This itself wasn't a problem, but now that he was gone...

Charlotte realized that she couldn't do anything without her husband.

In the end, she decided to join the textile and matchstick industries just to scrape up an amount to barely live.

Hearing her story of how she was a previous slave and became her husband's wife after he saved her from the hands of a slave merchant. Calvin decided to do the extra mile and teach Charlotte basic arithmetic, accounting, as well as some woodworks for he found out that Charlotte was good with her hands and had excellent hand and eye coordination.

Calvin decided to do all of these for he wanted both mother and duo to be independent and not be too reliant on him so that the tragedy of what happened to them after the death of Charlotte's husband wouldn't happen again. Charlotte readily agreed after Calvin explained everything to her.

The two still wanted to talk, but the gas lamp was now running out of juice.

Gas may not be that expensive in the City of Ashmelion, but it was still an expense.

Both sides wanted to save as much money as possible, so when they noticed the flickering of the gas lamp. They decided to sleep. Charlotte carried Cecilia with her on the second bed of the bunk bed while Calvin tucked himself in the bed just beneath the mother and daughter duo.

The room became incredibly dark and silent.

In the middle of this silence, Charlotte was still wide awake and struggling to fall asleep.

"Hey, Miss Charlotte..."

Calvin's voice suddenly rang out from underneath.

"Wha... What is it?" The astonished Charlotte struggled to calm herself down. To be honest, several years have passed since Charlotte and Cecilia lived in an environment like this, but she was still quite scared.

Why?

It's because not only she was afraid of the dark, those slave merchants would sometimes barge into small huts like these and take the people inside to be their slaves.

Charlotte lived in constant fear for she knew the cruelty of those slave traders and the fact that they had no bottom line whatsoever.

Calvin could hear the fear in Charlotte's tone of voice.

Taking a deep breath, the filthy air of Ashmelion's Northern Borough rushed into Calvin's lungs as he lightly chuckled and said, "Aren't you worried about shooting yourself in the foot? When this so-called charade becomes real. Doesn't that mean that you'll have to devote your life to me?"

Charlotte instantly blushed, the crimson hue on her cheeks seemed to be visible amidst the total darkness, "Don't flatter yourself, as if I'd fall in love with you..." Even Charlotte didn't know if she was refuting Calvin's claims or she was just convincing herself not to fall in love with Calvin.

But hearing Calvin's words, the burden in Charlotte's heart was significantly reduced.

Calvin noticed that Charlotte found it hard to fall asleep so under his guidance, he manipulated the conversation until it ended up to a point where Charlotte talked about the matters that weighed heavily on her heart.

Now that she had a listening ear that could listen to her rants...

Charlotte let go of her worries and started talking.

The talk lasted for several hours until Charlotte finally fell asleep.

Calvin soon followed her into the land of dreams.

Morning came early for the residents of the city of Ashmelion.

The crack of dawn still hasn't arrived, yet the city of Ashmelion was already bustling with activity.

Indeed, the city was worthy of its title as the City that Never Sleeps.

Both mother and daughter sat beside each other on the table.

Calvin gave them explicit instructions to study what he had written on the pieces of paper. Last night, Calvin decided that he would also teach Cecilia some marketable skills that she would definitely need in the future.

Of course, that included basic arithmetic.

Education for the marginalized sector of people was basically non-existent in the Joselian Kingdom.

For some reason, unknown even to Calvin.

This kingdom wanted to keep their citizens ignorant and uneducated. Calvin despised their practices, but he knew that it was impossible for him to do something to change it.

In the Joselian Kingdom, those who knew how to write and do basic arithmetic could land a well-respected job, while those that didn't have the opportunity to get any substantial and proper education could only work in the textile and matchstick factories.

Industries such as these thrived on the existence of the vast uneducated people.

If these people were educated, these industries would suffer a huge setback when it came to its manpower.

Calvin had no plans whatsoever to change the despicable practices of the kingdom as of this moment.

But since he wanted to change the lives of these mother and daughter duo for the better.

It was absolutely necessary for them to learn skills that could help them earn a living in the future once he was gone.

"Daddy... I don't want to do this... I don't understand... I want to play! Bring me with you!" Cecilia pouted and cried.

She desperately begged Calvin to bring her with him.

"Oh, so you want to go with daddy?"

"Yes!" Cecilia almost immediately replied.

"How about Mommy? Can we bring her with us?" She continued.

"Yeah, we will bring her with us. But only when you are able to answer my question. What is this?"

Calvin stuck out a single finger.

"Uh... One?"

"Good!" Calvin lifted a smile and praised the little girl. But he was not over yet. He stuck out five fingers and said, "Now, tell me how much is this?"

"Uh..." Cecilia thought hard and struggled but she was ultimately unable to find an answer.

However, she suddenly had an idea as she cried out, "One, one, one, one, and one!"

"You only know 'one'?" Calvin didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"You're technically right, but you need to work harder! Stay here with your mother, all right? Your daddy will go out now to find some work. I'll give you some treats once I come back." Calvin let out a smile and ruffled the hair of Cecilia.

Even though the little girl didn't want to part with her father.

The reward of treats was quite attractive to her, so she nodded her head and said, "Mkay! I'll stay here with mommy and learn!"

Calvin glanced at Charlotte for a moment and said, "I'll be going now, dear."

"O-Okay..."

The smile on Calvin's face as he said these words made Charlotte feel as if she was sending off her husband to work.

This sensation made her feel embarrassed as she stuttered through her reply.

Fortunately, Calvin didn't tease her anymore.

He headed for the Yang Bridge where the elusive thief was supposed to be lurking.

It took quite a while for the so-called elusive thief to appear once more but in the wake of the curses and the shouts.

Calvin spotted the figure of the elusive doppelganger as he shot like a bullet towards the thief's direction!