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Isaac Whitehall was born to the Whitehall Baron family. His mother gave birth to him despite her ailment and his father lost an arm when acting as a mercenary. Due to the loss of his arm, his father lost his purpose in life. Despite his father’s love for fighting, he couldn’t fight anymore. But knowing he had a wife and son, he continued to try and live for them. 

However, the Whitehall family built their small fortune on being mercenaries and when his father lost his arm, they had to make do with the little they had. His mother was sick and the only medicine that could help her was reserved for nobles. That is, if they were to lose their title as Barons, they wouldn’t be able to access that medicine, regardless of whether they could afford it.

But the truth was that title or no title, they couldn’t afford anything. They had sold all they could and were behind on a year’s taxes. They were down on their last leg when Isaac met a certain 12 year old girl.

It was a coincidental meeting when he was only 15 years old. He had just finished servicing another wealthy client and was going home through a back alley. Then he saw her standing at the exit, sucking on a candy. As to what a 12 year old was doing there in the first place, he had no clue.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him, like all females did but her gaze was a bit different. And the first thing that came out of her mouth was: “Work for me.”

Naturally, Isaac ignored her. He had no time to play with children. But the next day, his house was visited by the Princess of Edis, Selena Maelan Kahler de Edis.

And it was that same 12 year old girl.

She had a proposal for him. She would take care of his expenses and his family’s expenses as long as he did everything she asked for 10 years.

He was understandably suspicious. And perhaps he would be more suspicious if she asked for nothing in return. But he had no reason to listen and most of all, even if she was a princess, she was still a child. However, when the Princess gave him ‘down payment’ by getting 6 months’ worth of medicine for his mother, Isaac chose to give in.

He didn’t have much of a purpose in life except to take care of his mother and father. And if the Princess would help him do that, he was willing to return the favor.

Although Isaac agreed to be one of the Princess’ people, he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do, nor did the princess tell him. All she did was tell him to keep in shape and stay low.

Sometime after Isaac began to work for the Princess, the Princess hired his father as a guard. For a while, Isaac thought she was just pitying his father until he realized his father was taught how to fight with one arm by a skilled instructor. His once hopeless father became someone with vigor in his eyes.

For the first time, Isaac was grateful to the Princess. He knew she didn’t have to revive his father’s spirit, but she did and for that, his loyalty would belong to her for the next 10 years.

It was around this time that Isaac asked the Princess what he was supposed to do.

The Princess’ eyes twinkled, and she flashed her usual cute smile, “I was wondering when you’d ask!”

Seeing Isaac tilt his head in confusion, the Princess only laughed and continued, “You’re going to marry me!”

And to say Isaac was shocked would be an understatement.

The Princess had never shown any interest in him, so this was out of the blue.

The man wasn’t stupid.

He knew the power of his own looks and he himself had used it many times in the past. But he also knew his looks had no effect on the Princess. She looked at him the same way she looked at beautiful diamonds.

He gazed at the Princess asking for an explanation, but her mysterious smile told him she wasn’t going to tell him anything.

Isaac could only sigh and play along.

He had already agreed to do whatever she wanted, and he was someone who kept his promises.

Now, 2 years after his first meeting with the Princess, Isaac found himself standing in front of the rulers of the Edis Kingdom. There was a time to regret decisions and now was the worst possible time. The only thing he could do was fake calmness and composure.

He lifted his head when the Queen allowed him to and was finally able to meet the eyes of the highest ranked people in the kingdom. But one particular eye stood out to him.

It took all he had not to stare at her, but he could feel her gaze. A young girl, seemingly about 10 years old was staring at him. He would have mistook her gaze for infatuation if not for the fact that the gaze was something he was quite used to in the earlier parts of his life.

Pity.

The look in her eyes was undeniably pity.

He was standing in front of the King and Queen of Edis and he was most likely getting engaged to the Princess of the Kingdom. Feeling pity for him was strange. The pity in her eyes only lasted for a moment before it was covered with an emotion he could only describe as mock adoration.

But he couldn’t shake the thought of his mind.

Why does she pity me?