Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Distress

Chapter 152 – Distress

”...I beg your pardon, Miss?”

Omm asked with a surprised tone, his eyes growing slightly wide at Meadow’s words.

Seeing his expression, she let out a strange smile.

”Did I stutter?” She arched an eyebrow. ”I am offering you a position at my newly opened Company as a merchant. Isn’t that what you wanted to be the first time you came to me?”

She took one step closer. This time, Omm was too surprised to retreat, his expression making it clear he hadn’t expected any of what was currently happening.

”Didn’t you wish to be a Merchant?” She asked again.

”I... I did, Miss.” He nodded slowly. ”But that is no longer the case.”

”Huh?” Meadow stopped abruptly. ”What do you mean?”

”I no longer wish to be a Merchant, Miss.” Omm repeated, smiling awkwardly. ”I am satisfied with my work as a Shepherd.”

”How can you say that? Being a Merchant under me would earn you far more money. Enough to retire both your parents and let them rest after everything they have sacrificed for you.” Meadow pressed on. ”Let me ask you again, Shepherd... isn’t that what you wanted?”

”It is.” He replied, unsure why his Miss was being so insistent. ”But I will reach that level in time through my work as a Shepherd. Our family does not spend much, so it will be fine.”

”You are turning down more money?” Meadow asked, her tone openly incredulous. ”With what I plan to pay you, your entire family could finally enjoy what you have all been denied. I am not following you, Shepherd.”

She was genuinely at a loss.

She had expected Omm to bow his head and light up with gratitude at the news she was bringing him. Instead, all she was getting was an awkward, gentle refusal.

An offer she was making not because his qualifications were sufficient — they were still far from it — but because he was an honest man. And in a world where the line between truth and falsehood had become increasingly difficult to find, anyone would want to work alongside someone like him.

Especially her.

”You are misunderstanding, Miss.” Omm said, trying to explain gently. ”I need money to survive, but I don’t need that much. What you are already generously paying me as a Shepherd is more than enough to change our lives with time. And besides, Miss...”

He coughed with embarrassment. ”...I am planning to take the Scholarship Exam in a week, to become eligible for the Academy Entrance Test despite my background. Being a Merchant would take far too much time away from preparing for it.”

’My parents are already unhappy that I am working at all. I cannot do more than this. It would weigh on them.’

”Is that all?” Meadow asked, her pink eyes narrowing behind her glasses with a stubbornness she hadn’t known was in her. ”Is that truly all, Shepherd? Because I feel you are not telling me everything.”

Her eyes brightened with a sharper hue.

”...What do you mean, Miss?”

”Don’t act unaware.” She said. ”Your words are truthful, but something is missing. What are you holding back?”

Omm paused at that, a wry and embarrassed expression crossing his face.

He hadn’t expected Miss Wealth to sense that he was holding something back. But how could she tell? Was he truly that easy to read?

And now that he had been caught in his small act, he found himself compelled to be honest.

He sighed slowly, lowering his gaze. ”It is just that... it is just that, Miss, I am content enough as a Shepherd. I do not need more. Being a Merchant would mean moving from dealing with harmless, gentle sheep to dealing with people. People are more complex, more unpredictable and more... dangerous.”

He lifted his head and met her eyes.

”That is an entirely new set of responsibilities I would need to carry, Miss. And... yes, I would rather not, if I have a choice.”

’Oh... I hadn’t considered it from that angle.’ Meadow realised, pulled up short by his reasoning.

To her, it was nothing new. She had grown up surrounded by merchants and commerce through her mother. But for Omm, it was an entirely unfamiliar world.

”You are afraid.” Meadow said plainly, making him flinch. ”You are afraid of the new responsibilities. Afraid of failing.”

Omm said nothing. He went completely still.

”You would have accepted without hesitation if I had offered you this position the first time we met. But now that you are comfortable as a Shepherd, you do not want to step outside that comfort.”

Meadow smiled with quiet certainty, knowing she was right the moment she saw Omm’s expression.

”I respect that.” She said, shrugging. ”That is entirely your right. However, Shepherd, if it helps ease your mind, you will not lose your position as my Shepherd. You would carry both roles.”

”What?” He exclaimed. ”Miss, that is even worse! I won’t have the time—!”

”You are a smart, lucky man, aren’t you?” Meadow cut in, feeling a sudden, surprising urge to challenge him. ”I am certain you will find a way. And what you are afraid of is inevitable regardless. Sooner or later, you will have to face people and not sheep. Especially if you wish to enter the Academy. And do not forget, Shepherd, this is the perfect opportunity to finally free your family from the weight of financial need.”

She stepped closer until only a couple of paces separated them.

”I apologise for my persistence, but you are who I want. I would not be at ease working with anyone else. Take it as the highest honour, Shepherd. I am Meadow Wealth, the sole daughter of Willow Wealth, and I am choosing you as my partner to run my Auction Company. Will you really turn that down because of fear?”

Omm’s lips quivered, unable to form an answer.

”I will give you three days.” Meadow said. ”Three days to think about the offer. And whatever your answer is, you will come to me yourself to give it.”

She paused, tilting her head. ”Understood?”

”...Yes, Miss.”

She smiled and turned away. ”Don’t disappoint me, Shepherd. Whether by refusing or by accepting and turning out to be someone different from who I believe you to be. The first will leave me with nothing but disappointment. The second will make you wish you had never met me.”

Omm swallowed quietly.

”This is an opportunity to change your life.” Meadow’s voice softened. ”And don’t worry about the Academy. Even if you fail the Scholarship Exam...”

She paused mid-step, turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, and smiled with undisguised arrogance. ”...I can cover everything you need and give you three times its worth on top of it. But you already know what the conditions for that are.”

Without waiting any further, Meadow disappeared from the realm, leaving Omm in a state of visible distress.

He exhaled loudly and sat down on the grass, watching as the sheep drifted toward him, their innocent, unhurried eyes bringing a quiet comfort to his unsettled heart.

”It is hard.” He whispered suddenly, moving his hand gently across one of them. ”It is truly hard to be seen as virtuous and be constantly praised. My father. My mother. And now Miss Wealth.”

Omm would have much preferred never to be praised for simply being who he was.

Because now that they were saying these things about him, he felt an innate pressure...the pressure to actually be everything they believed him to be, so as not to disappoint them.

And sometimes, with so much praise heaped upon him, Omm noticed a quiet pride beginning to stir inside himself. A hint of superiority he hadn’t asked for and didn’t like.

’They praise what they can see. But I am not exactly what they say. I am a simple human being at the end of it all, and my heart is vulnerable to arrogance and greed and sin like any other.’

That was also why he had simply wanted to remain a shepherd.

He didn’t want to know what it felt like to have more, fearing that once he had it, he would always crave more. If that happened, he would be going against everything his father had taught him.

He was not only afraid of failing to perform the job well. He was afraid of failing to stay true to his core beliefs — of losing himself — when he was finally introduced to a broader, more demanding side of the world.

All of these thoughts pressed through his mind, bringing a kind of distress he had never felt before, and he found himself hugging the sheep around him, drawing comfort from their uncomplicated innocence.

But at that moment, the voice of his father moved through his memory, telling him that the only unshakable comfort a person could seek was one that came directly from God.

Not from any mortal creature that could die at any moment.

So Omm listened to his father’s words, and prayed quietly in his heart, knowing his Lord heard all things.

’My Lord, You know me better than I know myself, and I know myself better than those around me know me. Oh Lord, make me better than what they think of me. Forgive me for what they do not know about me. And do not hold me to account for what they believe of me. Ease my restless heart, and guide me toward the best path...even if it is one I do not want. For You know better than I do, and I am ignorant.’

At that silent prayer, strangely, his heart began to settle, gradually falling into a quiet synchrony with the heartbeats of the sheep gathered around him.

And for one brief, fleeting moment, Omm could have sworn he heard something — soft and indistinct, like voices trying to pass through to his heart, as if the sheep around him were attempting, in their own way, to console him.

But the feeling passed quickly, and he slipped into sleep, exhausted from a full night of studying for the upcoming exam.

...

Meanwhile, inside the Royal Palace, Anesthesia sat on the floor beside her bed, her purple eyes fixed on her phone screen.

She wore a short black skirt and a black top.

The Chosen Heiress had just created an entirely new account on E-Post specifically so she could view Love de Bayard’s pictures without letting Love know it was her.

And the more she looked, the angrier she became. She was beginning to genuinely despise the sight of Love’s face, wanting nothing more than to tear it apart.

’I should have anticipated this the moment I sensed your jealousy toward me.’ She mused. ’But I dismissed it. Every girl I ever introduced to Emrys was jealous of me, because they knew I was the only one he truly loved. But I was wrong about this one.’

She bit her lip, exited the app and opened E-Chat, scrolling to her last conversation with Emrys.

It had been the day after the Royal Event. She had tried to reach him.

Seven messages of asking forgiveness, of confessing her love without restraint and telling him to stop seeing that bitch Love.

Every single one left unread.

Anesthesia’s body began to tremble, the emotions she had been compressing threatening to spill out all at once.

She returned to E-Post, watching as Emrys liked and commented on Love’s pictures one after another, with Love responding only to him, their exchanges reading like those of a settled couple.

People were already beginning to speculate in the comments.

Anesthesia’s heart ached with every new post she scrolled past. Yet she kept looking until abruptly a call came through.

She drew a slow breath and answered.

”Yes?” Her voice was dead cold.

”Master, I have successfully obtained the personal contact information of Meursault, Love’s manager.”

She smiled without warmth. ”Good. Send it to me by message. And what about his dealings? What does he love?”

”Ah, hahah.” The person on the other end laughed softly. ”Well, my Lady, he loves what everyone in that industry tends to want.”

”Meaning?”

”There have been persistent rumours of him pursuing young rising stars...poaching them through rather questionable methods.”

”And Love in all of this?”

”Meursault is not a fool, master. He would never move against the daughter of the Runic Tower Master. And besides, he is genuinely good at his job. I can only assume Lady Love looked the other way and accepted him in order to climb.”

”I wouldn’t be surprised if she earned her placement by sucking him.” Anesthesia said flatly. ”Does he have a family?”

”Aye, master. A wife, two daughters and a son.”

”How old?”

”The wife is forty-five. The eldest daughter is twenty-five, the second is twenty, and the boy is around seventeen.”

”Forty-five. Close to my mother’s age.” She murmured. ”And where do I find them?”

The man paused, then replied with a quiet, wicked laugh.

”They live in Desde City, master. They own a home there, rather close to the Desdemona Estate.”

”Oh my...” Anesthesia smiled slowly, her glowing purple eyes curving into crescents. ”...how fabulous.”

—End of Chapter 152—