The Consequence For Bitterness

Chapter 24

Seven-year-old Sakura lied awake in bed, grinning up at the ceiling. She knew exactly what day it was. It was the day she waited for every single year, every single day and every single month.

It was the day everyone all over the world got presents from their parents and celebrated with their family with delicious food and desserts. It was Nobility Fest, the celebration of nobility and beasts. It was a day to celebrate the fruits of their hard-earned nobility.

As soon as the morning sun filled her small room, she jumped from her bed, running through it and throwing open her bedroom door. She took off running into the living room, skidding to a stop.

Her heart fell though at the sight before her. There were no presents under their tree, no food set out on their small table. Her dad, the man she barely saw beyond this day, was nowhere to be seen. Her mom sat at the kitchen table, her head in her hands.

Sakura hesitantly approached her mom, sitting across from her at the table. "Mommy... Where's Daddy? Is he still sleeping? Should I go wake him? And where are all the presents?"

Her mother sighed, raking her hand through her hair as she looked up at her. "Daddy went to work. And we don't have the money to celebrate Nobility Fest this year. It'll just have to wait until next year."

Sakura frowned, her heart sinking even further, accompanied with a weird ache. Now she'd have to wait yet another year to see her dad. "Why can't we celebrate Nobility Fest? Why is Dad always working? Why doesn't he ever have enough money?! Why is it never enough?!" Sakura rose, slamming her hands down on the table, her voice raising to a shout as tears came rushing from her eyes, "why isn't he ever home?!!!"

Her mother sat, staring at her, for a long moment, an empty look in her eyes. Slowly she shook her head. "That's just the way things are, Sakura. I'm sorry. Life isn't fair, sometimes. Not for people like us."

Sakura bit her lip, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Fine. Then I'll just go do my chores. But once I'm done... I'm sitting on the porch. And I'm not leaving that porch until my dad gets home. Hopefully he'll give me a better excuse than you did."

She stormed away, quickly finishing all her chores. They were a poor family in the rough kingdom that was Grumor, that much Sakura knew. What she didn't understand was why they were so poor. It wasn't like her dad wasn't a good worker, not like they weren't morally good people. So why was it that people just like them... doing just as much as them... got treated so much more fairly?

Once she finished her chores, she did exactly as she said she would. She went on the porch. And she sat. And she waited. She didn't move except to use the bathroom. Even her meals were eaten on the porch. She was used to waiting; usually on Nobility Fest days, once they celebrated, her dad would take her out hunting. When they went hunting, they would sit in their hunting posts sometimes for hours, just waiting for the perfect buck to pass.

Hours passed and finally, once the sky had gone dark and most of Grumor had gone to bed, she saw her dad trudging up to their house. His posture was wary and worn down. It looked like the weight of his world was on his shoulders. He came to a stop at the sight of Sakura waiting for him. She peered up at him, her heart constricting at the sight of him. The tears came again, and she sobbed. She took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions enough to speak legible words.

"Daddy... Why aren't you ever home?! Why is it like this?!"

His eyes dimmed and his jaw clenched as he looked down at the ground. "Because some force beyond our comprehension decides how noble we are... How great our beasts should be... And our royalty decides that people who don't have great beasts, who don't have great nobility for whatever reason, are lesser than. That's why, Sakura. And it's just the way it is. It's the way it always has been."