Family ties

Both mother and daughter entered the room and were met with several people.

An older man and woman, a man and woman of a similar age to Elizabeth but also a young man.

The older woman, man and the man that was of a similar age to Elizabeth all had some similarities to her but the young man only had a couple of features that resembled Elizabeth because he took most after his mother.

When Elizabeth entered the room, she calmly maintained her etiquette and composer as she spoke. "Greetings father, mother, brother and their family members. What brings you here to my home?"

Her elegance and grace of her movements allowed for her to show her position as someone who was of a high position and then the fan that put up a wall between her and the others created a certain distance between them even if she was talking to a close blood relationship to herself.

This showed that she had drawn a certain boundary between herself and her family from the beginning and would not allow them to gain an advantage and power over her while still maintaining her image as a filial daughter and as the lady of the Bombyx family.

The older man had slightly greyed hair and wrinkles on his face which showed that the years had not been so kind to him and he was the one that stepped forward as the authoritative figure among the group.

However what Ki noticed among them was something else entirely and that was the youngest of them.

She recognised his face because she had met him once before but also was someone who she had investigated in the past to be connected to her mothers family and another noble family as they formed an alliance through marriage in the past and birthed the heir to their family.

When she first met him, she felt that he was familiar but now that she had met him again, she remembered everything and felt that they were truly fated to meet each other once again.

However she put that to the back of her mind since he would be unable to recognise her from that day, so she just observed from the side of her mother.

The old man spoke up after a brief silence that followed in the room. "It seems that married life has treated you well daughter. Since you have asked, I will get straight to the point."

Although he felt that his daughter should be respectful towards her father who she had not seen in a long time, he was in the position of a person asking for a favour so he could not afford to bring it up and display his anger before his propose had been achieved.

Since there was no response from the mother and daughter, the old man had no choice but to continue. "The family is in a bad place recently and we are in need of support. Our enemies have too much power and our position within our home city is becoming unstable."

Ki smiled behind her own fan and then hid her emotions after hearing their true purpose.

She had investigated any blood connections to herself and her family that may prove to be a a problem in the future many years back but she had not heard from this side of the family that was connected to her mother.

Her grandfather who had passed away had no relatives but her grandmother had a blood connection between herself and her sister who had been married out of the family but many years ago they no longer remained in the world of the living.

The only person that was connected by a family outside of the Bombyx family was her mother and they had long been estranged for over ten years at the least.

After investigating the origins of them, she found out that they all have come from the Capital some time before they had arranged the marriage between the Bombyx family and themselves for their own purpose but also the short monetary gains from selling off their daughter.

Although it was initially promised and arranged so that their connections would be cut off from her in exchange for a large one off payment to stop them from having any involvement in the Bombyx families business, after more than ten years that agreement would have long been forgotten and the moment they were experiencing a hard time, they were trying to reconnect that family connection.

Ki looked at those opposite her and then thought to herself. 'They sure have some nerve… not a single word from them even when our family had been enduring many attacks but the moment they had their own problems, here they are. How shameless.'

It wasn't that they weren't aware of the situation close to the border and the danger the Bombyx family would have been in but instead that they had chosen to ignore it since there was no real gain from helping during their difficult time and risking their own manpower and resources.

Even if they did have something to gain because of their help and connections, they still chose to ignore the Bombyx families time of need until the time came that they truly needed help.

From what she had gathered on them and stories from her mother she had learned a lot about them.

Her mother was brought up as a typical noble daughter and attended the coming of age ceremony within the capital while slowly building up her status along with her value to be sold off at the highest price to another noble family or create a beneficial alliance between two families.

She learned music, calligraphy, painting and dancing like most noble daughters but the problem came later…

Her older brother was the sole heir and was given much more attention and support compared to herself but was never really liked by those within the main social circle of those within power.

Many influences had friction with the family beforehand but once the new heir stepped into the limelight, the situation in the Capital was becoming even more difficult as the new heir was failing to make connections but instead drawing more enemies upon them.

As a lower ranked noble family, they had enough power compared to families outside of the Capital but within they would easily be torn apart by the larger families so they had no choice but to leave as their businesses were being destroyed within the capital and most of their allies began to abandon them.

No matter what friendships and connections her mother had built up or possible love interests that she had with anyone within the capital, she had to abandon everything and move away with her family.

From there they used the information they had gained from the Capital about the family that had produced and traded with many clothing businesses in the Capital for many more than a hundred years, they tracked down that family after they got settled in a new place because out of everyone else outside of the Capital, they were the most suitable family to arrange a marriage with for their daughter.