Hessian Clothing (2)

After that, our clothes started selling like hot cakes. I was elated. People came from all over the province after catching wind of our water-repellent cloth, and they just could not get enough! And after listening to several groups of ladies discuss the unique scent of our coats and other apparel items, I knew I'd made the right choice in hiring Ymir.

With his skills, we were able to create a slew of essential oils, just strong enough to eliminate the gamy odor from the fat coating that made our clothes repel water, but not so strong it was overwhelming. I was proud of him, and glad to see him glowing with self-pride, from the success he helped to create.

It had been a few weeks since we first opened up shop, and the leaves outside were starting to fall and cover the ground when Ymir approached me shyly.

I thought it strange, considering how close we'd gotten, and I jokingly asked, "Cat got your tongue?"

He didn't respond for a moment and I worried for a brief second I might have actually offended him in some way, but then he started, "Isani… I don't know how I can express the amount of gratitude I feel towards you. Not only for taking me out of the slums, giving me a home, and many delicious things to eat, but also for making me the man I am today."

I scratched the side of my face. It was uncomfortable for me to receive praise like this.

"I know it must seem strange. I'm a man well into his thirties, soon to be middle aged, and I'm treating you like my older brother or something of that nature, but I can't help it. You have shown me that not only is alchemy valuable, but I am valuable. You made me believe in my art, and in myself. So… I just wanted to say thank you."

I looked Ymir up and down, and suddenly I couldn't help but notice how small he seemed. He was right, it was strange hearing someone so much older than me say things like 'you made me who I am today', but then I thought about what kind of life Ymir lead before I brought him into the Hessian manor.

We hadn't gone into much detail, because he seemed uncomfortable talking about it, but he'd given me the gist of what his life was like. He hadn't been born in our province, he had been born in the capital, which was overseen directly by the imperial family. His father was an attendant under the current emperor when he was just a prince. Ymir, his father, and mother, all lived a fairly comfortable life.

But Ymir's father wasn't always the kindest to his only son. He didn't like that his child spent so much time reading alchemy books in the library. He began to 'discipline' him every time he caught Ymir with one of those books. It made Ymir wary of the practice, but for some reason, he couldn't keep himself away.

Ymir's father was a short-tempered and greedy man. Eventually, because he was careless, the prince he served caught wind of his behavior towards Ymir and decided to dismiss him. It wasn't that the future emperor was above such behavior, but it didn't look good for public sentiment if he kept an attendant that abused his child.

But this put Ymir in even greater danger, as his father began to blame him for his misfortune.

His abuse grew worse and worse every day, until Ymir's mother, who also bore the brunt of her husband's temper, could bear it no longer. She took Ymir and fled to the Hessian province, where she had heard of promising work for women. She became a seamstress, and things were peaceful for a while.

That was until my father took his place as Duke. Being the idiot he was, he decided to ban all women from working, because of some silly incident with a seamstress not getting his measurements right. It made my blood boil just thinking about it.

Ymir and his mother quickly fell into poverty, and to make matters worse, Ymir's mother got extremely sick. This was when Ymir's interest in alchemy grew tenfold, as he was determined to find some kind of salve or potion that would cure his mother. He did not succeed, and his mother died when he was only fifteen.

From that point forward, Ymir survived off the few medicines he was able to sell to the lower-class who could not afford the healing arts of a practiced magician. He lived like that for nearly twenty years until I found him.

I was about to respond, but he continued on, "When I first figured out who you were, I was terrified. I thought you would be like your father, prejudice and inconsiderate of those below him. But I was wrong. You proved me wrong so many times, Isani. Thank you."

I could feel myself blushing, and I turned away.

"That's enough out of you, get back to work!" I exclaimed.

I could hear Ymir's laugh as he responded, "Of course, My Lord."

I whipped around, ready to chuck the nearest object at him for referring to me so stiffly, but then a customer walked in the doors.

"Oh! Welcome to- " I stopped short when I saw who the supposed customer was.

"Hello Isani, have you been faring well?" Wyatt, my older brother, asked as he strolled into my shop.

This was going to be one hell of a headache.