The Duchess smiled at the sight of the curious look on little Sin's face as they made their way down the docks, his green eyes seemed as if they were captivated by the sight of the bright aquamarine water, he looked about ready to jump into it if the elf girl hadn't been holding onto his hand, the girl in question smiled at the little boy that pointed at the water and turned giving her a questioning look.

"It's called a river Little Sin, you can swim in it." the boy tilted his head and turned his head to stare back at the water.

The Duchess couldn't help but giggle, she knew the child couldn't understand much of what any of them said so it just made her laugh to watch people struggle to explain the simplest of things to the half ling who would always look at them as if they were from another world. She looked away from the boy when the sound of a horn came from the boat the girl was supposed to travel in she tapped the girls back and urged everyone to quicken their steps.

Sin who had been busy staring at the water released a weird sound when the elf girl suddenly stooped down in front of him and pulled him into a tight hug, he felt his chest tighten and wanted to pull away but was afraid of being hit, so he decided to let her do as she pleased, when she pulled back and smiled at him sadly saying something with a tear running down her face he felt his body stiffen even more, did he do something to upset her why was she crying?

The girl continued to say something to him and then gave him one more squeeze before placing a kiss on his head and quickly getting up and heading for the weird thing that was resting on top of the blue water, something told him he was never going to see her again but he didn't feel upset by that the only thing that went through his mind was that the tall lady with brown skin would give him more food and their would be one less person to hit him when they got angry.

He felt someone step behind him and place there hands on his shoulder he looked back to see the weird man that liked to give him meat buns stooping behind him as he looked at the strange wood thing the elf girl was getting onto with a few people who wee dressed in black that had been following them for a while, he felt his ears flick as the strange sound was made again and the thing started to move away from him, he was most definitely never going to see the girl again.

The Duchess waved at the elf girl as the ship floated out of port before her attention turned to the small boy that was staring at it blankly, she knew he didn't understand the girl as she promised to come back in two years and take him to live in the capital with her where he would be safe, saying how by the time she returned he would be big and strong and be able to read and write the woman swore that he would be like that but had no idea if he would even recognize the girl when she returned, time would tell, she thought as she shrugged her shoulders.

She turned and headed back to the carriage only stopping to buy the boy a sack of sweets and a copper worth of pickled plums, she watched as he happily played with the candy before putting it in his mouth his ears flicking wildly at the rush of sweetness, the boys reaction was so innocent even after going through all he had, she wanted to protect that no matter the cost, society could go fuck itself for all she cared, the boy was her's.

When she got in the carriage she pulled the boy onto her lap, he only stopped to stare at her for a second with his eyes swirling before he returned to his sweets, when he got back home she would give him another large lunch of meat and and fried dough, she wanted to build up as much fat as she could on the boys bones and then later she would worry about getting his muscles into play.

As they headed back into the main town section she stopped the carriage and led the boy into a store that sold high quality children's clothes, she received a weird cry when she took the sweets away from the boy that broke her heart as she had one of her maids wipe his hands clean. The women in the store cooed at the sight of him unaware that he was a half ling a fact she planned to keep to herself for as long as she could to ensure the boys safety.

They broth out different colored clothing maid from silk, lace and the softest cotton possible, she wasn't really surprised to see that black suited the boy more than any other colors, it would go perfectly with her white when they were out in public. The women tried out many different outfits on him and she happily said yes to nearly all of them as she sat in a chair sipping some tea.

The women had even styled the boys hair to show which styles would work with which outfits and it was made easier for him to have more options because of the length of his hair, the darkness of it making him look some what foreign, by the time she was finished she had five gold coins worth of clothing for the boy that was wearing a curious frown on his face, only brightening up when she gave him back his sweets.

She lead him into the carriage and he opted to sit with Baek who almost laughed at the thought of the small boy being angry with the Duchess for taking away his sweets, maybe he was frightened she would take them away again and decided to sit as far away from her as possible.

When the reached back to the house and was safely inside the maids removed his boots and cloak taking him to wash his hands before bringing him back to have lunch, they all eat quickly the boy sucking most of the food into his gut chocking a few times. When she was finished she left him in the care of the maids and left to o see about getting him a tutor, one that she could control, she had the perfect person in mind.

_

Sin sat under a table in the kitchen eating another meat bun that was sweeter than the last one he had and had more liquid coming from it with every bite, he moaned at the taste and continued to eat once in a while peeping at the feet of the chefs as they moved about, when he was finished he stretched his hand from under the table and waited on someone to place a another bun in his hand, this one was darker but seemed more soft and chewy as he bit into it, instead of meat a weird sticky thing filled his mouth and had him smacking his mouth to get it from his teeth.

When he was in the large kitchen he was never afraid to ask for food because the people always gave him without yelling on him first or trying to hit him after, so as long as he was in the room he could eat as much as he wanted for as long as he wanted to and still go back for more. He looked out from under the table when he saw a large jug with a weird pink liquid in it being rest on the floor, he quickly moved and collected it ducking back under the table.

He took a sip and found himself licking his lips at the sweetness of the liquid which he quickly gulped down while racing through the bun, he shoved the jug back from under the table and watched as the pink liquid fall from where he didn't know and landed in the cup only stopping when it was almost spilling over, Sin quickly moved back out to collect it and gulped it down, soon his belly was full and he collected a small white rock from one of the women and stuck it in his mouth knowing it would be sweet.

He suddenly need to pee and found himself looking for one of the women that was dressed in black, he tugged on the woman's skirt when he found her, she smiled down at him and said something, Sin was confused at what to do so he just touched his crotch and the woman nodded before picking him up and walking down the hall going into a small white room where a weird bowl was waiting, she helped him to take down his pants and he pee'd quickly, his hands were washed after his pants was fixed.

The woman carried him down the hall only stopping when he yawned, his ears flicking as he did, the woman seemed to say something in the same tone the other woman would but he could barely hear her as his eyes began to close in, The maid smiled at the sight of the small boy falling to sleep in her arms, so she quickly maid her way to his room and stripped off his clothes putting on his new sleeping shirt and then placed him down on the bed tucking him in before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

+

The Duchess felt pleased with herself as she left the small brown building that the youngest children in the town who's parents could afford to send them, would be sent here to receive early academics but since she knew Sin wouldn't be able to survive in an environment like it she w=had gone to speak to the head of the building who had owed her a favor to send the best tutor that would be able to work from the ground up with Sin.

She had spent a few hours going over information on the person, deciding on payments and the hours the child would study along with getting a list of things that he would need, which turned out to be quite a lot now that that was sorted she needed to figure out how she would be able to get the child to sit in one place for more than a few minutes, the only two places he liked to spend long amount of times in was the kitchen or the dinning area and that was only if he had something to eat.

She had even explained the fact that he couldn't explain most of which was said to him to the teacher and she smiled and said he is not the first child she knew to have this issue especially seeing that he was adopted. The Duchess shook her head, everything would fall into place and soon the child would have everything he needed to set his future in action.

It didn't take them long to reach the house and she climbed out the carriage heading inside, the maids helped her to take off her shoes and cloak before she was told that her little Sin had fallen asleep after eating, she smiled as she made her way up the stairs, she frowned when she saw the door was slightly open and what looked like a red hand print was resting on it.

She ran and shoved open the door screaming at the sight before her, she rushed over to the bed the sheets had bloody claw marks on them the pillow had been ripped to shreds, the bed and white carpet was covered in blood a large pool slowly spreading out from the center she moved through the blood to look through a broken window that lead out the back of the yard, she looked back to watch at Baek just as he entered the room, a tear falling down her face "where's my baby?"