Collecting dust in the north-eastern corner of the city , the abandoned warehouse, already run down and with no prior visitors was surrounded by an ominous air, The warehouse felt like a horror site from the outside. The broken front wall, the shattered glass windows , the overgrown weed in it's compound add more to this chilling scene.

  As a surprise turn of events , two visitors were standing at its front entrance, Sewo and Theia . They were here to scout the product they had purchased . They were not the most happy seeing the amount of work and renovations needed to be done on it. But this was much better than staying in that shitty alleyway.

  Sewo enters the warehouse, the door collapses soon as Sewo slides it, Sewo's heart skips a beat, he thinks " Wait.. Did I get scammed? How could such a big door just fall over when i barely used any force to open it, I definitely did get scammed."

  Mustering up some courage , Sewo moves forward and looks around the warehouse, it had a very big open space in the middle , the floor was covered with thick layers of dust and the surrounding walls were all dirty , even breathing inside the structure was difficult.

  Sewo looks around and notices a flight of stairs that lead to the upper are of the warehouse. There were 4 sections each attached closely to one of the 4 walls . These were big and spacious , perhaps Sewo could buy alot of mattresses and get his men settled here after this mess was cleaned up.

  Theia starts to draw a sketch of the insides of the warehouse in her notebook. She wanted to make the most efficient use of the space she had been given. Theia asks Sewo about his plans moving forward.

  Sewo explains his ideas to Theia " Well, for starters , we bring our employees here by tomorrow and get this fixed and while this warehouse is getting cleaned up , we an use that alley to get more funds. You can manage this whole cleanup and moving in thing , I saw how diligently you were making those sketches for this, so clearly you have lots of bright ideas . I'll trust you with this operation and in the meanwhile I will get as much funds I can ."

  Theia agreed with Sewo's plans and thanks him for putting his trust iin her . With determination in her eyes and knowing she has to make the warehouse into a sutiable business office , Theia starts working on designs and organisation of all the possible furnitures she might need in the office.

  Next morning Sewo send 5 of his employees to the warehouse and under Theia's guidance theuy begin cleaning the warehouse . Sewo in the meanwhile accepts new requests from interested people and goes on mining expeditions and even organises hunts with his men to gather resourced , this allows Sewo's company to make a great fortune , enough to feed his employees and manage the warehouse properly, after 4 weeks of sincere efforts from everyone , the new office building has been set up.

  Sewo decided to visit the new office now, soon as he got close he started to observe the changes. The broken old door which would collapse upon opening was now replaced by a big sliding door mounted on a small rail via pedals. The dusty walls were now clean and painted in a design of red and cyan. The workers were given mattresses on the 2nd floor and the main warehouse had slots for tools with an open pathway leading upto the main area where they would interact with the customers.

  The workers, Theia and Sewo were all so happy with this big achievement that they had collectively worked towards. Now they were really close to becoming a market bigshot . They needed 2 more things .

  Sewo meets up with Theia and then the two of them discuss the next steps for their business. Sewo tells Theia about his plan- " We need a license first, with the license we can officially be recognised as a business organization and can have an official name for their business and the next thing they need , they need to make a solid achievement so that their name spreads far and wide , for that they need to either get hold of an insanely rare material or hunt down very exotic animals ."

  Theia nods in affirmation as she was thinking of the exact same thing. Sewo then asks Theia to get the business registered under her name , since for personal reasons he wouldn't want to be on any government records.

  Theia altough curious about his reasons , decides to agree with this request and she visits the government building of the city. Sewo tags along with her .

  Arriving at the place, Sewo is taken aback, altoough he knew about it , seeing the building in person brings back harsh memories. The government building here was an exact replica of the Paragon from his village. Sewo takes a deep breath as he collects himself , realizing that the past is long gone and now this is the necessary step he must take for his future.

  Theia goes inside the building alone as Sewo decides to stay outside and wait for her , since going in together might cause unwanted trouble.

  After 45 minutes of waiting , Theia finally comes out of the building with the license.Sewo decides that it's time to move on to the next step and starts discussing with Theia the next steps , he asks her about the rare and out of stock material these days, he asks her if she can tag along with him so the two of them can observe the market and make a list of materials that are super hard to come by or their supply route has been compromised and they can provide it.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Theia asks Sewo to stop moving so fast and she adds" Listen , we just got the license , aren't you just zooming ahead too fast? I know you like to get things done at a fast pace, but still. I think we should take a much needed break and go eat something. There is no point in rushing forward so fast."

  Sewo although reluctant , agrees with what Theia said and apologises to her for being so self - centered and decides that he should celebrate this day with his people back at the company.

  Suddenly he then asks Theia" Wait a minute... what did you name the company? "

  Theia asks him to not ask of such small details , but Sewo insists saying its an important piece of detail so he should know at least this much.

  Theia asks him to not get mad at her and then shows him the license. Upon closer inspection , Sewo saw the company name below Theia's name and it read : " Iron Lily Agency".

  Sewo immediately looks up at Theia , then back at the license, and after looking back and forth . Sewo then just sighs and tells her "It's fine , not like I had any better name in mind and since you're the one leading the company so it is better if you named it."

  Theia starts blushing and tries to maintain a neutral expression. Sewo then asks her out for some food and she agrees. The two of them , then head to a restaurant , the same one where they got the idea of the company from. They eat and drink like crazy and after realizing that its too late in the night they agree to get a room in a nearby inn for the night.

  Since their funds were limited they decided to share the room. They both get straight to bed. Sewo knows that he shouldn't fool around for the night , because she is not just any woman and his work colleague now, so doing anything foolish might yield unwanted problems in the future.

  Sewo goes to bed and falls asleep. Theia also retires to bed , but she can't sleep at all . She is too excited, she was hoping Sewo might try to seduce her or do weird things, but then she looks at him and realizes that he is long asleep.

  She then calls for him , but Sewo obviously doesn't respond. She then moves closer to him and pokes him , he still doesn't budge. She then stuffs her face inside the blanket and notices that Sewo doesn't have a shirt on. At first she gets flustered , but she gets excited .

  She thinks that taking a little peek will hurt nobody and so she puts her face in the blanket and looks at his body. Since the room is dark , there is barely any visibility , so she gently touches his body . She can feel his body, there are cuts on it.

  There are some wounds possibly from being stabbed. Sewo then turns around on his left side and Theia puts his arm on his back and she notices there are even more bruises and swellings .

  She feels sad, realising that he has faced so many hardships and that the man who was smiling so brightly in the day is actually carrying burdens that he has no one to share to.

  She gets curious about his past. She remembers that even during there first encounter he was so sad . She wished to support him anyhow she could.

  She knows Sewo is a good person , he helps people even when he has nothing to gain from it. He is ambitious, hard working and he cares for those who stand by his side . Not to mention he is also very smart . Theia believes Sewo is too good for her.

  She then turns around , facing the opposite way from Sewo. Theia then reminisces about her past. Her mother Eura used to be a popular singer and she used to perform for the nobles.

  Theia has memories of practicing for hours with her mother. She remembers how her mother would wake her up early in the morning and then the two of them would go out to the park and practice melodies.

  Her father Marcus was a drunkard, actually her mother was forcefully married to him. She had a lover , he was from a weaker section in the society so he didn't have any standing , while Eura was from a family of singers. Eura's lover Vosk was a very warm and kind hearted person , he was a poet , not very well known though , as he would struggle to make ends meet.

  Eura loved him , they shared many happy moments together , they wanted to build a life for themselves. Unfortunately, when Eura's father Sir William caught wind of their affairs , he wasn't very happy.

  Realizing that his only daughter had succumbed to such foolishness and was going to coax her entire future as a singer just to be with some pathetic beggar who wore ragged clothes. He couldn't just sit by idly and watch this happen, he forced his daughter shut in a room and didn't allow her to be let out.

  Eura would write songs about Vosk , she would write letters to him , sing loudly , hoping somehow she could just get in contact with him. In the meanwhile, her father met up with Marcus' father Sir Erik Van , he was a noble , although not of very high standing , he still had immense popularity and Marcus was to inherit all the family wealth after his father passed away.

  Sir William promised to wed his daughter Eura to Marcus , if Sir Erik can get rid of an insect who has manipulated his daughter into loving him for the sake of their wealth . Sir Erik agrees to this request and he sends his guards to get rid of the poet named Vosk.

  Vosk who was looking all over the city for any signs of Eura , was also writing poem for her. In his desperate search for Eura , Vosk had written several masterpieces. It was his biggest masterpiece.

  He published his works and it was getting him all the fame in the world. Not bothered by this fame , Vosk decided he would visit Eura's house as he couldn't just sit quietly when he hasn't even caught a glimpse of Eura for a month .

  Vosk and his 3 friends barge sneak into Sir William's mansion. They search every crook and cranny to find Eura. Just then Vosk hears a faint was of a woman, he recognizes this was, It was Eura, she was singing songs, her colorful voice was now filled with a mundane melancholy .

  Vosk immediately runs over to the room , he starts to knock on the door , he lets her know that he has finally come to take Eura with him.

  The door was locked , he uses the metal rod his friend had brought along to smash the lock open. While doing so , unfortunately , he gets ambushed by the guards.

  Sir William knew that Vosk would come here eventually , he had planned this ambush for this specific case . The guards start beating Vosk , they step on his fingers , stomp on him .

  Eura keeps asking her father to stop hurting Vosk and to let him live, she begs him again and again , he father feels sorry , but he knows that Vosk who is in love will stop at nothing.

  Sir William then opens the door to Eura's room and strikes her an offer, he asks her to choose between still wanting a life with Vosk , which would get him killed and then Eura will be married to Marcus Or she promises to not get involved with Vosk anyhow, marry Marcus and Vosk gets to live

  Eura breaks down , she starts weeping, tears roll down her eyes as she realises that all the promises between her and Volk will be left unfulfilled.

  She prays to God that if somehow , somewhere he exists , then he should have helped her , he should save her and Vosk . She screams" Why , why do you torment us , father ? What did I do that is so wrong? Is it wrong to love someone? Is it really that wrong .. to .. want to live... with someone you love? I love him , you know that , why can't you be a good father and just accept us? I have never talked back to you , never have I asked for one thing from you. Can't you just for once , let me do something I want?"

  Sir William is taken aback , he realizes that his daughter who is madly in love can not see the bigger picture. He scolds her , saying " Why can't you think straight? There is nothing worth liking about in this man , look at him , he is pathetic, he doesn't even make enough to feed himself three meals a day. You want me to let my daughter make a foolish mistake like this and ruin the rest of her life where she has to give up on her talents, her career and live her life being a pathetic woman , just because she couldn't control her emotions?NO! I refuse to let that happen. This man is not worthy for you , he is miserable and will only make you even more miserable than himself. You can hate me all you want , but the truth is , I won't let you ruin your future Eura."