Silthia

Bai Ly and Melina were walking through the market when saw a crowd of people gathered in one place. Curious, they went to check what those people were gathering for. After an effort to squeeze through the tough crowd, they got to the front and saw a band of musicians playing instruments and a singer carrying a song. She was beautiful with her long, silky blonde hair. Her movements and expressions brought life to the story she was singing, and her majestic voice delivered them to the listeners effortlessly.

Song after song, from emotional, to excitement, she carried the emotion of the crowd with ease. When it ended, Bai Ly and Melina were standing still, in shock at what they had just experienced.

Only when the crowd disbanded did they come back to their senses? "Young master, we should go home," Melina said but her mind was still on clouds.

"That performance was so good," he admitted. Seeing her not in the right mind, Bai Ly guided her to a bench nearby. "I'll go get some water for you."

Of course, that was just his excuse to be alone. After leaving Melina, he followed the music band with an intention in mind. 

- That singer is the perfect person we need right now. If I can get her…

He couldn't finish his thoughts as he found the singer at a street corner, outside the view of the market, with a man who was not any of the musicians from the band before. Bai Ly quickly hid himself and heard their conversation.

"Tch. Only three hundred coins this time," the man complained while counting the money. He had a mean face and a big belly. Because of his weight, he had to carry a cane to help him walk.

Across from him, the singer was afraid to look him in the eye. She was very nervous, a stark contrast to her demeanor when performing. "Ho… how much do I get?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"Let's see," the man took out a cigar and gave a big huff, then puffed at her face. "The rent to the band for your performance is already one hundred coins. The cost of your make-up and this expensive dress is another hundred. The cost of your food and shelter will be fifty. That leaves fifty left. Since we split eighty twenty… here," he handed her twenty coins. "Your performance today wasn't bad, so I'm giving you ten more. Consider yourself lucky."

The singer received the coins with a strange expression, "T… Thanks," she replied forcefully while staring at her split. She was clearly unhappy with the amount.

"That's done then. I'll see you later," the man was about to go away, but the singer held him back.

"How… much do I still owe you?" 

After some thinking, he replied with a shocking number, "One thousand left."

"What?!" it was a number she wasn't thinking of. So large that for a moment, she got rid of her timidness. "I only owe you five hundred at the beginning!"

The man smiled and grabbed her shoulders, still puffing his cigar at her face, "My dear Silthia," but nothing from his voice was endearment. "You can't blame me. Blame your gambling-addicting father. He borrowed a thousand coins from me and couldn't pay. Do you know how much a thousand was ten years ago? Of course, I was furious when he couldn't pay, and do you know what he proposed when I beat the life out of him?"

He waited for Silthia to say something, but she was pulled back from the anger and became timid and afraid again. 

Seeing her not saying anything, he continued, "Your wonderful father, proposed the idea himself, to sell his eight-year-old daughter to me for five hundred coins, and told me that since his beautiful daughter can sing well, let her perform and pay the last five hundred."

He stopped and adjusted her dress and wiped the tears lingering in her eyes. "Of course, he didn't account for the interest, not everyone can do the math. I'm not sure if your father even knows the concept of interest," he chuckle, finding the thought amusing.

"But the interest is still there, and it builds up fast, my dear Silthia. That five hundred that was left has doubled to one thousand. The small payments you've made couldn't eat away the principal amount and it led to the build-up. Oh, don't cry, Silthia. That's how math works. It doesn't sympathize with the weak or lick the strong. It just calculates the number for how it is. And that number now is one thousand," he saw the girl was shaking and couldn't contain her tears, so he tried to brighten the mood.

"But don't you feel powerless? What's wrong with working for me? When have I ever mistreated you? I give you food and shelter. I give you expensive singing and performance lessons with the best teachers. I give you beautiful make-up and a stunning dress. I even award you with ten more coins just now. What more do you want from me?"

The young Silthia was taken aback by his close presence to her, but she managed to squeeze the little courage she had left and look at in the eye. "I want freedom!"

They both stared at each other for a long while. Then the man gave a last puff at her face and smiled, turning his friendliness mask off. "Then you can have it, for one thousand coins."

He said and walked away, humming and shaking the bag of 280 coins, as if to put salt in her wound.

Silthia watched him getting farther from her with a look of pure hatred. Tears flowed down her face and her eyes were so red that she would cry blood if she could. She looked down at her hand holding ten coins and laughed frantically. "HAHA!!! Ten coins!! TEN!"

She was so close to throwing them away but swallowed back her anger at the last second and held them to her chest like they were precious babies and started crying her heart out. "One thousand. When will I make one thousand?" she cried and cried and cried for hours on end, to the point she coughed off blood.

It wasn't until the sky darkened and there was no tear left did she dragged her lifeless body back to the inn, where it was also paid for by the man earlier. The irony that she had to still rely on him at this low would make her laugh, but she had no energy left to do so.

Silthia entered the room and slammed the door shut.

Meanwhile, Sa Lim, who had quietly witnessed the entire thing and had his emotion cold, followed her back to the in. When the door shut, he couldn't contain his excitement and devilish smirk anymore.

"She is perfect."