snakegotcake

(I'm skipping around to boil this down to what is important. I have fifteen pages written if anything needs further elaboration, but I prefer to conceal backstories to an appropriate extent!)

Cain Eldrik had never grown in an environment of wealth or comfort. After her father's sudden passing from an “untreated and unfamiliar” illness, her mother inherited all debts that he had otherwise been working to comfortably repay. Her mother was not fit to do most jobs, often sickly herself and needing to sit down often. To help make personal ends meet, Cain would harvest whatever they grew in their small field and collect the clutches of eggs laid by their hens. Cain's mother baked with their own ingredients and sold what she did not use to feed her own small family to those traveling through their otherwise forgotten village.

Traditionally, personal debts were forgiven if death or tragedy struck. However, her father had owed a traveling man a handsome sum for something he and his wife refused to disclose to their daughter. The traveling man was not bound by cultural etiquette, and greed overcame him. Cain and her mother began to loathe the sound of knocking on wood, expecting an academic-looking man to sternly smile once the door opened.

As the weeks went by, the man became less and less pleased with the amount of money that Cain's mother could offer. He suggested that Cain's mother take up tailoring again. How he knew that her mother had ever tailored, Cain did not know. Cain's mother sorrowfully expressed that that was feasible for neither her mother’s body nor budget. The man scoffed and held his expression for a few moments before laying eyes on Cain. His piercing hazel eyes sent chills down the girl's spine.

After a tense conversation and much convincing, Cain was sent off to receive a chance at education and a means to living more comfortable than her current situation. As promised, she was partially raised underneath the jeweling apprenticeship of a woman in close cohorts to the mysteriously wealthy debtor. Cain's guardian- self-titled "Baron Aleksi"- granted Cain the ability to write Common and very limited amounts of the Agnethe language. Despite Cain's perpetual pauper state- never seeing a coin of her profits as they went straight towards debt payment- she got to experience the rush of gold and silver collaterals and their intricacies before they were melted down to be repurposed.

Previously, Cain had been promised to by Aleksi that she and her mother could still communicate and even see one another periodically. This promise was not met, and Cain became increasingly hesitant in extending any sort of trust or cooperation towards her guardian. Aleksi's greed surpassed his seeming devotion to Canonism, and his mental wellness took a spiral over the approximate five years Cain had stayed with him. A domestic dispute resulted in Cain's unfortunate arrival without plan to the Holy Orenian Empire.