The Light Over The Horizon [Arknights]

Interlude II: Mistress of the Household

"Haaaaaa..."

I let out a sharp exhale. The familiar taste and smell is something that I've gotten used to years ago.

Tapping on the cigarette, the ash falls into the ashtray by me as I pick up the newspaper on my desk with my free hand. Lightly I exhaled again letting out a puff of smoke as I removed the cigarette from my mouth and held it between two of my fingers.

Flipping over the pages, I didn't find anything interesting as I skimmed over what the paper had to say. Oh? That piece of information is...

Never mind...

How dull.

The only piece of information in the newspaper that I dug into turned out to be boring. For a moment I thought it would be interesting but I grew bored.

"Mm..." I need to unsubscribe from the newspaper company. I always remind myself that I need to do it but I never act on it because I forget. A constant cycle of reminding and forgetfulness. "It's gotta be old age..." A century of living does wonders for the mind and body.

Mm...

Taking another whiff, I lean back on my chair and stare at the ceiling.

Today is the 14th. Seventeen more days until the end of the month. After that... the new year will arrive. It will also be "his" birthday soon...

...

My gaze naturally falls toward the picture frame on my desk of when F/N was eight years old.

He's gonna be nineteen years old. I wonder what I was doing at that age. Scratching my neck at the thought, I looked out the window.

Knock! Knock!

"Enter." Adjusting myself, I focused my attention on the door to my office as it then opened. "You're finally back. Frankly, I thought you were killed."

"Your words wound me. It makes it sound like you don't have any faith in me, my lady." Matthew faked being hurt as he shook his head to the side. "Apologies. It took me a bit of time to get back home. You wouldn't believe the long journey it took." He walked up to me as he pulled out multiple envelopes and placed them on the desk.

"Good work." Looking at the envelopes, I should distribute them back to the rightful owners so that they can get back the money they've been robbed of. "Give me a report of what went down."

With an affirmative nod. Matthew looked at me. He explained how the Ursus man was indeed from Ursus. Stupid as it might sound, the reason he said this was because we didn't know if the man lived in Ursus or if he lived here in Yan.

The man may have Ursus traits but speculating that he lived in Ursus simply because of his traits was simply throwing baseless assumptions. Matthew had followed the man to Ursus and into the Chernobog where he found where the man lived.

"I didn't immediately go ahead and finish your mission." Matthew revealed.

"Oh? How come?" Now that was interesting. Matthew didn't immediately attack the man once he found his location.

"Some personal matters got in the way." Matthew reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope different from the ones that had money in them. It was a different color as well and he held it out for me. Looking at it, I noticed the handwriting that was on the envelope. Not just any handwriting but it was an all too familiar one.

"To Mother" is what was written on the envelope.

Grabbing the envelope slowly from Matthew's hands I then looked at the Lupo who smiled.