Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!-Chapter 390 - Living Arrangements (Part 2)

"Based on your answer, I take it that you agree to the living arrangements I will provide you moving forward, correct?" This is what I got as a conclusion based on his words.

He looked at me with innocent eyes as he nodded eagerly. He then suddenly looked distressed for some reason. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as if asking "what is wrong this time?".

His eyes darted left and right as I heard him make a heavy sigh. He then carefully said, "I just remembered that you barely know me besides my name and the two jobs I have. What if you do not like me anymore after finding out more about me?"

I giggled and replied in a teasing tone, "Aren’t we too far gone to be worrying about that now? Well... Maybe, it is possible. We technically haven’t done everything that can be done anyways. Sure. You can still back out if you change your mind."

He pinched my waist and grumpily answered, "What do you mean change my mind? Maybe it is you who have changed your mind, you hooligan? You have eaten me clean until I passed out and you are saying we can just walk away like nothing happened. I will fight you!"

I laughed out loud this time and leaned over to kiss the guy breathless. He was fighting me off at first but he eventually gave in and kissed back. Making sure that I wasn’t choking him to death, I parted our lips after a brief while and told him I was just kidding about parting ways.

Once everything has been settled and the grumpy kitten isn’t hissing at me, he started sharing that he was actually an orphan and he does not have any idea at all who his parents were. He said that there was an orphanage in this city that takes care of all the children like him but they only take care of the children until they are 12 and then they are on their own.

He ended up sharing everything about himself to me from his time in the orphanage and the life he lived after he had to leave the place when he was 12. He told me he just turned 19 and he have only worked in Qadreja for several months. He told me that all the hardship, pain and embarrassment he experienced in Qadreja during those months were nothing even if he combined all the things he has stomached during the years that he lived alone to fend for himself after he left the orphanage.

He told me that he had to take many odd jobs to get by for the last 7 years or so before I met him and that Qadreja was a last resort. It was harder for him to get jobs that require strength or labor since he looked too thin and weak. He said that he had better prospects when he was younger where he was able to work as a delivery boy, a street cleaner, a farmhand and he even tried foraging stuff from the forest. He said that he needed a continuous stream of money to help out his younger siblings that were still living in the orphanage,

It turns out that he was using all of his money to keep the orphanage afloat. Orphanages live on donations and it is not like the government will put all their money in raising kids of unknown origins. I definitely understand such points as orphanages also exist in my previous world and it follows the same scheme in keeping things running.

I kept my silence and just let him go all out. Once he was done sharing his stories, he looked at me yearningly as if asking if I was still okay being with him. I smiled and told him, "You are not the first man I have in my life. My first husband is also an orphan and he used to work as an attendant who assists enrolled students in an academe."

He looked at me with widened eyes then he smiled helplessly. He then told me directly, "I always felt that I wasn’t your first, not that it matters. Women can marry multiple men. Men who are married are already lucky. Most are just kept hidden or worse abandoned so who am I to be picky."

Next thing we talked about was his temporary living arrangements while our house is being built. I then suggested for him to stay in my room at the inn and I can just pay his rent for the whole duration of the wait. He readily agreed since he can just eat at the pub where he works in.

He was quite agreeable with all my plans and even told me what he wanted the house to look like. He then carefully asked if it is possible to move his siblings in the house. I thought about it a little bit and decided that we can do it like a compound type. Since the land is spacious, we can just build another house for the people from the orphanage and we can have a separate house. The kids can still visit him freely and they can help each other manage the farm as well.

Once all the things have been settled between us, he invited me to visit the orphanage where he grew up in. I did not forget to drop by at the inn owner and advised her that I will be extending the time I will be renting the room but it will be Claude who would be staying in it. I paid the amount for those days in advance which made the inn owner incredibly happy.

As I saw the orphanage which honestly looked like a very run down bungalow, it strengthened my resolve to give the children a better living environment. It turns out that the only person managing all the children was an elderly gentleman in his 60s. He is widowed and had no children of his own so when his wife died, he started caring for children with no parents. He thanked me profusely as he said that he was old and he doesn’t know how long he can take care of the children.

Claude and I shared our plans and the elderly man with teary eyes bowed in gratitude for our consideration. I contacted the count and told him about a slight change of plans and he excitedly agreed. He even said that he will support the construction of a bigger structure to be assigned as a new orphanage and even rally other nobles and rich households to assist in the daily needs of the children.

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