"Long story short, after joining the army I met this wonderful boy, Kron. He belonged to a rich merchant family and aimed to climb the army ranks to help his family develop their business.
"He was handsome, kind, gentle, and was willing to pay the birth control potion. I was young, horny, and stupid. I felt flattered by his attention and I wanted to get back at my parents by ruining their plans about my chastity.
"I fell for him like a dunce and barely survived the crash. Once he got what he wanted, Cron dumped me and made his move on my bunk mate right in front of me. I cried so much and performed so badly that I almost got kicked out the boot camp.
"What he did was already bad, but the worst part was everyone mocking me for my foolishness and reminding me that a wealthy man would never take a woman who got disowned by her own family seriously.
"After I failed the boot camp and started working as a clerk, things got better. I had friends, money, and a small apartment. My colleagues and I shared a deep camaraderie because we all had no place to come back to.
"The army was our only home and we were each other's family. I met Rufo, my second boyfriend, after being transferred to Ynca due to the base's lack of personnel. I had just lost all of my friends, the new place scared me, and I felt alone.
"He wasn't wealthy nor handsome, but he helped me get settled and introduced me to all of his friends, making me feel like I belonged there. He was really sweet and never pressured me so after a while we ended up together.
"Our relationship lasted for over two years and we even started to plan our marriage. Everything went fine until we both applied to the Official academy scholarship and only I achieved it. From that point, everything went downhill.
"At first, Rufo pretended to be happy for me and claimed that he would do his best to support my career. The moment I got my promotion and he failed at the scholarship again, however, he turned sour.
"Rufo always complained about how little he earned and wanted me to pay the full rent. He started to spend all of his income on stupid stuff, ask me for money, and then lash out at me if I refused.
"I tried to help him study, I did all I could to show him that I didn't care about rank or income, that I just wanted him to be the man I had fallen in love with again. After a drink too many, Rufo told me that he had never loved me.
"It turned out that he had asked me out because I was the only one in our group to have been disowned. Knowing that I had even less than him made Rufo feel better about himself. He could accept neither my promotion nor his repeated failures.
"It was then that I understood that Rufo had never cherished our relationship. He just used it as a crutch for his ego, feeling happy just because I was more miserable than him. The next day, I broke up with Rufo and asked for another transfer.
"There wasn't a single place in Ynca that didn't remind me of him and Rufo had an easy time convincing my ex-colleagues that I had dumped him because I considered myself too good for him.
"He had talked behind my back ever since I moved to a different office due to the promotion so no one believed me." Kamila sniffled while clenching her napkin hard. "The same people who until the day before helped me planning our wedding now blamed me for everything."
"I'd say that's enough sad memories for one night." Lith held her hand until she managed to calm down. "I'm sorry for ruining our date."
"No, you did the right thing." Kamila used a handkerchief to dry her tears and blow her nose. "I'm the only one who can fight my inner demons, but keeping them a secret creates a gap between us.
"Talking about them with you sets my heart at ease. Thanks for listening to my problems instead of trying to fix them for me."
Kamila's radiant smile made Lith happy to have waited before offering to find and kill her exes.
***
Village of Lutia, at the same time.
Nalrond didn't have a Skinwalker armor so after leaving the tower, he needed to go back home to shower and change into clean clothes. His wardrobe was already limited and Faluel's training had forced him to renew it often.
His slender limbs had become muscular and he had gained several kilograms of pure muscles, making his old clothes so tight that Nalrond couldn't wear them anymore. It would only take him a deep breath to rip them to shreds.
'Thank the gods Selia is better than most tailors. All that sewing because of the kids made her a professional.' Nalrond thought. 'Yet her creations are too simple for my first date in five years.
'Luckily, Lith accepted a payment plan for my debt so not all my share from the mines goes into his pockets and I could afford a few clothes.' He wore a simple white cotton shirt and brown cotton pants.
Neither he nor Brina was wealthy and, for a date in Lutia, even a jacket would be overdressing. During the last two years, the village had tripled its surface area, but it was still far from becoming even a small city.
Yet now it bustled with people even after sundown and several establishments had either expanded or opened their business.
Nalrond Warped to the village's outskirts to not reveal his magical talents and walked the rest of the way to Rena's house to pick Brina up.
Zekell's home had been recently renovated. The Blacksmith had bought his neighbor's house, turning it into a new and better equipped workshop after converting the old smithy into living quarters.
Lith brought most of his unsold silver to Lutia, handing it to Zekell who crafted all the items that Lith would enchant in his tower. The business went so well that Zekell had split the workshop into a blacksmith and a goldsmith.
The former would take care of the Orichalcum orders while the latter would craft the fine silver tools and charms that Lith needed for his experiments. Senton, Rena's husband, was young and strong, making him perfect to handle the magic metal.
Zekell was getting old and the business too frenetic. After working all his life, he just wanted to take a break and enjoy his grandchildren. Zekell still helped his son dealing with the most complex Orichalcum related procedures and personally crafted Lith's orders, but delegated everything else to his apprentices.
Zekell wasn't the richest man in Lutia but he was surely the happiest. Back when the King had bestowed upon Lith a family name, Zekell had made sure that Rena and his granddaughter kept the Verhen name.
Their family crest was painted over all doors and windows of Zekell's house so no one dared to mess with him, not even the local nobles. He could leave the shop's doors open at night and find everything where he had left it.
