One day, his grandmother had had enough and slapped the Baron in the face.
“You crazy, despicable piece of shit,” she screamed.
"Are you going to leave her alone?
She's just a kid!" From that day on, the Baron only looked at Ilyin with resentment.
Having visions that you could see the future, but being unable to change it or even try to change it, was a terrible thing.
Ilyin's grandmother lamented the terrible 'curse' that took over her progeny¹.
When Ilyin was young, she hadn't thought about her dreams.
She thought they were just harmless dreams, but then they started to come true and she couldn't ignore them anymore.
He always showed him the future, a mobile was present.
She didn't know if the mobile was the requirement for this type of dream or if her mind had created it to differentiate these dreams from others.
When she was young, Ilyin loved watching the mobile that hovered over her head while she slept.
It had been a gift from her mother before she went crazy.
Her mother always loved her until Sid's death.
“Why do you dream of such terrible things?” she asked with resentment in her voice.
“The cursed blood…”
Sid's death changed everything.
Her father's anger and her mother's resentment resonated in her head and with Sid's death, she had lost a family.
Ilyin's grandmother felt sorry for her mother and felt sorry for her.
Ilyin began to hate his dreams.
“My lady, his name is Brad” said a voice, following a knock on the door.
This brought her back from her memories to the present.
“Come in,” she said.
The door opened and the knight entered, she had sent him to identify the Lord she had seen in her dreams.
“Thank you,” she said to the knight.
He turned and left the room without any response, slamming the door behind him like before, the knight wasn't really good at his job and didn't deserve recognition.
The city wasn't even big and it took him a whole week to find the Essid Merchant, but she wanted information.
It was time to move.
***
“Your identity, ma’am?” asked the clerk.
“Ilyin of Arlen,” she said.
There were some nobles from Arlenza that Ilyen knew, but very few nobles knew about Ilyin.
She had never been officially introduced in social circles.
The Essid capital official grimaced, he was trying to investigate whether Ilyin was really from the nobility.
"Ilyin of Arlen.
Isn't it enough to be of the Arlen family?" said Ilyin again.
Her father treated her like a nobody, the Arlen family didn't have many connections and very few people knew about his daughter.
She understood the employee's hesitation, but she didn't have time to waste time.
“Please wait a bit,” the employee said.
The employee made his way inside.
‘Was it too difficult to demand to see the head of the place immediately?’ Ilyin wondered and the employee left again.
“Miss, you will have to be back by noon,” he said.
It was quite obvious that her Lord refused to see her at the moment.
She sighed.
Ilyin looked around and saw no one approaching.
“I understand that a large delivery must head north” she said.
“Of course” said the official, “Boro is our main destination.”
The Boro estate was much closer to the capital than the Biftlen estate.
It was closer to the central part of the capital than the northern part of the empire.
“I heard it’s going further north than that,” she said.
“I know some of the wagons are heading to Biftlen.” It was impossible for Ilyin to say more without clarifying about his dreams.
In Biftlen, even in summer, crops failed to grow.
Then, it became clear that Biftlen had deliveries from different places, he would not let his people starve like that.
Ilyin was sure that few people knew about these deliveries.
It wasn't winter yet, but it was getting cold and perhaps Biftlen was already covered in snowdrifts.
“…Please wait a moment,” the employee said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
The clerk went back inside and Ilyin was sure that this time he would be granted an audience, the clerk appeared a moment later.
“This way, please” he said and led her inside.
The employee looked very dejected now.
He led her down the curved hallway.
A sign that said 'Boss of Merchants' was hanging above, it was eye-catching and self-confident.
The clerk led her to a small side room.
“My Lord,” said the clerk, “she is here.”
“Thank you,” said a man who looked quite simple.
From the sign on the door, she expected to see a huge, flashy, and perhaps narcissistic gentleman.
But the ‘Leader’ of the merchants, dressed in a white shirt and active pants, looked very humble.
She recognized him from her dream, the clerk bowed and left the room.
The Lord greeted Ilyin with a smile.
“You said your name was Ilyin of Arlen?” “Yes,” she said.
“It's a delicate matter, so I invited you into my room,” said the man, “We are not dealing with Biftlen.”
“That can’t be true,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“First of all, our wagon is not going to Biflten,” the man continued, “I am not cruel enough to send my men to that barren, godforsaken land.” He smiled again.
"It's true that a lot of food is being delivered to the north and is being delivered to Boro farms and the surrounding lands.
You already know that the north is quite vast."
N/T ¹: feminine noun of descent.