A pink-scaled dragonic demon with lime green hair which was unkept stood at a sink, washing dishes.
The cold water ran across her clawed hands as she scrubbed the plates, diligently performing her task without the slightest complaint.
From the room next to her she could hear the clanking of glasses, the laughter and chattering of people, and the sounds of silverware slicing away at food.
The girl finished washing the dishes and quickly began to dry them on the rack, followed by placing them back into their usual locations. She worked quickly and efficiently, without the slightest bit of hesitation.
She wore nothing more than a simple cloth which had been turned into a dress, and as soon as she finished putting all the dishes away she hurried over to the other room to collect more dishes to wash.
Entering the dining room she witnessed a number of dragonic demons sitting at a table, laughing together as they freely ate.
There were two families together. The first one, the owners of the home, consisting of a mother and a father along with an older brother and a younger sister.
The second family, the guests who had been invited, consisted of a mother and a father as well as a young baby who was cradled in the arms of the mother.
"Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you!", the woman of the house exclaimed to the guests.
"We both hope that she'll grow up to be healthy and take over the family business when she gets older.", the father stated while placing his hand gently on the child's head, invoking a light laugh from the baby.
The young dragon girl went around collecting the dishes from each of the people, gathering them in one hand to go and wash them.
"Oi. You've kept us waiting for quite a while. I thought we were gonna have this entire table covered in dishes by the time you got here.", the man of the house stated with a cold tone.
The girl could feel many eyes glaring at her as he said this, but the woman holding the child decided to speak up.
"It's alright. After all, I'm sure she was busy-"
"Ah, we're so sorry that you have to cover for her. This girl has always been so lazy, trying to escape her work. We tell her to do something and she takes forever to do it. No need to defend her."
At this the woman holding the child was quieted, realizing that this was a family issue which she should not pry upon.
The girl continued collecting the dishes of each person, all while the glares burrowed into the back of her head.
As she approached the guests, the baby took one look at the girl and started crying.
"Wah!!!!"
"Oh, shhh.... it's ok.... shh..... look, mommy is right here..."
The mother rocked the child in order to comfort it, yet it was not until the young girl had left that the child calmed down.
"Ah..... we're so sorry. It looks like our incompetent slave gave your child a scare.", the mother of the house said in apology.
"No no, It's alright. See? She's alright."
The guests pushed the issue off, however the glares of the owners of the house could not be taken away from the kitchen, which the slave girl had exited to.
"Anyways, what about dessert?", the visiting father asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"I apologize, but it looks like that lazy child still has yet to prepare the dessert. Unfortunately, we will have to wait.", the head of the house replied.
----
As the young girl, Apathia, was hastily washing dishes while drying them with her other hand, the father of the house approached her quietly, closing the door behind him.
"Do you intend on making the guests wait forever?", he asked in low yet firm tone.
Beaming over her with his dark shadow, Apathia was filled with fear as she looked up to the man, all the while continuing to wash the dishes- ever remaining efficient.
"F-forgive me.... I'll prepare it right-"
Slap!
"It should have been prepared hours ago. To think that you are this behind on your work..... you are the laziest slave I've ever seen. The other household slaves are on top of their work at all times, prepared and ready with everything. Yet it is only you who is always behind on everything."
The young girl held back tears as the pain of the slap made her cheek throb, nodding quickly and putting down the dishes she was working on to get out the ingredients to prepare a dessert.
"You've embarrassed us in front of guests. Unbelievable. Enough of your laziness. If the dessert isn't prepared within 5 minutes then your punishment later tonight will be even greater."
The man said all these things in whispers with the door closed so that the people in the other room would not hear, and Apathia nodded quickly while getting straight to work.
Pouring out the flour and water, rushing over to the refrigerator to get the eggs and grabbing sugar from the pantry, she immediately began to whip up a batch for a cake.
The man left the room, heading back out to the dining room to sit back down with the guests.
Meanwhile the girl was left to bake a cake in 5 minutes- one which would need to be cooked for at least 20.
The girl found herself trembling as she hastily slapped the ingredients together, spilling the flour and putting in too much sugar before her eyes widened at realizing that such a mix would only produce something of low quality.
Tossing the batch and restarting, she tried to continue putting the dessert together with all haste while maintaining it's quality.
As she did so, tears formed in her eyes.
She did not bother to wipe these tears, for that would mean her hands would be taken away from the work which she was performing.
'Am I..... lazy?'
----
"Hahaha..... I'm so sorry. It looks like our slave really doesn't have her priorities straight. She doesn't know how to manage her time and is never prepared at all. She'll have to make the dessert from scratch, so I'm afraid we'll have to be patient and wait for her."
The father smiled at the guests, folding his hands as he took a sip of his beer.
"Ah..... empty."
After taking the last sip he glanced back to the kitchen.
'It looks like she is slacking off again when there is work for her to do.'
"Oh no no, please don't apologize like that. After all, we came here to visit. We are intruding on your household, so please tell her to take all the time she needs.", the mother who held her child in her arms said kindly while cradling the young girl.
"Of course. There's nothing wrong with having a bit of time in between a meal for some conversation.", the visiting father added.
"Is that so?", the mother of the house asked.
"Of course. Ah, I'd actually like to ask you..... since this is our first child, I wanted to hear your advice on how we should raise her. How did you raise your two children?", the guest asked with a smile as she cradled her baby.
"Oh.... our two children eh? Well let's see..... I'd say the best thing to do is to let them know who they are. Your daughter is the son of a business owner. Let her know that. Tell her to hold up her head with pride, knowing that she is destined for greatness. Right, darling?"
"Of course. She should understand well her place as a citizen of this city. Ensure that the slaves treat her with the utmost care and reverence. If you own any slaves like our lazy girl who develop a grudge against your child, then it would be a disaster."
"Is.... is that so?"
The mother looked to her own child with worry.
"Do you think the slaves would try and hurt her?"
"Of course. She is your precious daughter, and a citizen. As far as I'm concerned, the slaves are just leeches who are waiting for their chance. Keep a close eye on them, and raise your daughter to be strong. If she isn't able to assert her dominance over them, she'll find herself overtaken by their jealousy.", the father of the house replied.
"My..... did you struggle with such things when raising your children alongside your slave?"
"Ever since I was young, Apathia has always been trying to get me in trouble.", the younger sister stated.
"I see.... so what did you all do?"
"We ensured that the truth came out of course. How many times has Apathia lied about all these things our beautiful Ferina has done? I feel that every day I came home with a new story where Apathia would say one thing, telling us that Ferina did something horrible. Of course, Ferina would tell us the truth, and we knew who to listen to."
"I see....."
The mother and father of the baby girl looked down at their child with concern.
"Do you think the slaves will really do something like that?", the mother asked, looking to her husband.
"I don't think they will....."
"That's how it always starts. Before the children are born the slaves don't seem to be rebellious. But as soon as there is someone in the picture for them to blame, they take the opportunity. If you let the trust they've built up influence you to choose them over your own blood, then you've lost as a parent, and as a citizen.", the father of the house stated with a gruff snort. "Anyways, that's the biggest issue when it comes to parenting. Making sure the slaves aren't acting as a bad influence or filling your child's head with any strange ideas."
The mother of the house nodded firmly, confirming her husband's words.
It was then that the father of the house stood up, dusting himself off.
"Please excuse me. I'm going to check on why it's taking our slave so long."
Walking into the kitchen, the man left the group once more. Entering the room, he saw Apathia, who had just finished mixing the ingredients properly and was now placing the cake into the oven with one hand while taking icing and various decoration materials out of storage with the other.
Shutting the kitchen door, the father looked at the girl sternly, who turned her head towards him as she continued her work.
"I..... I am going as fast as I can..... the cake needs to cook for at least 15-"
Slap!
Met with a backhand, Apathia faced the disgusted look of the man.
"Lazy lazy lazy girl. I've been sitting out there waiting for you to get me a refill and you're just finishing these preparations. Have you been sitting her doing nothing all this time? Did you just start working as soon as you heard me coming in here?"
"N.... no.... I... I was preparing the-"
Slap!
"Enough talking back. Hurry up and bring some drinks out to myself and the guests. I cannot believe this."
The man left the kitchen, sitting down at the table once more.
"I apologize, our slave truly is pathetic. To leave us all to talk without even refilling our drinks..... it's disappointing beyond measure."
Soon enough the girl came out with a few mugs of beer and glasses of wine, all prepared for each guest. There were also a couple of fruit punch glasses for the children.
Carefully placing the glasses on the table so as to not spill anything, the girl quickly and efficiently made her way around the table.
"It took you a long time to prepare those drinks.", the mother of the house whispered.
Apathia continued placing the drinks at the table, ensuring that her quivering hands wouldn't tip anything over or spill it, taking her time in placing them to ensure that no such mistakes occurred.
Even so, she could feel the glares of those around her.
'You're going so slow.'
'Lazy.'
'You're being so lazy. You have other work to do, so why are you doing this so slowly?'
These words were not said, but Apathia knew that they were the thoughts of all those around her. Even so, spilling something would be far worse than being called slow, so she ensured that no mishaps occurred and then returned to the kitchen.
"She is beyond slow. My goodness....", the father muttered.
"You see? I would say that disciplining the child is important, but more important is disciplining the slaves to ensure that they don't take advantage of your children."
"Thank you for the advice..... I'll be extra mindful of their behavior.", the visiting mother replied.
The dinner and conversation continued, and eventually Apathia brought out the cake for dessert.
"Now take all these dishes away. And when you've finished the dishes and cleaned the rest of the house, you still have to head out to do some shopping, and I have a few letters I need you to deliver. Once you've finished all that, I want you to begin doing the lawnwork-"
"Will she ever sleep? It's already evening, after all. That sounds like a lot."
The visiting father interrupted the man as he gave Apathia her remaining orders, to which he was met with a confused expression.
"Sleep? For a slave? They can think about that when they're finished with their work."
----
After the guests had left and Apathia was sent to do the rest of her chores for the night, the family was left to sit at the table together.
"Mother, there was something I wanted to ask you and father about.", the boy said.
While the ages of demons were scaled to be much greater than those of humans, the boy who spoke was equivalent to being in his 2nd year of high school. The younger sister would have been in her final year of middle school, 2 years younger if their ages were to be put into human terms.
"What is it, Ulpher?", the father asked gruffly as he took a sip of his drink.
"I wanted to go to a party tomorrow night..... I was wondering if I could-"
"Ulpher, you realize that we have invited a potential business partner and his family over for dinner tomorrow, right? Are you asking to skip out on that? It would look quite rude if my only son and the heir to my business were to not show up."
"Please, father. I..... have already asked a girl from my school to attend with me. And she said yes. I'll do anything to make this up."
The boy pleaded earnestly, to which the father looked at him with a sigh.
"Fine. I suppose this is my own business, so I will deal with it myself. I'll merely tell him that some work came up and unfortunately you couldn't be present."
"Father!! Thank you!!"
The boy earnestly thanked his father, to which he was waved off.
"So? What type of party is this?", the mother asked.
"Er.... well you know. Just the typical high school party. There will be food and dancing.... it's being held by that one family, the heir to the Yerst business."
"The Yerst business!? Would you be able to make contact with the heir and perhaps secure a connection with him?"
The son smiled at his father's sudden interest.
"I'll do my best."
"Excellent. Off to the party you go then."
The dragonic city of Merphol was composed of two classes.
The middle class, completely made from business owners and the like, and the slave class who served the middle class families.
While they were considered middle class due to the common appearance of people of this class, the actual wealth of a person in Merphol depended heavily on their success within business. As such, all families were constantly attempting to make contacts with one another, furthering their own profits and opportunities.
"I would like to go too, brother. Can I go as well, father?"
"Hmm..... well, I suppose so."
"Er, well actually that's a bit problematic. You see, I was able to obtain a couple of tickets for myself and my date, but they weren't for sale. They were given out at my school, and they were very difficult to obtain.", Ulpher explained.
"I see. In that case, I suppose you won't be going, Ferina. Don't worry though. You can stay here and meet the guests tomorrow."
"Alright...."
The daughter seemed to pout her lips as she sulked, walking away from the table.
Standing up, the members of the family each took their leave, heading to bed for the night.
"Ah. Go ahead to sleep, darling. I'll meet you upstairs, but first I have something to take care of.", the husband stated as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Of course. Make sure to teach her a lesson for her behavior earlier.", the wife responded as she headed up the stairs for the night.
----
As she finished up cleaning the pans from the dessert, Apathia rushed to continue her work, clearing the table and cleaning the rest of the house.
However, before she could get to the kitchen door, the door opened and a man entered.
This was Kerlis Kranst, the father and head of the Kranst household.
Closing the door behind him, the dragonic man stepped forth with disappointment on his expression.
"Apathia. Why exactly were you slacking off when guests were present in our home?"
Apathia reeled back, her eyes filled with fear as the man stood before her.
"You have..... one job. One simple, quick, easy, job. A task which requires so little effort that many would consider you lucky. Your one and only task is to take care of this home."
Thinning his eyes, the man looked as if he was about to spit on the girl.
"Yet due to your own laziness, you are always behind on such simple tasks."
"I..... I wasn't being lazy..... there was so much-"
"So much?"
The man slapped the girl, this time with such force that she was sent flying to the ground, hitting her horned head on the floor with a crack as a piece of one of her horns broke off.
"You only have one simple thing to do! How can you say we've given you so much work to do? All you have to do is take care of this household!!! I envy you, Apathia. You sit here in this house all day doing nothing but basic chores while I bust my ass to make enough to provide for the people of this house- INCLUDING YOU! And this is the thanks you give me?"
The man was now fuming, and from his back pocket he unveiled a leather whip which he cracked in one of his hands.
"Turn around."
The girl submissively turned around, shaking with every fiber of her being.
Showing the man her back, he began to furiously whip her.
Blood began to penetrate through the white sheet which made up her dress, soaking her back.
Whip! Whip! Whip!
"Ugh.... agh! Ugh...."
The girl let out light whimpers as she was furiously abused, and by the time the man had finished blood was dripping all over the floor.
"Disgusting. Now you've made another mess for yourself to clean up. And it looks like you have to create another article of clothing for yourself, because you can't present yourself in that ruined thing. I'll be heading to sleep for the night, and if all your work isn't done by morning.... then expect another punishment. And I won't be as light on you as I was tonight."
Slamming the door, the girl was left alone in the kitchen, surrounded by a pool of her own blood.
From her eyes, a single tear dripped, creating a ripple in this pool of blood.
In a sniffling squeal, the girl quietly let out a light whimper, talking to herself as she placed her hand to her forehead in anguish.
"Is this.... not much work? Am I..... really so lazy?"