After enduring being washed and dressed by her maid, Ki made her way to the family dining room.
Finding her usual seating position according to her long fuzzy memory she sat down at the table waiting patiently for the adults to speak.
Her mother seeing that her daughter was being sensible today showed a look of joy and satisfaction. "Happy birthday my beautiful daughter."
Her father who usually had a cold and stoic personality in her memory remained the same as always sat at the head of the table but she happened to catch a brief flicker of love from his eyes when he looked towards her. "You are growing up well."
Her younger brother sat beside his mother obediently while grinning in her direction. "Sis, good morning. Did you like my present?"
"Mm I am keeping it safe and thank you." In response to receiving so much affection, Ki could only begin to think of ways to repay her family for their love and care for so many years that she took for granted in her past life but very quickly noticed something wrong.
Her grandmothers body language showed her impatience and irritation as she looked towards another direction.
Following her grandmothers line of sight Ki noticed the visitors coming into the dining hall dressed up neatly and clearly showing that they came from the same family bloodline as Ki's family upon seeing the facial features of the grandmother, the son and the grandchildren.
An elderly couple walked in with her son and daughter in law followed by two young boys who were the twins of the other family line.
One grandchild was studying to be a scholar while the other was being instructed in martial arts, while the eldest son does study to become an official one day he looks to be very lazy and someone who would take shortcuts or cut corners in their life while the younger brother may have aptitude for martial arts his overall temperament would not suit a place with lots of rules due to his unruly nature and having a short temper.
In comparison to them in the past life, the eldest daughter Ki could not compare to the twins if they were put together because although she had been educated by her grandmother she still had not found her own life goal or cultivated her own set of skills which could be useful to the family.
Being relatives from her grandmothers generation the children and grandchildren were always going to be compared to each other one way or another.
After she missed this dinner and lost rights to inherit the family business her grandmothers sisters family began to become more active in their involvement of the family business.
Judging her grandmothers expression Ki had already figured out the situation. 'Shameless people.'
Indeed they came to boast about their grandchildren's future potential and ask for more favours. 'Not only do you already have your hands on our family business thanks to fathers soft spot towards family members but you still cannot contain your greed.'
Over 200 years ago the main family started as merchants that made their way up step by step until they bought a noble title.
As they grew bigger and become more recognised in the capital city they began to increase in popularity and ranking.
Another 20-30 years later one of the daughters from the direct line married into the royal family as a concubine boosting their status further.
Although she was an unloved and unpopular concubine in the eyes of the world she was not so unimportant in the eyes of the family.
She died young but it was her dying wish to leave the family a great gift which boosted their status further.
Her discovery and research on silkworms and silk farming that she had dedicated her whole life to, before dying she dedicated her research to her family while creating one silk dress for the empress before passing away.
By doing so her skills were recognised and she promoted her families importance further securing them with a unique business route which they alone could have monopoly over.
The name of the family was unknown because after the concubines contribution the family renamed themselves Bombyx.
While they did hold on for quite some time, like most families in power… they have to be strong enough to defend what they have.
Pressure from outside forces to contribute their own families unique inheritance to the world in the name of helping to help their skills be passed onto more people to develop them further.
In truth it was nothing more than others wanting to use opportunities to get a hold of their methods for making money.
Bribing workers to commit problems within their business or worse were not beneath them if they could learn the methods that someone else had or to obtain a skilled individual if they can gain something from it.
Although some methods or techniques (silk weaving etc) were stolen and the family suffered from this, the very core of the research never was known to the public, other families or merchant groups.
After suffering from business failures and constant pressure the family moved to a village, built a mansion and took over the land to help provide a place for the family to continue the family line and inheritance.
During her grandmothers family generation her grandmother Agnis and her sister Celene were born as twins.
Agnis placed more importance on continuing her family line and inheritance so she married a man who was below her status but would support her in what she wished to do.
She lived with him happily and had a son, her husband being weak and poor in health passed away in his late 40's so she handled everything from the family business and raising her children and grandchildren since then until the time she began passing on important matters to her son to handle.
Her sister Celene was different from her though, she wished to be a noble lady and wear fashionable dresses and jewellery and wished most of all to escape the village.
She met and married a nobles son from the city close to the village which she believed was her chance to live a rich life.
Technically the moment she married out of the family she no longer had access to the main family lines resources but she still shamelessly came to ask for help when her husbands family went bankrupt because of her husbands gambling and her reckless spending of money.
Ki's grandmother was against helping because her and her sisters relationship had long become estranged but Ki's father although a cold and stoic person highly cherished family so he offered them a lifeline.
Ever since then for the past twenty years her husbands child has been working within the family business while she and her husband continued to live a comfortable life.
Now they have big dreams to further themselves through their grandchildren but to do so they would need further support.
Thinking about the ambitious group before her, Ki could not help but reveal a cold smile.
"Aish my old bones are hurting from travelling all the way to this place all the way from the city. Happy birthday little Ki, how have you been? Oh you haven't seen Leon and Edgar since you were young so you should get to know each other better." The old lady Celene Hazel began her performance after assessing the atmosphere in the room. 'Indeed the family seems to place their importance on the daughter, I was originally set on making plans to work on the son but looking at the treatment of the eldest daughter I may have been wrong.'
According to her knowledge and experience within the city for many years the importance of an heir usually rests on the sons shoulders unless the daughter is highly valued by the family which is a very rare case since most families are quite patriarchal and in most cases they are married out of the family so the son is prioritised to keep the main bloodline within the family and handle the family business .
If the daughter married out she originally planned to approach the younger son to build a relationship between the grandchildren to further integrate into the family and then make plans to acquire further riches.
Originally those were her thoughts but upon seeing her sister being defensive she remembered her childhood.
Her father did not give birth to a son but he gave up the idea of remarrying after his wife's death and supported her sister to take over the family because her sister worked hard to earn her place while she was too lazy to do all the complicated stuff.
The Bombyx family had a different way of thinking compared to most families, although Ki was full of energy and naughty at times she still took her studies seriously from a young age so the family still placed their hopes on her.
In her last life the only reason she lost that further support was because of her accident making her parents worry about putting too much pressure on her and her fear of bugs which would make handling the family business difficult.
Perhaps the family had noticed a change in Ki today, so they were even showing more care and concern than usual.
Although Ki had become more calm and quiet on her seventh birthday she also showed signs of maturity so of course the Bombyx family would support her more than before.
Looking at the eyes of the old lady, Ki caught a slight sign of disgust in Celene's eyes for a moment as if containing her dislike for coming to this rural village area from the city where it is cleaner and more cultured. 'Hmph this old lady has long forgotten her roots.'
After a brief moment of silence Ki gave the members of the Hazel family a polite nod acknowledging their presence before turning her attention on her meal.
Taking in the warm and cozy atmosphere she savoured every bite in silent happiness completely ignoring the members of the Hazel family. 'It's been a long time since I have experienced this kind of warmth and actually had the leisure to sit and eat with another person without having a feeling of discomfort. Aaah the meat is cooked just the way I like it.'