History and Mystery

The rest of the day, Seraphina with the help of Raymond, settled in her new office now working as the assistant at the law firm of Mr. Hansbrouck.

The office room was of moderate size and the first thing she noticed once she stepped in was the rug that was soft under her shoes.

Rugs? Seraphina questioned herself in surprise. Wasn't this too much for an assistant? And it was no ordinary rug, it looked like it would cost a good amount of silver coins.

Perhaps, this was how the office of the former assistants of Mr. Hansbrouck was. The man had given her the impression of getting the best from a reputable firm, so it shouldn't be a problem then. Seraphina thought and brushed the unsettling feeling away.

Her brown emerald eyes swept past the room before taking their time to admire everything in her new office.

The walls were painted in a dark blue color with a table and a chair placed almost in the middle of the room.

On the table were a reading lamp, a stamp, and a book. Behind the table and chair was the window draped in white curtains. And by the side was a flower vase, precisely an artificial small palm tree.

At the far end of the other side of the wall stood a cupboard that held books and files in it.

There was nothing much in the room but the decor made one comfortable.

Seraphina kept her bag and the journal on the desk while examining the office room. She smiled in satisfaction with her index finger propping her chin in thought.

"Seems like it needs a little feminine touch," She muttered to herself, already thinking of things she would add in the office to make it look more lively.

Not having anything to do at the moment since she was asked to get accustomed to the building and her work, Seraphina decided to check out the books on the shelve of the cupboard.

Going from one book to the other, she read the titles out with a small movement of her lips. The books were all about Laws and history. On the last shelve, she saw a small red book placed in between two black ones, and curiosity got the best of her seeing how the small book stood out from the rest.

Seraphina took the book and read the title aloud, which read, "History and Foundation of Mr. Hansbrouck's Law Firm.

Seraphina took the book with her with a nod of her head and sat on her desk.

She had heard so much about the reputable law firm that sometimes she wondered if it was true or just speculation. Or if it was just some rumors people used to make their mundane days merrier.

Now working in the most reputable law firm that many wealthy and well-known people of the higher class sort out for help made a smile of satisfaction and achievement etch on the lips of Seraphina as she turned the first page of the red book.

The first page contained the history of how the law firm was established and this story she knew too well.

In the time when people were not knowledgeable enough to count or read which was mostly found in the lower class, the high-class people were fortunate enough to have the privilege of education.

They were the ones in the society who knew their letters and numbers and they used this advantage against the lower-class people who were illiterates to extort money more than they should from these poor and low-class people.

Because of this, a man named Hansbrouck Wilfred who was one of the ministers of the kingdom decided to abolish this system set up by the high-class people and thus provided the low class the chance to seek help by coming to his law firm when they thought they were cheated out of their money.

The lower class people were happy because of this and they started flocking to the doorstep of Mr. Hansbrouck's law firm each time they had a money transaction with someone.

Following this, this system was slowly abolished, which of course, had caused a lot of disapproval from the dubious high-class people who wanted to continue stepping and taking the little the low people made.

It took several decades for this to entirely leave the society and when the law was finally passed and approved by the acting king, it was recorded that Hansbrouck Wilfred died.

Now, this law firm was turned into a place where people went to seek redress or leave their money as they saw it was the safest place to keep their earnings.

Several households and families all had their family's wealth registered under this law firm and thus giving it double protection.

Following the death of Mr. Hansbrouck Wilfred the First, his son inherited all he had including the law firm. The son died and was also succeeded by the next in line. It followed this pattern for several generations where the sons of the dead one inherited and they all followed the pattern of the family.

In the family of Hansbrouck, it was recorded that the wives always gave birth to a child and it was always a male. The reason behind this was still unknown until something happened in the fifth generation of Hansbrouck Wilfred.

The acting head of the family then and his wife couldn't birth a child due to some illness the man had. And as of that time, he was nearing his end and they needed a son to keep the family name going.

Anxious to birth a child, the man agreed with his wife to get pregnant outside their home, and luckily or unluckily for them, the woman birthed a male child. But then came another problem after a year of their childbirth.

The woman became pregnant again. This time for her husband. The couple became scared and unsure to keep the child because nothing as such had ever happened in the history of their family. Because they now took it as a tradition and a sacred thing to always birth one male child.

It has always been one childbirth and never had they experienced the two childbirth in any generation.

Unsure of what to do as they were confused on who to give the inheritance to now there were possibly going to be two heirs. Were they going to give it to their real son or the child birthed outside the home?

The couple decided to stay calm until the child was born. They did their best to hide the pregnancy which they failed to do, and soon, words began to spread about how they broke the family tradition.

On the day of the childbearing, the couple prayed for it to be a female, at least they wouldn't be conflicted on who to give the inheritance of the Hansbrouck family to.

But alas, it was another male.

The couple without much thought agreed to give the inheritance to their first son whom they birthed outside the home.

They were scared of what people will tell them if they appeared partial and gave it to the second child.

'Because he is the legitimate son, that's why you gave him the inheritance, but what about the poor soul you brought into the world because of your selfish thoughts?' The people would say and to avoid it, they gave the inheritance to the child out of their blood. But there came the words too,

'What about him? The rightful heir? You discarded your real blood and gave up the Hansbrouck inheritance to an outsider?'

No matter what you do, people will always talk. Seraphina thought to herself as she got immersed in the book. She felt this book was more like the history of Hansbrouck's family than about the law firm. And reading, it felt like the writer wrote it from his point of view.

Could it be one of the sons of the fifth generation that wrote the book?

Another thing she took note of was how the sons always had one surname. A generational name that is still answered to date.

She turned a page where the name of the first and second child were mentioned.

The first child birthed out of wedlock, and who is the present acting head of Mr. Hansbrouck's law firm was Mr. Hansbrouck Geoffrey.

The second child who should have been the rightful heir to the inheritance of Hansbrouck generation is Mr. Hansbrouck...

Seraphina was so carried away that she wanted to know who the second son is, the real blood who was abandoned by his parents, she didn't notice when the door clicked open and Raymond walked in with a gasp.

"Oh my goodness, My Lady. Where did you find that book? You shouldn't be reading that!"