Page 4 of Dark Elf's Good Girl

We have just returned from a business meeting with some of our trade partners. As k’sheng elves, we rely on our trade partners for our income.

And while my family has done well – we are quite wealthy – all this requires a lot of hard work.

Work that Calix is not interested in.

Calix is my older brother and was trained to take over the merchant trade that has made our family wealthy. Aside from being trained to take over the family business, Calix was also unconditionally loved by our parents, while I was raised by a nanny.

I used to feel a lot of resentment toward my parents when I was younger. But that resentment faded when I realized what kind of dark elves my parents and Calix are.

I might have been cast aside, but I did attend most of the same lessons that my brother did, only because my education was the one thing that my parents couldn’t neglect without looking like bad parents.

Several years ago, when my father realized that Calix might not have been the best first choice to take over the merchant trade, he ordered me to ‘assist’ Calix.

What that really means is that I run the day-to-day and broaden our network and connections, while Calix takes all the credit.

He isn’t completely useless, and he isn’t an idiot. He has made some very good, and obscure, deals in the past.

But lately, my brother hasn’t been taking an interest in the work at all.

I open the door to my study and hang my coat on the coat rack.

Then I sit down at my desk and open up my files.

Taking my time, I read through the notes I made last night with my new ink quill.

I love writing, and I have found someone who sells good quality ink.

That might be a good investment opportunity, I think to myself, as I study the alliances we made at today’s meeting.

Luckily, Calix kept his mouth shut for most of it, and I found that I had an easy bond with Darian, the k’sheng elf we were meeting with.

That is my real job, aside from doing everything else.

I am responsible for winning people over. For making friends who become partners. For spotting good deals and potential investments and going after them.

Calix constantly claims that I manipulate people.

The truth is that I, unlike Calix, am simply not an asshole.

Despite not being an asshole – and knowing that I’m not an asshole – I am not the one with the vibrant social life.

This is the fourth time this week that Calix has been out of the house. He spends most nights boozing and partying and doing the gods only know what.

He’s out while I’m here, doing his job.

I try not to let it bother me, but I cannot deny that my life has started feeling boring and monotonous. All I do is work, while all Calix does is have new experiences. I make a list of the people – other k’sheng dark elves and even elves of the noble class – who I would like to contact.

Right now, our family only trades across Oshta and Kaynvu. My goal is to have our goods and services expand to meet demand on every continent on Protheka.

It will take a lot of work, but I can do it.

You’ll do it even easier with Calix out every night.

There is a knock on the door then, and my hands curl into fists instinctively.

It could be my father, demanding an updated report of what was done for the day. He barges into my study every few days, asking for the impossible, and then on his way out, berates me for existing while simultaneously praising Calix who is probably drunk off his ass somewhere.

But when the door opens softly, my hands relax. Because it isn’t my father.