When the escapees arrived in a safe place, everyone began to rejoice. They finally saw the sky that they thought they would never see anymore. After their joy, came their despair. They were ruthlessly tortured, a few of the older girls also had lifeless looks in their eyes.

  Vincent had a furious look in his eyes as he approached them from behind. He saw the familiar figure in the crowd of people and walked forward.

  “Mama!” The little girl on his back cried.

  “Henriette!” A woman plowed out from the crowd and ran forward. She picked up her baby and began raining down kisses and tears on her child.

  “Thank you! Thank you!” She said through heartfelt sobs.

  “Where are the men?” Vincent searched through the crowd, only to see women and children. Upon mentioning that, everyone in the group began to wail.

  “Gone…” The woman who picked up Henriette uttered.

  “…” Vincent looked on and finally approached Aya.

  “Good job taking care of my back.” She teased through a lazy smile.

  Even though Aya looked carefree, Vincent could understand much more. He understood her more than anybody else. She was his favorite character. Although she put up a cheerful front and acted mature, she always sacrificed the most. For the first time, Vincent walked up and embraced the girl. He squeezed her tightly in his embrace, hoping he could ground her to reality.

  “You should rely on me more. I’m not as weak as you think.” He hoarsely said as he felt her body tensed up at his touch.

  Damnit. He knew what kind of person Aya was, and yet he still couldn’t pull himself away from her. He knew what kind of methods she would use and yet he let her do it. He tried to watch the world play out like he was reading a book but felt himself being drawn into its pages. Now, it was too late; he couldn’t treat everything like it’s just a story any longer. Aya was just a character, a fictional character that was a foil for the main character. She is a living, breathing person.

  “*Sniff* You bad guy. Is this how you pick up girls so easily?” Aya’s quivering voice managed to reach his ears.

  “Just rest, you deserve it.” Vincent soothed her like a child. Soon after she limply fell into his embrace; all strength left her body as she submits herself to the kingdom of sleep. Vincent picked her up and then turned back to the women and children.

  “Tonight you all live to see the rising sun once more. This could be a blessing, but also a curse. You will be hunted, captured, and killed. Your husbands can no longer protect you. Go home if you must, run if you will, but come morning the beast will awaken and chase after your trails. What will you do?” He eyed each and every person. He perfectly framed the situation of the people present.

  “I… I don’t know.” A woman said, crying pitifully.

  “I want to leave. To go far away from here. Anywhere is better than here.” Another young woman said, her eyes looked far off.

  “Can we follow you?” The mother of Henriette plead.

  “No. I’m not a saint. I have no need for you all.” Just as Vincent said that the girl in his bosom stirred, causing some worry to flash across his expression. Finally, he relented.

  “Please Mister.” Henriette tugged on his cloak, her large eyes looked just like Isabel’s.

  “I won’t let you follow me, but I have a way to protect you.” He gestured for the women and children to follow him. His pace was slow partly because of Aya in his arms, but also because of the injured women and children.

  In the middle of the night, Weisel a small-time warehouse manager of a particular guild was busy locking up. Just as he pulled the doors closed he heard a loud noise.

  *Knock! Knock!*

  Weisel gave a startled jump and jumped back in fright. Behind him were a group of filthy women and children with a youth carrying a woman. The youth was the first to speak.

  “Is this the Valentine Group?” He questioned.

  “What if it is? What if it isn’t? Why should I speak to you strangers?” Weisel gathered up his courage and continued speaking, “Where are the guards? How did you get into this courtyard?”

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  “Mister Weisel.” A young guard called out from beyond.

  “Alan!” Weisel angrily glared at the teenager, “Why did you let these people in?”

  “Mister Weisel, we turned them away at first, but Young Master here beat up Holmes and Peter.” The youth began to recount the events from earlier, his eyes were shining with admiration. “Then he turned around and kicked all three of us, and we all flew very far away.”

  The whole time, Weisel didn’t know whether to scold the boy or laugh. What kind of person boasts about getting their ass kicked? However, before he could say anything, Vincent spoke up.

  “I’ll repeat it once more. Is this the Valentine Group or not?” A frigid tinge crept into his voice.

  “It is!” Weisel answered. “But what’s it to you? If you’re here to rob us, don’t even dare, we don’t even have much!”

  “…”

  These guys are a bunch of fools! One boasts about getting his ass kicked, and the other brags about being poor!

  “It’s like this.” Vincent sighed and crouched down and fished out the Redwall Crest from his bag. Immediately upon seeing the crest, Weisel and the young guard knelt down.

  “How could I fail to recognize the Young Master of the Redwall House? Please excuse this ignorant person.” Weisel said. The young guard had already seen the crest, so he wasn’t surprised.

  “It’s not a problem.” Vincent replaced the crest and stood up.

  “It is a problem, Young Master! How may we help you?” He was just a warehouse manager of a branch of Juno Valentine’s merchant guild! How could his status compare to her son? Even if Vincent was only the trash of the family, Juno was extremely protective of their reputation.

  “Look after these people, and tell no one about them. Make sure they’re well-fed and taken care of. In a few days, send them to the capital to look for the Redwall House.”

  “Understood, Young Master.” He didn’t bother to ask any questions and immediately summoned more people to help him, which included the young guard. Finally, he had some time and managed to ask, “Young Master, where will you be staying?”

  “Don’t bother with me. I’ve got it settled.” Vincent made sure that everyone felt safe before leaving. It was midnight before he returned to the inn. The owner was just about to lock up when Vincent returned.

  “It’s you, Son! I thought you weren’t returning tonight!”

  “I’m here. Is there any food left?” Vincent tiredly asked.

  The boss was about to say no, but saw the bruised and battered sleeping woman on Vincent’s back and relented, “There’s still some soup left. I’ll heat it up. Why don’t you two go wash up, the food will take a while.”

  “Thank you.”

  Vincent carried Aya upstairs to his room and laid her to rest on the bed. His movements were as gentle as soft snow and as smooth as water. He began to remove her armor and gear. Just as he reached out for her belt, a smooth and jade-like arm snaked out and latched onto his throat, threatening to crush it.

  “What are you doing?!” Her fierce eyes glared up at him. She looked like a tigress that had been woken up. She finally recognized Vincent and weakly released him.

  “Can you get up? It’s not good to stay in those clothes.” He said as he looked over the dirty and bloodstained clothes.

  “No. I’ll do it tomorrow.” She weakly said and laid back down.

  “That won’t do. I need to inspect you for any injuries.” Even the smallest cut could become infected. In war, diseases kill more people than swords and magic.

  “It’s okay. It’s nothing serious.” She reasoned, intending to push him away.

  “Why are you so complicated?” He didn’t bother to listen to her protests and stripped off her clothes. However, he froze up when he saw the red marks on her skin. A red hot fury began to cloud over his eyes as he bit his lip until blood seeped out.

  Aya grabbed the shirt in his hands and covered herself up. Her suppressed look of pain did little to hide how frail she was at this moment. Vincent breathed deeply for a second and then stood up.

  “Wait here. I’ll be back.” He slung his bow over his shoulder and picked up his quiver.

  “No!” Just as he opened the door, he felt a shivering body press itself onto his back. A pair of arms looped around his waist, preventing him from taking another step. “Don’t go…”

  Vincent froze and asked, “Why?” He was angry. There were other ways to save those people, ways that didn’t involve her sacrificing her body. Yet she chose such an extreme method.

  “They’re safe now, so there’s no need to go back…”

  “Hah~…” Vincent closed the door and carried her and set her down on the bed once more. “You are a stupid woman, you know that?” She had a complicated past, it wasn’t fully explained in the novel, but he knew that she had lost a lot of her loved ones.

  “You’re right. I’m just a stupid woman.” She leaned on his shoulder as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I don’t know any better. I only know that as long as I’m the only one that hurts, it’ll turn out fine.”

  “From now on, you have to be more selfish. Don’t just think about others, think about yourself first.” He gently caressed her hair like a mother pacifying a child. “If you have no one to rely on, you can rely on me.”

  “Un~…” They both sat there in silence. Vincent spoke up first.

  “Where is it?”

  “Where is what?”

  “The rest of the powder.”

  “I used it all up already.” She weakly answered.

  “…”

  “Fine. They’re in there.” She pointed to her satchel. Vincent quickly retrieved what looked like a small bag of pink powder. It was a slow activating weakening powder. The very same powder that she used on all the thugs inside the warehouse.

  “I’m confiscating this.” He placed the powder away before also walking back to her.

  “Why? It’s not yours!” She looked resentful as she opposed his decision. “Wha— Hey! What are you doing?!” Vincent began rummaging through her trouser and retrieved another small bag of the same powder.

  “You didn’t look angry enough, so I had to double check,” Vincent answered and continued to search; he stopped after finding another two bags.

  “You evil person!” She weakly pounded on his shoulder in protest.

  “Without this poison, you won’t be as reckless.”

  “You’re no fun…” Then she playfully latched on to him. “You have to pay to take my things! Take this!” She kissed his cheek before dashing under the covers.

  “You…” Vincent cupped his cheek before breaking out into a serene smile. Unfortunately, the girl was too busy hiding to see it. “I’ll be downstairs, wash up and come eat before going to sleep.”