Chapter 159: Liam Akar Soderbell

A carriage slowly rolled into the Lord’s Manor of the White Mountain Territory, then came to a halt before the main gate.

As the carriage door opened, a bronze-skinned man quickly leapt down, then turned around to carry out a child from inside the carriage.

At this moment, Yam, who had already received the news, came out accompanied by Aches and Ion.

Short-legged Cindy had wanted to run as well, but with her mother Lily by her side, she could only walk gracefully like a noble lady, following beside them at a measured pace.

Jinna and Sherry also came out, though they stood further back and did not approach.

“Not late, am I?” Akar put Liam down and walked up to his second brother and father.

“There’s still some time,” Yam shook his head slightly and said, “But I think it’s about time. Miss Monica will definitely send someone to pick me up. Is everything arranged on the side of the Gem Territory?”

“Yeah.” Akar nodded. “Anna has already sent a carriage of goods to the Bayor Territory. As long as there are no unforeseen circumstances, it should definitely arrive within the time limit.”

The two-year deadline agreed upon between Yam and Marquis Visen was just a few days away.

Monica had already sent a letter stating that someone would come to escort Yam to the Bayor Territory. According to the agreement, the Kasein Family would destroy the Senels Family in front of Yam, so this grand battle naturally would not be left to the Kasein Family’s word alone, but would be witnessed by Yam himself as an observer.

Originally, Akar had wanted to accompany Yam because he wished to personally kill Atork Senels to avenge the insult the latter made against Anna. But in the end, Yam persuaded him otherwise. After all, Marquis Visen was still alive and likely wouldn’t die any time soon, and the Kasein Family still had Fourth-Tier Bloodline Users in the future. Thus, the relationship between him and Anna was not yet something that could be made public. If something were exposed, all their prior efforts would be wasted.

So Akar had to give up on his desire for personal revenge.

However, since Yam would have to show his face, if any members of the Senels Family managed to escape, they would certainly come to the White Mountain Territory seeking trouble. Currently, the Soderbell Family had only two Third-Tier Bloodline Users: Yam and Akar.

And since Yam was about to travel to the Bayor Territory, Akar naturally had to stay behind to guard the territory and prevent another incident like the one where Count Shuvaric tried to steal their home. Besides that, they also needed to find a way to separate the Gem Territory from the situation, so they let Anna continue trading with the Bayor Territory as usual, and not get involved in this “transaction.”

Yam and Akar still had matters to discuss, so Ion brought Aches along, saying he wanted Aches to gain some insight.

Lily knew what the two brothers were going to discuss, so she let Cindy take Liam to play: “Take your little brother with you.”

“Can we play anything we want?”

“You know the rules. You can’t leave the Lord’s Manor, and you can’t go to the training grounds,” Lily said calmly, though to Cindy, those were the cruelest words.

She drooped her head and said dispiritedly, “Then what can I even play with him?”

“I’ll have the cook prepare some desserts for you two.”

Lily suddenly felt that for a five-year-old child, being confined to the Lord’s Manor indeed left little room for fun. At that age, she herself had been learning all kinds of noble etiquette and could hardly even step outside her room. But Lily had to admit that she wasn’t as smart as her daughter. In etiquette classes, they would repeat the same content for three to five days.

But her daughter had mastered everything the three etiquette instructors had to offer in less than two months.

If she wanted to hire more, she would have to look for royal court etiquette instructors.

However, as a mere baroness, she had no right to hire a court etiquette instructor.

So now, Lily was more or less letting Cindy grow up freely for another year or two before starting her on other subjects like politics, commerce, and military. As for swordsmanship, she had originally planned to let Cindy begin at age ten, but Ion, her father, said Cindy had great aptitude and potential and should start earlier. So they planned to begin once she grew a little taller, probably around eight or nine.

As for the current restriction from leaving the Lord’s Manor, it was for her safety.

Inside the manor, with Yam present, his Third-Tier strength was enough to handle most trouble and threats, and there was no fear of intruders. But once outside, the danger level would rise considerably. So Lily intended to wait a few more years until the Red Eagle Territory fully stabilized before allowing Cindy to go out and play.

Seeing that Lily said she would prepare desserts, Cindy didn’t argue and simply said, “Then can I take Liam to walk around the backyard?”

“Go ahead.”

Without another word, Cindy took Liam and ran off.

“Where are you taking me?” Liam said nervously, “I don’t want to see anything pretty! And I don’t want to play anything fun!”

He had visited the White Mountain Territory five times already, and by now, he was very clear about the nature of this so-called cousin of his.

...

The first time he came, he had been very happy.

Back then, he had thought his cousin Cindy was very pretty, and she had even said she’d give him something delicious to eat. He still remembered how sweet and tasty the desserts were, so during dinner that evening, he sat next to Cindy and said in front of his parents that he wanted to marry her when he grew up.

When the room fell silent, he still hadn’t realized what that beautiful Cindy’s gaze meant.

Later, he learned—it was a gaze of pity.

That night, he was miserably beaten by his mother, and for three whole days, he didn’t dare to sit down.

The second time he came, he was still happy.

Because even though he had learned he couldn’t marry the pretty Cindy, Cindy, his cousin, said she would show him something nice.

Then, for the first time in his life, he saw what “gory” really meant.

Several vicious hounds were tearing apart the sturdiest one among them, devouring it together.

That night, when his beautiful cousin Cindy handed him a large chunk of meat saying it was delicious, he couldn’t hold it in and vomited all over her.

And then he got beaten again.

This time, his mother wasn’t around, so it was his father who hit him.

Liam started to miss his mother.

The third time he came, his mood was much calmer—neither happy nor unhappy.

He remembered that day well—it had just rained, and the ground was muddy.

He followed his beautiful cousin Cindy to the backyard to play.

That day, they played a knight game.

Cindy was the knight, and he was the horse.

When they came back, Cindy was clean from head to toe, while he was covered in mud.

He saw the look on his father’s face darken.

Afraid of getting hit, he quickly said he thought the mud looked fun and went rolling in it.

Then he heard Cindy gasp.

Before he could figure out what was going on, the beating began.

He still remembered his father asking him what he had been learning in his etiquette classes.

The fourth time he came, he was no longer happy.

His beautiful cousin Cindy again said she would show him something nice. He thought he had grown up a bit and surely wouldn’t vomit this time, so he nervously followed her—only to witness a brutal fight between hounds and starving wolves. It was even bloodier than the dogs he’d seen devouring each other last time. He couldn’t even last until dinner before throwing up everything.

Even when dinner included his favorite foods, he had no appetite and could only watch Cindy devour everything swiftly.

That was the first time he came to the White Mountain Territory without getting beaten or injured.

By the fifth visit, he had begun to feel fear.

He was terrified that Cindy would say she wanted to show him something nice.

Luckily, this time Cindy didn’t mention anything nice—she only said she’d show him something fun.

He thought that perhaps his cousin Cindy had grown up too.

So they sneaked into the training grounds.

After that, he forgot what had happened.

All he remembered was that when he woke up, his entire body hurt, and many parts were bleeding. He also remembered his father’s dark expression as he kept asking what he had done in the training grounds, but he couldn’t remember a thing and had no idea how to answer.

That made his father so angry he wanted to hit him again.

Later, he asked Cindy what had happened that day after they entered the training grounds.

Cindy asked if he really didn’t remember.

He said he truly had no recollection.

Then Cindy said something that turned his face pale: that day, when he saw Cindy swinging an iron sword so coolly, he wanted to try too. But he couldn’t lift the sword and got angry, so he tried dragging weapons off the rack and ended up toppling everything. Luckily, he was fortunate and wasn’t crushed to death—he just got a lot of injuries.

Cindy said that was the first time she had been truly scared.

Liam said nothing that day.

But he made up his mind to stay as far away from his cousin as possible.

This time, he hadn’t wanted to come to the White Mountain Territory.

He said he had to study, and still had a lot of assignments left. If he didn’t focus, his tutor would be angry.

His mother praised him fiercely for that, and just when he felt a little proud, he heard her instruct someone to invite his tutor too—bring them all to the White Mountain Territory so he could continue his studies here.

Liam felt the world go dark before his eyes.

...

Cindy, hearing Liam’s words, indeed stopped walking, turned back, and looked at Liam: “I raised a little black cat. Want to see it?”

“Black cat? How big is it?”

Cindy gestured with her hands: “About this big. But it eats a lot. Every time it eats, it gets all round and chubby, so maybe just a bit bigger than this.”

Liam looked at the size she showed—just slightly larger than an adult’s palm. It didn’t look like some kind of ferocious beast.

He thought for a moment and asked, “You didn’t raise other pets too, and make them fight each other, did you?”

“Nope.” Cindy shook her head. “Just this one little cat.”

“Does it bite?”

Cindy thought about it. She hadn’t been bitten, but she had heard it bit someone before. However, since she took over feeding it, it hadn’t bitten anyone again. So she said, “It won’t bite. If you come, I’ll have the kitchen prepare some food so you can feed it.”

Liam was tempted: “Then… alright.”

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