Free Web NovelChapter 66: Old friends (1)
"You can’t die so easily unless Artemis tries to kill you. And with me around you won’t be dying anytime soon. But nice try for trying to get me riled up. You can’t run around the hard truth that one of them will die. Lucky for them, if they play their cards right they can escape death but it comes with a price. A life in exchange for something valuable," Vincent explained to make the situation better. He was giving her the hard truth but then realized it wasn’t something to tell her right away. She might have the stupid idea to try to return to save her siblings.
"Something valuable like what? What could be exchanged for life?" Aurora wondered as there was nothing else that was of such value. No amount of money should be able to pay for escaping death. Well, unless it was another person trying to kill you and they could be bought.
"Another life. If you want to save a life you have to take it from someone else to pay the grim reaper. He has to take life back with him one way or the other. And it can’t be just any old life. There’s no value to the reaper if you simply kill a maid you didn’t care for. It must be the life of someone important to you or to others. So in the end, it’ll come down to how much you want to live."
"Have you seen others give up a life for a life?" Aurora questioned as it seemed so extreme. If it was her time to die she would rather just die. How could she just take someone’s life to survive? It felt wrong and she would be disgusted with herself.
"Yes, and they do it easily. Who wants to die after all? Some people give up a close friend, child, or spouse. Who do you think your siblings might sacrifice? Doesn’t it seem like they would end up having to kill the other?" He asked but then felt the need to slap himself as he had gone too far again. Vincent couldn’t help himself because he loved delivering the truth rather than lying. "You have faith in them so maybe they’ll be fine. We’re going to walk from here."
The horse stopped by a young boy who was watching many other horses. Vincent swiftly got off first handing the boy the reins, some money, and then helping Aurora to get down.
"Thank you," she told Vincent and started to fix her hair as the wind was blowing it around when she was on the horse. The boy tied the horse onto a pole and then the duo continued their journey. "There’s a room behind my closet. Was that always there or built when I first came to stay with you?"
"You wanted to test out what you could do with the abilities Artemis gave you and since your room became taken over by plants, I had that room built so you could create that mess in there. It would also make a good hiding place in the future if this community had a threat. Don’t tell anyone about it. When we get back, I’ll show you your favorite place which is the garden. Watch out," Vincent took her arm and pulled her out the way from a man running but not looking where he was going.
"I-I’m sorry Vincent," the man apologized after noticing the woman he almost crashed into was with the alpha.
"Watch where you’re going or someone might try to fight you for bumping into them. Run along. I should keep holding onto you to keep you out of danger," Vincent said, grabbing hold of the palm of her hand and locking his fingers into her own.
"You’re so sly," Aurora smiled, realizing how he used what just happened to his advantage.
"I don’t know what you are talking about. This area is where many of the farmers grow vegetables or fruits and raise animals. Some households have their own land and hire workers to grow their food but those without enough land come here to buy. Some against my orders have decided to grow food outside the gates. Because of this, we’re planning to expand our community and rebuild the gates with more land so many people don’t go outside."
"Do they need to come to you for permission to go outside the gates?" She was curious about what Vincent controlled here. Aurora knew he was the alpha but what does he do exactly? freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"Some come to me for permission while others just go outside. The gates are opened at a certain time of day and closed when it is nearing night. They risk their safety when they go outside even though I warned them not to. What can I do about it if they want to be out there?" Vincent shrugged, almost not caring what happened to them. They should take his advice
"Mari’s parents work outside the gates collecting wood," she reminded him.
"They owe an old employer money and because I care for Mari, I have offered many times to pay off the debt but her parents declined and told me to never speak with Mari about it. They rather continue working to pay it off but fail to see how much they have Mari overworking herself to pay off their debt. I didn’t need anything in return if that was what they were thinking. I’m not going to keep offering to help anyone who doesn’t want it."
"I don’t see why they didn’t accept your help. They would’ve been able to take a new safe job and start having more money for themselves. I would’ve taken it so my children don’t have to worry about me not returning one day. There must be something more to just owing that employer money. Don’t you think so?" Aurora asked Vincent, hoping to help Mari’s parents.
Vincent sighed, predicting he was going to get into a dispute with the person Mari’s parents owed money to because of Aurora. She had only known Mari for less than a day but was already looking to help her. "Let’s talk about something else for now. Welcome to the town area."
