"You really love us, don't you?" Crystal asked Anom, her voice tinged with amusement."Of course..." Anom replied, realizing he had let his guard down in the presence of the two women. 'Damn! This girl set a trap for me!' he thought, regretting his swift response.Unfortunately for Anom, it was too late to retract his words. Loreana, who had been frozen in his embrace, finally became aware of their proximity and the embarrassing situation unfolding before her daughter. Her heart skipped a beat from the embarrassment that surged within her."Maybe I answered too quickly, but my response wasn't wrong, you know," Anom said to Loreana, who was attempting to gather her strength to extricate herself from his hold. Gently lifting her chin with his finger, he continued, "I do like you. Perhaps I pretended otherwise because I knew you wouldn't accept it. And maybe it's unconventional, but I no longer care. Now that you two have opened your hearts to each other, let me tell you something."Anom

"After that, we were all directed to the selling area. It was where purchasers could inspect the "goods" and place their bids.The excited crowd stood in stark contrast to our despairing thoughts. There was no sympathy in those gazes, only more greed.We witnessed multiple batches of people being auctioned off one at a time. We saw our friends and comrades being received by their buyers, who, ignoring their pleading, enthusiastically dragged them off. That feeling of waiting for the same fate was revolting, to say the least. Not all those sold were children, however. There were many adult women, dressed in clothing based on their "quality".Finally, the turn of the batch I was part of came on stage, and so did the time for the conclusion.You could just by looking at the faces of the crowd that it was the main attraction there. After all, who wouldn't want a slave that can be used for more than just entertainment? It was actually the primary reason they kept raiding new cities on a re

"But before they could even begin to mourn, the double-edged sword finally decided to swing backwards.The head was stunned because he couldn't fathom their motivation. He had, after all, already given up on the most important thing they desired.But he was crushed when he saw their king's most trusted minister walking alongside the force with which they had struck a deal. Only then did he realize where the king's anxiety had come from. The situation made it clear that the outside force that had assisted them in repelling their own kingdom's attack was the one who had arranged for this setup.And it was evident that they would not be willing to share the fruits of their plan with anyone.So ended the history of two great forces in a kingdom, one of which was the royal family itself.But, in the face of all the decisions he might have considered foolish, the family head's one decision proved its worth.He had already sent all of the family's direct and gifted descendants away as soon a

"The man-from-the-auction was in the lead, looking menacingly at us. His previous calm had vanished, clearly affected by the death of the man Lady Faustina had just finished off.They saw through her escape plan and immediately engaged her in a fight.Just as things were looking bleak for us, we heard a commotion coming from behind the enemy.To our pleasant surprise, it was Uncle Benny! As Lady Faustina had said to me earlier, he was really a tough guy.Even our adversaries were in disbelief. Their gazes turned towards the path from where Uncle Benny had arrived, clearly looking for someone.They must have left quickly after hearing the commotion caused by Lady Faustina and the masked man's fight. They should have left some people to deal with Uncle Benny, who was half-dead when they left.But it was clear that they had underestimated him even more than I had.Uncle Benny charged into the bandit group and dealt with anyone who appeared in his path. The original four who had been stal

"I had never drank in my life before that. I had only seen Uncle Benny enjoy some liquor, while Lady Faustina too liked to taste some fruity wine. But they never showed any signs of losing control of their faculties.Maybe I had too much faith in my puny strength, as I decided to take a sip. How bad could it turn out to be?Just the first sip made me want to spit it back out; the burning sensation was only making it harder for me to drink anymore. But I saw that Bolance had also calmed down when he saw me drinking. He raised his glass to show his appreciation for accompanying him. Taking small sips, instead of the large swigs like earlier, he began talking about some business plans and proposals he had prepared. I didn't understand most of what he had said. What I did understand was that it was also related to the reason why he looked so down.As I tried to make sense of how a business related topic might be connected to his broken heart, I also had another problem to deal with.Bolan