Chapter 279 - 223 Betrayal_2
Duanmu Huai put his thoughts aside, shaking his head helplessly. He hadn’t expected that Bambi and her crew did find Mistelina, the Forest Princess, but the princess seemed to have run into some trouble. Judging from Bambi’s description, the princess wasn’t dressed… Uh, she wouldn’t have fallen prey to some mountain bandit, would she?
That would be trouble if it was attributed to him.
And he couldn’t simply say it had nothing to do with him.
However, Duanmu Huai had already summoned Bambi’s Soul Card and granted her an Armed Enhancement and Paladin’s Blessing, at least her attack power was now high enough – it should be sufficient to knock out Mistelina and bring her back.
Fortunately, his work was almost complete.
Duanmu Huai refocused his mind, looking at Layas kneeling on the ground. After that, Duanmu Huai handed her something he had gotten from the church. Layas claimed she could detect her mother’s scent from it. Subsequently, she asked Duanmu Huai to take her to the church to seek the truth. So, Duanmu Huai took her back to the church behind Volcano Manor. Under the guidance of a divine nobleman, they arrived in a remote room. Layas then closed her eyes, as if sensing something here.
As she opened her eyes again, she collapsed.
“Are you okay?”
” I…”
Hearing Duanmu Huai’s query, Layas let out a bitter smile.
“I’m not okay. You may not know it, I am a forsaken child, born not from graces but from a horrifying ritual. Such existence is not accepted by humans, nor by snakes… not even by Lady Tannis.
Saying this, Layas closed her eyes, a strand of tears flowing down her cheek.
“I’ve made many unreasonable requests to you, but please, this is the last time… could you kill me? I thought I was determined, but… I am still afraid. Please free me from this cursed body.”
Speaking, Layas lifted her head. Facing her, Duanmu Huai’s answer was…
“Is there a need for that?”
“Huh?”
Hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, Layas opened her eyes in surprise, staring at him.
“Hero?”
“To be honest, I think you might be overthinking. Regardless of your origin, you were still raised by Tannis, right? Raising a child isn’t easy. I think if Tannis didn’t want to raise you, she’d have let you die by now. She wouldn’t have spent so much time and energy to raise you that big. Also… is a birth mother important? If they abandoned you for some unavoidable reasons, that would be a different story. But from what you said, your birth mother didn’t seem to have put you in her heart at all, so why bother about such a woman?”
Duanmu Huai found it difficult to comprehend this kind of scenario, similar to those TV shows about family searching. The biological parents searched for their lost child for over a decade, then they found the child, hugged each other, and cried. Every time Duanmu Huai saw such a scene, he felt it was fake. Of course, the emotions of the biological parents who had searched for a dozen years might be genuine. But for the child, they were strangers from the child’s point of understanding. Suddenly, they appeared and claimed to be his biological parents – could their feelings override those towards the foster parents who had been together for a dozen years?
From the child’s point of view, those were just two strangers coming up and hugging him, why should he cry with them? It was way too fake!
Of course, unless the foster parents were abusive.
So Duanmu Huai believed that Layas, just because of knowing her origin wanted to die… was utterly unreasonable.
If Tannis had abused her and treated her like a step-daughter, and Layas, in utter despair, wanted to commit suicide then it would make sense. But Tannis has been good to her, at least from the few conversations that Duanmu Huai had with Tannis, the latter showed genuine concern for her daughter.
Even if it were a dog, it wouldn’t be easy to let go after a decade of care.
Or, let’s say, being able to care for it for over a decade was enough to prove deep emotions, otherwise, they would have abandoned it long ago.
“I think there’s no need to rush to die. Think about it, you’re still young, life is long.”
Duanmu Huai reached out and patted Layas on the shoulder. She lowered her head, without uttering a word.
“Alright, think it over.”
Duanmu Huai knew that Layas needed some time to calm down. So, he didn’t say anything else, turned around, and left Layas. He went back to the Volcano Manor and sought out Tannis.
“Is the child alright?”
“I believe she should be able to figure things out if she gives it some thought.”
Seeing that Tannis’ first question upon seeing him concerns Layas, Duanmu Huai feels that this stepmother is quite decent, even better than many biological mothers.
“Is that so……”
Tannis sighed, then she took a potion out of her pocket and handed it over.
“What’s this?”
“This is a Forgetting Elixir, if the child really can’t emerge from her pain, I beg you…let the child be relieved.”
“I don’t think it’ll be needed, but I’ll keep it for now.”
Although Duanmu Huai feels that Layas probably won’t need this, he still puts the Forgetting Elixir in his pocket. There are many ways to use this thing after all.
For example, Duanmu Huai once read a book where the female lead was pursued by the male lead and eventually fell for him. They got married, and it was only when the female lead accidentally leafed through the male lead’s diary that she realized she had actually known the male lead for a long time. The male lead had invented a forgetting potion, and in order to win the female lead, he used all sorts of methods. Initially, the male lead captured her, interrogated her thoroughly, then after knowing everything about the female lead, he gave her the elixir, making her forget about her past experiences.
Then the second time, the male lead again captured the female lead, played all sorts of games with her, and when he got bored, he continued to feed her the elixir.
In the end, the male lead also finally got bored of torturing her and decided to take the route of pure love. So, he gave the female lead the elixir once again, and with the intelligence he obtained from her before and his understanding of her body, the male lead easily captured the female lead’s heart and played the route of pure love.
The ending was that the male lead came back to find that the female lead had already discovered the truth, so he gave her another dose of the potion…
Of course, Duanmu Huai would not use it this way, only believers of the God of Lust would play such games, and they would be loyal to Duanmu Huai if they ever met him.
“So next……”
Arriving at this point, Tannis returned to the main topic, and with her eyes focussed on Duanmu Huai, she spoke.
“It’s time for you to meet with our King, what do you think?”
“I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Duanmu Huai naturally won’t refuse.
“Alright, I understand, please close your eyes for a moment, I will lead you to our King.”
Hearing Tannis speak, Duanmu Huai closed his eyes as instructed, then the next moment, he suddenly felt nothing beneath his feet.
Then, the voice of Tannis came to Duanmu Huai’s ears. @@novelbin@@
“…Farewell, I hope it will be a perfect encounter.”
The next instant, when Duanmu Huai opened his eyes, he landed heavily on the ground, standing before him was a monster with numerous heads, much like the Nine-Headed Hydra.
Realizing the presence of Duanmu Huai, the Nine-Headed Snake lifted its head and opened its mouth widely towards him.
Clearly, it’s not in a welcoming mood.
However, on the other hand, Duanmu Huai breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you very much, Ms. Tannis.”
Looking at the Nine-Headed Snake in front of him, Duanmu Huai gripped the War Hammer tightly and soon, a Black Flame burst out of him.
“Now I don’t have to worry about being polite!”
Without missing a beat, Duanmu Huai raised his War Hammer and swung it towards the giant snake’s head!