n

n

nZach let out all his frustrations and returned his threats with some threats of his own. Since Bruce was willing to threaten him with Luna’s secret, it was only fair that Bruce’s sister be brought into the line of fire.

n“I assume you won’t want such a fate for your sister and I don’t like to be threatened, let’s take the peaceful road out. I will leave with my companion in the morning since it is dark outside and I want to take a rest before leaving. And I couldn’t care less even if you reveal my companion’s secret to the whole Hina Empire. She has me to protect her but I wonder if you can find enough helpers by then to save your sister.” With the last threat Zach got up from the couch and headed towards the door.

nBruce panicked and furiously rolled his wheelchair to block Zach’s path out. Thanks to his quick reaction, Zach found himself face to face with Bruce again; one in wheelchair and the other on his feet as he looked downwards to make eye contact with the other.

n“W…wait a moment please” Bruce’s tone had softened to the point of begging. There was a pleading look on his face this time and not that haughty and arrogant one that he had used to threaten Zach just a minute ago.

nAs Zach ignored him and tried to move past the wheelchair in his path, Bruce did something that Zach had not expected at all.

nHe plopped down to the ground as he let go of his wheelchair and with a thud his knees struck the ground. 𝘦.𝘰𝘳𝑔

nBruce was on his knees in front of Zach as he pleaded with him while looking pitiful.

n“What’s with these people? How do their brains even work? First it was that stupid girl and now this idiot brother of hers. What makes him think I will listen to him after what he did earlier?” Zach thought as confusion eroded his mind. He couldn’t understand how shameless one had to be to change the spots on their skin without blinking.

n“What kind of dog ** behavior pattern was this?” A moment ago, Bruce was threatening him and now he was on his knees in front of him.

n“Forgive me for my behavior earlier. I know that you might not believe considering how I behaved earlier. But I only did that to make sure that you were the kind of person I hoped you to be.” Bruce didn’t stumble on his words this time and the tone of his voice was perfectly steady as if what Zach had seen earlier was a joke or a kind of deception.

n“And what kind of person is that?” Zach asked as he sneered at Bruce’s obvious attempt to change the outcome of their confrontation since he had suffered a loss.

n“When I heard about you from my men and from my sister, I thought that you were someone who was after our family’s riches considering that you went so far as to damage your own vitality to save Diana. But when I met you, I was truly amazed. Not only did you not ask for anything in return but you even tried to trivialize your own achievements. Such a humble attitude and such humility cannot be cultivated by those who are greedy for material things. It was only then that I had the suspicion that the information I received regarding you being a great person might not be false at all.”

nZach listened to him patiently as Bruce kept spouting his bull**. He was waiting for Bruce to get to the point and explain his reasons for threatening him with the secret of his only companion in this world.

n“To be honest, the real reason I judged you to be heroic wasn’t because you saved my sister or my people but because of your companion. If you weren’t truly kind you would never have tried to keep a succubus by your side considering the feud between our races.” Bruce breathed deeply and tried to keep a straight face but his emotions kept showing despite his attempts to hide them. He looked like he was euphoric with excitement.

n“How are you so sure that I haven’t just enslaved her and am using her as I like based on my personal preference?” Zach couldn’t understand why Bruce was so excited because the logic behind his inference was weak at best.

n“Exactly, you are right. I wasn’t sure about that before but from the interactions of you two at the dinner table, I had inkling about the truth. Succubi are very prideful and are almost never as subservient to anyone else, especially a human. But the way your companion took care of you wasn’t forced at all and didn’t look like a pretense. Anyone could have seen the adoration in her eyes. Even after witnessing all that I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure about you; but I am now.” Bruce’s eyes sparkled as he said the last sentence.

nUnderstanding dawned on Zach instantly as he understood why Bruce had to go so far as to antagonize him. It was so he could bring out Zach’s true intentions and his true personality.

n“You took quite a risk. If your hopes had turned out to be false and I wasn’t like what you heard; you would have had a torturous future ahead of you because of this play of yours.” Zach wanted to know why the leader of the prestigious Luther family had gone so far just to understand Zach’s character.

n“That just goes to show how desperate I am.” Bruce let out a heavy sigh as if trying to ease the burdens on his meager shoulders.

n“I am sorry for how I behaved earlier and the threats I made. I want you to know that I had no intention of harming you in the slightest even if you ended up killing me for the affront. I just wanted to do everything I could to save my sister Diana.” Bruce could barely stop from roaring out his anguish because of the helplessness he felt due to his condition.

nZach didn’t know what to do in such a situation. Bruce had acted too irrationally and had created such a mess between the two.

nZach felt that there could have been other ways to go about the situation but then again he couldn’t understand the anguish of a cripple who was trying to save his sister despite his handicapped state. He couldn’t how much distrust one cripple could harbor towards the world due to the various betrayals he suffered through.

nFinally, Zach started to feel bad for the head of the prestigious family. He bent down, crossed his arms through Bruce’s underarms and lifted him up with some difficulty. Despite how Bruce looked, he was quite tall; so tall that even Zach had difficulty getting him up.

nWhen Bruce was fully settled in his wheelchair once again, he looked at Zach with gratitude because he had not only understood Bruce’s intentions but had also forgiven him for his earlier actions.

n“Thank you for understanding my position. You are certainly different. No one else in your position would have been so kind.”

nZach felt slightly uncomfortable with his words and wanted to refute his words subconsciously but Bruce had not said anything wrong or exaggerated.

n“I don’t need that. Just tell my why?” Zach was serious because he wanted to know why the head of the Luther family was so desperate.

nBruce exhaled loudly as his eyes wavered as if recalling something painful.

nZach waited for him as countless emotions came and went from his face but he didn’t interrupt Bruce.

nBruce began to narrate his story with a solemn look that hid bitterness and sadness behind it.

n“There was a time when Luther family; our family was a large force in Elizabeth city. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was the most glorious period of our family. The time when our father was still alive, there wasn’t a single power in this city that had the guts to mess with us. Even nobles steered clear of our way when I swaggered out into the city with my entourage in tow. But as all things are fated, the end to that prosperous period came with the death of our father. Our father was strong; strong enough to give a tough time to any of the strongest mages of the empire but he couldn’t defeat the disease that slowly weakened and took his life.”

n