Silas angrily looked ahead. "Not only do they have guns, but they also have cannons and other terrible weapons. I know our village will be doomed if they aim even one of those at us… but we've always been living on top of the mountains away from the world. We never start conflicts, but there are always wicked people coveting our village treasures. If we compromise this time, they'll push their luck next time, and then our village will really be doomed. We're the descendants of dragons, so we must protect it. They've disrespected our dragon, so we have to fight to the death. We won't let them step into the village unless they kill all of us!" At that point, Silas turned and ordered his villagers, "Get ready to fight! Attack!" The hundreds of villagers yelled and roared, shooting arrows with fire towards Quinton and Xavier.Chase quickly blocked Quinton from the onslaught and said desperately, "Mr. Everheart, they're crazy! We can't reason with them. Just go back first, and let us han
Chase and Elijah objected to Silas' suggestion."It's too risky for Mr. Everheart and Mr. Stuart to go into the village. The villagers might even hold them hostage. It's too dangerous!" "Yeah, we'll lose our advantage once they enter the village. We can't even fight back if anything happens. I think we'd better not take the risk..."Xavier frowned and wondered if he should agree. Their concerns were valid—the villagers were barbarians beyond the reach of the law, so promises and morality would mean nothing to them. If he impulsively went with them, he would be at their mercy. It was a great risk. "I'll go with you," Quinton said to Silas calmly. He bypassed the crowd and approached Silas."Are you willing to?" Silas was taken aback, not expecting them to be that trusting and sincere. "I've got nothing to fear—I believe that the descendants of dragons aren't cunning people who would go back on their word," Quinton remarked. He had escaped death many times and was not afraid of
Silas was still angry, but remained silent because Xavier had intimidated him.Seeing that, Neil continued, "You're right, Mr. Stuart. We have our differences, and I think the best course of action right now is for everyone to calm down and take a step back." Everyone remained silent, in agreement with Neil.Then, Neil added, "We ask that Mr. Stuart and Mr. Everheart come into the village to talk to us alone. I know you both are concerned, and it's normal for you to be. Mr. Stuart, please tell us what your condition is, and we'll try our best to fulfill it if we can." Then, he carefully looked at Silas. "Dad, what do you think?"Silas didn't want to make a scene. If these men destroyed the village, Dragos' centuries-old legacy would end because of him, and it would be a great sin. Hence, he finally yielded. "Fine. What's your condition?""I can go into your village with you, but your daughter has to be kept as a hostage on our side until we reach a successful negotiation," Xavier
Quinton and Xavier followed the large group of villagers and climbed up several slopes to reach Dragos, which was on the top of the mountains. The place of their negotiation was a flat ground at the entrance of the village, which stood at the top of a cliff. Both Quinton and Xavier had initially disliked each other, but now, they had become allies."Damn, these people really are cavemen! Be careful, I wouldn't know how to explain it to Renee if you fall and kill yourself." Xavier grumbled as he pulled Quinton away from the edge of the cliff.Quinton glared at Xavier and whispered, "I was just looking for escapes in case they go back on their word and attack us.""I don't think they'd dare to. After all, the village head's daughter is in our hands!""You forget that they don't think like us, and I doubt they'd be merciful considering Stefan has disrespected their God. They worship that dragon, so they might just sacrifice Silas' daughter to take revenge." "What should we do then?
"Okay, Mr. Drago." Although the villagers could not understand Silas, they unconditionally obeyed him."If it weren't for you, I would have thought everyone here were cavemen!" Xavier casually sat on a stool, still looking like a rich CEO despite being in the wilderness.Quinton looked around. He knew that they were being put on the spot, and fighting their way out would be courting death. Hence, he decided to see how things went. He said to Silas politely, "Mr. Drago, I'm sure you see our sincerity. We aren't bad people, and neither is Stefan. It was an urgent matter, and my sister was on the verge of death, which was why he violated your clan's sacred laws.""You don't have to talk to me about your innocence. All those who came looking for the dragon's saliva had an urgent matter, and wanted it either for wealth or health. I've seen many kinds of people at my age, and you both aren't the most innocent ones," Silas remarked casually as he sipped the tea served by his villager.Qui
Finally, Silas revealed his request. Dragos was beyond the reach of society, and had survived on its own with its own clan laws away from the rest of the world. They never caused trouble to anyone… but that didn't mean they could have peace. The dragon's saliva was their clan treasure which blessed their land, but its rarity and value had brought them a lot of danger. Over the years, the number of greedy people that tried to attack the village had increased, each more scheming than the other. It was clear that the dragon's saliva brought them more trouble than blessings, so the villagers of Dragos had to find something to protect them if they wanted to survive. Silas had been worried sick about such things until he met Stefan. Although Stefan was rude, he was different from the others who had come to the village. Silas could tell he was a refined person, and that had given Silas hope. On that day, the guards at the memorial chamber had caught Stefan, tied him up, and left him in the
Hence, the negotiation helped both parties reach a compromise, and they were no longer at odds with each other.Silas fished out a contract, and both Quinton and Xavier put their thumbprints on it. It meant that they would cooperate to protect Dragos and help the ancient village thrive. "Okay, we've agreed to your request. Can you let him go now?" Xavier asked impatiently as he wiped away the red ink on his thumb."Gentlemen, come with me." Silas led Xavier and Quinton to the memorial chamber, the most sacred place in the village. Generally, only men of the village could enter it, and outsiders could not approach it, but an exception was made for Xavier and Quinton since Stefan was locked up in the innermost part of the memorial chamber."Ugh… This place is so strange!" When Xavier entered the memorial chamber, he saw the large stalactite statues using the dim lamp Silas had given them, and marveled at the extraordinary craftsmanship of nature. It amazed Quinton too. "I've seen
"He escaped?" Xavier was initially confused, but when he walked over to where Quinton was standing and looked up, he saw an air vent around seven meters above the ground in the dark room. It was about the size of a well, and though it was quite small, an agile person might be able to escape through it. Additionally, there were some footprints on the wall."Those look like Stefan's!" Xavier observed the footprints, realizing they were from a pair of hiking shoes Stefan had worn before leaving home."He escaped from here?" Silas looked up at the narrow air vent incredulously. "No, it can't be. This air vent is so small, and it'd be hard for someone to crawl out of it. Plus... it's a straight cliff beyond this passage without anything to lean onto. If anyone tried escaping, they'd surely fall to their death!" "What... What did you say?" Xavier's eyes grew wide, and he quickly crawled into the passage and punched open the iron grill on the air vent. Dim light entered the room, making i
After that, Amber looked at Liam, who kept silent the whole time. She tried to make Liam say something nice. "See, Liam? I told you, Matt's a great guy. He was just joking with us in the orchard to scare us. I'm sure he'll take our sides and protect us. Don't worry.""Is that so?" Liam glanced at Mateo and faked a smile. "Well, I should thank him properly."The air between them grew awkward, but Liam didn't care. He wanted to make Mateo uneasy and force the latter to expose his true self.Amber was simple, but Liam was no fool. Mateo's acting was smooth, but he couldn't trick Liam.Moreover, Mateo was the one who came up with that scheme. He wouldn't let anyone expose it—he wanted to be the one to do it."Okay, aren't we going to get a drink? Let's go. I'll make the chef cook us something nice." Mateo enthusiastically held Liam's shoulders and dragged him forward. At that moment, he turned icy. "If you're a man, stop involving Gem if you want to fight against me. Stop showing of
Liam was no fool. He immediately understood the profound meaning behind Renee's words and stopped saying too much. "Fine, be good. You guys are just taking a rest. I'll handle this well. Wait for my news."He knew very well that the conclusion would be the same regardless if Renee and Leia had offended Luneth's son or the child of an ordinary villager. Mateo simply wanted to use that method to control him. The only way to solve this was to defeat Mateo. However, based on the current situation, Mateo had a lot of followers in the fort. It would be difficult for Liam to defeat him.Luckily, Liam wasn't an easy target either. He had been winning people over these days. That, and he was close with Benjamin's other foster sons. If both parties were to get into a fight, he still had a chance to win.After confirming that Renee and Leia were fine, Liam left the cell. Mateo was waiting outside, grinning triumphantly. He sneered sarcastically, "What do you think? I was telling the trut
"No, I'm not!" Liam raised his hand to swear. "Trust me. They're just best friends. They're not in that kind of messy relationship. Both of them have a guy they're madly in love with.""I see." Amber watched how Renee and Leia fooled around intimately with each other in the cell. They looked like they were about to kiss! She shook her head and said, "What a pity! They look so lovey-dovey, better than many novels I read about where the women love each other.""You're hopeless!" It was rare for Liam to see such a straightforward and cute side of Amber. Amused, he poked her forehead and sighed. "Stop reading those messy novels! It's harmful."Their actions were loud and finally attracted Renee's attention in the cell."Liam!" Renee, pressed to the chair by Leia, couldn't escape. Finally, she grabbed a chance to leap up and walk to the door.Well… It wasn't a door. Rather, they were iron bars preventing them from escaping.The decoration and facilities in the room weren't bad. Be
Liam tensed up when he heard that voice. He quickened his pace and rushed through the corridor, toward the cell where Renee and Leia were locked up. Suddenly, he became flabbergasted and his face stiffened. For a long time, he couldn't regain his wits."Hey… What are you guys doing?"On a table lay barbecue, jerky, beer, and fruit platters. Meanwhile, both Renee and Leia were playing cards. Leia ran after Renee, then pressed her on the chair and said seriously, "Hey, gorgeous. You can't run away! You got the card for kissing me, so you have to let me kiss you. If not, you're trying to disobey the rules of the game!""Help! Help me…!" Renee kept resisting, amused and befuddled. "Get away from me! I'm a desperate woman who likes men! I can't kiss you! If I kiss you, I'm going to have nightmares… Oh, just kill me! Is there anyone who can save me?" Liam wasn't the only one standing at the door. Amber was also with him since she was following him. Watching Renee and Leia's antics,
"Hurry up and explain to her, then!" Amber said hurriedly. "Matt, you're close to her. You know Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne would never do that on purpose. Try to persuade her to let this go, and then you can immediately set them free.""I don't have a say in this." Mateo shook his head, pretending to be helpless. "You know how much Luneth dotes on her son. Ms. Everheart pinned him to the ground and beat him up. His head got injured and started bleeding. I heard it's a large cut with a lot of stitches. We can't let it go just like that.""But you can't—" Amber wanted to say more, but Liam interrupted her. He looked at Mateo, his eyes cold and fierce. "I know you set them up. Just be frank. Why did you do that?" "See?" Mateo sighed. He pretended to be aggrieved as he looked at Amber. "The guy you like is sinister. I kindly helped him, but he didn't thank me. He even accused me of setting this up… He always sees the worst in people. He criticized me in front of you and sowed di
Liam immediately noticed something wrong. He asked Mateo fiercely, "What do you mean?""Calm down." Mateo put away his gun and placed it back around his waist. "They broke the rules and barged into the orchard. Plus, they hurt Luneth's child. So, I locked them up for the time being."He appeared calm, as if he was discussing what he had eaten for dinner. He didn't feel that he had been over the line. "Go to hell!" Liam finally failed to hold himself back. He rushed over and grabbed Mateo's neck fiercely. "You can harm me, but how dare you harm them!"At the same time, Mateo's subordinates raised their guns and aimed them at Liam. The recently eased atmosphere immediately became tense again."Hey, don't!" Amber, all tensed up, braced herself to try and stop them. Even so, she was mentally exhausted."What? You want to strangle me?" Mateo was fearless. He grinned deviously and teased, "Cool it. I just locked them up, but they didn't suffer. They're fine. If you harm me, though, I
Livid, Mateo pulled the trigger without hesitation. However, he moved the gun less than an inch. The bullet passed by Liam's ear and hit an orange behind him.The fruit immediately blew up, its juices splashing on Liam's face."Aaaah!" Amber, terrified, trembled. Her eyes turned red, and she hurriedly tried to plead with Mateo. "Matt, cool it! Aren't you and Liam friends? You guys drank and chatted together in the past. You were so close to each other. How could you do this to him? Hurry up and put the gun away! If it goes off accidentally, it'll be over!"However, Mateo ignored her. His eyes were red as he glared at Liam. "Did you see the orange behind you? Let go of her now! If not, I'll blow up your head just like I did to that orange!""Is that all you got?" Liam taunted. He refused to let Amber go. He whispered to Amber, "Watch well. If he shoots me today, promise me not to marry such a man. I can use my life to knock some sense into you.""No!" Amber shook her head. Liam
"What bad timing!" Mateo's indifferent voice came from behind Amber.Amber turned around and saw Mateo with a team of armed soldiers. Terrified, she quickly put some distance between her and Liam. She stammered an explanation. "Matt… It's not what you think. Liam and I came here to look for people. Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne are gone. Liam couldn't find them and guessed they might be in the orchard. He wasn't familiar with the orchard and asked me to guide him."Mateo looked livid, but still cracked a gentle smile. "Silly, you don't have to be scared. I know you're prudent. He must have forced you to come here. I don't blame you."He extended his hand and beckoned Amber toward him. "Come here. You're my fiancee. You should stand with me.""I…" Amber bit her lip—Mateo was right. She kept her head low, about to walk to him.But in the next second, Liam firmly grabbed her wrist. "You can't go!" Liam held Amber's wrist tightly and shot Mateo a challenging look."When did Amb
Liam could only see through Amber's true thoughts if she showed her true self to him. "No, I do like you. I love you the most, and I want to marry you. But you neither like me nor want to marry me. You love freedom and Ms. Everheart. You love and yearn for the kind of life ordinary people like. So, I could only choose to give you up and let you get what you want. What else do you want me to do?" Amber was generally shy and reserved, but when Liam drove her anxious, she rambled a lot."Whatever I want is my business. You don't need to sacrifice yourself to grant my wish!" Liam held Amber's shoulders, acting like a kind senior. He tried to persuade her in earnest. "Marriage isn't a joke. Think it through. Do you like and know Mateo well? You won't be happy after marrying him, given the savage culture around here. And can you divorce him easily?""Matt will be nice to me. Even if he changes his mind, he'll still be nice to me because…my father is Benjamin," Amber replied.She chose