Bang!
In the early morning, suddenly, the door to a room was slammed open.
Alric rushed to the bed on which Vesper was sleeping soundly and violently shook him while shouting.
"Big Brother. Come quick! Aunt Selene has woken up!"
Vesper was in a deep sleep and was dissatisfied upon being woken up so suddenly and violently, but when he heard his words, all dissatisfaction vanished and he almost jumped out of the bed.
Alric rushed out of the room, and Vesper followed.
A few seconds later, he entered Selene's room. Immediately, his steps froze when he saw her sitting on the bed, looking at him with a gentle smile on her face.
For the last three days, he had been feeding her Yellow Beard Roots concoction and watching her complexion gradually recover.
Last night, the last of the Yellow Beard Roots was used up, and her complexion, although still pale, was no longer sickly, and her breathing had become even and smoother, indicating she had significantly recovered.
So, he already knew she was going to regain consciousness sooner or later, but seeing her awake and smiling, he became overwhelmed with emotions, and his eyes moistened up.
"I made you worried, didn't I, young Lord?" Selene said, an apologetic look on her face.
Swoosh!
Vesper immediately rushed over to her side and hugged her tightly, but not too tightly to cause her any discomfort.
"I'm so glad you are awake, Selene." He said, his voice choked with emotions.
A gratified smile appeared on her face when she heard him and felt his concern for her. She then wrapped her hands around him and gently caressed his back as she said,
"I'm also glad to be awake, young Lord."
Alric, standing beside them, looked at them with tears in his eyes and a happy smile on his face.
"Let me hug too." He said before climbing onto the bed and wrapping his small hands around them.
The duo laughed happily and hugged him too.
…
After their emotions settled down, they started talking.
Selene asked them what had happened after she fell ill. The brothers took turns to explain everything to her.
When she heard how Vesper risked his life to find medicine for her, her face turned pale.
"Young Lord, you shouldn't have done that. What if something had happened to you? My life isn't worth risking yours for." She said, her voice trembling.
Immediately, Vesper's expression turned dark.
"This is the last time you said this. I don't want to hear you say something like this again." He said, his voice cold. He really didn't like that she didn't treasure her life, especially because he had feelings for her.
Selene's eyes widened slightly in shock. This was the first time he had used such a cold tone with her.
Then, a warm feeling arose in her heart because this further proved that he cared for her as much as she cared for him and Alric.
"I understand, young Lord." She nodded.
"Good." Vesper smiled and continued telling her the rest.
A while later, he was done.
Selene had an enraged, disappointed, and worried expression on her face. "How could lord Ironhart do this?! He has practically given you a death sentence by exiling you to this remote village. How can he be so heartless?"
Vesper and Alric stayed silent and let her grumble all she wanted.
"Does he really think you are not his sons? Did he forget how much he loved milady?"
Vesper narrowed his eyes when he heard this.
"Did he forget what he promised—" Suddenly, Selene seemed to realize what she was saying and immediately stopped before looking at Vesper and Alric. When she saw the look in Vesper's eyes, she knew he had picked up something from her words.
She opened her mouth to say something but then shook her head and sighed before falling silent for a while.
Then, she asked, "So we have been here for two days?"
"Yes, Aunt Selene. Today is the third day."
Alric nodded and exclaimed with a bright smile on his face, "The people here are very good! They don't look down on us and even provide us with three meals daily. And, even more amazing, I have made three friends here who I play with. I like it very much here."
Alric was almost jumping up and down in excitement as she spoke.
Selene's eyes moistened up when she heard him and saw how happy he was. Vesper also became emotional, but the dominant emotion in his heart was anger. Then he recalled the cloaked man's words and what Selene said just now, and the anger turned into confusion.
After a few moments, he stopped thinking about it and pulled up Selene's status screen.
[Pack Members: 1]
Selene Verde (Human)
Age: 31
Cultivation: None
Bloodline: None
[Current Status: Emotional, Weak, Poisoned, Cursed.]
Taking a deep breath, he said, "Alright. You two talk. I'll go and tell Granny Liu to bring more food than usual."
"Okay, Big Brother." Alric said and started telling Selene what he had done in the two days they had been here.
…
After freshening up, Vesper left the house that the kind village chief, Granny Liu's husband, gave them to live in.
It wasn't big, but it was cozy with three rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room.
The village chief's house was not far away, so he arrived there just two minutes later.
The main door was wide open. Granny Liu had told him not to bother knocking when he came and that he should just come inside.
But he felt awkward doing so and called out.
"Granny Liu, are you in there?"
"Yeah. Come in, little Vess." Granny Liu's old but energetic voice sounded out.
Vesper walked in and found her in the open-roof kitchen, preparing breakfast with a young woman in her early twenties. She was Chief and Granny Liu's granddaughter-in-law.
Seeing her, Vesper sighed.
Her husband, Granny Liu's only grandson, had died in a wild beast attack just six months ago. Five years before that, just before she had gotten married, her father-in-law and mother-in-law had also lost their lives in a similar beast attack.
Now, in their family, there were only three people—Old Village Chief, Granny Liu, and her.
'Something has to be done about the wild beasts.' He thought.
It was not only their family members who lost their lives while defending the village against the random wild beast attacks, but almost every family in the village had lost a member or two in the last ten years.