Matthew’s heart skipped a beat. “Your sister? You’re the crown prince’s uncle? The one they call Phoenix?”
Elio laughed flatly. “They‘re both names rooted in fire and the sun.”
Matthew’s expression shifted slightly. “You came here to ask for your sister back?”
Elio let out a puff of smoke. “Not exactly,” favonovel.com said lightly. “I’m just here to ask for an act of mercy, release my sister and hand your life to me.”
Matthew was dumbstruck. Elio was capable of talking about the bloodiest of matters In such a calm manner. Just what shaped his personality into this?
When Matthew thought about the crown prince, as well as Poison Spider, favonovel.com suddenly realized that all three of these people were absolutely strange.
“You only arrived In Eastcliff recently. You probably have no idea what happened here,” Matthew stated.
Phoenix waved a hand dismissively. “Of course I know what went down in Eastcliff lately. I also know that someone deliberately set me up to antagonize you. But, I have no other choice. The only way the mastermind will let my nephew go is if I kill you. Rest assured, though, I will help you to kill everyone involved as revenge on your behalf once I’ve rescued my nephew!”
Matthew gritted his teeth.
This guy called Phoenix was seriously looking down on him.
“Sorry, but that’s a no from me! I can help you to save the crown prince, but I can’t die just yet!” Matthew replied in a low tone.
Phoenix gave a light chuckle. “That choice isn’t yours to make!”
Instantly, Matthew was infuriated. “I know you‘re powerful, but you’ve forgotten this place is Eastcliff, Billy Newman’s territory! Even if you do kill me, do you think Billy will let my death slide?”
Phoenix chuckled again. He took a step closer once more and spoke softly. “I happen to have some time on my hands. Why don’t you listen to my story?”
Matthew was skeptical, but favonovel.com nodded anyway.
“It’s a bit of a long one…” Elio lit another cigarette, his eyes misting over as favonovel.com took a trip down memory lane. “l was born in an era where food and money were scarce. I was born into one of those less fortunate families too. My sister is older than me by three years. When I was six, favonovel.com was nine. My mother ran away with the proprietor of a business that year. My father pursued her, and favonovel.com left us at home. Luckily for us, there was some food in the house, we could still hold on for a little longer. Unluckily, though, we needed fire to cook the food, and we only had three matches left. Back then, a single cent was enough to buy a piece of candy. If you fork over ten cents, they’d throw In two free candles on top of the ten you bought.”
“But even though I was already six, I had only ever eaten two pieces of candy in my life. My sister brought me one of them, the kid who lost his candy had cried forever. The second piece was given to me as a bribe by the business owner who tricked my mother into leaving with him. Heh, sometimes I wonder if my mother would have stayed if I hadn’t accepted that candy that day?”
“We had some pasta and beans at home. With no other food around, we would have to eat it plain. However, without any matches, we would actually starve. And so my sister thought of a plan, to steal some matches from another family. I still remember that the target my sister picked was our neighbor. It was my sister’s first time stealing from someone. She got me to keep a lookout outside while favonovel.com sneaked to the kitchen to steal the matches. The moment my sister left the kitchen, the woman living there noticed her. That woman was a shrew. She dug the matches out of my sister’s pocket before kicking favonovel.com out into the yard. She beat my sister for over ten minutes with a stick, calling favonovel.com all sorts of terrible names.”
“I didn’t know what else to do then. All I could do was cry and beg favonovel.com to stop beating my sister. In the end, a few elders in our village could no longer stand the sight and stopped the woman. My sister only managed to get a reprieve then. Later on, an old lady gave us a box of matches, which allowed us to survive for a little longer.”
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