CHAPTER 451: A TONGUE MADE OF ACID (1/2)
The little girl in front of us had very defined yet delicate features, not at all like the tattered, grey training wear she had on right now. Still, there was no denying her natural beauty, rags or no rags. Just by looking at her, I could already tell that she was going to grow up to be a well-endowed beauty.
If there was one thing that was a shame about her, it would be her frigid demeanour. Even when she hit the wooden dummy, there was no visible change on her face, like she herself was made of wood.
Each time she whacked the wooden dummy, the rods would turn in the direction of the force. Meaning that when she whacked one of the rods, another nine or so would come spinning about to hit her. With how furiously she was whacking the dummy, the dummy itself was rotating at blazing speeds. Left for a second, and right another. The dummy spun around at a dizzyingly fast pace, never stopping for a second.
Most people, when practising on the dummy, would let forth an audible gasp, like a “HAH!” or an “AH!”. But not this little girl. She remained steadfastly silent, never making a sound as she continued hitting the dummy. Even her chest remained unnaturally still while her hands only got faster and faster by the minute.
As time passed, her increasing speed began to take a visible toll on her body. Her breathing began to get ragged and her muscles seemed to be shivering from the harsh trial they were being put through. Even so, she never stopped attacking. In fact, her eyes seemed to light up with fire.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, went the wooden dummy. Everyone’s eyes were now glued to the girl. Even the silently mediating Half-Elves were now watching her subconsciously.
“Who is she?”
I had this feeling, call it a premonition, that this elementary schoolgirl was the girl we were looking for.
“She’s La… Aishael.” As expected, she was the Half-Elven girl we were searching for. However, because of Lanbael’s presence, the Half-Elven female leading us did not dare utter the word lady. Yet that did not stop Lanbael from glaring at her, as if to say that calling her a lady would be an insult to their noble Dark Elven blood.
“Mongrel!” Was what she was probably thinking right now. I had no doubt that if I wasn’t here she would have already gone off on a tirade.
Still, just based on what we had seen so far, Aishael’s standing amongst the Half-Elves seemed to be quite high… because of her relationship to Lewell, perhaps? Too bad her granny doesn’t seem to be all that enamored with her…
Running completely contrary to my expectations, this silent till now lady seemed visibly heartbroken and excited at the sight of her granddaughter. If I had to describe the scene right now, imagine a grandmother who had just been reunited with her long-lost granddaughter and felt guilty about not fulfilling her duty for so long. Then before she knew it, the granddaughter was all grown-up…
Yet no matter how real her guilt might have seemed, I knew that old hag was just acting. If she could even kill her own son without blinking an eye, why would I ever believe that she would feel any heart pain about her mix-blood granddaughter?
Still, whether she was acting or not, I couldn’t bear to expose this farce. Not to a little girl who had just lost her father and now even her mother…As long as she didn’t know that Paliseth’s love was false, then that love could still provide her with some warmth.
At least… that was what I thought.
As Paliseth kept calling out for Aishael, she would take a few steps forward, arms thrown wide open to welcome her. Finally, under Aishael’s icy cold gaze, she hugged the little girl gently, like a mother hen protecting her baby chick.
Then as Paliseth was busy engaging in frivolous small talk with Aishael, all the while mulling over how to break the death of her mother to her, the little girl slowly lifted up her head. In a soft voice, she said as such, “Who are you even?”
Faced with such an unceremonious questioning, even the old hag that she was couldn’t help but be stunned. “Me? I’m your granny, of course.”
“What’s a granny?” She slipped free from Paliseth’s frozen embrace and then finished her off with one last quip. “ I’m sorry, but why haven’t I heard of such a thing?”
Yeah… what’s a granny? I haven’t heard of one too… maybe it’s edible?
While her words were clearly phrased as a question, I would consider that question more rhetorical than anything else. She probably did this on purpose, as if to spurn her grandmother who couldn’t be bothered to even visit her till now.