122 The Saddest Person Smiles The Brightest
(Jane’s PoV)
The old woman put a more fierce look on her face, warning me not to have any funny ideas towards the young man. What I hate the most was if the elders were spoiling rotten their younger ones to the point these kids were not able to tell what’s good and bad.
When a kid was dependent to their parents, it was normal for me. But, when the kid was overly spoiled by the parents, it would only lead to the damage of the kid’s personality and behavior.
As a result, the kid would have twisted mind and personality, which was dangerous to the society.
Just imagine, even a simple sentence “it was just a joke” could result to someone’s death, but if the speaker of this sentence would not feel any remorse, that he/she had caused someone’s death with his/her ‘joke’, then there must be something wrong with the way he/she thought.
What a pity!
Instead of creating a smart and good generation, their parents created a little monster who could kill another living person with a smile on their faces and said it was just a joke.
Instead of being a smart and thoughtful person, their kid grew up being a cunning and cruel person.
In this case, I fully blamed the parents.
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But, I wouldn’t say that the parents’ job was easy. Any job was never easy. There was always things that needed to be sacrificed in any job.
To me, the key was communication. A good communication could make a sour relationship became better. Especially in parents-children relationship where the children still needed their parents attention and love, a good communication could make the children feel close to their parents, creating a stronger bonding between them instead of solely holding onto the status as parents and children.
Once the children grew older, it would be hard for parents to persuade them back whenever they did wrong. At that time, parents would either feel anger or guilty for their failure.
And yes, I could only say the parents were failure when they failed to shape their children into a good and proper kids just like what they had in their mind.
In this case of the young man and his grandmother, it was not a failure. Instead, it was an achievement when the young man became so spoiled and close to her.
Which grandparents would not feel joyful when their beloved grandchildren would feel closer to them? They would do anything to make their grandchildren feel comfortable around them.
Not to mention, as a person who possessed this kind of ability, she must be seeking someone to pass on her power, to continue her line as a shaman and to control her Shadows.
Well, since I hated this kind of treatment and behavior towards the younger ones, I was sure I wouldn’t let both of them go. The old man in my house in the astral dimension was near his limit. It would serve this old woman a good reminder of what would happen to her next.
I soothed the little girl in front of me. I could feel she was still pulling me further into her memory. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time so I rejected her request. As I was soothing her so that she would not be overly anxious, I started to retracted my consciousness from her.
And slowly, I opened my eyes. The previous scary shadow disappeared and in its place was the little girl, standing obediently while staring at me. Not only that, the old woman was also around, still tying with my light rope which resembled more like an ordinary rope. The things that I pulled out from the girl’s soul were still fidgeting near my feet.
Now that they were exposed to the sunlight, I could see their true forms. A small flickering fire, some small and smelly maggots, chains and shackles, and some needles. I frowned as I noticed those things.
This girl said that it was the ability the old woman gave to her, but from how I saw it, those things were used to restrain her. When she was sent to hurt someone, she would feel pain all over her body and those pain were what she would transfer towards her victim.
Fire; to make the victim feel burning up while the victim’s body was actually covered in cold sweat.
Maggots; to gnaw at the victim’s body from the inside, creating a small wound as if the victim was falling sick because of the wound got infected. Then, it would slowly gnaw on the healthy body.
Chain and shackles; there were mostly for this girl. But, she would transfer the sensation to the victim, in which resulting with the way the victim’s walking. The victim would feel his/her legs or arms heavy.
Needles; what is it for except to torture the victim? How cruel!
“Take her.” I waved my hand to the men who was guarding the girl. “Show her a place for redemption. She needs to clean herself.”
The girl couldn’t say anything before she was disappeared. As soon as the girl disappeared, my gaze shifted to the old woman who was staring at me.
“Get her to the torture room. Let her watch the torture the old man is having. After that, let her feel her living hell. Don’t let her return to her body ever!” I hissed the last sentence through my clenched teeth in anger. I could feel the rage starting to overwhelm myself, but I didn’t hold back.
“You send a piece of yourself here, it means you’re ready to face its consequences.” I smirked evilly as I watched her face paled.
Honestly, I barely recognized my own voice as it came out so cold, colder than I could imagine I would produce. But then, I guessed I was too angry to be able to control the emotion that leaked through my voice, revealing the intention deep inside my heart.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAfter my men brought the old woman away, I took a deep breath and slowly my emotion got better. I ordered one of my men to keep those things safely. I thought I could still use it for teaching the sinister old woman a lesson or two.
Also, I still needed to take care of the remaining Shadows behind her, especially the one that had been controlling the girl just now. I had a hunch that this Shadow was not a usual one.
I was still deep in thought when I heard steps from the stairs. Lisa was coming back. She really took her time down there well. A smile was on her face, but her puffy eyes were enough to tell me that she had been bawling her eyes out during several minutes she was away.
My hands clenched hard behind my back, remembering the memory the girl was showing me. The torture she gave to Lisa’s younger brother was replaying in my mind. The painful feeling he was experiencing was something I regretted to see, because I was sure if I were there at that time, I could easily help him, taking out the source of his pain.
If I had been able to help him, Lisa wouldn’t have suffered for so long.
I felt guilty for coming late, even though it was not my fault. At that time, I was still being hunted down by the ghosts from Amanda’s order. At the same time, Lisa’s brother was falling sick and died.
I took a deep breath again and put on a smile on my face. “You sure took your time down there. Or did you get lost in my small house?” I teased her.
Lisa laughed, sounded like a normal laugh but at that time I finally understood the saying that the saddest person smiled the brightest.
Her smile and laugh indeed sounded cheerful, as if she had not just cried, as if we had never talked about her younger brother’s death. Her smile and laugh were contagious as it carried the softness of her heart, the intention to make other people’s happy no matter who they were, and to hide the pain she was feeling inside for losing the people she loved.
After what happened to me, I could feel myself turned cold and apathetic towards the world, but she took another way out. Instead of judging and blaming others to the point of madness, she turned her grieve into love. What a strong girl!
We exchanged jokes after that, no one talked about sad things again. When she returned to her house, it was already dark outside. The powerful figures were still following her after throwing me a helpless look on their faces.
I could only shrugged my shoulders. Lisa had openly rejected their proposal to make her their new master. I could do nothing to persuade her. After all, I thought she had been too occupied with her work and study and her sorrow, she didn’t need another trouble came to her way.
Don’t worry, Lisa, I’ll help you gaining your justice! I promised myself.