Chapter 8

He was just an ordinary one in 1.4 billion, with an identity Blessing that sounded heart-shaking, but was actually a marginal person in society who had nothing in this new world.

His country didn't exist on this continent at all, and didn't even exist above the stars here.

Perhaps it would work to fool the villagers of Fruit Basket Village who had never left the village, but facing a lord as knowledgeable as Viscount Hughes, it would probably be easily exposed!

By then, he would instead implicate Anliya and the others to be punished by the furious lord.

Thinking of this, Xia Mingyu had a decision in his heart.

"Sorry, Anliya."

He said calmly, then ignored the blonde girl full of pleading, and walked straight back into the room.

Things that can't be done shouldn't be agreed to from the beginning, otherwise, it will only make the person being promised make a misjudgment, letting things go to an end worse than failure.

In a wooden house built of logs and thatch on the edge of the village.

"Is that so? That Highness refused, huh!"

Listening to her daughter's answer, Luo Bote, who was the village chief, collapsed on the ground as if he had lost all his strength.

"Father, Father!"

Seeing this, Anliya hurriedly helped him to the chair and quickly brought him a bowl of clear water.

"Are you okay?"

The girl looked worriedly at her foster father who was still as pale as paper after drinking the clear water, and tears flickered in her deep blue eyes.

"I'm fine, it's an old problem; I get a headache whenever I'm nervous, I'll be fine after a rest."

Luo Bote let out a long breath of turbid air and comforted her with a smile.

But his weak voice and bloodshot eyes had already indicated that he was just holding on.

Anliya was silent; she didn't expose her foster father's lie, but she blamed herself even more inside.

Her foster father's health had always been very good at first, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to be the village chief.

It was just that when she was six years old, she was playful and climbed to the highest point of the fruit forest, but because she couldn't come down, she cried loudly; her foster father, in order to save her, accidentally fell from a high place and broke his head, and since then his health had gone from bad to worse, and he would have splitting headaches whenever the weather was bad.

"Sorry, Father, if it weren't for me dragging you down, you would definitely be happier than you are now!"

Anliya, who couldn't bear the torture in her heart, knelt on the ground; her eye sockets and nose tip gradually turned red, warm tears moistened her cheeks, and her voice also became choked.

"Get up, my daughter, you have never been my burden, but a gift from heaven to me."

"You have never owed me anything; on the contrary, I want to thank you. It is because you brought me those memories that were so beautiful that they seemed to have happened yesterday that my life was able to be complete."

Luo Bote bent down and gently stroked the girl's silky golden hair, his weathered face full of paternal love.

"But... but I failed your expectations and failed to move that Highness."

Anliya raised her tear-filled face, her beautiful deep blue eyes full of self-blame.

"Clearly, this was just a trivial matter for that Highness, but he still..."

"Enough, Anliya!" Her foster father, who was just kind, suddenly said sternly with a serious expression.

This scene startled the girl, making her at a loss.

"We cannot resent others because they didn't extend a helping hand."

"After all, others never owe us anything."

"Even if we have extended a helping hand, it is because of our kindness, not to seek a return."

"Everything is judged by the gods."

Luo Bote said in a deep voice.

He didn't want his daughter to be a narrow-minded person, because he was a pauper who had nothing; kindness was the greatest wealth he left to his daughter.

"I will remember your teachings, Father."

Anliya wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hand, and her beautiful face, like a flower bud, gradually became resolute.

"However, no matter what, no matter what means I use, I will never watch everyone be reduced to slaves who can be bullied by others at will."

Anliya said decisively.

"You are right, we shouldn't force that Highness to extend a helping hand for us, so... I will offer him a gift he cannot refuse."

Anliya bit her lip, and a trace of resolve flashed in her eyes.

But her hands were unconsciously folded in front of her, her fingers gently twisting the corner of her clothes, revealing her inner panic and anxiety.

No one knows a child better than a father; seeing the girl's appearance, Luo Bote instantly guessed what his daughter, who was more beautiful than a noble lady, wanted to do.

"No... no..."

"Father, this is my own choice!"

Luo Bote wanted to stop her, but saw Anliya shake her head forcefully.

He opened his mouth, wanting to stop her angrily like a qualified father, but thinking of those faces that trusted him, his lips moved, but he couldn't make any sound.

Finally, Luo Bote could only let out a faint long sigh, a sigh so heavy that it seemed to contain all his helplessness.

"My daughter, I am very sorry that your father is just a humble serf." Luo Bote lowered his head, full of guilt.

"However, I am honored to be the daughter of a serf." Anliya said calmly.

Hearing this, Luo Bote's body trembled; he endured the tears that were about to gush out of his eye sockets and turned back into the room.

As a father, it would be too ridiculous to cry in front of his children.

A moment later, he, who had calmed down, came out holding an old but clean wooden box without a trace of dust, and handed it to Anliya.

"Open it and see." Luo Bote said in a deep voice.

The girl opened the wooden box with a trace of curiosity, and inside was a neatly folded blue dress.

Anliya's expression suddenly became extremely surprised.

"Remember it? When you were thirteen, a merchant came to the village, and you took a fancy to it at a glance among the goods he showed, so you cried and made a scene and even went on a hunger strike wanting me to buy it for you."

"You said that if you lost it, your life would have no dreams, and said this was your only willfulness in your life, and the village had a bumper harvest that year, so I had the ability to buy it for you." Luo Bote said lightly.

"But Father, didn't you firmly refuse me back then? Even though I fainted from hunger." The girl looked at her foster father with confusion.

"I refused you because I was just a serf; as a child, you would encounter more things you wanted later, but I was powerless, so I refused your willfulness."

"And keeping it is because although I am just a serf, I still love you."

Luo Bote smiled kindly, the wrinkles on his face seeming to unfold with this warm smile.

This scene made Anliya's eyes sour.

"I originally wanted to keep it until you got married to give you a surprise, but now, obviously you need it more at this moment..."

"My daughter, even at the ugliest moment in life, you must maintain your humility and kindness, and... a little bit of beauty."

"Go, like in the poems sung by bards, charm that noble Highness!"

Luo Bote pretended to be carefree, but tears flowed continuously.

(End of chapter)