Chapter 165 - The Story of Metal (3)

"My brother told me to give this to you as part of his will," he went on his tippy toes.

"Where is your brother?" Her voice cracked.

"My brother is dead," he couldn't meet her eyes.

"He died from working at the mines like father," he continued as Emily stared at him in horror.

"But, he wrote a will for this to be delivered to you," he stretched his arms to pass her the box.

Emily accepted the box as tears welled up her eyes. A ring wasn't as important as his life. She wanted to throw the box onto the floor as the small child left after performing his task. But she couldn't when she opened the box.

The ring had her initials carved into the metal with a small note lying beside it. When she opened the folded paper, it read, 'to my beautiful Emily, I couldn't possibly live without you'. But if he couldn't live without her, could she live without him?

She gently slid the ring onto her ring finger to discover it was a bit loose. Emily laughed as a madman as it was just like him to not check the size. But she shook her head since it didn't matter because all she cared about was the feelings behind it.

As time kept on running after his death, her auburn hair turned into the whitest greys. The ring was carefully placed at the top of the cabinet since she couldn't bear to wear it after its first deliverance. The initials of her name were covered by the rust like time had turned her into an old widow.

Emily could never marry after meeting many potential suitors after his death. They didn't smile at her like he did. Even though their gifts were much more expensive, she couldn't feel the deep feelings behind them. Her father sighed as he gave up on her, not wishing her unhappiness.

"Here you go," Olive passed the widow the restored ring.

The widow gasped as she noticed her ring had doubled into two that interlinked with each other to make one. Inside the rim of the other ring, was the initials of her lover. How could she never notice this entire time?

"You have made this old widow's day," she brightly smiled for the first time since his death.

"Isn't Olive amazing?" I shouted to increase Olive's self-confidence.

"She is," the old widow agreed.

"Here is a charm to help with the flood tomorrow," she pulled out to give to each of us.

The charm was composed of weaved tiny threads made from wool. It was dyed from wild flower petals as it smelled like a bouquet. I watched Olive and the others wrap the charm around their wrists like bracelets.

"Your wrist?" Luke asked to tie it for me.

Since Luke was much better at these kinds of things than I was, I pulled out my wrist as he tied it into an intricate butterfly knot. But unlike the magical looking charm, its effect appeared to be useless as I stayed inside the dreary house to shelter myself from the neverending rain.

It started early in the morning and already flooded the stone well outside. The house was only dry from the mana barrier we reluctantly decided to place since the house would soon become drenched as well. I wondered how the villagers would survive the rainfall.

"I want to go out," I whined, bored of staring outside the window.

"Are you serious?" Luke passed me one of his books instead.

I didn't want to study during our time in the fifth district. I placed the book on the table while imagining how fun it would be to splash myself with rainwater. It would be like my childhood in my past life where I enjoyed jumping in puddles.

"Why not?" I shrugged.

No one would see me playing in the rain other than Luke. I couldn't see what was the problem. I pulled on a light coat before turning the door knob. But the door knob didn't turn like it was supposed to like someone was manipulating it. I glared at Luke to leave the door alone.

"You're not going out in this storm," he ordered me.

"Why do I have to listen to you?" I waved my hand over the door knob to get rid of his spell.

As soon as the spell broke, I ran outside the door and kicked puddles of water that went up to my knee. It was like I was inside the ocean with Shelly again at the beach. I smiled as I played inside the water like a young child. Each splash blew my worries away as I tasted salty water while I floated on its surface.

I never got the chance to act out my desires since Luke indirectly controlled most of my actions. But I finally realized how powerless he was when I chose not to listen to him. Being inside the fifth district wasn't that bad. I continued to stay outside until I was completely drenched and would get a cold soon.

When I entered the house, Luke looked up from reading his book under the candlelight. He was really sticking to not using mana unless it came to stopping me from doing something. He frowned from my messy appearance as my clothes became translucent.

"I know, I'm going to change," I sighed, already knowing his disapproval.

While I enjoyed the rainfall that day, I never imagined how I would be involved in changing the lives of villagers the next day. I didn't even use an ounce of mana, but the village became famous among the land.