Chapter 162 - Don't Lie

Hecathe lifted his head to meet the woman's eyes and this time, he turned serious as he asked, "Have you ever met such a person?" 

Zather gulped as she heard this question and her eyes widened ever so slightly as she showed a split second of panic. 

This was all that Hecathe needed to know in order to guess what the answer to that question was going to be. 

"You know her, don't you?" Hecathe asked with a smirk as he raised his eyebrows. 

Zather chuckled dryly as she asked back, "Why would you think that? There is no way I would know someone-" 

"Don't lie," Hecathe clicked his tongue as he didn't even let the woman complete, "You're doing the same thing that you did when I first called you Azazel. You're denying it in the hopes of thinking that I might believe your lie, but guess what, I ain't falling for the same trick twice." 

"..." Zather pursed her lips into a thin line as she heard this and stayed silent, not daring to say anything. 

"Who is she and how are you two related?" Hecathe leaned his head back as he asked a bit too casually. 

"I don't know her," Zather avoided eye contact as she lied once again and this time, it was a bit easier for Hecathe to sense her lies. 

Hecathe chuckled as he shook his head, "You're doing it again. You're lying and hoping that I leave it be." 

"Kail, see the boy out. There is nothing more that we need to discuss," Zather spoke up and the slave girl who was called Kail nodded her head in understanding as she walked over towards Hecathe. 

With a smile on her face, Kail tried to politely make Hecathe leave, "Sir, please follow me. Miss Azazel has something urgent to attend to." 

Hecathe looked at Kail with an unimpressed expression but what he needed to say was clearly conveyed without any verbal response. 

Kail gulped as she looked at Zather for help but the woman was clearly just as helpless as her and Kail could sense that for the first time ever, Zather looked a bit shaken up. 

Her normal calm, uncaring demeanor was finally shaken up by this Hecathe who had asked her an unpleasant question. 

"Alphius, I respect your father and because of that, I am willing to help you out when you need my help, but that doesn't mean I gave you permission to question my personal relations," Zather straightened her back as she spoke seriously. 

"So you do agree that it is one of your personal relations?" 

"..." 

Hecathe sighed as he shrugged his shoulders and stood up, "I was just here to tell you that she might be in danger, but it seems like you don't care. In that case, I'll just take my leave now. It's the first time that I'm seeing you be so pissed so I guess it must have been something that is uncomfortable for you to talk about." 

Hecathe turned around after saying this much and got ready to leave the room but right when his hands reached out to turn the doorknob, he heard the woman stopping him. 

"Wait," Zather looked a bit worried as she gulped and asked, "What are you talking about? What danger...?" 

Hecathe smirked as he heard this question and turned around to face the woman once again as he spoke, "It looks like you're worried about her. Are you sure that she's not important to you?" 

"Alphius, I'm not playing around," Zather clicked her tongue as she glared at the man. 

Hecathe chuckled dryly as he heard his and responded with the same serious tone, "What makes you think that I am kidding?" 

With every second that passed, Hecathe could see that he was seriously pissing this woman off and it was quite rare to actually achieve such a feat since Zather was normally very calm and collected. 

Hecathe felt a little amused and at the same time, he realized that he was very bad with people. 

"She's the apartment owner," Hecathe sighed as he spoke, "And I am renting out a room in her apartment. Excluding me, Marvin is also there and so is a girl named LeiLei who might just be connected to someone who was killed by Asgarian. There is a Dorgon living there as well and a guy named Zail who doesn't really seem that special." 

"Eh?" 

"Wouldn't you say that she's in danger when she's covered with people who always love to invite danger?" 

Zather suddenly felt the urge to smash something on the man's head but she held herself back. 

"Now that you've accepted the fact that you know this woman, why don't we get to the details as well?" Hecathe smiled as he sat back down and asked. 

"So you're a cunning one huh?" Zather scoffed as she commented, "Should've expected this coming."

Hecathe nodded his head with a small smile as he agreed with the woman. 

Zather sighed as she finally spoke, answering Hecathe's question, "She's my mother." 

"Hmm..." Hecathe hummed as he nodded his head in understanding but it took an entire minute for him to repeat the words through his mind and understand what the woman had just revealed. 

"What?!" Hecathe snapped in shock as he looked at the woman with his eyes wide open. 

"You're shocked?" Zather asked with a small chuckle that eventually turned into another sigh, "We don't really look alike since I look more like my father. It's not even like we're that close either. I didn't really have a pleasant childhood because of her. I was considered special and not in a good way. Maybe that's the reason why I related to you and wanted to help you, Alphius." 

Hecathe didn't know if he was more interested to know what happened between these two women or if he was more interested to know who the father was. 

The landlady certainly looked old enough to have a child but she didn't look old enough to have a child that was as big as Zather nor did she look like the type of person who would actually be interested in giving birth. 

This seriously made Hecathe wonder just how old the landlady was. 

"We broke our relationship years ago but recently, she has been trying to squeeze herself into my life once again," Zather continued and she didn't sound to be too happy about this, "I keep trying to push her off but she seems determined for some reason." 

Hecathe's frown deepened as he heard this and he found it a bit suspicious as he asked, "Maybe she's just worried about her daughter?" 

Zather scoffed as she heard this and didn't even need to ponder over this possibility as she spoke, "That's impossible. She is not worried about me. She is worried about my existence." 

"Eh...?" Hecathe tilted his head in confusion as he repeated the woman's words through his mind and failed to understand the meaning behind them. 

"There are only three people in this world that know who my father is. One is my mother, the other is me and the third is naturally my father. Don't ask me who my father is cause I'm not gonna be answering that question. All you need to know is that he's someone to be wary of," Zather clicked her tongue as she continued, "The reason why she is suddenly worried about me is probably because of my father." 

"If I'm guessing right then he contacted her and asked for me," Zather had a small smile on her face as she spoke but the smile certainly didn't contain any joy, "He can't come and meet me personally so there is only one way for him to know about me and that is through my mother. For years, my mother had lied to him and told him that I still live with her but now, I guess dad finally realized that something was off." 

Hecathe's eyebrows creased together as he heard this and with this complicated expression, he asked, "If he found out that she's lying, shouldn't he just come and talk to you instead of still relying on her?" 

Zather shook her head in disbelief as she explained, "He can't do that. As I have said before, he is not someone who can casually come here to meet me. If news gets out that we are related, he might even end up losing his life and even if he survives, his title and respect would be taken away from him and he would be degraded to a good for nothing." 

Hecathe couldn't help but feel a sense of Deja Vu as he heard this. 

A man who shouldn't be messed around with.

A man who is not easy to deal with.

A man who cannot even come to meet his daughter because his life might be in danger.

A man who needs to be kept a secret. 

If Hecathe didn't know any better, he would have almost believed that Zather was the daughter of one of the three willows of spring.. After all, if that was the case then everything would make sense.