Chapter 152 152 Make Preparations



"You still want me to take a rest? Don't worry I won't be dying any time soon. How can I dare to leave the family in either of your hands? If only you two had excellent abilities, I would have retired with a happy smile on my face but it is just my luck that the family exhausted its talent when it was my turn to be the leader. I wouldn't even mind dying early if that was the case." As if in coordination with his long speech, another coughing fit ensued.

The old man used a neatly folded handkerchief to cover his mouth but this coughing fit was far from ordinary. When the fit finally subsided and the old man withdrew the handkerchief from his mouth, it had a little blood on it.

The sisters wanted their father to spend the rest of his borrowed time in peace but their father refused to do so. He was unable to let go of the reins of the family and blamed it all on the lack of abilities of the daughters.

The sisters looked at the old leader and found that they could not speak at all in front of him and their only reply to his snarky and angry remarks was silence. They wondered how different the situation would have been had it not been for the incident that took place a few years ago which involved their father. 

The old man was called Marico and was the father of both Violet and Clara. In fact Marico wasn't at an age where he should be suffering from such a life threatening disease. It was only that something happened a few years ago that forced him to this condition. 

Marico had completely taken over the family business by then and was looking after all the important details. Therefore, there were many people he had to offend on a daily basis in order to ensure the rise of his family during his tenure as the family head. Therefore, he could never find who it was that hired an assassin to take care of him. The assassin turned out to be quite capable and used some mysterious method to injure Marico.

The injury wasn't of severe nature, so no one cared about it as much and it was almost forgotten. Even Marico was not sure when he noticed but when he did, he couldn't keep his hands from trembling. It began with slight weakness of the body but Marico didn't have the time to rest at all so he ignored it. The more he ignored it, the more the sickness reared its head in defiance. As a result, the effect didn't show until a few months later when Marico felt his body getting thinner by the day. He was losing muscle fiber and his body seemed to be unwinding at a fast speed.

No healer was able to come up with a remedy for his condition despite the fact that he had employed the best healers in Byzantine city. Even if his condition improved as a result of their treatment, the downward regressing curve of his health didn't take a turn for the better in the long run. He could feel his death approaching and staring him in the face. Although he felt that he had done everything for the family and wouldn't need to be ashamed in front of the ancestors, he couldn't help but be worried about his daughters who would need to take up responsibility once he decided to abdicate his position.

Therefore, Marico stopped acting as the leader of the family in public and most of the time it was Violet who represented him in the years that followed. He didn't want Clara and Violet to suffer at the hands of the internal and external enemies after his demise so that they could bear the burden of the whole family on their fragile but determined backs. So he had been looking after them and training them to be his successors. That was why he sometimes acted a bit harshly.

The girls knew that as well which was why they didn't say anything even when he didn't give them credit where credit was due.

The old man soon returned to normal and refused to keep lecturing the two girls any longer. He threw the blood stained handkerchief in his hand away and took out a brand new one to hold in his hand.

"Now that you have found out his true identity, talk to your royal friends as soon as possible. Don't delay it any longer. Find out what happened to the family that helped this man escape from Elizabeth city and what Prince Kolt has planned for this man who dared to offend him. Don't disappoint me this time and find out the truth behind the whole thing. If we can find out what happened after that prince returned to the capital, maybe we can deduce the stance of the royal family on this matter. From what I can infer, this man was important enough for a prince to almost wage war to keep this person to himself. After we know what the royal family wants to do with him, we can then decide on the kind of relationship we are going to build with him." Even though the old man had just decided to stop lecturing his children, old habits that had already taken root seldom died so easily.

Although the old man acted vigilant of Zach in front of the two sisters, in his heart he hoped that the royal family would be tolerant of Zach. The hope was due to the fact that no wanted notice had been issued against Zach even though he was responsible for cutting short a lot of royal forces directly or indirectly. Even a Prince was reduced to a pitiful state by him and yet no action had been taken against him. It was only possible because Zach had that much ability to draw this kind of attention from the royal capital even in the far reaches of the Elizabeth city. Marico believed that Zach would prove to be an asset in increasing the overall strength of the family should the royal family show no hostility towards him.

After listening to their father's orders, Violet and Clara then initiated their meet and greet plan with the royalty and the lesser royalty in order to collect information regarding Zach and the incident that took place in Elizabeth city a few months back. They also inquired about the fate of the Prince who attacked Zach for benefits but the news of that stature was quite suppressed by the authority of the royal family.

…

After stabilizing the situation with respect to the residence of all the Luther family members, Zach finally had some time for himself. It was then that he felt that there was something he had been neglecting to do throughout the long journey. Even though he missed Christina, he hadn't taken the initiative to call her after the last time they parted.

He pulled out the satellite phone from his Weapons Arsenal and called Christina.

On the other end of the line, Christina's soul almost jumped out of her body in excitement as soon as she received Zach's call. She had been keeping the device that Zach had handed to her before leaving quite close to her hoping that she would not miss it once Zach tried to actually contact her.

After so long, Christina felt that Zach may have pranked her by giving her the little earphones. She thought that Zach might have just said that to her in order to give her some false hope and had never actually planned to call her in the future.

Thankfully, she hadn't thrown the earphones away and immediately responded once Zach called after such a long time. Just the excitement of it all was more than the adrenaline boost she received during her battle with Prince Kolt's escort mage.

Christina had been thinking about Zach all the time during this time. She had trouble eating and barely ever slept a full night's sleep due to him. Her thoughts were so occupied with him that there was barely any space left for anything else. 

Yet Christina had her pride too. Zach only remembered to call her after such a long time. Christina was quite dissatisfied with this treatment. Therefore, she pushed the bubbling excitement in her heart and lowered the tone of her voice by a level before responding to his call. She didn't want him to recognize the excitement that was tingling every part of her body even before she answered the call.

"How have you been? Has the royal family caused trouble for your family due to me?" Zach asked slightly ashamed with himself for only calling after such a long time. He wouldn't feel offended even if Christina refused to talk to him. Thankfully she didn't take his insensitivity to heart.

"You still remember me and my family? I thought that you might have forgotten us after so long on the road." Christina replied sarcastically while rolling her eyes as if Zach could see her action over the phone.

Zach knew that he was in the wrong and didn't try to defend himself and accepted her ridicule without any complaint.

"I will consider forgiving you but you have to make it up to me the next time we meet."

As Zach looked like he had accepted his mistake already, Christina didn't see it fit to rub his mistake in his face any longer.