Zan opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out of his throat. There were two reasons why he couldn't speak. The first one was that his mother didn't like being disturbed when she received her patients, and the other one was that she was right.

He felt weak and insignificant. He realized that he couldn't protect anyone, not Liria, not his mother, and not even himself. He thought that if his mom didn't arrive in time to stop the fight, something terrible would have happened to them. The truth was painful to him, and for the first time in his life, he began to sink into despair.

"Why am I so weak?" Zan mumbled then grabbed the pendant on his necklace, which was a dear treasure to him. The necklet had a little red, double-edged greatsword, which crossguard looked like a pair of wings. The crosspiece's right half had white, while its left side had black feathers. Arilia told him that this pendant was left behind by his father when he went to his last hunt, from which he never returned.

'Then I'll become stronger, and one day I'll make even the kings kneel in front of me!' Zan thought to himself, yet he didn't dare to say it out loud. The despair that he felt so strongly not long ago, slowly disappeared from his heart, and the light of determination flared up in his eyes. After a short while, he once again began to do push-ups. He bent his arms diligently, yet his attention was slowly distracted by the sounds coming from the hut.

"Aunty Arilia, don't be angry at Zan. He was just trying to protect me. It's my fault that he got into trouble. You should be angry at me. You should punish me, and not him," Liria sniffled. Her big round eyes were tearing, and her freckled little nose was wet. She didn't dare to look into Arilia's eyes, and could only stare at her shoes while rubbing her tiny hand in front of her white baggy shirt.

"I am not angry at you, my little daughter-in-law. What happened was not your fault, and the only one who I could blame is my hot-headed son. If at that time he would have chosen to run, rather than fight, he would not be hurt now," Arilia said while stroking the little beauty's reddish curly hair. Then she wiped the tears of Liria's face, which always became red whenever she called her 'my little daughter-in-law'. "But now at least he understands how cruel the world is. Hopefully, from now on, he will be more diligent in his training."

After heard these words, Liria stopped crying and slowly calmed down. A short while later, both of them went to the yard and sat down on the chairs near the hut's back door.

Liria sat peacefully and was looking at the beautiful garden; however, she never even thought about going to the flowers to smell them. She was well aware that these herbs were very sensitive to even the slightest touch, so she didn't dare to get close to them. However, the backyard was truly eye-catching. Different kinds of bushes grew close to each other and hid the plain fence with their colorful leaves. The flowers were alluring as they stood in rows, and with their unique colors made the garden look like a rainbow had descended from the sky.

At the end of the yard, under the peach tree, Liria saw Zan as he was doing his push-ups; however, she didn't say anything to him. She didn't want to disturb his training, so she was just quietly looking at him from her chair. Other than the short sentence: "Thank you," what she said to Arilia after receiving her tea, no words left her mouth. She sat quietly and patiently waited for the boy to complete his training.

Zan felt tired, his muscles were aching, and more sweat drops appeared on his forehead as time went by. Nevertheless, he not even once thought about giving up and stop his training because he had a goal in his mind. Getting stronger was no longer a wish or a desire, but a must. He hated feeling weak and being protected by his mother. He no longer wanted to look up from the dirt but to stand on his feet and look into everyone's eyes and say: I am strong. Filled with the desire to grow, he quickly finished the rest of his push-ups.

"I am done," Zan said, after arriving in front of his mother. He was tired, but before he sat down, he wiped his face with a towel. Then after falling into the chair next to Liria, he took a mouthful of green tea from his mug.

"All right, after you have drunk your tea, go take a bath," Arilia said while looking at her sweaty child. But while Zan was drinking his tea, a thought came into her mind and made a smile towards Liria, "If you want to, then go with him."

The little girl, who was about to sip into her drink, immediately froze. But before she could say anything, Zan with blushed face exclaimed, "Don't tease us, mom! I'm already thirteen years old, almost an adult, and a man except for his wife should never bath with other women. Not to mention that Liria is also almost a grown-up woman." He then glanced at the bulges of the little beauty's baggy shirt, but as soon as he noticed her red face, he jumped out of his chair and ran straight to the street. "Anyways, I still don't feel tired and want to run around the village a few times. After I finish that, I will take a bath."

...

Zan only returned home at the beginning of the nightfall. He quickly took a bath and lay into his straw bed before his mother could continue to embarrass him. It was true that the little girl was close to his heart, but he always thought that it was nothing more than a sibling's love. The kind of love a brother feels for his sister and not the true love which a man feels for a woman. No matter how he thought about it, he just couldn't imagine Liria as his wife.