You Can Take Them All

Damien and Lily talked and reminisced about their childhood memories as time passed swiftly.

"Do you know how badly I wanted to ask you how you ended up at that wretched place? How you are feeling now? How much you had to go through or what happened to your father?" Lily's voice softened at the end.

Damien sighed, "My father is dead. He was poisoned by my uncle. Then my cousin and my uncle tried to kill me by throwing me away in some remote area where no one would even know who I was. But as luck would have it, my cousin got killed by some bandits who then sold me off to the slave market. But trust me, I am fine now."

The way Damien said it was as if he was talking about somebody else.

But in truth, Damien actually didn't feel much sadness or anger for his adopted father's death since he wasn't the one who actually experienced those memories. He just felt it a pity that such a good man had to die like that. But if his adopted father was still alive, he would have at least tried to save him.

Nor did he feel indignant or angry for being abandoned by his real parents since he was always an orphan even in his previous life. He was beyond that phase and had gotten used to this life where he learned not to expect things from others. But that did not mean he was not curious about his real family. He wanted to seek some answers from them after all.

But Lily was so shocked and sad that Damien had to face this all alone without anyone to help him. She regretted for not being there for Damien when he needed her. Damien was there for her in the lowest point of her life during her childhood. She didn't know whether Damien really meant when he said he's fine.

But due to her father's untimely death and all the problems that came after it, she never got the time to go look for Damien. However, she would still think about Damien whenever she was sad or dejected, remembering his innocent and cheerful smile felt like a ray of light within all the darkness surrounding her.

"I am sorry I wasn't there for you…" Lily said as her eyes grew moist again.

She continued, "Who is your uncle? I will see to it that he gets punished and make sure you get your rightful place back." Lily said while gritting her teeth.

Damien felt heartened seeing how much Lily cared for him. It has been a long time since somebody genuinely cared for his well being. This is why he wanted to find out what troubles Lily was facing. For some reason he didn't want her to suffer alone while enjoying her care and concern.

But now it all made sense to him. Before, he did not understand why he wanted to know about Lily's troubles when he saw her depressed expression. After all, her troubles weren't his concern. He already had his own personal problems to deal with.

Damien thought that only a business kind of relationship existed between them where each party needed something from the other. But other than that, they have no need to care about each other's personal matters.

But seeing her sad with a despondent expression, Damien felt that he had to at least ask something. He thought that maybe it was because Lily was treating him well, he felt like being nice to her.

Still he didn't expect such a reveal. A childhood friend? Intense emotions flashed through his eyes as he remembered memories about Sofie from his past life.

Sofie was his childhood friend in his previous life...his only true friend during his most helpless times...when there was no one to care about him...when nobody cared whether he lived or died.But she was the only one who picked him up from the streets and saved him from dying because of hunger and starvation.

He knew that Lily was not Sofie and the only thing these two girls were related to him were by being his childhood friends, but just not at the same place and at the same time.

He wondered how he would have ended up in his previous life had Sofie ignored him.

Seeing Lily cry before, he knew her troubles weren't simple. Maybe it was even too dangerous and troublesome for him to handle now.

But he still didn't want to let anything bad happen to Lily. His heart was screaming from within to help her. He couldn't remember the last time he felt such a feeling. A feeling to help someone this badly.

Damien knew that it was not because he was in love with Lily that he felt such feelings. But especially after learning that Lily is his childhood friend, he knew that he had already started seeing her as his true friend.

Even though he did not experience his childhood in this life, it was still him, in soul and body. And now Lily was right in front of him. So how could he ignore her?

Damien shook his head and smiled, "It's not your fight. Besides, my uncle's son is dead. I want him to suffer for a while learning about that fact. Anything that comes after that, I will take care of myself."

"But, as your friend I can't bear to see you being abandoned by your own family. I can even easily make you the young patriarch of your Ward family. They wouldn't dare disobey me." Lily said in a scathing tone.

"I am happy that you want to help me but I don't really care about them since there is no one I care about left in that family. Let them rot on their own. Moreover, being here is really helping me increase my chances of getting into the Alchemist Society. If I go back to the Ward family, don't you think I would just be going further away from my dreams?" Damien asked rhetorically.

Actually Damien planned to pay a visit to his so-called uncle and especially the slave market once he had raised his cultivation to a certain extent. How could he let them off easily when they almost killed him?

But he didn't want Lily to know about all that stuff. He probably thought that Lily still thinks of him as a nice guy. Only he knew how much different he was from the first time Lily met him.

Lily had a pondering expression as she felt that what Damien said makes sense. She also realized that she could help him more since Damien was within her sight.

Lily sighed, "Fine. But you have to tell me if you need any help. Also, you can take any medicinal ingredients you want from my inner courtyard. You can take them all. I can easily replace them."

Damien's heart slightly stirred hearing her words. She basically was telling him that he can take any herbs he wants including even the most rare Sky Grade herbs!

In this continent, Sky Grade herbs were the peak. Only using them can one concoct a Rank 5 or the exceptional Rank 6 pills. Which was why, even if it was the imperial family, they would have to pay a fortune to buy an exceptional Sky Grade herb.

Despite being the imperial princess, she only had less than a handful of these Sky Grade herbs. He knew it couldn't be easily replaced or bought as Lily said.

Damien stared intently at Lily. She knew that what she just said might be unbelievable to other people because no one in their right minds would give away a Sky Grade herb! They were a treasure in their own right.

"I am not joking. You can really take them." Lily asserted thinking that Damien found it hard to believe her.

But Damien didn't respond and still looked at her with a deep gaze. Lily got a little flustered seeing his starry eyes looking at her. She avoided his eyes shyly and said, "D-Don't look at me like that. Just say something."

"I don't want any Sky Grade herbs or anything. Forget about those things and tell me what's troubling you. I know you are a strong willed girl who won't cry easily." Damien said in a concerned tone.