Life Of Sin

"Since when did you know I wanted to join the Arks? I don't recall telling you that," I asked, annoyed that Bryan might have eavesdropped on the conversation I had with Mavislin.

"Calm down. Lady Roydon told me what was going on and decided to try to take you in. Try because we still don't know if you are hostile. Our standards define your Elemental Aura and Energy. For the Headmaster, he is still regarding you as a threat."

The Headmaster is quite skeptical of me despite sending his adopted daughter to meet me... Either he is some twisted monster of a father that throws his children first before himself. Or, Mavislin is genuinely someone that can meet death and laugh at his face.

"But I've asked for Lady Roydon's opinion about you... She said you were kind to children, and though strict, you weren't terrifying. When it comes to the safety of young ones, you aren't afraid to put your life on the line to save them. That was the impression you gave to her," added Bryan.

Was he talking about how I had to leap out of the window to catch that brat? I guess I stand up for the younger ones more often, and I do throw away my regard for my safety if my brother was in danger. I think I do have a soft spot for kids, but... There are two reasons why.

The first is sad and a wake-up call for me about life. When my brother was born, he was born without a heartbeat. That shook me to the core. He was a premie, a premature baby of two months. It made me realize how fragile this word called 'life' truly is because we were given two outcomes.

If my mother kept the baby to deliver as a full-term, my mother would die before that happened as her womb was deemed inhospitable for the baby to survive in. In addition, he wasn't getting enough nutrients.

And my mother's blood pressure skyrocketed to dangerous levels during the third trimester.

Another outcome that we chose was to induce labor at that current point in time. It had a better product. The baby would have a higher mortality rate than normal babies during birth. And they might induce cesarean section.

If the baby survives, the child would often have child development issues, either Autism or ADHD, quite common for premature babies. And if we don't keep him in the intensive care unit straight after birth... He dies. That's it.

Either my mother dies, or the baby becomes mentally disabled for life. Pick one. That was my family's choice when I was just eleven. But, even with all the money in the world, we couldn't stop it from happening. It shook me to the core, knowing that this was real.

And that this world had no mercy. Young or old, they aren't free from the clutches of death himself. Hell, before the baby sees this world, death can make him see Saint Peter first. But luckily, after a few panicked moments, he started to cry. But my mother was thrown into the danger zone.

Her blood levels tanked, and the baby was separated for the medics to focus on the mother's wellbeing. She was unstable for a long time, and it was days that she was out, and it felt like months as a kid. When she woke up, the first thing she did was to carry my brother.

A week later, she was discharged, but my brother needed to stay in the intensive care unit's incubator to continue functioning. He was so frail that I couldn't carry him until he was about three months old. And it was the best thing I've ever done, it felt like a little thing in my arms.

The following reason why I wanted to protect children was that I owed something to them. For all those children that turned into orphans because of me... The countless lives lost because of my job. Before I was with those men, I did some tasks with my father's A star.

I was not particularly eager to use guns, so they sent me off with a knife to try to take the targets down. Sometimes they were begging for their lives. Sometimes they were boasting they did nothing wrong and that I was a coward to take lives. But, because of my quick moves, I could do my job in a flash.

At first, they wanted me to be the distraction. But then, I got into a tight situation. With the odds against me, I had to fight three adult men while using anything I could find lying around me. They tried their best, but I could easily dodge their attacks. And then it was my turn to strike.