Chương 82: Lealia’s Decision (1)

Lealia sat beneath the eaves of the porch, waiting in restless anxiety. A dark premonition kept lingering at the back of her mind. Nightfall had completely blanketed the area, yet Asher and Nathan's group had still not returned. The rain had tapered off significantly, but it had never truly stopped. Earlier that afternoon, seeing that the downpour had finally eased, the townspeople had begun venturing outside in larger numbers.

A few had even attempted to leave town via the main road, only to discover the massive landslide. Within a mere half-day, word of the blocked main road had rippled across the entire settlement. People expressed concern, but it stopped short of blind panic; in this region, mountain landslides occurred every few years. According to the locals, this particular slide was of moderate scale. While completely impassable for carriages, pedestrians could still scramble over the debris.

Once the rain completely dried up, the townsfolk and the residents of the neighboring city would pool their strength to clear the road—a task that typically took a few days. If push came to shove, they could always rely on the remaining two mountain trails. Yet, no one in Lealia or Iris's group dared tell them that those two alternative routes had been deliberately sabotaged and blocked by an unknown force.

Something deeply sinister was unraveling within this seemingly peaceful town, completely beneath the notice of its inhabitants. Lealia felt a bitter pang of regret. She should have done everything in her power to stop Asher. But she was no longer in a position to dictate his actions.

"I want to repay you for taking care of me when I was sick yesterday."

"…I feel responsible for helping you until you reach a final decision.."

"I just read about it in books.."

"Once, when I was a child."

"It's nothing." Those were far from the only lies Lealia had picked up from Asher Griffin. They were untruths that sounded entirely harmless on the surface, mirror images of the countless other deceptions she had grown accustomed to hearing throughout her life. Not every lie was born of malice; Lealia had come to understand that fundamental truth at a very young age. It was her mother who had taught her that lesson.

Her mother would insist she disliked eating fruit, solely to pass the expensive apples entirely to Lealia. She would claim to be immensely proud of her husband's profession, even though he routinely slipped back home past midnight after locking up the herbal shop. She would declare how profoundly proud she was of her brilliant daughter. But Lealia knew none of those statements were true. Lealia's father had been a herbalist in a small town on the outskirts of the capital.

From the crisp early morning hours until late into the night, the impoverished and desperate would flock to him for medicinal herbs. The closest bond shared between father and daughter was forged during those long hours when he taught her the intricate properties of flora and herbs. On more than one occasion, she had overheard her parents arguing late at night. Her mother would bitterly complain that he poured far too much of his life into his work for a pittance of an income.

She deeply resented the fact that he was passing his knowledge of herbalism down to Lealia. In her mother's eyes, Lealia would be infinitely better off dedicating that time to learning domestic chores and needlework, ensuring she could secure a reliable, wealthy husband in the future. Lealia found her father in his apothecary room. His face was resting flat against the wooden desk, his breath long gone. That was when she was fourteen. The immediate aftermath was absolute chaos.

Her mother was suddenly thrust into the dual nightmare of organizing a funeral while scrambling to find hard labor to keep them afloat. Watching her mother strain under the weight of such grueling work, Lealia offered to reopen her father's herbal shop. Her mother's instinctive reaction had been immediate:"It's not that I don't believe in you, sweetheart, but people rarely place their lives in the hands of a herbalist so young." Hearing those words, Lealia's resolve faltered slightly.

Yet, because that clinic was the solitary thread connecting her to her late father, she pushed past her doubt to convince her: Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"I've memorized almost all of father's remedies, and I used to help him examine patients all the time. Just let me try for a little while. If it doesn't work out, I'll stop." After a long, agonizing wave of hesitation, a strained smile finally broke across her mother's face.

"Alright. Mother supports you." The smile was visibly forced, but Lealia desperately chose to believe it was genuine. In the beginning, the sick did look upon her with heavy skepticism, uneasy about a young girl filling the shoes of her respected father. But the impoverished residents of the capital outskirts had precious few options for affordable medical care. Within just a few visits, Lealia won their absolute trust.

Many even began to whisper that her diagnostic instincts and herbal blends had eclipsed those of her father. As her stellar reputation spread, Lealia quickly found herself receiving lucrative house-call invitations from low-ranking nobles and affluent merchants alike. With the wealth she began accumulating, Lealia looked forward to finally bringing genuine happiness to her mother. She hoped that the next time her mother expressed pride in her, the sentiment would carry a weight of absolute honesty.

Yet, her mother remained visibly miserable. She would routinely, almost casually dropped remarks that this success was nothing more than a fleeting stroke of luck. She warned that Lealia would eventually end up just like her father—working so hard yet inherently poor. Her mother insisted that rather than throwing her entire soul into curing the sick, Lealia should leverage her proximity to wealthy clients to secure a rich husband to depend on.

"I simply can't bear to see you suffer the way we did." Lealia continued to believe her words. Until one day, returning from an extended house call, she discovered her mother on their doorstep, profusely apologizing to a patient's grieving family. Lealia remembered the patient vividly. It was an elderly man who consumed staggering amounts of alcohol. She had strictly warned the family multiple times that they must prevent him from drinking while on the heavy medication, but her warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

The man had passed away the previous night, and now his family was placing the entire blame on Lealia's prescription.

"I said from the damn start we couldn't trust a mere child! If the old doctor were still alive, my father would have survived for at least a few more years!" The man's daughter barked, hands planted firmly on her hips as she screamed into the street. Lealia's mother bowed repeatedly in deep humiliation.

"I am deeply sorry, truly. Lealia is indeed severely lacking in experience..."

"Does an apology bring the dead back to life?! That girl is a fraudulent quack! I'm taking this straight to the magistrate!" Lealia felt a surge of indignation and wanted to push through the crowd to defend herself. She had explicitly stated that alcohol was strictly forbidden while taking the herbs. If the patient refused to listen, not even a divine elixir could have saved him.

But before she could wedge her way through the gathering onlookers, her mother dropped to her knees, pressing her forehead flush against the dirt road.

"Please forgive my daughter's severe incompetence. Please, accept this compensation and let us settle this quietly." With those words, she produced a small pouch of coins, held out as if it had been meticulously prepared for this exact scenario. The moment Lealia broke through the crowd, the family snatched the pouch, shoving it into their clothes, and dissolved into the alleyways like thieves terrified of being caught.

Unable to pursue them, Lealia whirled on her mother, her voice trembling with anger:"Why did you give them money?" Her mother refused to meet her daughter's gaze, staring at the ground.

"Well... we failed to cure their father..."

"Because he drank himself to death! It had absolutely nothing to do with my herbs!"

"Yes, I know. I believe you..." Another lie. She didn't believe Lealia at all. Had she harbored an ounce of faith in her daughter, she would never have surrendered that money so submissively. The incident spread like wildfire through the surrounding community, dealing a devastating blow to Lealia's reputation.

Later, she uncovered an even harsher truth: whenever Lealia was away on house calls, her mother would systematically apologize and hand over financial compensation to anyone who arrived with even the slightest grievance. It was as though her mother inherently defaulted to the assumption that Lealia was always the one at fault.

That betrayal, compounded by the endless, ungrateful complaints of patients, the sheer arrogance of wealthy elites who believed a handful of coins guaranteed a miraculous recovery, and the senseless deaths of those who threw away their lives by ignoring her explicit medical counsel—it all broke something inside her. It made every ounce of Lealia's tireless effort feel utterly meaningless.

The profound passion she once held for herbalism, the joy that used to keep her awake past midnight studying dried leaves, evaporated entirely. She stopped accepting house calls from the affluent. She locked the doors to the clinic her father had left behind for good, opening a small, unassuming herb stall at the local market simply to isolate herself from the drama of human lives. Her mother did nothing to stop her.

On the contrary, she appeared immensely relieved, as if she had always known this exact day would come. The only thing her mother couldn't seem to comprehend was why her daughter had almost entirely ceased speaking to her from that moment onward. Then came the Awakening Day, and Lealia was suddenly chosen as a Hero candidate. Chaos once again shattered her carefully constructed world. Just as she had finally stripped herself of the desire to save others, destiny violently dragged her back to the starting line.

Amidst the roaring crowd of people offering their superficial congratulations, Lealia saw only her mother's strained, familiar smile as she spoke to the neighbors:"I always knew my Lealia was a special girl. I'm just so incredibly proud of her."