Chapter 1497: You Might Lose Something Important To You
“It’s already so late, where is Rena going?”
Yabemiya stood on the roof and looked down at Rena, who was putting on her down jacket as she went downstairs.
“Maybe she has something she needs to attend to.” Elizabeth glanced downwards. Her gaze stopped on the exquisite wooden box in Rena’s hand.
“It’s not safe to go out so late at night. Should we follow along?” Yabemiya asked worriedly. They had changed, and were prepared to go out of town to practice flying.
“Maybe it’s her personal matters,” Elizabeth said. As she watched Rena disappear behind a corner, she thought for a while, and said, “Maybe we can protect her from afar.”
“Mm-hm. Let’s take a look at where she’s going first.” Yabemiya nodded. She walked to the other side of the roof gently, and saw Rena walking out from an alley. She continued walking down the street, and stopped in front of a teahouse around 100 meters away from the ice cream shop. She hesitated for a while, and knocked on the door.
After a while, the door of the teahouse opened, and a staff member in black came out. He had a short exchange with Rena before inviting her in.
“Is Rena going to have tea at this time? I’m already so full from supper just now,” Yabemiya gasped.
“Maybe she’s not there to have tea, but to meet someone.” Elizabeth shook her head. She squinted slightly as she watched the teahouse. She could feel a strong presence from there. It seemed like a normal teahouse, but there was the presence of two 7th-tier powerhouses. That showed that this teahouse was not simple.
“If it’s someone Rena is meeting alone, should we still interfere?” Yabemiya was a little conflicted.
“Wait here. I’ll check it out,” Elizabeth said. She pointed her foot gently, and flew over to the teahouse.
She felt something amiss when she saw Rena’s expression previously. She did not seem like she was looking forward to meeting this person. Furthermore, this teahouse seemed rather creepy. That made her question why Rena would want to go there at this time.
***
“Miss Rena, I didn’t think you would come over at this time.” Bennett was making tea in front of a stove. He greeted Rena with a smile when he saw her walk into the glittering gold tearoom with the staff.
The fireplace made the room very warm, and there was the fragrance of tea wafting out from a teapot.
“Apologies for disturbing you so late at night.” Rena bowed. She placed the exquisite small wooden box on the table, and took two steps back as she straightforwardly said, “I can’t accept such an expensive gift. I am once again going to tell you about my decision. I will not leave Mamy Restaurant to be the manager of your hot pot restaurant. Neither will I serve another restaurant with what Mr. Mag created and taught me with regards to hot pot.”
After saying that, Rena felt a lot more relieved. The thoughts clouding her mind previously were cleared all at once. She nodded at Bennett and turned to leave.
“Miss Rena, if you don’t accept this gift, you might lose something important to you,” Bennett said coldly towards Rena’s back as he stopped smiling. He went back to his seat, and propped his leg up.
Rena paused in her steps. She tried to sound as calm as possible. “This is Chaos City. It’s a city with law and order.”
“Even if it’s a city with law and order, it’s still dark, isn’t it? You should know that very well,” Bennett mocked with a sinister smile.
Rena clenched her fists subconsciously. She had been living in the slums for the past decade or so, and she knew very clearly that where there was light, there would also be shadows.
“If you accept this gift, you will get everything. If you walk out of this door empty-handed, you might lose something very important to you.” Bennett picked up his cup of tea. He traced the rim of the cup with his finger, and suddenly let go.
Smash!
The sound of the teacup smashing into pieces was crisp, and tea splattered everywhere.
“What a good teacup it was. Although it was a little old, it could have been used for a much longer time,” Bennett lamented with a smile.
Rena shuddered. That was obviously a threat. She couldn’t have not understood it.
She was just an ordinary girl from the slums. She only had her mother with her ever since she was young. All she wanted was to live.
In the past, her biggest wish had been to cure her mother’s illness. Now that Mr. Mag had cured her mother, she only wanted to live peacefully and comfortably with her mother.
She looked at the box, but her mother’s strict expression very quickly surfaced in her mind. She clenched her teeth, and said, “No, thank you.”
After saying that, she walked quickly towards the door.
“I’ll give you three days to reconsider. You can look for me any time if you change your mind. My offer still stands,” Bennett said coldly as he picked up the teapot and filled another teacup.
Rena hastened her speed until she was almost running when she left the room.
She kept running until she was tens of meters away. She bent down as she breathed heavily. She turned back to look at the tearoom that seemed like a ferocious beast masked under the glittering gold decorations, giving her the death stare.
“What should I do? What should I do…” Rena’s tears fell uncontrollably as she stood helplessly on the streets.
There was no way she could go against her conscience to accept whatever the man said. Yet, there was no way she could protect her mother as well.
Bennett’s threat and the sound of the breaking teacup resounded in her head like a curse, strangling her, and making her feel helpless.
“What happened to Rena?” Yabemiya, who was standing on the roof, watched as Rena squatted on the street, looking as though she was shuddering and crying. She quickly jumped down from the roof and walked over quickly. She looked at Rena, and concernedly asked, “Rena, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
When Rena heard the voice, she looked up and saw Yabemiya looking at her with concern. She finally could no longer hold it in, and pounced into Yabemiya’s embrace as she wailed.
***
Two men walked out from behind a screen in the tearoom.
One of them was a tall and slender man. Smiling, he said, “Why don’t you be more straightforward? A young girl like her would do anything you want obediently if you just take out a knife to scare her.”
“I want her to help me earn money. If I go overboard, it might result in the opposite effect. I just need her to understand certain things.” Bennett shook his head with a smile. “As long as she is willing to hand over all the recipes, we will be able to open our hot pot restaurant all over the Norland Continent. This is a very profitable business.”
The two men’s eyes lit up upon hearing that.
“Would people from Mamy Restaurant come out and cause trouble? I heard that they’re quite reputable nowadays,” the other short and plump man said.
“He’s just a cook without any roots and connections in Chaos City. Although he has ties with two magic casters because of his daughter, as long as we do things a little more cleanly, even the Gray Temple can’t do anything to us,” Bennett scoffed.