The Ancient Genes

"After that…..our life became hell…"

Max frowned after hearing her. Something seemed wrong here. He could understand this Will guy's family looking down on Anna and her family.

But, Will's brother was beaten by Anna's father and uncle? Was that even possible? A Young man from a renowned family most probably of mages visited without a single guard and got his ass kicked, by a couple of ordinary people.

Max couldn't help but feel it a little hard to believe. He needed to confirm it with someone.

Max suddenly turned his head towards the door and spoke, " Come in. How long do you plan on staying there?"

Anna raised her and saw Max looking towards the door. A moment later, the door opened with a creak and Lear walked in with a forced smile on his face.

"Ah...I came mid way...umn...I didn't know what to do…"

"So you decided to eavesdrop on us?" Max said and Lear's face twitched.

"Well, I don't mind if she is fine with it…." Max said as he looked at Anna. 

Anna nodded. They had saved her life. She didn't mind telling her story to them.

"So how much did you hear?" Max asked even though he clearly knew when he came.

"Well from the part where she started falling in love…" Lear said as he fell on the seat beside Max.

Silence one again enveloped the room and Anna continued.

"We started facing losses in our business. At first we thought it was just market issues. But after a while, we realized that it wasn't. Our competitors seemed to have gone crazy. They were selling products at a huge loss. We thought that they couldn't maintain the shop like that and would eventually run out of business. But they didn't."

"We realised that something was wrong. My mom was the first one to relate it to the incident with Will's brother which occurred a while ago. I never mentioned the incident to Will because of the fear of deteriorating his family relations. I could feel that he had some family problems as he never even once talked about his family."

"My mother asked me to talk it out with Will. Even though I didn't want to, things had gone too far to ignore. I couldn't let my family suffer because of my willfulness."

"The next day, I was returning from Academy and I met him again, Will's brother. He seemed to be alone. But I could feel several gazes on me. It was just a feeling but too real."

"I still remember the words he whispered as he passed by me, ' I left a present for you…' "

"When I returned, my shop was smashed. My uncle was beaten up. My mom was all scared. My father was furious when he returned home. But he couldn't do anything."

"Only my Mom and I knew why it happened. That day, my Mom made it very clear to me. She said that I needed to end everything with Will."

"And so….I did. I made it very clear to Will that we couldn't be together. I lied to him. I told him that I didn't love him anymore. I told him that I had enough of him."

Max and Lear looked at each other and both of them shook their heads. They couldn't believe that this girl could lie. If one observed her closely, he could clearly make out her feelings. This was a bit hard to believe.

Max and Lear looked at Anna weeping and felt helpless. They clearly had no idea how to console someone.

"How did you end up in that place?" Lear asked and Max glared at him.

'Bro! Look at the situation, did you really have to say that now..' Max's eyes seemed to be speaking to Lear and he didn't have any answers.

Anna didn't seem to mind Lear's word much though. She continued, " I thought that everything would be over after that. But it didn't. The situation deteriorated."

"We soon ran out of business. Living in the Ocien City became too difficult for us. My mom persuaded my father and uncle to move out of the city. We planned to move to a small village near Nivera."

"But a day before our departure, I met him again on my way back home. He already knew that we were moving out."

"He was always keeping his eyes on us. I couldn't understand what he wanted. I even left Will to end my family's suffering yet that person still didn't seem to be satisfied."

"I couldn't take it anymore. I knew that it wouldn't end here. I didn't want to let my family suffer anymore. So, I ended up asking what he wanted…."

"He said in very simple words, 'Just do what I say and I would let your family live in peace.' His words didn't have any backing yet I didn't have any other option."

"I left my family at his order and was sold as a slave into a brothel in Ocean city."

"I knew what kind of hell it was. So on the very first day of work, I….burned my face."

Lear's face twitched and even Max had difficulty maintaining the expression on his face.

"Who would want an ugly person like me at that place? And it worked. But, the owner wasn't happy with me. I was beaten and almost worked to death because of it. Yet, I felt it was bliss. As long as no one suffered because of me, I was willing to do it."

"But sadly, that person returned once again. I didn't know what I seemed to have done but he was bent on making my life hell. After knowing what I had done, he was enraged and lashed out at me. I thought that he would kill me. But, in the end, he didn't. He wanted to keep me alive for some reason."

"He warned me that he would kill my family if I tried to burn my face again. He sent some people by my side. For treatment and for surveillance."

"The rest is simple….the brothel wouldn't have wanted a liability like me. They put me into the auction. But who would buy me? Trapped in a cage, I spent more than 6 months, as they continued to treat me. I couldn't even commit suicide. Then a miracle occurred one day, my skin tuned fair white. The burn mark on my face had vanished as well and I felt that the world I lived in had changed."

"I couldn't understand what happened but everything did when I met that old man." Anna's eyes met Max and he understood.

Like Max whose hearing was enhanced, Anna's ability must have been related to her skin.

"Who?" Lear asked.

"Shut up and let her continue…" Max said, shutting Lear's mouth.

"I had turned more beautiful than before. The face I tried to destroy had turned even more beautiful. I knew what it meant."

"It was then that I was allocated a slot at the biggest auction this year in Ishtar before being finally sold off. I thought that this was the end, but I ended up being rescued by you guys." Anna said as a smile appeared on her face.