Every Lifetime I Fall {COMPLETED but undergoing revisions}

Chapter 60: Fourth Life - A Stranger's Home

In the distance, a closed wooden gate with two village guards reminded me of home. On short trips when I accompanied Mother and Father, that wooden gate would be the first sign that I was arriving home. Now I didn't know how to feel. It didn't feel like the same safe haven to me anymore.

On the back of the standoffish male fairy, my wild heart ran like horses in untamed pastures. I hoped he wouldn't be able to feel the thumping with my chest pressed up against his back.

"She-- She's back! Li Rong Xin is back!" A nervous guard yelled, "Someone alert the village leader!"

"Of course, they were expecting to find my carcass in that cave instead of having me crawl back here..." I muttered.

The Young Hero let go of my legs, and I carefully slid down his back, securing my feet onto the ground.

The wooden gates opened and Uncle Lin was the first face I saw. Next to him was Ying Jun, who was shocked to see that I was alive.

"Li Rong Xin! Why did you come back? Did you abandon your duty?" Uncle Lin accused me.

"You mean to be eaten up by a demon?!" I yelled.

"You!"

The Handsome Hero stepped in front of me, and announced to the village council, "I've killed the demon before it could eat Li Rong Xin."

Ah! It's scary to actually hear what could have happened...

"You killed it?" Uncle Lin looked at Handsome Hero with awe.

In an authoritative tone, Ying Jun asked, "How is that you killed the demon that's haunted our village for centuries?"

So he did know I was being sent to a demon? Gosh, I hate him so much.

"Killing demons... is not difficult for me," Handsome Hero replied.

"How do we know you're not the demon in disguise?" Ying Jun countered.

"He really saved me! If it weren't for him, I would be dead," I said while staring at the Handsome Hero's profile.

"Li Rong Xin, don't you know that if we do not follow through with a sacrificial bride, the demon will spread a plague to this village? The ones who flee will die by its hands?"

"No. I don't know. How would I? The first time knowing of this demon was when my ankle was shackled in its feeding den!"

Taken aback, Ying Jun stuttered, "I--"

"Enough!" Uncle Lin ordered Ying Jun to shut it, "Young man, what is your name?"

Smirking, the Handsome Hero said, "Yang Zi Huo."

Yang Zi Huo?

"Yes, killing demons is not a big feat for you." Uncle Lin nodded, looking satisfied.

Does he know who Yang Zi Huo is?

"We will go back to the demon's lair and confirm its death with Hero Yang Zi Huo leading the way. Ying Jun, bring a couple of men with you." Uncle Lin's leadership demanded clarity on the situation. Ying Jun immediately acted on his fathers orders.

Worried that I was departing from my savior, I turned to him with anxious eyes.

"You'll come back, right?" I asked with hands together as to beg him into answering that he would.

Narrowing his eyebrows, he stared briefly at me before returning his attention to Uncle Lin.

"Please lead the way," Ying Jun came between us and blocked my view. I wanted to push him, so I could get my answer, but Yang Zi Huo already walked away.

Approaching me, in a still voice, Uncle Lin advised, "Rong Xin, to keep the villagers carefree and hard working, you must not reveal the existence of the demon nor can you share what happened in that cave, do you understand?"

"Then how are you going to amend what the village has done to me? How are you all going to pay for all the sacrificial brides this village has sent to their dooms?"

Sighing, he contorted his face with guilt and shame.

"We did what had to be done. The village was cursed."

"Somehow I feel its warranted."

"You!"

"You're all selfish. All of you set me up at the meeting to get me to offer myself for a fake marriage."

"Because we knew you have a kind heart. You would never have let Chun Mei go."

Thinking of Chun Mei... Had I known that the bride was going to be eaten by a demon, would I have gone anyways? Offered myself for her sake?

"All of us had to make sacrifices. Fifty years ago... my sister was also a sacrificed bride."

Then you should know that her last moments were terrifying.

"I was only eight then, but when she proudly stepped into that palanquin, we all knew she did it with pride. To protect us."

Delusional.

"She choose her fate. She had that privilege. I was lied to by Mother, Father, you and Ying Jun... the people I trust... there is no pride in knowing you willingly sent someone to their death. If Young Hero Zi Huo did not save me, you would all probably live with the guilt that I was devoured by a horrendous demon, but still be able to have happy moments, sharing a life with one another until the end and ultimately forgetting I ever existed. Maybe if my parents were still alive... All this time you people kept me alive to feed me to a demon."

"Li Rong Xin, I understand your anger but you must not blame your parents. They didn't want to do this. It had to be done. The role of the bride falls on different family lineage every fifty years. This time it was the Li clan's duty. With only you and Chun Mei as eligible unwed women in the Li clan, we had no choice."

"It doesn't matter anymore..."

Whether it was the decisions you make for yourself or if others made it for you, once it's done there's no turning back. All that's left would be the consequences of those decisions.