Reincarnated Without a Body

chapter 29: Third option

"Why don't we get down? There's a lot of  eyes out there." Bear suggested.

Indeed. Hundreds, if not thousands pair of eyes are staring at us from outside of the barrier. There's a huge crowd of people forming, and it's only getting bigger.

Dad kicks the remaining broken glass and step through the window. We drop down the ten or so meters back into the church with ease.

"Let's go somewhere else with a little bit more privacy." Bear said while gesturing towards the door. "A carriage is already waiting for us."

"No. Here is fine." Dad refuse him firmly and stand his ground.

"...Alright, here it is then." He agree, realizing our dad aren't going to blindly follow them to somewhere else.

"Bring us chairs!" Bear clapped twice and two men hurriedly came out from one of the room in the church, carrying a chair each. Bear and Dad sat facing each other.

"How are you baby? Are you well?" Dad ask while stroking our hair.

I really want to tattle to dad what Kanan did to us, but telling him that will surely cause any kind of negotiation to disappear. And talking about being well...

"Yeah, we are fine. How's mom? Is she well?"

Fear suddenly crept into my heart as I remember why I'm not expecting dad to come to our rescue. Mom had always been sickly. It's unthinkable to leave her alone for months. Unless..

"She's fine." Dad assure us with a tight smile.

"Ahem! Pardon me for interrupting. I'm Baron Petir. And you are?" Petir is talking politely again.

Dad stare a good time into Bear's eyes before opening his mouth.

"Their REAL guardian." Dad bending his upper body forward and hiss theatheningly.

"Ah..." Bear doesn't seem too surprised. He must have his suspicion. Or maybe someone heard Emi calling dad earlier. But he still went silent, carefully thinking what to say.

"Alright sir. I will get straight to the point. Please leave them in our care." Bear said with a serious manner.

"I refuse." Dad said, hugging us even tighter.

We are still inside his coat. One would expect it to be hot and stuffy in here from the fighting earlier, but that's not the case at all. In fact, it doesn't seem like dad even broke a sweat. Well, Dad can create ice, he might be able to regulate his body temperature  at will.

"I admit you're strong, but you alone cannot protect them anymore." Bear continue with his persuasion.

"Is that a threat?" Dad's face darken. He looks very scary when he's mad.

"No, hear me out first." Bear raise his hands in a gesture telling dad to calm down.

"Sigh... look, I have no fixation on them whatsoever, but I've spent my whole fortune to get them. So I can't just let you take them away like this. Unless you pay back the gold I've spe..."

Suddenly dad sprung up and glare at Bear with murderous intent.

"Are they... marked?" Dad ask out of the blue.

Dad realize we were bought.

"On their lower back." Bear answer slowly.

Dad finally took us out of his coat and put us standing on the chair he was sitting on earlier. With a trembling hands, dad undress us to our waist before coming to a stop.

"I'm sorry, Emi, Lea. I'm sorry." Dad whisper into our ears as he bent down and hug us again. Dad kissed our foreheads as his hand trace the slave mark burned into our flesh.