Emily dashed out of the restaurant, with tears beginning to burst out like the start of a heavy downpour, but she held them back as she sensed her parents following her.
"Emily, wait!"
She wanted to leave, but there wasn't much of a gap in cultivation between her and her parents, so they quickly caught up and her mother grabbed her arm. Emily's body stiffened, but she forced back her tears and assumed a façade of calm as she turned to face her.
"I'm sorry about your aunt, she was just, um, nervous. She wasn't sure how to talk to you after so long so she accidentally said something like that. You'll forgive her, won't you?"
It sounded like excuses from her desperate mother, and yet it was also phrased like it was an undeniable demand. Emily never knew this side of her mother and, she didn't want to find out another side of her either.
"What do you want? Haven't I already given you the money for the food? I'm not paying for anything else, you know," said Emily.
It was the best she could do without being overridden by some powerful impulse, but her father seemed to disagree. He had been silent so far, but at this time, a vein nearly popped on his forehead as he unleashed a slap that hit Emily across her face. He always had a stern expression, but now he looked even more imposing.
"How dare you talk like that to your mother?! Has success already made you forget who your family is?! We aren't beggers; even if we did come to ask for money, you should be happy to finally be of use to our family! Do you know how hard it's been for us since the main branch was defeated? This is the time when us surviving members of the Valet family have to come together, and yet you wish to abandon your duty as one of us? What a unfilial child! Have you forgotten how many gifts we bought for you when you were little? Did you forget..."
Her father kept complaining, but Emily couldn't hear him. The sensation of that slap rocked her mind and shook loose the mask she tried to wear. As that shoddily-made mask of indifference fell off, the floodgates that had barely been stable, immediately started leaking.
Perhaps he also felt uncomfortable with the sight of tears rolling down that bruised face, but his first reaction was to raise his hand once more, however this time, a different hand stopped him.
"Are you okay?"
Emily didn't need to turn around, she was far too familiar with that arm and voice to forget it.
'Senior brother.'
She forced her hand away from her mother and hid behind him. This was the first time he had ever seen her behaving so meekly since the death of her master, and it gave him a pleasant taste of exhilaration. He could feel a smile creeping unto his face, but he was a professional, so he easily restrained himself and faced Emily's parents with a solemn face.
The two of them flinched as they could tell that he was in the Earth Realm, but the father had his hand captured so he couldn't escape even if he wanted to.
"Y-you! This is a family matter! Stay out of it!" the father said.
In response, Adrian calmly released his hand and replied, "No matter what the circumstance is, I can't stand by and watch someone harm my junior sister. Leave, while I still feel like being respectful."
The father's face turned red in anger, but his wife pulled him and the two retreated to the restaurant. Once they were out of sight, Emily breathed a sigh of relief and took a step away from Adrian. His broad back was comforting, but she didn't want to show too much weakness to him. She was okay with being saved by her senior brother, but she didn't want to seem helpless. Unfortunately, Adrian misunderstood her brave front as she simply not wanting to be in close contact with him for too long.
'This damn...!'
With not a sign of his frustration on his face, Adrian turned to her with a guilty expression.
"How are you doing?"
The side of her face that had been slapped stung sharply, but Emily said that she was fine. She had seen her master killed right in front of her, so there was no way this could phase her. That's what she made herself believe.
He should have realized that this was in line with her personality, but in his distorted mindset, Adrian could only see it as her unwilling to depend on him. It irked him, but he didn't know how much time they had so he had to stick to the script.
"I'm sorry. I was planning on telling you that I found out some news about your family, but I didn't want it to affect your performance, so I hesitated."
At first, Emily wanted to say that she didn't care, but something that her father said was still stuck in her mind.
"Senior brother, did something happen to the main branch of my family?"
Suppressing his smirk, Adrian put on a wry smile and explained.
"Yes, I guess it's better if you learn this now. Do you recall Cyrus in the five cities region?"
'Cyrus'
She couldn't remember when was the last time she heard of that place, but when he mentioned it, it awakened nostalgia in Emily. That was not only the place where she met Nikolai; it was also her first time in a different city, so the memory was special to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't in the mood to simply recall the good ol' days, so she stopped reminiscing and responded.
"Yes, I do. Why?"
"Good, how about the disaster that affected the five cities region?"
This was all anyone was talking about when it happened, so even though she had been planning her revenge, she still heard about the general details.
Once Emily confirmed that she knew of the disaster, Adrian explained what happened to the forces of Silver City and how the disaster affected the other cities. Emily had lived with the main branch in Silver City, but she hadn't paid much attention to city politics so she only now found out that her family had ties to the Lava Stream Sect.
When she found out what they did in Cyrus, she couldn't help feeling ashamed for being a member of the Valet merchant family, but that feeling no longer mattered when Adrian informed her of how her family had been dealt with.
"Annihilated?"
"Not all of them were killed by the masked devil, but the few survivors have become slaves of the city."
"Wow, to think something like that happened..."
Adrian was pleased when he saw the solemn look on Emily's face, but he still hadn't informed her of the thing he thought was most important.
"Indeed. That's all I've found out so far, but if you want to know more then you should ask Shui."
"Hmm? Why would I-"
"Emily!"
Adrian frowned for a moment when he saw Shui approaching as if he had been summoned, but then he smiled as he had said what he needed to.