Bruce took a pause at this time as he tried to swallow the hidden bitterness. He gulped it down as he moistened his throat with his saliva to continue narrating his story to the end.
"You can probably tell that I wasn't always a cripple. I wasn't born a cripple. When I was Diana's age, I was also a dandy who used my father's authority and power to play around the city without any care for the consequences. But that all changed when the umbrella covering our heads fell and the rain of hail fell on our heads. The hounds waiting outside our house finally broke down our door and attacked."
Zach was slightly shocked since he had already expected such a story otherwise he might have thrown his eyes out in surprise. He had never expected that Luther family used to be at such heights.
Now even he was curious about how Bruce came to be in his current state and he began to listen to him even more attentively.
"I was trained by my father to eventually become the head of the family after his passing. Even among those of my age in other prominent families I had enough talent to stand out even without my family standing. My father made sure of it. But that made the other families wary of my existence as well. Those who had stayed under the shadow of my father dreaded me who was going to take over the Luther family after him. Therefore, as soon as my father departed for the next world, I was framed by the alliance of some of the families. They said that I had raped the daughter of one of those family heads. In 'retaliation', they cut off my feet and showed me favor by not killing me in 'respect' for my late father."
Bruce winced as he remembered the pain that he had gone through after he became a cripple. It had taken him a long time to come to terms with his new reality. The strength he had cultivated through his father's guidance had become useless the moment he lost his footing and the means to stand up on his own.
Zach let Bruce take his time since he knew it was difficult for the family head to narrate the whole story in one go without suffering even a little bit. The narration was bound to make him recall some bad events.
"With my fighting strength now useless, the Luther family became a paper tiger. We had some strength on the surface but all the prominent families of the city already knew that Luther family could be taken down by anyone. If not for something that is most unfortunate and fortunate at the same time, the Luther family might have ceased to exist by now."
Zach had his interest piqued. He didn't know about the fighting strength of Bruce, but he was sure that Bruce had a talent for story-telling. He knew when to pause and how to keep his audience on the edge of their seat at all times.
"You must have heard from Diana about her fiancée, right?" Bruce asked.
"Yes she mentioned something about him during our journey." Zach nodded.
"I see. Did she tell you who he was?"
"She didn't tell me in detail but she said something about the eldest son of some prominent family." Zach told him what Diana had told him about her so called fiancée.
"Raisman Sosis is the eldest son of the Sosis family. At the time when our family fell from its position, he already had his eyes set on my sister. She was already beautiful at the time and had somehow caught Raisman's eye."
Zach knew where the story was headed now. He remembered how he had felt the difference between the statuses of the two families; how Diana had acquiesced to the intrusive behavior of her fiancée without a protest and the disgust that had momentarily flashed on her face once he questioned her about the shadow that kept following them.
"Raisman gave us a last chance. He threatened us to marry Diana to him in return for his family's protection from other families and the continued survival of Luther family in Elizabeth city. Otherwise he threatened to raze our family to the ground completely."
"As expected…" Zach thought in his heart. The actions of the lecherous people were the same no matter what kind of world it was. There had been no shortage of such people in his previous world as well. Therefore, he had been sure that Bruce and Diana had a story like that too.
"That still doesn't explain why Diana had ventured out into the forest. I don't think that even with the current condition of your family, you need her to do such a dangerous thing." Zach asked with uncertainty in his words.
"Of course we don't. She insisted on doing this despite me reprimanding her. She can be pretty stubborn when she decides on something. If I had stopped her, she would have sneaked out on her own which would have endangered her life even more." Bruce sighed helplessly.
"Even though she had taken the initiative to accept the proposal sent by Raisman Sosis, I can imagine how repulsed she truly feels towards that lecher. That must be why she took the risk to go to the forest to retrieve the soul crystal of beasts in an attempt to increase her own fighting strength. Thankfully you stopped the unthinkable from happening and for that I can't thank you enough. I have already lost everything and I couldn't bear to lose my last living relative as well." Genuine and sincere gratitude was visible on his face as Bruce looked at Zach earnestly.
Zach nodded in understanding but didn't accept his thanks since he had already done so many times before.
"Let's come to the main point of this discussion. What do you want from me so badly that you are willing to share your story and your weakness with me? I doubt it is because you were lacking a friend to listen to your story."
"You are right. I do need something from you, something that only you can do because there is no one else that I can trust completely; not even among my own forces." Bruce paused and fiddled with his fingers before continuing with his request.
"I want you to save my sister from the inevitable fate awaiting her at the end of this road. She doesn't want to go through with this marriage but the current condition of our family has forced her to take that step. The greatest indication of her true feelings is the fact that she was willing to go to that forest that is infested with monstrous beasts and risked her life just so she could get stronger. She did all that to break free of the chains that bound her; to grow strong enough to protect the family on her own instead of relying on others who were in fact wolves biding their time to bite our backs. I am willing to let our family be forgotten if that means she can have a good life. But my sister…she is too stubborn and won't listen to me. Therefore, you are my only hope." Bruce once again tried to fall to his knees as he tried to lift himself off the wheelchair.
Zach, who anticipated his actions, forcefully held his shoulders and pushed him back down into the wheelchair. He couldn't let such a sincere man lower himself once again in front of him.
Bruce's shoulders drooped and shook with every breath as if he was holding something great inside his body, a storm deadly enough to destroy the whole city responsible for the suffering of his sister.
"You know what?" Bruce asked.
"What?" Zach reciprocated.
"I began to resent myself when I saw how my sister tried to save our family by sacrificing myself. I kept telling myself that it was because of my damn legs that I was unable to protect her and I being handicapped was the reason that my sister had ended up taking the fall for the family. But the truth is that I didn't try hard enough to stop her. I should have forcefully sent her away before the situation devolved to such a degree."
Bruce seemed genuinely haunted by the past as he narrated his regrets for not taking care of his sister well enough.