Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf Mentor

Chapter 98 Lies, Reasons

"Why don't you die sooner?"

"It's all your big mistake that caused me to suffer like this!"

Those who surrounded the old man and threw garbage at him kept insulting him.

But there was no malice or pleasure in their eyes, instead they seemed to be inexplicably sad and angry.

"What are they doing? Why are they... treating an old man like this?"

There was a trace of pity in Lake's eyes. She turned her head and looked at a bystander watching nearby and asked.

"This old man..."

The man looked at Lake and shook his head, "He is the human traitor, Seven's father."

"Seven's father!?"

"Yes, I've known this old man for a long time. He is indeed a good man, but...

His kindness led to a wrong choice one day.

Seven was originally an orphan. One day when he was about to starve to death, he was adopted by the old tailor and taught him tailoring skills.

Seven had always liked to deceive others a long time ago and was disliked by many neighbors. Gradually, no one was willing to ask him to do tailoring work.

But I didn’t expect that he would become like this later…”

The Boren said, sighing:

“The people surrounding him were not bad people in the past, but their families were killed by the giants commanded by Seven.

They could only vent their pain and anger on the old tailor.

But this is not difficult to understand, after all, that's what they thought... If they hadn't adopted Seven at the time, wouldn't this happen today?"

After saying this, Bo Renren sighed and turned away.

After the Boren people left, the bullying, or rather the venting of anger towards the old tailor continued.

Lake looked reluctant, but she didn't know what to say. Should she say...

Let go of hatred?

The child’s mistake has nothing to do with the old tailor who was teaching him?

"Can't stand it? Then let's go. We should find a place to stay."

Poro looked up at the slightly complicated expression in the girl's eyes and said.

But just when a few people wanted to leave——

A man with a violent look walked out from the crowd, with bloodshot eyes, dragging a long axe, and walked forward.

He walked to the old man lying on the ground and raised the long axe in his hand high!

At this moment, everyone was stunned.

The man was filled with anger and aimed the long axe in his hand at the old man who was lying on the ground without any resistance, ready to chop him down with all his strength!
"Wait a moment!"

Lake opened her eyes wide and finally stepped forward—

She raised her hand, pushed the man away, and the axe handle fell into the air!

The axe blade tilted and hit the old tailor hard beside him, and broken stone chips flew everywhere!
But part of the axe tip still cut the old man's shoulder.

Blood splattered out, and the old tailor groaned in pain, but his cloudy eyes looked at the blood gushing from his shoulder.

It's dull, as if it has given up something.

The man wanted to pick up the axe and chop again, but he didn't expect that the girl in the red cloak in front of him, with seemingly slender arms, had greater strength than himself.

Lake pressed on the axe handle, and the man could no longer use any strength!

His face turned red, and he had to give up, staring at Lake with his red eyes.

"Who are you? This old man made his own mistake, he deserves to die, why are you meddling in his business?"

Lake bit her lip and whispered:
"I can feel your anger and the pain of losing your loved ones. You can vent it, but... isn't killing someone a bit too much?"

The few people around who were originally insulting the old tailor also stopped what they were doing. They looked at the bloody axe and also became silent.

They wanted to vent their dissatisfaction, but...

No one wants to actually kill someone.

At this moment, one of them glanced at the old man on the ground, then looked at Lake, and his words softened a little:
"Little girl, you don't look like a Boren person, and you don't quite understand what we did.

This old man is the father of the human traitor Seven——

He deserves it for raising a son like that!"

The man holding the long axe also said with red eyes, "If this old man hadn't adopted that demon, would this have happened?!"

As he said this, he was about to raise the axe again.

But several other Boren people also reached out and grabbed the somewhat angry man.

Although their hearts were filled with resentment and sorrow, they also understood that the real sinner was the inhumane Seven.

Before adopting Seven, this old tailor had always been a kind-hearted man with a good reputation.

Although guilty, the crime does not warrant the death penalty.

"Forget it, killing someone for something like this isn't very nice."

The few Polish people who were trying to stop the fight said this, and looked at the old man on the ground indifferently.
"Old man, for the sake of this foreign girl, I will let you go back and treat your wound today."

The anger in the eyes of the other Boren people around them gradually disappeared, and was replaced by an inexplicable sadness.

They lowered their heads, their faces pale and expressionless, and turned away.

No one hurled insults or continued to inflict violence.

They just turned around silently and walked away.

They are indeed not mobs or bad people, but just some ordinary people who have become a little twisted due to stress and pain.

Watching the onlookers gradually disperse, Lake helped the old tailor up from the ground.

The huge wound on the old tailor's shoulder was still bleeding.

Half of his sleeve was stained blood red.

No one cared about him. Considering the old man's age, if he continued bleeding like this, he would probably die from blood loss soon, right?
"Old man, please apply these medicines to your wound first."

After thinking about it, Lake took out a piece of ointment and handed it to the old tailor.

The old tailor stood up tremblingly, took the ointment and applied it on his shoulders. There were many purple scars on his exposed thin skin.

Obviously, he had suffered a lot of torture before this.

He glanced at Lake with a somewhat cloudy and sad look, lowered his head, and said in a trembling voice:

"Thank you, thank you, little girl.

They've been treating me like this for a long time. Don't worry about me. I don't blame them. They're also victims. If doing this to me can make them feel better, then that's fine.

If I had died just now... maybe it would have been better..."

As the old tailor spoke, the turbid tears in his eyes welled up again.

After a long time, the sadness in his eyes gradually disappeared.

The old tailor calmed down, looked at Lake and the others, and stopped his gaze on the luggage they were carrying. After thinking for a moment, he said:
"Little girl, from what you just said, are you...from somewhere else?"

"Well, yes, we just arrived in this city today and haven't had time to find a place to stay yet."

Lake nodded and said.

"That's it..."

The old tailor thought for a moment and said, "Recently, due to the influence of my evil son, the accommodation conditions in this city may have become somewhat poor.

If you don’t mind, you can stay at my house for a while tonight…”

"really?"

Lake's eyes lit up, "Thank you, old man."

……

The old tailor's house is a two-story building.

When a few people arrived here, they were shocked by the scene in front of them. A sign with the name of the tailor shop that was supposed to be hanging on the wall fell to the side and was smashed to pieces.

There was a lot of garbage on the ground, and it smelled terrible.

There were also many curse words written on the wall by Bo Renyu. Obviously, many people had vented their grievances in front of this house.

"Sorry, the area outside our house has become a bit messy lately."

A trace of guilt flashed across the old man's eyes. "There's nothing wrong inside. Of course, if you're concerned..."

"It's ok."

Lake waved her hand and said, "We won't be staying here long."

The old tailor's house was still very clean. Although the Boren people were angry, fortunately they did not do anything like breaking into the house.

In the evening, the old tailor prepared a large table of extremely sumptuous meals, but for ordinary people, this table of food was definitely very expensive.

Lake and his companions wanted to help, but were firmly rejected by the old tailor.

The food smelled delicious. While eating, Poro and his companions also looked at the furnishings in the old tailor's house. There were many cloths of different colors hanging on the wall, as well as some exquisite clothes.

And on the wooden shelf in the corner, there was a blank picture frame.

Poro's eyes swept across the stove on the side, where there was a handful of dusty ashes, which were the remains of the burnt paper.

"Old man, can you tell us about Seven...your adopted son?"

Lake looked at the old tailor across the table and suddenly spoke.

A hint of surprise flashed in the old tailor's eyes, and his expression became a little depressed. He took a trembling breath, looked at Lake and said:
"Do you...want to listen?"

"May I?"

"That's nothing to be ashamed of."

The old man was silent for a while, then slowly said, "The first time I met Seven, he was just a dirty street kid, about seven or eight years old...

At that time, he came to my house to steal things and I caught him.

He cried and said that he was clever, hardworking, and could do a lot of things, and begged me to take him in.

He also told me that if I failed and went back, I would be beaten to death by the gang of thieves.

I had no wife or children, so I adopted him."

"When he was a child, was he controlled by the theft gang?"

Lake's eyes widened, showing a hint of surprise.

"No, it's not."

Unexpectedly, the old tailor shook his head and said, "I later learned that there is no such thing as a theft gang here.

But that doesn't matter, after all, he's just a child——

I thought about teaching him my craft, letting him inherit my shop, and continuing the business smoothly...

But he is always lazy, and when I blame him, he always makes up a lot of lies to deceive me.

For most of the lies, I didn’t realize they were problematic until much later, but by then, it was too late to pursue the matter further.

But when he grew up, he became even worse.

He cheated a lot of customers. I didn’t know about this until an old customer complained to me!
That time, I was very angry and asked him why he did that——

He replied as a matter of course—"

The old tailor paused, as if suppressing some of the anger in his heart, and finally replied, "He said, if you can get paid just by talking, why bother working so hard?!"

The old man's expression became excited again when he said this. "You tell me, I've been down-to-earth and working hard for so many years - why do I have such an adopted son?!"

The old tailor finished speaking, breathing rapidly, and calmed down again, "Sorry, I was too excited.

I think... only shameless people would do such things repeatedly.

Later, the conflicts between him and me became more and more serious. I wanted to make him feel ashamed, so I exposed his lies in front of other people again and again.

Until one day—he bragged to the neighbors that he had killed seven people with one blow…”

The old tailor's expression turned somewhat remorseful. "I didn't even wait for him to finish what he said about killing someone, and I mocked him in public..."

Kill seven people? A liar like you can't even kill a bug. You've told so many lies, do you really think you can kill seven people?
If you can kill the giant, even the princess will marry you - do you have that ability?"

The old tailor said this, his expression became even more sad.

"Everyone laughed at him, and he replied, 'What if I could really kill seven men, or seven hundred men, or seven thousand men? What if I could really kill a giant?

After saying this, he left without taking anything with him and never returned.

The old tailor trembled his lips and spoke with difficulty about what happened next.
"Later, news arrived that he had single-handedly killed a giant and was named the Chosen Hero of Boren. His Majesty was to make him a Duke and betroth the princess to him...

But many people know his true identity.

How can strength built on deception be truly realized?

So, it wasn't long before his lies were exposed, and His Majesty the King was furious and wanted to kill him, but he escaped.

After that...

Then the news came that he had colluded with the giants and massacred several villages and towns, killing many, many innocent people..."

The old tailor clenched his fists, as if he wanted to strangle himself to death!
His last words were accompanied by a long sigh:
"If I hadn't adopted him, would...this not have happened?"

(End of this chapter)