Elys laughed again when she heard Jerome sneering. She turned around, folded her arms, and began to ramble.
"I was fifteen at the time...."
Jane—Elys's mother—was feeding her younger sister, Mariah. It was the dry season then. Jane's family had no food stored away. The garden was bone-dry, leaving nothing to harvest. The stove wasn't lit either; even the ashes looked cold, without a wisp of smoke.
Elys could be seen playing with King and Jerome. They were neighbors in the Soomer Valley. The evening heat was at its peak. The breeze only made the air feel more stifling.
"King, why do you keep staring at my mother?"
"I just...."
"He's just hungry, Elys," Jerome cut in before King could finish speaking.
King didn't react. His face fell, showing that things weren't as his sibling, Jerome, had said.
"I know. You must be missing your parents. Your mother, right?" Elys guessed.
King and Jerome lowered their heads at the same time. They couldn't hide the sadness that was increasingly enveloping their hearts.
Two days earlier, their parents had suffered accidents in the garden. Their father had been trampled by an elephant, while their mother had been stung by the most venomous giant wasp in the forest while searching for honey there.
Jerome and King, who were only ten years old, didn't understand much about their parents' deaths. Elys, who was five years older, chose to remain silent. She and her mother knew about the attack by the people of Sive. The ruthless people of Sive wanted to take control of the Soomer Valley. But that wasn't all. They also intended to seize the valley people's valuables and young women by force, and behead the adult men. Among the victims were Elys's father, Jon, Jerome and King's parents, and the other adult men.
"You know now, don't you? Who the real killers are? So don't accuse me of killing your parents. Got it?!"
Elys's face flushed red, her chest heaving as she held back her anger. Her right hand kept clenching into a fist. Elys was furious.
"Then why are you looking for my sibling, Elys?" Jerome asked as he stepped in front of the woman.
"I want revenge."
"Against King?"
"Against the person who killed my father, both your parents, and your sibling." Elys's voice didn't tremble at all. Her gaze was razor-sharp, brimming with rage.