Team villains except me

Chapter 567 Winter Silver Coins

Adaja didn't know when to begin telling his family story.

He was deep in thought, but ate quickly, his dark eyes possessing a glassy luster. He certainly had a mysterious, dangerous handsomeness.

Norvia ate her meat pie, gazing at Adega, trying to find a resemblance between his face and Dooku's. If Dantles Sehen was indeed Dooku's "grandfather" in the Abyss, then Adega and Dooku must also be related by blood.

Adega and Dooku are not alike.

Norvia lowered her eyes, gazing at the delicious-looking meat patties on the plate. She thought to herself, "If only my teammates could eat some too." Adaja's meat patties were truly delicious.

"...In the earliest times, before the War of the Gods, the Saiheng family was renowned in the northern continent."

Adagio suddenly spoke up. He had decided when to begin: before the war of the gods.

He looked at Norvia, his expression indifferent.

"The Saiheng family initially worshipped a generous god, but during the War of the Gods, the Saiheng family betrayed them. This was a very unwise move, because in the end all the gods perished. After the War of the Gods, the Saiheng surname became synonymous with 'traitor'."

Even now, if I show my face in public to participate in any competitions or resolve any incidents, those who dislike me will still use the surname 'Saiheng' to mock me. It's incredibly annoying.

In short, the Saiheng family declined after the War of the Gods. However, there were too many things happening on the northern continent: coups, alien beasts, military power grabs... Every two generations, the Saiheng family would produce an exceptionally intelligent and astute leader. They often possessed extraordinary talents, but they didn't reveal them; instead, they quietly safeguarded the family's future development.

Dantles, my great-grandfather who couldn't even be called human, was a genius puppeteer. Two generations before that, the head of the Saihan family was a theologian, two generations before that an astrologer, and two generations before that a bard…

"I'm not bragging, Riley, but the talents of my family's ancestors were terrifyingly high. I even felt it was a gift from the gods. But the appearance of Dantles makes this divine gift seem like a vicious curse."

As Yadaijia spoke, his emotions visibly fluctuated. He put down the plate, his eyes filled with barely suppressed hatred.

He turned around, took a couple of quick breaths, and then, to cover up his actions, picked up the photo frame that was in the living room. He turned back to show Novya the beautifully framed photograph.

The photo was quite old. It showed a man and a woman, their faces somewhat blurry, and two dark figures in the distance.

Yadega pointed at the two dark figures.

"Those two were my adoptive parents. They were originally thieves who met on the street. My biological parents died when I was very young. It's a curse, I guess Danteles was behind it too."

I don't even remember what they looked like. The year they died, the northern continent was unusually cold. I certainly wouldn't have survived.

My adoptive parents were people who escaped from a small country together, and they're about my age now. To be honest, they weren't very reliable either; they were practically the worst thieves in the world.

My adoptive father was framed by a nobleman and ended up owing a large sum of money because he wanted to save innocent people. My adoptive mother was poor and was forced to marry a wicked country gentleman. Both of them decided to rob the rich to help themselves, so they broke into the same nobleman's vault on the same night.

Sometimes I think their intelligence is no different from that of frogs croaking in a pond on summer's day. You never know what they'll argue about. So, back then, the two of them were in the nobleman's treasury, and because they both wanted the same silver coin, they started arguing relentlessly, neither willing to let go. This led to them being discovered, chased, and wanted, and in the end, they had no choice but to leave the country and wander abroad.

As Adaja recounted the story, even she found it unbelievable. Norvia listened intently, her focus unmistakably fixed on the money.

Nolvia tilted her head slightly, looking very confused.

"Do noblemen only store silver coins in their treasuries?"

Yadega sighed.

"Of course not. My adoptive parents said that silver coins would solve their problem, so neither of them took any gold coins. But, sometimes fate likes to play tricks."

The silver coin they were fighting over was a work of art and couldn't be spent at all. Because it had a unique noble mark, they couldn't send it to auction.

That year was incredibly cold. After careful consideration, they chose our family. They wanted to steal some food, thinking my biological parents looked kind enough that even if they were discovered, they wouldn't be beaten to death. Obviously, my biological parents didn't survive that winter. When my adoptive parents broke into our house, they found me, crying for food, and my dead parents.

They originally intended to have a good meal and leave, but they were too kind-hearted. They raised me. I think they raised me quite well; I'm tall and handsome now, physically healthy, and without any emotional trauma.

Yadajia unconsciously rubbed the photo frame.

"They were just too kind-hearted. They wanted to give me the best of everything. They felt indebted to me because they lived in my house and were thieves, so they tried their best to give me the best. If they weren't healthy, there was no need for them to work so hard. I'm a puppeteer, and I'll make a lot of money sooner or later. They couldn't wait and left early. If only they had lived a few more years."

Do you know what they said to me when they left? They said, 'It's good that you left early. Now you can earn money and spend it on yourself. You don't need to give it to us, and we won't be a burden to you.' But that's actually the biggest burden. I'll always feel guilty about it."

Adagio didn't continue. He felt remorseful for his honesty; confiding such private things about his past to someone he had just met was out of character for him.

He clicked his tongue.

“Riley, you’re dangerous. You look so harmless that people will instinctively lower their guard.”

Norvia was taken aback, then smiled and did not refute.

It wasn't that she made Adega lower her guard; it was that Adega was too eager to say these things.

Adagio knew he was making excuses. He coughed, carefully placed the frame back in its original position, and then continued his story about Dantles' past.

“My great-grandfather, Danteles, was a puppeteer. The profession of puppeteer is especially stigmatized in the Northern Continent. Perhaps in your Western Continent, or other continents, this profession is a little better. But here in the Northern Continent, puppeteers are like evil sorcerers, rats in the street. Now I am discriminated against, so Danteles must have been even more discriminated against when he was young.”

But my great-grandfather, as the head of the Saiheng family, was responsible for the entire clan. The family felt a puppeteer couldn't shoulder such a heavy responsibility, and they subjected him to what appeared to be a repressive upbringing. The pressure from his family, coupled with societal discrimination, drove him to madness.

A smart psychopath is terrifying.

He must have learned some secrets about the Abyss from our ancestors. He wanted to be on par with the gods, to prove himself, and he wanted to rule the world. He killed everyone in his family, except for my grandfather, and then he jumped into the Abyss. He vanished without a trace.

My grandfather had his memory erased, grew up normally, married, and had children. But when my father was born, for some reason, my grandfather remembered everything. He died young, just like my father.

Yadega chuckled softly.

"Twenty-two years old. If I'm like them, then I have two more years to live."