Chapter 112

Chapter 112

Shrouded in darkness again, Harvey felt completely lost. He simply didn’t want to harm the tiger that had helped him—why were those people so angry?

"You’re back in the village now. Stop thinking of yourself as a wild beast. That’s just a tiger, a creature that could attack people at any moment. Yet for its sake, you refused to help us. Tell me, does your heart still belong to the mountains? Do you even care about the village?"

"Tigers can’t feel emotions. The fact that you understand it proves you’re not like other children."

......

Faced with their accusations, Harvey could only shake his head repeatedly. He wasn’t a beast—he was just an ordinary person, like everyone else in the village.

"So you really won’t kill that tiger? Then what will you do if we try to kill it? Will you seek revenge on us for its sake?"

"Enough with calling him a good boy. At his core, he’s still a savage."

"Stop saying such things. If not for that tiger, Harvey wouldn’t have survived. He’s already brought us so much game—can’t we just spare this one?" Hearing the villagers’ scorn, Harvey’s mother stepped forward again, defending him.

"You’re too lenient, always thinking of him. But does he even know how much worse your health has gotten since he returned? Without tiger blood as medicine, how will you recover?" The man sighed deeply, shaking his head in frustration.

Still confused about how things turned out this way, Harvey froze when he heard about his mother’s failing health. He rushed to the door. "Mom… Mom, are you sick?"

"Cough… Don’t listen to them. I’m fine."

"And you still hide it from him. You only let your pain show when he’s gone, just so he won’t feel guilty. But what does he do? He won’t even do this one thing for you."

Hearing his mother’s cough and the villager’s words, Harvey’s heart clenched. Was it true, then? Was he really a devil who brought misfortune to others?

"Mom… maybe I should leave. As long as I’m here, you won’t get better." His voice wavered, torn. He had finally found a home—but it seemed he couldn’t stay.

At his words, his mother and the other villagers stiffened. They had only wanted Harvey to hunt the tiger for them—they never meant to drive him away. Had they gone too far?

"No! I’d rather die now than let you leave me again. Don’t worry, I’m just a little tired these days. Some rest is all I need." For now, they had to keep Harvey close. After seeing how useful he was, letting him go was out of the question.

Seeing his mother’s distress, Harvey’s nose burned with held-back tears. He didn’t want to leave either.

"Harvey… why don’t you just hunt that tiger? They say tiger blood gives you strength. Don’t you want your mother to get better?"

Harvey fell silent for a long time before finally shaking his head. "I’m sorry. If my blood could heal Mom, I’d drain myself dry. But that tiger helped me. I can’t do this to it."

Faced with his defiance, the villagers knew there was no changing his mind. Yet just letting him go didn’t sit right. This boy had talent—they had to break his spirit, crush any thought of resistance, to keep him firmly under their control.

And so, in the days that followed, they kept spiking Harvey’s meals with herbs that left him drowsy and weak. Each time they confronted him, they drilled the same questions: Did he admit his wrongdoing? Would he always be loyal to the village? Would he always help everyone?

When Harvey began to suspect something was wrong, he ate less or refused the food altogether, fighting to stay alert. But his worn-out body dulled his will. Under relentless pressure, he became meek, eager to appease those around him.

Having spent his childhood in the mountains and later meeting the kind-hearted Pa Bo, Harvey’s heart had been pure—too gullible, too pliable into something else.

Once they were certain he would no longer resist, they allowed his mother to take him home.

By then, Harvey had gone from sleeping in a guest bed to a pile of straw in the woodshed—as far from the main house as possible, to keep the family safe from his "bad luck."

When Pa Bo saw Harvey again, he knew nothing of this.

Later, Pa Bo’s family sent him away to study arithmetic and bookkeeping, landing him a steady job in town. Only when her son’s life had settled did Pa Bo’s mother reveal the truth.

They had known all along about his friendship with Harvey. The pit he had fallen into? Dug by the villagers. While he was unconscious, the entire village had threatened his family—stay out of it, or worse than a broken leg would follow.

That day, the ever-upbeat Pa Bo locked himself in his room and wept for hours. He wondered—if he had never met Harvey, would Harvey still be that free-spirited mountain boy, ignorant but happy?

Pa Bo longed to fix it all. But he had seen firsthand the villagers’ stubborn selfishness. If his family had stayed in the countryside, anything he did would put his parents at risk. So he bided his time—until the move to town.

What made Pa Bo even more delighted was that he noticed the surrounding environment was gradually improving. The city guards no longer served only the nobility but also helped commoners like them. Even if he truly confronted the villagers, he now had allies who had his back.

When Pa Bo returned to the village full of hope and told Harvey that he had done nothing wrong, that those people were merely using him and never truly cared for him, he was met with a heartbreaking outcome. Harvey no longer knew how to resist—despite his towering stature and immense strength, he had become someone anyone could bully and exploit.

Faced with this situation, Pa Bo could only grit his teeth and remind himself that if he had once managed to teach Harvey, a wild man, how to speak, then he could surely pull him out of this mess.

Finally, through his persistence, Harvey came to understand that some people were not worth his devotion. Yet even so, what could he do now? Return to the mountains to hunt again?

Just as Harvey, with nothing to his name, pondered his uncertain future, Pa Bo arrived with good news. If he could succeed, he could go to the capital, escape all of this, and even own a house of his own. Perhaps he could even dare to hope for a life together with him.