Chapter 1182
Chapter 1182 Poison Spider’s Tragic Past
Matthew’s heart skipped a beat. “Your sister? You’re the crown prince’s uncle? The one they call Phoenix?”
Elio laughed flatly. “They’re both names rooted in fire and the sun.”
Matthew’s expression shifted slightly. “You came here to ask for your sister back?”
Elio let out a puff of smoke. “Not exactly,” he said lightly. “I’m just here to ask for an act of mercy: release my sister and hand
your life to me.”
Matthew was dumbstruck. Elio was capable of talking about the bloodiest of matters in such a calm manner. Just what shaped
his personality into this?
When Matthew thought about the crown prince, as well as Poison Spider, he suddenly realized that all three of these people
were absolutely strange.
“You only arrived in Eastcliff recently. You probably have no idea what happened here,” Matthew stated.
Phoenix waved a hand dismissively. “Of course I know what went down in Eastcliff lately. I also know that someone deliberately
set me up to antagonize you. But, I have no other choice. The only way the mastermind will let my nephew go is if I kill you. Rest
assured, though, I will help you to kill everyone involved as revenge on your behalf once I’ve rescued my nephew!”
Matthew gritted his teeth. This guy called Phoenix was seriously looking down on him.
“Sorry, but that’s a no from me! I can help you to save the crown prince, but I can’t die just yet!” Matthew replied in a low tone.
Phoenix gave a light chuckle. “That choice isn’t yours to make!”
Instantly, Matthew was infuriated. “I know you’re powerful, but you’ve forgotten this place is Eastcliff—Billy Newman’s territory!
Even if you do kill me, do you think Billy will let my death slide?”
Phoenix chuckled again. He took a step closer once more and spoke softly. “I happen to have some time on my hands. Why
don’t you listen to my story?”
Matthew was skeptical, but he nodded anyway.
“It’s a bit of a long one...” Elio lit another cigarette, his eyes misting over as he took a trip down memory lane. “I was born in an
era where food and money were scarce. I was born into one of those less fortunate families too. My sister is older than me by
three years. When I was six, she was nine. My mother ran away with the proprietor of a business that year. My father pursued
her, and he left us at home. Luckily for us, there was some food in the house; we could still hold on for a little longer. Unluckily,
though, we needed fire to cook the food, and we only had three matches left. Back then, a single cent was enough to buy a piece
of candy. If you fork over ten cents, they’d throw in two free candies on top of the ten you bought.”
“But even though I was already six, I had only ever eaten two pieces of candy in my life. My sister brought me one of them; the
kid who lost his candy had cried forever. The second piece was given to me as a bribe by the business owner who tricked my
mother into leaving with him. Heh, sometimes I wonder if my mother would have stayed if I hadn’t accepted that candy that day?”
“We had some pasta and beans at home. With no other food around, we would have to eat it plain. However, without any
matches, we would actually starve. And so my sister thought of a plan—to steal some matches from another family. I still
remember that the target my sister picked was our neighbor. It was my sister’s first time stealing from someone. She got me to
keep a lookout outside while she sneaked to the kitchen to steal the matches. The moment my sister left the kitchen, the woman
living there noticed her. That woman was a shrew. She dug the matches out of my sister’s pocket before kicking her out into the
yard. She beat my sister for over ten minutes with a stick, calling her all sorts of terrible names.”
“I didn’t know what else to do then. All I could do was cry and beg her to stop beating my sister. In the end, a few elders in our
village could no longer stand the sight and stopped the woman. My sister only managed to get a reprieve then. Later on, an old
lady gave us a box of matches, which allowed us to survive for a little longer.”