"My fucking arm! Holy fuck!"

Jake screamed while holding his right arm, which was bleeding all across the hardwood floor, and the pain was unbearable.

The bullet hole went from his elbow to his shoulder. It was a disgusting sight.

"You deserved it."

Aren pushed Jake up the stairs, kicked open one of the doors, and then pushed him inside.

"Argh!"

Jake collapsed against the bed and looked at his right arm—the sight of it made him cry, and of course, the pain.

It was the worst pain that he had ever felt in his life.

Last night, his right hand got shattered by Mr. Fortune, and now the rest of his arm got destroyed by Aren.

"It hurts… so much."

Jake gritted his teeth, and even the thought of just biting his tongue to kill himself surfaced into his mind.

Anything to escape this pain!

'…I wonder if I could craft something like healing bullets. Just my imagination is the limit, I suppose.'

Aren thought and then asked.

"Now. Explain, and maybe I can get you out of this mess, which you personally caused, so start from the beginning.

"Agnes's money… What did you do to it?"

"I gambled it all away…"

Jake said with a scoff.

"How much…?"

"Uh… Probably like 20 thousand Iris coins. I also… spent some of her money to purchase a new house."

Jake said coldly.

"In total… How much money?"

Aren asked.

"…I think it was around 48 thousand Iris coins."

Aren took a cold breath.

That was a crazy amount of money. It would be enough money for Agnes to last till the last day of her life.

There would be even left for her children and grandchildren, but Jake went and wasted it all for nothing.

"Tell me everything. Now."

Aren said.

"…The Gambler's Den, I lost it all. I played some mystery poker against some of Mr. Fortune's boys, and while I can't prove it, I think they were cheating."

Jake said, gritting his teeth.

"After I lost all my money, I took a loan from Mr. Fortune, who is the owner of the Gambler's Den, as I thought I could win it all back."

"And let me guess. You lost that as well, and you had no money to pay him back, and he destroyed that hand of yours.

"You have to pay it back today, and since Agnes doesn't have money, because you stole it from her, there is no way for you to pay it back.

"And you decided to blame Agnes for your mistakes. Haha."

Aren said with a cold smirk, and Jake just averted his gaze without saying a word.

"You know the Gambler's Den well? Who works there, and what is their job? I don't think you can lose all your money over a single night, so you must've gone there regularly.

"You must've gone there before you decided to steal Agnes' money. You must've lost your previous money there as well, and to fuel your gambling addiction, you took her money to gamble as well.

"Am I right?"

Aren asked.

"…Yeah, and so? Why do you need that information for?"

Jake asked.

"None of your business for now. If you help me, your debt will be dealt with, and losing your right arm is the only thing you will lose."

Aren said.

"…Pay for my medical expenses first, and then I'll help you. My right arm is fucking destroyed, if you can't see that!"

Jake screamed in pain.

"…I will. Once you apologize to Agnes, that is. She is still crying downstairs, and she didn't deserve what you did to her."

Aren said.

"…Okay."

Jake said timidly.

…

In the downstairs of the house, Aren and Jake came back from their little talk in the upstairs.

Agnes was sitting on the chair, not moving, and was trying to wipe off the tears from her face with a handkerchief.

"Who's there?"

She heard the footsteps and turned to the sound of the footsteps, and Jake could see the corners of her eyes being red and puffy.

"I am sorry, grandmother…"

Jake said, his lips trembling, and then he walked out of the house.

"Ah…"

Agnes heard him leave and clutched her skirt, as she was confused why her grandson would do something like this to her.

She had always believed that he was a kind and gentle child.

"Will you be fine alone?"

Aren crouched before her and took her hand, squeezing it gently.

"Where will you go…?"

She asked.

"I think it is better for him to return your money back to you. I heard from Jake that he will be moving out of the city with his mother.

"They apparently have some money problems."

Aren said.

"…Money problems? I had no idea… If they had just asked, I could've borrowed them some money!"

She said.

With a wry smile, Aren thought.

'She still thinks highly of her family. Anyone else would've probably assumed that they had used all of her money.'

"They're probably just embarrassed. I am going with Jake to retrieve your money, so I'll be back by tonight. Lock the door, alright? I've heard that there have been some robberies going on in the neighborhood."

Aren said, patted her on the head, and then took his hat from the rack before heading out of the door.

With the walking cane in hand, Agnes walked to the door and traced her hand across the door till she found the lock.

Click!

She locked the door, and then her lips trembled with a few teardrops falling off her chin.

With her backhand, she quickly wiped the tears off again and stumbled to the living room, tapping the cane on the rug.

Some of the furniture was toppled over, the room was in disarray, and despite not being able to see, she started cleaning up the place.

In that moment, her feet landed on some sticky spot in the rug—it was Jake's blood—and she stayed quiet.

With the walking cane in hand, she went to fetch a bucket and a sponge and started scrubbing away the blood.