Chapter 171

Archer I pressed my lips together, clenching my hands so tightly my nails dug into my skin. A sharp sting followed, warmth trickling down to the floor as I struggled to cry—yet no tears came. I couldn’t even wail, not the way Claude had taught me to. “What are you doing?!” Claude half-whispered, half-hissed at me who was pretending to lie dead on the ground. I pouted, while looking at my hands. “I'm trying to ready myself yet I can't cry like you want me to.” I saw him look at me with ridiculous expressions. “Are you serious? You can't cry despite hurting yourself?” “Did you cry when you got injured then?” I retorted back, making him pause. It took him a while to recover, rolling his eyes at me. “Of course not! How could I cry over these mere wounds?!” Seeing that he was agitated, I stopped sprinkling salt to it. “What should I do now? We have to buy time for my parents to come.” “Let me think for a while,” he said while pondering about it for a while and I remained at my position, wai