The Dragon King's Heart

Laina could see the distrust in their eyes. She wondered what they must have gone through to have lost faith in the kindness of others. After some thought, Laina reached into her spatial storage and brought out bars of gold. She placed them in front of Neil and signaled him to take them.

"I know it's difficult to trust a stranger, so allow me to offer a gesture of goodwill."

"Are these... real?" one of the children walked over to take a closer look, more soon followed.

Neil was stunned by Laina's actions. He gritted his teeth in anger as he unsheathed a short sword and pointed it at her. Surprised by his actions, Laina put up both of her hands.

"I mean you no harm, Neil. Honest," Laina attempted to deescalate the situation.

"Do you think you can buy us off with this?! You're just like the others!" Neil roared.

He was shaking in anger. Everyone who came to the shophouse was the same. They offered money to them to move. None of them respected them, they just wanted to get rid of them.

Realizing Neil misunderstood her, Laina quickly attempted to resolve the situation.

"I'm not trying to buy you off, Neil. I'm trying to negotiate a deal that would be beneficial for all of us."

He shook his head vehemently, "All of you are just the same! You never saw us as equals, and you never will!"

Neil came up to Laina and attempted to push her. She swiftly moved out of the way, causing Neil to stumble and fall to the ground. Realizing he could be hurt, Laina went up to help him but he shoved her away.

The other children did not dare to move an inch. They watched on, uncertain of what they should do.

"Tell me, Neil. What can I do to gain your trust?" Laina asked genuinely.

She did not mean them any harm. All she wanted to do was to run her own business. This building needed a bit of work but she was certain it would be perfect.

"You..." Neil did not know how to reply.

In fact, he did not know how Laina could gain his trust. He clenched his fists as he pondered for a while.

"Stay with us," he finally said.

Laina widened her eyes in surprise, "Stay with you?"

Neil nodded, "We'll see your true colors soon enough."

It was an unusual request, one that was far from Laina's expectation. But if that was what it took for her to gain their trust, she would take the chance.

"Very well. I'll do as you ask. But I need to-" She pointed towards the door, indicating she wanted to leave for a while before returning.

But Neil shook his head, "No, you can't go."

She sighed. Laina looked at all of the children. They were all looking at her intently, wondering what decision she would make. She was not used to living in such conditions, but she decided to make an exception.

"Fine. I'll stay," Laina walked up to them, hoping to join the children.

But before she could take another step closer, Neil put out his hand to stop her. He shook his head and pointed her to a corner. Laina was a little annoyed but she did not vocalize it.

She found a corner of the space and took a seat on the hardwood ground. As she began to wonder where she would be sleeping for the night, her stomach began to growl. Lucky for her, she still had some of the pastries she had purchased earlier.

Laina summoned a small flame and took out a pen from her spatial storage to heat up the pastry before eating. The aromatic fragrance of sugar and butter wafted into the air. The childrens' mouths began to water. Some of their stomachs began to growl.

They barely had anything to eat. Needless to say, a pastry was out of the question. Most of them had never even tasted anything like it. Laina felt a shiver down her spine as she took a bite of the croissant.

When she turned around, she could see some of the children looking in her direction intently. Others turned to look away as soon as she looked over. At first, she assumed they were looking at her. But it became clear their eyes were on the pastry in her hands.

"Would you like to have some?" Laina asked as she reached out her hand. She still had half a croissant in her hand.

The children turned to look at Neil, as if they were waiting for further instruction from their leader. Neil shook his head. Some of them lost interest after that. But a young boy did not.

Laina could tell he was really hungry, he was almost salivating at the sight of it. She beckoned him to come over. The boy, perhaps driven by hunger, slowly walked over to Laina.

She placed the entire remainder of the croissant in his hands. Neil, realizing the young boy had wandered off to Laina leaped onto his feet.

"Jack no!" Neil yelled but it was too late.

The boy had already taken a bite of the pastry Laina had placed in his hands. The buttery flakey pastry was so delicious, the child finished it within a matter of seconds. All the other children watched on in awe and amazement.

"Is it good?" Laina asked the young boy with a smile.

The boy nodded with a wide smile on his face.

"Can I have more?"

Neil came over and grabbed Jack by the arm. He looked into the mouth of the child, his expression filled with worry.

"Jack, how do you feel? Are you alright? Spit out what you ate! How many times do I have to tell you not to take food from strangers! Did you forget what happened to Cassidy?" he yelled at the child, one question after another.

"I didn't poison it if that's what you're worried about," Laina spoke up for herself, "I ate the same pastry and I'm fine."

"Miss, do you have more?" another child came up to Laina.

"Rosie..."

"Neil, I'm hungry. We're all hungry," the little girl said to him in a meek little voice.

Neil looked at all of them. He had done his best to get them the food they needed, but as the weather grew colder their options grew slimmer.

"When was the last time you all had something to eat?" Laina asked.

"Two days ago."

"Yesterday."

"Neil hasn't eaten in three days," the little girl named Rosie spoke up.

Her amethyst eyes glistened under the flickering flame. Laina looked at all the children, her mouth agape by what she had heard. These poor children had close to nothing to eat. She could not let them starve.

Laina took out all the pastries she had left. She gave them to Rosie and instructed her to give them out to everyone.

"Miss, what about you?" the girl asked.

Laina ruffled her hair, "Don't worry about me.. I'll go get more."