The More the Merrier

“Yes, there is a mine on the mountain. It’s hard to build a road up the mountain, so the owner of the mine hired many adults and children from the village to carry the mining products from the mountain…” Rick said.

Ethen could not imagine how a young child could work.

Benjamin went into the house and took a look around.

The house consisted of three rooms. The one in the middle was the living room.

The other two rooms were most likely bedrooms.

One of the rooms had a big bed made by combining a few benches.

“Mary and Tim stayed in this room,” Rick explained.

The room was messy, but it was clean.

The other bedroom belonged to Raphael. None of the doors had locks and were only partially closed.

Anyone could enter and leave freely. Furthermore, the kitchen consisted only of a thatched roof surrounded by a fence.

The house was dilapidated and had nothing of value.

the house in person, he would not have believed that there was

and felt uncomfortable about

think that his child grew up in such an

find them fast,” Ethen

they could not ascertain whether Tim was the child

ordered his

analyzed where a child and an old

you tell us about their daily life?” Benjamin sat on a stone bench and looked at the messy kitchen. He frowned when he thought there

boy and regarded him as their own. Unfortunately, life became difficult after Raphael came out of prison. Raphael liked gambling, so he would often force them

“Later, James’ sickness recurred and worsened rapidly. He soon passed away, leaving only Mary and Tim. Since Mary could hardly walk and had many illnesses, she could not work. Thus, it fell onto Tim to provide for

ordered someone to

emanated an icy aura. “How did Raphael

before realizing that Benjamin was talking about Tim. “Terrible. Raphael frequently scolded and beat Tim up. Furthermore, he even wanted to sell Tim, but Mary

grim with fury. “Why did you

are reluctant to get involved in family matters. As

Ethen obtained the town’s surveillance footage and quickly sought Rick’s confirmation. “Mr. Griffin, is this old

and looked at it before nodding. “Yeah, it’s them. It seems they

glanced at the surveillance footage. It showed Tim’s back but