Chapter 137 Chapter 137

Chapter 137 Chapter 137
Katherine held a ripe persimmon carefully and replied, her voice gentle but full of childish stubbornness:
“Don’t worry, Uncle. I won’t fall.”
Down below, young Marcus waved his hands in distress.
“Hey, a young lady shouldn’t climb that high! If you want to eat fruit, come down from there right now.” I’ll go get you a pair of long pruning shears!
“The pruning shears will crush the persimmons easily, and there aren’t many whole ones left on this tree,” Katherine retorted, steadying herself. “Besides, it’s faster to pick them myself. Don’t worry, I’ll be down soon!”
After saying that, she placed two more juicy persimmons in the bamboo basket on her back and smiled triumphantly at the man below.
At that very moment, she saw Marcus’s face suddenly turn pale, as if he had seen a ghost. He pointed behind her, his arm trembling uncontrollably.
“No! Don’t move! There’s a snake hanging from the branch right behind your ear!”
However, the desperate warning came too late. Katherine’s instinct had already made her turn her face backward the moment he pointed.
In that split second, her blood ran cold. Inches from her face, a venomous snake stood erect, its neck flattened, its forked tongue flickering in the air as it stared at her with cold, deadly eyes.
Out of pure survival instinct, Katherine threw her body backward to dodge the impending strike!
Caught off guard, her left foot met only emptiness. The thin branch she was holding onto snapped dryly under the sudden shift in weight and broke.
The hot summer wind whistled in her ears as she plummeted from a two-story height.
Smack! Smack! The basket tipped over. The precious persimmons hit the dirt floor and turned into a sweet, orange mush.
Katherine closed her eyes, expecting the excruciating pain of impact against the hard ground. But the pain never came.
Instead of the ground, she fell into a firm chest and strong arms that wrapped around her and cushioned the fall with frightening precision, narrowly escaping a fatal disaster.
Her heart racing, she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a well-defined Adam’s apple and pale, almost aristocratic skin.
The words of thanks that were on the tip of her tongue died in her throat as she looked up.
It wasn’t “Uncle” Marcus holding her.
She found herself face-to-face with a young man. His features were deep, perfectly sculpted, and untouched by a single speck of dust from the outside world. He exuded a particularly pleasant scent of sandalwood and cool herbs.
Stunned for a few seconds, Katherine couldn’t resist the temptation and waved her small, dirt-covered hand right in front of his face.
The boy’s eyes were completely covered by a thick strip of white gauze. How had he managed to run and catch her in midair with such precision without seeing a thing?
Besides, she hadn’t even seen him down in the courtyard just a moment ago! Had he covered that entire distance in the blink of an eye just by hearing the sound of the branch snapping?
A series of questions swirled through her quick mind.
In the next second, the young man’s expression remained cold and inscrutable. João Arbex released his grip on her waist, allowing the girl to fall abruptly to her feet on the ground.
“Next time, you might not be so lucky,” he said, his voice young, yet already imbued with that grave, authoritative magnetism.
Katherine blinked. She gripped the handle of the ruined bamboo basket, looked at his bandaged face, and asked with the fearless innocence of a child:
“Aren’t you blind?”
A direct question, completely unfiltered.
Marcus, who had just run up to them, coughed awkwardly, approached panting, and explained:
“Young lady, our Young Master has extraordinary hearing. Combined with God’s mercy that kept you from getting hurt, consider yourself lucky. Remember: don’t climb that high again; it’s very dangerous.”
— It was an accident today. If it weren’t for that disgusting snake, I wouldn’t have fallen — Katherine justified herself, brushing the dust off her clothes.
— What were you doing up there, anyway?
João had already turned his back on the commotion and sat down silently in the stone pavilion. He asked casually, his hands feeling the surface of a carved table.
Picking up the single “lucky” persimmon that had survived the fall, Katherine put it back in the basket and replied:
— Didn’t you hear our conversation just now with that extraordinary hearing of yours? I was picking persimmons for a sick person.
João remained expressionless. He was handling a luxurious Go board made with raised textures for the blind. The sound of a black onyx stone striking the wood echoed softly. He simply ignored her bold remark.
Katherine’s curiosity got the better of her. She took a step forward, approaching the stone pavilion, and asked, tilting her head:
“If you can’t see, how do you know the state of the game to play by yourself?”
“Finish picking your fruit and go back to your courtyard,” he retorted, cold and distant.
Katherine was about to retort when her eyes fell on an elegant porcelain platter next to his board. It was overflowing with various fresh and exotic southern fruits, far superior to the wild persimmons at the temple.
She looked at the single bruised persimmon in her basket.
With a competitive gleam in her eyes, she stepped forward, crossed her little arms, and challenged him:
“I’ll play a game of Go with you. If I win, you give me this whole plate of fruit. How about it?”
João turned his face, with the white gauze, slightly toward her.
“Do you know how to play Go, little girl?”
Katherine set the bamboo basket down on the ground, nimbly hopped onto the stone bench in front of him, and sat cross-legged, adjusting her posture.
“I’ve picked up a few things.”
João’s thin lips curved slightly, and he said in a drawn-out, confident tone:
“Very well. “If you manage to beat me, you can tell Marcus what you want to eat for the rest of your stay at the temple.”
Little Katherine’s eyes sparkled. Recently, she had displeased her Master because of her mischief, so she was forbidden from leaving the mountain and her diet was restricted to bland vegetables. This was the perfect golden opportunity!
“Deal!” she agreed. “Uncle Marcus can be your eyes. If it’s inconvenient for you to feel your way across the entire board, he can help you position your pieces.”
João gave a slight, arrogant smile.