Chương 43: Chapter Forty One: Touch Grass

Steady tears slipped down my face as I tried to blink away the pain. The red flashes slowly became less frequent, and I could finally focus on the things around me. Lady Anne is going to have a field day if she ever finds out about this. I'm going to put a gag order on all of this if possible. I finally got on her good side, and look what happened. Meng Jialin's heels break the grass beneath her feet. My tiny shadow mingled with hers as she made great strides toward whatever second location she was taking me to.

Kissae rushes after us, a little winded, judging by the rising blue blush creeping up her neck towards her cheeks. I'm going to get her another cookie after this. I watch curiously as we get farther away from the mansion. The panic is fading, at least. It's so much bigger on the outside than on the inside, for some reason. Like eerily so. It's like the walls were made extremely thick or there's something else fucky with it, on the bright side. I'm outside!

Where there are trees, bushes, and so much pollen in the air. Old me would be wheezing and coughing up a storm by now. But currently, I feel pretty okay. If anything, I'm grateful for my eyesight. No glasses in this life, and everything is so clear. If only... No use thinking about that now. Purple leaves and dark green branches. Small animals darting in and out of those leaves with certainty. Unafraid that they might miss a step and fall. Birds call out and fill the silence with their songs. This is pretty nice.

But what's that smell… and that sound? She loses no time dragging me along to the training grounds, which are shrouded by a small forest next to the mansion. One that I would have never seen without Meng Jialin. Multiple people are already breaking a sweat there by the time we step foot on the grounds. Mostly, shirtless men are the ones working out here, but towards the center, I see four familiar faces. No way. When she said brothers, I thought she just meant the triplets.

She shouted in an animated voice towards them, clearly in her element, catching the attention of everyone within earshot, "Boys! Guess who I brought?" I peer through her dark hair to see them. Blowing strands that end up in my mouth away in disgust. They're almost the same garb as mine. Except theirs is a little less conservative. They can have rolled-up sleeves and open chests. Figures. Erichean strikes swiftly at a dummy and turns around with a sharp look in his eyes--that softens as soon as he sees me.

Hey buddy? Then he's grinning like he won the lottery and sprinting towards me. I reach out, and he snatches me from her grasp. Ew. I pulled away from him when I noticed that he was wet from sweat. Gross.

"Yuck. Go away!" He refuses to let me leave his clammy embrace and even spins me around in a circle. Dizzy. The world spins, and my head lolls almost off my neck. His pleased tone reverberated off the trees around the training ground.

"My baby sister came to see me! She must have missed me so much. Isn't that right, Ria?" I pushed his face, which was trying to smush mine away. Yucky.

"Depends." He refrained from smushing his cheek against mine again and let me look up at his enlarged face. His curious red eyes glanced down at me in semi-wonder.

"Hmm? On what?"

"How much gold you have on your person."

"..." Y es, I'm shaking my own brother down. Do you know how high my expenses are? I'm still barely scraping a runaway fund together. The life of a princess is not for the weak. I open my mouth to take it back in jest when he opens his palm and releases a stream of gold onto the ground. I watched in awe as it piled high. Money! I kicked his chin, causing him to release me so I could fall directly into the pile of gleaming money!

A crazy smile split my face as I opened my space bag and started vacuuming gold into my magical purse. I giggled maniacally as I put it all away. There must be at least a thousand gold here. Stupi— I mean generous big brother.

"I missed you so much!" The training ground became oddly quiet while I lost my mind. Until it erupted in laughter and cheers. Rough soldiers and page boys in training laughed merrily at my expense, and I gave them the middle finger. They just cooed at me without showing any sign of being offended. Meng Yuchen skipped over to me while the others stared at me in shock. Did I completely throw away all my dignity? Yes. Absolutely. But you would, too!

You could feed a small country with this amount of money for a couple of years!

"You little money grubber! Don't you miss me too?" I stared at his attire and empty hands. Who are you calling grubby? Your boots are covered in dirt! I replied snootily, "You're too poor for me to miss."

"..." Meng Yusheng snickered and pointed at his older brother while laughing.

"She just called you a peasant!" His dark brown eyes glowed with mischief, and I could easily tell the difference now. Too much of a sprite to muster a calm, brooding look on his face. He yelled back, annoyed at his younger brother, "Quiet!" Then he turned to me with an evil smile. Uh oh. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Too poor? Yes, you're right. This brother is too poor. So please share—" He snatched a few coins, and I squealed in distress. Then the other boys leaped at my money, too. Even the usually unbothered and solemn Meng Yucheng swiped quite a few for himself.

"Eric! Do something!" I almost cried as I struggled to pilfer as much as I could away for myself. I need these coins. Ugh! Why do they have to be so annoying!? I glared at the one who started it all. Yuchen! You don't understand. I need this. They have to stop. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. All at once, my eyes narrowed, my small fists clenched, and the coins began to float in the air.

"..." I stared back at them, bewildered. One by one, they floated over to me, and Meng Yucheng was sent flying across the field. What the fuck?! My jaw dropped as my mind glitched, trying to figure out what I just saw. All of the building rage left me like a deflated balloon with a hole in it. I sat in my little pile of money while surrounded by neatly arranged towers of gold almost a foot tall. The final coin clicked on top of the highest, and I flinched.

[Host, please refrain from using your abilities in public like so.] What? That was me?! [Yes, that was you. Didn't you feel a rush or any indication of such a thing?] I remember being pissed. [Hothead.] … You're cleaning the chicken coop for the next two weeks. [What?! You can't do that!] My soul. My choice. You don't like it? Pay the rent and beat it! […] Oh my god. Yuchen! I shook my head and willed my stubby legs to hurry. Snap out of it and go help him. Please don't be hurt.

I got up from my pile of money and stepped on the gas so I could get over to him. He was sitting against a rack filled with wooden weapons. His hair, clothes, and shoes were covered in dust. He looked pitiful as a stray cat, a bit startled but relatively unharmed. I did that? Tears welled up in my eyes, and I struggled to blink them back. I pursed my lips and blinked fast. Stop that. What is wrong with me? Why am I feeling so… out of touch lately? Where is my self-control? Why am I having all these feelings?

It feels like I'm one mood swing away from biting someone's head off. Unease and guilt festered inside me. It turned into mucus that built up at the back of my throat and made my head feel like it's about to explode. The intracranial pressure sloshed around, and my head dipped. It's so thick and uncomfortable. I hate this. My cheeks burned as blood went straight to my head, and all I could do was try to breathe again. Focus. Yuchen. I don't understand why this is happening. I have to do something.

What can I even do about this? Erase everyone's memory? I wish. Hide. Maybe I should take off into the woods. I could find my way out of here. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I exhaled a shaky breath and started with that.

"I'm sorry." I really am. This is so stupid. I can't believe I hurt him… over money. I was just so focused on it, and all I could think of was my escape fund… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I tried to say all of that, but it came out embarrassingly incoherent and scattered. My teeth ground together, and one of my incisors wobbled. Meng Yucheng stared up at me with a blank, confused face. Red orbs squinted from looking directly at the sun behind me in a daze.

Whispers circulated on the ground, and I felt like asking Gaia to just start an earthquake. Swallow us all up with a natural disaster. I should have run. That's what I'm going to do— Strong, calloused hands reach under my armpits and lift me. Oh, I'm in trouble. Despite the warm weather, a chill slides down my spine. He turns me around so I can face him, and I close my eyes. Subconsciously, I angled my face away from him so it doesn't hurt as much. Here it comes. I shudder, and it turns into a hiccup.

My chest rises and falls rapidly.

"Miseria, open your eyes." He brought out the full name. He never does that. I'm in so much shit. Come on, just get it over with quickly. Don't drag it out. I open my mismatched eyes slowly and peek up at his…face. Why is he smiling like that? With his eyes all wrinkled and his teeth on full display. His glowing red eyes stare into my own as a maniacal giggle I know too well bubbles in his throat. I stare at him, frozen and not quite sure what to do in this situation. Is that an I'm-so-mad-I'm-laughing giggle?

"You have a gift!" He laughs heartily and turns around in a circle with me in his arms. His blonde locks caught the sun in their strands and almost blinded me. He has a bug in his hair. It's probably a butterfly or something. That's not important. I stare at him, dumbfounded by what's happening. Anyway, back to the urgent matter at hand.

"Eric. Shouldn't you be admonishing me? Or calling for help for Yuchen?" Particularly that last part. He grins boyishly, and I wince. His teeth are so shiny and sharp. Are mine going to be like that? He whistles in my direction, and I tilt my head. What? Oh. I try to turn my head to look behind me. From behind, I can hear wooden staffs clicking together and clothes shifting. Yuchen. He steps into my line of sight, and I wince again. There are little smudges of dirt on his face and pebbles in his hair.

He's going to need such a bath later. No obvious injuries, though. That's a good thing, right? He regards me without any malice like Derrick would've, and I apologize even harder than the last time.

"Are you ok? I'm so sorry." Why do I sound like I'm crying? He's the one who got launched for no reason. Dad's going to be furious. My blood runs cold altogether, and my lips part. Eric tilted his head a bit, and then a slow smile spread across his face. It was small and didn't really look like a vengeance smile. It was more like… sudden understanding. He pulled my attention back towards him again by lightly shaking me. He said something that sounded like Aw-thorne.

Whatever that is, but it didn't really register with me. I have no idea what that word means, if it means anything. It just doesn't sound like immediate medical attention. I frowned and repeated.

"I don't understand." Why is everyone so cool with this? Why isn't Meng Jialin here to call me a monster? Also, what gift? That's just a system skill that's been glitching. Speaking of that. Penguin! How do I get rid of this? […] Penguin. Now is not the time to be petty. Tell me how I can get rid of this. What do we do? Do we brainwash them? [Non.] Don't you dare. Don't you dare say it. [Non. Refundable. Purchase.] Fuck you! Learn some self-control. I growled audibly, and my eyes darkened.

I'm really going to strangle him one of these days. It won't hurt him since he's nuts and bolts. But I bet it'll be satisfying.

"Ria? It's time to calm down. Shh." Erichean bounced me up and down in his arms and shushed me. Slowly, I reigned in my ever-growing temper that threatened to wrap itself around him and throw him over ten feet away. Its shimmery yet transparent tendrils backed away from Erichean and retreated towards my hands. I flexed them. They stretched with me like extensions of my fingers. Holy. I can feel it now. What is that? It's like dry water. That I can sort of see and move around.

Especially when I'm upset, I guess, I've never been able to see the skill before. Really… what is going on? Eric is on a completely different page, chest puffed out, head in the clouds, "We're taking you to Niathe. She's going to be overjoyed at this news!" Meng Jialin tried to snatch me from Erichean's grip as he did to her earlier, but he wouldn't budge. After a couple of seconds of trying, she rolled her eyes and sighed before flicking her hand in the direction of the house.

He nodded and walked behind her as they walked away from the field. Um. Hello? Your son? Was injured? By me?

"What about Yuchen?" She scoffed, and he brushed my hair back fondly. Simultaneously, they replied to my question.

"He's fine." I looked behind me at the triplets, who had all gathered together to talk in their secretive little huddle. Tiny mouths on big heads with no visible necks moved furiously in tandem with their hands. What did I even do? Does this mean my outdoor privileges have been revoked?