The words never said... the intention never understood

(Not my pic)

Description: What if the capture target was wrong? What if, actually, he simply never understood the villainess? What if it was just a matter of unsaid words and a pile of misunderstandings?

This is the story of a reborn capture target*. Faced with his past once again, this time he understood that maybe hatred, fear, and shame weren't the only things that could have been experienced in his young days. There was actually someone who shielded and protected him in places he never knew about.


*None of them know they are in a game, so yeah, there is that.

Genres: Misunderstandings, romance, second chance, back in time,

Table of contents

Prologue

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Prologue

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The king and the queen had already left. The nobles were leaving one after the others, some laughing behind their fans, for others, their scorns, and rejections were evident for all to see, while a certain number kept their thoughts to themselves. The Knights had already left with the royalties, the only ones still present were the prince's personal knight standing by his side and two others who were at either side of the two kneeling, who were some meters away from the two steps separating the royal seats and the rest of the room.

Both of them, a teenage girl and a young adult man, slowly stood up from their bowing position, their clothes speaking of nobility. The man had a mix expression of anger and despair on his face while the teenager was quite expressionless. However, as her eyes caught the sight of a young man who was making his ways up the stairs and going to the prince, she couldn't help but call to him,

"Cousin…wait… please,”

The soft voice made Rehan’s footsteps halted.

“I… I…”

Her expression collapsed and she was quite flustered now, words failing her. As she made a movement towards him, the knight by her side directly used his sword to block her path. She clenched her hand on her dress, willing herself to calm down a bit to form a comprehensible sentence.

For as long as Rehan could remember, this was the first time that he heard this person stuttered. Her voice had never been so soft, never been so pleading. Not toward him anyway. No, he could still hear her laughers, her mockeries and could still remember the humiliations his young self-suffered at her hands. With a sneer on his lips, he turned around to face her. There was maybe too much aggressivity in that gesture, for she took a step back as her eyes widened, the fury on his face blocking the words in her throat. Then his cold voice rang in the royal court hall,

“Is miss Ried finding the sentence too light? Coincidently, I too, share that sentiment. Should I help increase it?”

Michaels gasped and immediately stepped forward, glaring briefly at his little sister before smiling fawningly at his distant cousin,

“We don’t dare be dissatisfied duke Rovelsbert. Living the rest of our lives as commoners, is, I assure you, more than enough already. Please spare us, no more.” As he talked, his fists were tightened and his anger wasn't correctly hidden at all. To think that mere years ago this teenager in front of him was as a slave in their house now he regained his status as duke? It was just too hateful and they were so close to success too! Makes him wants to gnash his teeth.

Talking until here, Michaels hastily turned around and harshly tugged his sister’s hand to let them go before their situation worsened. Lest would it do if they were exiled. The knights opposed no reaction to his gestures.

Kimberly struggled, for the first time opposing her brother pubicly to properly look at Rehan,

“You never understood me. Either my words or their meaning and much less my actions.” She winced as her brother dug his nails in her hand but still, refused to move, “but, believe it or not, I am happy for you now.” Kimberly smiled gently at him, her eyes curving.

Her right hand still confined in her brother’s hands, she was unable to take it back and in the end, she used just the left one to pick her dress then dipped into a low curtsy, her blue eyes meeting his dark one as silence floated for a moment in the hall room. A dropped pin could be heard. 

The teenage girl with wavy chocolate hair at Rehan’s side gasped as she came closer to him, disbelief in her eyes. However, that girl wasn’t the one Kimberly was looking at right this moment and idem, Rehan’s gaze never left hers, his face never softening; actually, it hardened some more.

“I sincerely pray for your happiness.” She finally said and Rehan smiled mockingly at that,

“Who would have thought that you of all people would degrade yourself and bow to me?” Then he turned to Michaels saying harshly, “take your sister away and disappear from my sight.”

“Yes, yes of course,” scrambled Michaels, and this time he tugged Kimberly even more fiercely. She lost her footing and fell, twisting her ankle. Her brother didn’t care and tugged her and practically dragged her limping form out of the room. There was, looking at them at this moment, no more grandeur these people were always showing.

That day marked the end of the short lives of the Rieds as a ducal family. The parents were imprisoned sentenced for killing the previous Duke and the children were reduced to commoners.

Rehan Rovelsbert could finally sigh and bury the demons in his heart. His father could now rest in peace and he himself could use some as well. The girl at his side softly tugged his arm and meeting her forest green eyes, his dark ones turned gentle and he smiled softly at her, his face a completely different one from what he showed until now. Only she could see that expression. He took her hand in his and softly kissed it, “thank you” he whispered and Amelia smiled.

Thank you for being by my side, thank you for your presence in my darkest day, thank you for having liberated me. Someone cleared his throat and Rehan remembered the three other men of her life. The prince still had his fist in front of his mouth, his gaze piercing as he looked at him. Rehan's smile dropped a little before it returned saying to himself that it was alright too if she was just using him, so long as she kept on making him feel loved.

Rehan really thought that from now on, his life could only turn for the better. He never understood how he died, could only remember the faint smell of flowers and musk before opening his eyes to his young self. He was eight years again, those monsters were controlling his house and that tyrannical princess of theirs just slapped him, her icy blue eyes glaring at him as though he was but an object in his own residence!

It was a reflex to touch his cheek, the stinging sensation very much real as well as the taste of blood in his mouth.

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YAT Chapter 3: Breastfeeding

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“Ahh, oohh, lalala”

Miyabi was being ridiculous, stretching her tongue as far as she could and making funny faces, except, the ones it was destined to, didn’t find it funny at all!

Changing technique, she hid her face behind her palms, saying, “I disappear,” opening her hands with a smile, she exclaimed, “now you see me.”

Nothing to do. The children's cries went on and on, growing louder and more energetic. Miyabi didn’t know what to do anymore. As a teen, when others were making money by babysitting some children, she rather tutored some juniors. It was less headache-inducing more so that in her neighborhood, there weren’t that many children and certainly not infants. Her knowledge of soothing babies was lacking by lots. That aside, how could two little beings produce so much noise! She was going deaf! They wouldn't listen to her or pay heed to the gestures and grimaces she was making. It simply served no purpose, and at best, it just angered them some more!

Didn't tv used to show that babies particularly liked it when someone hid behind his hands?! Where was the scene where they were supposed to laugh and try with their little fingers to unwrap her hands and see her face?

Hell was breaking loose! Where were these babies’ pacifiers?

Stretching her hands, she took Meirin gently in her embrace, laying her on her shoulder and softly tapped her back. The baby was so light and seemed so fragile. It was her very first time holding a child this young and she sincerely hoped she was doing it right. Miyabi was rocking herself slowly while making shushing sound with her mouth. The baby was, apparently, receptive to that, and slowly started to reduce her cries; however, the little boy who was laying on his crib was still loud and now angry at being ignored. Rocking the baby girl still, Miyabi used the hand that was previously tapping Meirin’s back to lightly tapped Hendricksen’s chest over his clothes, silently lamenting that his crib wasn’t one she could rock but rather an annoyingly stable one which wouldn’t budge at all.

She tucked him gently with one hand and started humming a song, wondering if a lullaby could work. Now, which lullaby could she sing? She didn’t remember any.

She arranged Meirin’s position on her shoulder and she started rocking herself and tapping Hendricken’s bosom in the rhythm of her music. Hardly a lullaby but she sang it slowly, invoking a gentle tone, though it should be said that she couldn’t recognize the voice coming out of her mouth as her own.

She looked at Hendricksen tenderly in the eyes,

“Remember those walls I built?”

She cleared her throat, trying to remember the next words

“Well, baby, they are tumbling down.” She smiled gently at the baby, and since there was enough space and Meirin had calmed herself, she gently laid the girl beside her twin and tucked her with her own blanket that she took from Meirin's crib swiftly; his sister by his side, Hendricksen seemed to calm more and more and that allowed her voice to be heard over their soft cries now, “and they didn’t even put up a fight,… they didn’t even make a sound” She tucked them carefully, and softly tapped their chests with each hand, “I found a way to let you in”

Though 'Yzaide' was definitely not one to sing all day long, her voice wasn’t crooked and at this moment Miyabi didn't really care if she sounded off tune and neither the babies anyway. The music was, apparently, doing the trick and the twins were looking at her, making soft sounds, not cries, but happy babbling ones.

“but I never really had a doubt”

Miyabi’s smile stretched, and she felt like there was magic in those babies eyes as they smiled at her. Now, that was something worth seeing.

"Standing in the light of your halo... I got my ang-"

And then the door opened in a bang and the magic was destroyed. The startled babies slowly teared up while Miyabi's face changed, repeating 'no' and tried to occupy them with the song but her voice was muffled down by their crying which had gotten a new wave of intensity. Their small faces were going red, their arms flailing around.

“Damn”, she cursed softly before turning to see just who had such bad timing. It was a young maid -early twenties in Miyabi's opinion- in a black and white outfit. A French style one. She was out of breath and walked brusquely to Miyabi's level -almost run there to be precise- her eyes on alert. Miyabi could swear to hear her exhale in relief when she saw the babies were alright. She then promptly bowed to her before her voice sounded,

“Apologies, madam, I was occupied and didn’t see the time. I will get the babies right away.”

Action following words, she leaned to take one of the twins in hand but was stopped short.

“And just where do you think you are taking them to?" asked Miyabi with a frown.

"They must be hungry, madam. It is long past their meal's time,” responded the newcomer in a small voice, not daring to reach for the babies again, her gaze suddenly on the carpet, not meeting that short-tempered person's eyes, lest she was slapped again.

Remembering that they indeed had yet to eat, Miyabi found it a bit of a shame to not have thought about that. She coughed, thought about something and change her mind again,

"They are not going anywhere, call the wet nurse here."

The maid's eyes widened at her, but Miyabi didn't care and turned to the children.

"And where are their pacifiers?"

The maid rummage through one of the drawers and took two that she put in each one's mouth while Miyabi was making shushing sound, lightly tapping their chests to calm them. The pacifiers in the mouth, they started sucking avidly, finally letting some peace be heard in the room. Still not hearing the person exiting, Miyabi turned her face to her,

"Get going, what are you standing here for?"

Stammering a response, and with swift movements, the maid was once again outside.

Alone with the babies once more, Miyabi breathed in relief. She wasn't really sure how she was going to handle the people around. Yzaide wasn't a person with the best of temper. It could be seen with the address she was given. In normalcy, she should be called 'second madam' but any servant who dared to do so would receive hot tea to the face if the woman was drinking it, slaps if the woman was standing or she would fling the person away with a water technique, thus, everyone in this manor obediently called her as she wished, madam. For these acts, it would be amazing if she wasn't hated by every living being here. Those relationships, to Miyabi's point of view, were well past salvable. Was there a necessity to try?

Well, maybe not all of them.

Miyabi fixed her gaze at the cute children. Those twins were now five months old. But since day one, Yzaide refused to breastfeed them. It wasn’t so rare in nobility. There were wet nurses for that after all. Miyabi wondered though, now that she had the babies'mother's body shouldn't she try to breastfeed them? That... well, they were strangers after all but her conscience kept on telling her it was their mother's body she was in and nothing was better than one's own mother's milk. Or so she thought anyway. She looked down to her chest which went from cup C to a full round D and coughed. Well, maybe not now. Let's try that later. She wasn't really sure if she remembered seeing Yzaide's bathing today in her vision. She rather not risk it.

Some moment later, the young maid came back, with another one in her toe. This one seemed slightly older and bowed to Miyabi before going near the babies. The surprise in her eyes wasn't really masked.

"Should I feed them here?" she asked cautiously, as she tried to stop sneaking glances at Miyabi who was still crouched down on the babies, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Yes, you may. Sit on the cushion, let me bring you Meirin-."

As she said so, she bent to take the girl in her arms but when she turned around,

"What are you doing here standing still. Go and sit."

"Yes, yes madam" responded the flustered woman.

"Madam, you should place a hand under her head too, like this". While the wet nurse was opening her cloth to free her breasts, the other maid helped Miyabi hold the baby more cautiously with a hint of fear in her voice. Miyabi pretended not to hear those tremors and did as she was told. In the process, she deliberately touched the maid's hand to see if she could have a vision of her life too but this time again she saw nothing. She repeated it when passing the baby to the wet nurse only to come blank again. What exactly were the conditions for that thing to work, she wondered. 

When the pacifier was taken out of her mouth, the baby didn't have the time to cry that a nipple was pushed in. Miyabi stood there and looked in fascination wondering flittingly if it hurt. Was the baby gum's painful? The baby had closed her eyes and seemed to be savoring her treat, which brought a smile to Miyabi.

The other two women tried not to look at their mistress but they still sneaked glances at her. Their surprise wasn't really unfounded. The old Yzaide hated those children's cries. Actually, she didn’t like it at all to have those babies in the same room as her but by that gesture, she wanted to show how passionate and a good mother she was, how much she liked the children. It was all to deceive Baron Mitch. 

The reason why Baron Mitch had married her previously, was because he and his wife had tried long enough but still didn't manage to have children. His wife was too sick for that. They were going on in their years and house Mitch still didn't have any heir. Be it a boy or a girl. The gender didn't matter much. His daughter's husband could inherit his position should he have a daughter but the trouble was he had neither. Should a day come he died then his title would go to his distant cousin and what of his wife if she was still alive? Would they chase her? Would they bully her? Never could he imagine her dying before him. The baron thought about adoption. Though some people in the nobility adopt, it was still looked down upon and in the end, rather than that he chose to marry again. His wife was alright with it. More so that they also needed the money Yzaide's family offered while that family was interested in entering the nobility rank. It was a win-win situation.

However, Baron Mitch couldn't bear seeing his wife be upset by his second wife's presence and brought that person to live in his residential manor in the forest. Maybe prompted by that show of his love still, his first wife's got better to the point where she got pregnant and the baby even survived the rocky first trimester which had seen so many miscarriages. The doctor said that this one would likely be alright. House Mitch was elated. The baron, who rarely came in his second residence came then, still drunk from yesterday's liquor of good news. He came to talk about separation. Yzaide was furious. She didn't even enjoy the life of nobility that she was already thrown out? She wouldn't let it be. Anyway, she too was pregnant for three weeks now. The baron had the physician check it and found that it was indeed true. Yzaide threatened to denounce him if he really chased her in her pregnant state, which was something that could throw his good name to dirty waters.

Angered beyond words, the baron slammed the door and since then didn't come. Not even to see his own newborns. He forbade anyone to tell his first wife about those babies as he had already promised to her that the matter of the second wife was already arranged. In his wife's mind, she was back to being the sole woman in his life, living in ignorant bliss.

Though she managed to stay, Yzaide, who was like a prisoner in this manor now, never stopped writing to the baron, telling him how much she loved him and their babies, begging him to come and see them, he would love them too, she promised.

But the man never set foot here, however, he provided her with the necessary.

Yzaide's soft pleading letters then turned into threats, guilt trapping him sentimentally about his children and escalated to menaces and demands. She insisted on her children to be shown to the world and officially recognized.

There was a custom. In the hundredth day of a child, a ceremony must be observed and he should be introduced to society. But the twins' hundredth day passed and no one came. Anxious now Yzaide tried to break free and go see him in his main manor. But even if she had a good mastery over her powers and could scare the maids around, the guards combined were still more powerful than her. No matter how much she tried, Yzaide couldn't break free. 

And now she was back to writing soft letters again telling him how much she loved those babies and couldn't even bear not seeing them so she had them sleep in her own room.

Well, it was quite a mess and Miyabi wondered if Yzaide really thought that there was no one to inform the baron of how she really acted in here.

Not caring about the two women's opinions, Miyabi stood there and observed how the babies were drinking their milk. Once Meirin was full, she was the one to extend her hand towards Miyabi, silently begging to be taken. Fascinated by the charming infant, the newly found mother took her in her arms, putting the baby on her shoulder, and lightly tapped her back to help her burp. Only, it never occurred to her that milk would be following too and her clean clothes weren't so clean anymore.

The young maid, seeing this scene grew anxious. No matter how good an actress this mistress was, she certainly would break the act now, was she going to fling the baby on the floor? Her heart couldn't accept that conjecture so she extended her hands-

"Why are you so jittery, aren't I holding her properly? Pass Hendericksen to her too, and leave me alone!"

Well, it seemed this new act of hers was particularly good.

Miyabi changed the shoulder holding Meirin as she slowly lulled the baby to sleep while looking at Hendricksen drinking his milk, deep in thought. From what she knew, some weeks from now the baron was going to come and trying to divorce her again. The original Yzaide had been averse to it and had dragged the affair almost a year long no matter what kind of proposition the baron came with -he was adamant she told no one about the babies being his, fearing his wife's health to get worse if she heard the news-. When the heroine wasn't concerned, this man was simply the worst father ever. Miyabi, however, didn't care. She wasn't inclined on being anyone's wife anytime soon and she certainly wouldn't let babies in the hands of a father unwilling to recognize them. This was just on principle. 

Smiling at the sleeping children she felt like, though she didn’t really know much about being a mother, there was nothing that couldn't be learned if one had the will. 

***

Since opening her eyes to this strange world, Miyabi didn’t see herself in a mirror -though it was true that through Meirin’s memory she got to see her own appearance-. However, her reflection in the water of her bath was really clear and let her see herself anew again. She was really like the Yzaide of the game.

Contrary to her children who took after their father’s fiery red hair -though she didn't get to see that for their heads were covered with bonnets-, hers was silver-blue and its length up to the ending of her back. Her eyes were a turquoise, deeper shade of blue and her lips a natural pink. Miyabi thought that with a physique like this, was there really no other way to enter nobility than marrying as the second wife? Were nobles really that fond of marrying between themselves that she felt she had no other chance than with Baron Mitch? Though it was true too that merchants were looked down by nobles. A stupid thing in Miyabi's opinion. Where would be their country without merchants?

With a sigh, she entered the big bathtub and let the hot water immerge her up to her neck as she found a good position to recline against the border, thinking.

This was a world of magic, Edmether. Mana was the name of that magical energy which everyone possessed. In the game's prologue, it was said that millennia ago, humans were pitiful creatures any magical being could pry on. Some of those magical entities ended up pitying them too much and teaching them how to wield it. What one's wielded was depending on each one's inborn abilities but they were ranged under categories: elementals, variances, and rarities. There were four elementals: fire, earth, water, and wind. The variances were more numerous: electricity, wood, ice, iron, bones, blood and many more. All which was neither elemental or a rarity was grouped here. Some newfound variances were still discovered even in these days. The last category was rarity and had just two elements: the light and the darkness. And it was also the reason for the fairies' disappearance.

When teaching humans about magic, the fairies never thought that humans' greed would create a new kind of power which had later being called 'darkness'. That power almost destroyed their world. Only, a child, a pure and gentle one, developed 'light' and save them all. But since then, no one ever saw fairies again. It was speculated that, as they were restraining the expand of darkness over the world while waiting for the child's power to develop enough to defeat the darkness, their magical powers depleted and since they were being made entirely of mana, they died. The whole race got annihilated to save the world.

Now, since the game was titled “the wielder of light”, it was self-evident that the heroine would awaken a light attribute but remembering the -1- at the end of the title, Miyabi hoped that it didn't mean that in the -2- of the game someone with darkness attribute would go berserk and started killing people around -she never played the two so she really didn't know-. Altough she didn't care if in the game world there were casualties before the heroine's triumph but now that said game life became her real life, she certainly cared enough! Damn it, why was she even playing this game?

Tears were ready to spill down her cheeks and she was feeling exhausted again before she forced herself to see the good side of these all. Her mother had raised her as a positive person, “count your blessings, not your flaws,” She liked to say, “It’s fine if it’s a problem of seeing the glass half full or half empty, either way, you won’t be thirsty”. Those kinds of motivational words. And she needed a real good dose of positivism right now.

To start off, she was alive. Which was good enough and who knows, maybe she could even wield some magic too. Closing her eyes Miyabi tried willing the water in her palm to act as she dictated.

...

It never moved or did anything. No matter what she did, nothing happened. A frustrated groan escaped her lips and she slapped the water. When she had touched her hand previously, she saw Yzaide's flinging water at people. Water under pressure could be disastrous. Those destroyed pillars at the entrance of the manor could certainly attest to that. Yzaide could make water do anything she wanted. Why wasn't it obeying now?

Sighing, Miyabi dived in the water and resigned herself to finish bathing properly before investigating what new power -or lack of it- another time.

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Chapter 3: No time to waste

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Accepting her new reality with a bit of pessimism still at the back of her head, Yaling tried to order in her head what was supposed to happen and if possible, chronologically. Guoying would come and never go -that was by the start of the new year in about a month and three weeks approximatively for it was still November right now-. With relatively shaking fingers, she wrote it down in her textbook. And though she tried to concentrate, the only following things that pop into her mind were that following that arrival, she and her mother would be chased out some years later. And after that, she wouldn’t be able to find work due to Tu Yinjun’s influence and a nightmarish life would start for them both, mother and daughter pair. When they would be miserable enough to think that it couldn’t get any worse, her mother’s cancer would be discovered and-

The cancer!

Bolting down her bed, she yanked the door open, not bothering to put on her slippers or her shoes or changing out of her pajamas for that matter. She had to find her mother right now!

After she compromised and promised to go to school the next day, swearing that everything was alright with her –it took promising to let herself be seen by a doctor if she failed to honor the first promise-, Mei Ping had returned to her room to prepare herself for she was about to head out.

Yaling ran along the corridor, her bared feet making almost no sound against the carpeted floor. Barging in her mother’s room, she stilled, for Mei Ping was standing in the middle of the room, a velvet black trousers and a red bra that she just finished hooking on, facing three tops each accompanied by its matching long cardigan with belt sprawled on the bed, the choice, apparently having yet to be made.

Hearing the door, she turned around with a slight frown on her face. The servants knew better than to enter without knocking and her own daughter rarely came up here; still, it was Yaling.

The teenager tried to catch her breath and forced herself to finish the lasts steps separating her from her mother in steady motion, not forgetting to close the door behind her before advancing.

“Yes?” Mei Pring inquired seeing as her daughter walked closer only to stand motionless and wordless in front of her.

“I’m going to check something,"  answered the teenager with the expression of having made her mind. Yaling lifted her hands, took off Mei Ping’s bra, and tried massaging her left breast.

Her mother gasped, trying to extricate herself but the daughter struggled too. It was quite weird but apparently, the younger woman found nothing strange with what she was doing and even said, 

"It's important please, let me"

Seeing the seriousness on her daughter's face, Mei Ping was more than puzzled. Forget it, teenagers these days. If she wanted to compare her breasts with her mother, it was alright too. Saying such in her mind, Mei Ping lifted her hand to give her child access to her bosom. It was really... embarrassing. The older woman was flushed red. A discomfort that the younger one didn't share for her face was completely blank.

Yaling was trying to remember how to do it. A home check. Actually, it was supposed to be done by the person herself but that would be quite hard in this situation. Mentally dividing each breast in quater she palpated them carefully and lifted her face to see her mother's expression. The other had turned around, her cheeks flushed red, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Are you finished now?"

Yaling couldn’t feel any rigidity. She frowned.

“Does it hurt?” 

“Why would it?” answered the mother with a question of her own, finally turning to her child. "Do your breasts hurt? We should immediately go to-"

But the teenager was already shaking her head. 

“No... I... I just thought… that you hurt yourself.”

Was it too early to detect? At that time when the doctor told them about it, she was twenty-five. So, eight years from now.

“What exactly are you doing?” asked the puzzled Mei Ping while putting back on her bra.

“... It sounded like you fell... and I... It doesn't matter anymore..."

"Really?"

Since her daughter refused to talk, Mei Ping could only let it slid and turned to her bed, finally settling on the white clothes and put them on. Yaling looked at her while she was changing, her eyes still on her mother's breasts, the frown still on her face.

"Mom," she suddenly said, the moment Mei Ping was done, "about the hospital, I changed my mind. Take me there."

Mei Ping gave her a side glance, while opening her drawer, "you sound fine to me now. Are you sure it's not actually in school that there is something wrong? You know if someone is-"

Yaling appeared beside her, touching the bag her mother was checking,

"I really want to go to the hospital, mom."

Seeing the rare determination in her child's eyes, Mei Ping sighed,

“Fine," she conceded, "Just let me tell the girls I won’t be with them today. Go take a bath and let’s meet downstairs.” Shooed her mother.

Yaling had a wry smile at those words but still said nothing and slowly exited the room to give her mother the privacy to make her call. Her mother's group of friends, at this very moment, she couldn't say that she was fond of them. None of these women lifted a hand for them. Considering who Yaling offended, that was alright. What she couldn't accept, however, was that some cursed at them and made things more difficult.

The temperature was getting lower. Yaling thus wore warmly, an aquamarine skinny rib jumper with roll neck accompanied with black jeans. Though she had always preferred heels, she went for flat shoes, mindful of the last time she was in a hospital, the newly swept floor let her slipped and hurt herself badly. But this maybe, had yet to happen in this timeline.

***

The chauffeur took them to the hospital, not the closest from home but the one Mei Ping managed to have a reservation in one hour and thirty minutes from the moment. The charleston’s memorial. Yaling had wanted to do a full check and wouldn't settle for anything less and in the end, Mei Ping had complied.

In the car, they were sitting side by side but her mother was in a world of her own, completely  engrossed in her phone, Yaling couldn’t help but ask,

“Mom, have you ever thought about working?”

“What did you say?”

Mei Ping genuinely didn’t hear so she lift her head to give her daughter her whole attention,

“Working isn’t half bad, you could be at your own charges, and it would be your own money.”

Meu Ping chuckled a bit and lightly said,

“Our family already has money more than we can dream of spending. Why would I need to work? Don’t think about such boring and uninteresting things.”

Judging her words enough, she returned to typing her SMS and Yaling could only sigh internally, dropping the subject for now. She wasn’t really in the mood to try to convince the woman otherwise for she was way too anxious at this moment.

***

The Charleston’s memorial was a university hospital. Though Yaling's memories of it weren't pleasant, it couldn't be changed that it was one of the best hospitals around here. Closing her eyes, Yaling could still hear the rude voices saying that they couldn't help them for their insurance cards weren't valid anymore. Opening her eyes and extricating herself from her night demons, Yaling let her sight roam around, looking left and right. They were currently sat in the waiting area with some other people and her mother was still on her phone. They were early by one quarter-hour after all.

No matter how close she looked, be it the receptionists, the passing workers, or even the janitors, Yaling couldn’t really see the faces of the people she was supposed to meet ten years from now. Those were all strangers, none she could pinpoint or remember. Maybe those people had yet to come?

As she thought along these lines, a familiar voice came to her ears. Searching for its origin with her eyes, she saw the scene of a middle-aged man cursing at a young woman. The woman looked in her twenties and had her head bowed as the other kept on venting on her with harsh words that were drawing more and more attention. Having said his piece, he turned to the onlookers and shouted, asking if he was their tv, before turning around in a huff and going away, his silhouette disappearing in the turning of a corridor.

The woman had her shoulders trembling and took a run in another direction. Looking at that familiar silhouette, Yaling couldn't help herself but get up and followed her, all the way to the toilets. 

Pushing the door, she could hear, coming from the middle of three stalls, the soft sounds of sniffing. Without seeing the person closer she really couldn't be sure but, while the woman was talking, she thought she heard Dr. Shao Dong's voice. 

Though the woman couldn't be called her friend, the latter was still not a foe. The doctor in her memories was the one who diagnosed Mei Ping's cancer previously and also the one who promised them that should they collect the money, she would help them secure an operation. Well, it wasn't her fault that the day of that operation never saw light.

Yaling softly knocked on the door. The sniffing stopped.

"Are you alright," she inquired. Silence responded. 

Though she wasn't sure she was talking to the one she had in mind, she still felt that it wouldn't be bad to console this person a little. She had spent so many days crying, hoping that someone would come and tell her that it was going to be alright. Even if it had been lies, she would have been ready to hear. But no one ever came for her.

“I don't know what happened but... it wasn't easy coming here right. They say medical fields are one of the hardest but you're still here today so keep doing your best and things will get better."

The person still kept quiet and Yaling thought that maybe what she wanted was really to be left alone. She resolved to do so after just some last words,

"Believe in yourself and with that determination that let you come here today, but sure to tackle every obstacle and you'll definitely become an amazing doctor some years from now.”

Not really having experience when it came to consoling people, she thought her own words not bad and left the quiet girl to her own privacy.

When the toilets' room opened and closed, Shao Dong softly turned the knob and looked at the door. Her tears had long stopped falling.

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YAT Chapter 2: Twin brother

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It was a vast bedroom the size of an apartment actually. The shining sun was blocked by thick blue curtains with flower patterns. The bed was a big one with curtains of its own that were lifted and showed a bed that wasn’t neat for the covers were all over the place as though someone just got up from them. Not far from that bed, at its left and leaned against the wall was a large yet closed wardrobe. On the other side of the room, there was a small table and two armchairs to accompany it. On the table, there was a set of teacups and sweets. The floor was decorated with soft tapestry making walking on them an agreeable experience and the ceiling had a five light chandelier in crystal. Everything in here seemed so expensive... from the bedsheets to the cups of tea...

However, that wasn’t what was Miyabi’s focus on the moment. Instead, it was the right side of the bed, where laid two cradles in which slept two babies who didn’t look older than some few months!

With slow and uncertain steps, she came closer to the cribs. Those babies were sleeping so peacefully and if she wasn’t in the actual situation she was in, she would certainly take the time to admire their cuteness... but for the moment, this was the last thing in her mind. For now, there was an intense fear that slowly crept in her being and was expanding with time.

Miyabi wasn’t really sure how she got here. Obviously, mere seconds before, the train she was on was derailing from its track… Instead of opening her eyes to a scene of scattered debris or possibly one of hellish gore with corpses -whole or mutilated- dispersed all around, she was actually met with two babies sleeping peacefully in their cradles. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself… At this moment, if she was still alive after that accident, she must be in a coma then and her brain for some reasons, created this installment… which would mean that her problem was serious if she was at the level of imagining such things… taking another deep breath, Miyabi thought she was willing to forget rationality for a little bit at this moment, if only for the sake of her own sanity... but she couldn't help herself and kept thinking...

It was just too bewildering as experience and disorientating. At the time, she felt like she had to touch the baby, to check if it was as real as it looked. The instant her fingers got in contact with one of the babies’ cheek, she saw this whole baby’s life in her mind or rather, she got an in-depth of a character from the game she was playing the moment before the train’s accident. A game for crying out loud! Shocked by the vivid visual, she hastily retracted her hand, staggered and almost fell.

What the hell!

She peaked at the other baby. If one was Meirin, then who was this other? He certainly looked identical to the one next to him, though it was said that babies tended to look the same sometimes and Miyabi couldn’t really say she was an expert in that field.

Shaking more from fright than bewilderment, she finally retracted her eyes from the small infant to gaze at the hand that just touched the baby. It was so white, fingers so lean and seemed so smooth. What was this delicate skin! Where was her tan! And the long fingernails were painted in black. Complete black! Definitely not her style! Looking closely, it finally dawned on her that she was wearing a long nightdress, a deep purple one which contrasted greatly with her pale skin. Her gaze followed all the way from her generous breast to her feet and she saw her toes moving at will, though she still couldn’t remember ever liking painting her finger toes’ nails black too. Curiosity required it and using one hand, she touched the other, more to feel the smoothness than anything, but a new set of information made its way to her brain. Those she believed, must be depicting Yzaide’s life in what should certainly be the game. And that was when she understood. If previously what she saw was really that baby’s life then the left baby was Meirin and following that logic, since she just touched herself then she was… Yzaide?

Her brain suddenly hurt. 

What kind of bizarre event was this?

She would somehow, rather not think about the logicality of it all and decided to ignore the question for now. It frightened her more than anything else thinking along that line so she was more comfortable with conveniently not caring for the time being. So, for the moment, her brain supplement that she was in a roleplay and her character was Yzaide.

A vain, arrogant and haughty person! Though the woman too, seemed to have her own story to tell but truth be told, it was nothing pitiful enough to warrant her becoming that sorry figure of mother she had been or even that sorry state of human she represented.

Was she really going to interpret such a character? An abusive mother?

Even if she wished to block it, the reality seemed to weigh too much and Miyabi’s shaking knees finally gave away and she found herself falling on the carpeted floor. It was painful… yet the scenery stayed the same. The same grand room, the same furniture, the same two cribs, thick curtains which hadn’t been correctly closed for a ray of light illuminated the room… It seemed real… so real. Collecting her strength, she pushed herself to get up and looked through the windows… She was on the second floor of a manor… The sun shone high in the sky and all around, it was a forest. Some people were out there with servants clothing or a sort of uniform, those with tunics and saber at their waist… guards? Slightly familiar, it really seemed like the uniform of the guards following the heroine around towns in the game. The guards of the Mitch family.

No kidding, she was really in a game? And from all the games she could enter, it had to be this one? She was at lost and had no words to describe what she felt… As if the matter of transmigrating inside a game wasn’t terrible enough, she had to be a mother! And such a terrible mother too! Must be the worst of all the game! In a vain attempt to humor herself, Miyabi thought it pretty good that she didn’t arrive at the moment when she was giving birth. How painful would that be?

She closed her eyes and inhaled then softly exhaled, clenching and unclenching her fist to soothe herself. It was going to be alright, she started comforting herself. She absolutely wasn't going crazy.

Making up her mind, she reported her attention to the two sleeping babies. They sure were cute, one had to give them that but was it strange that they were actually scaring the hell out of her by just being here? Shaking away such thoughts, she closed her eyes and tried some more breathing exercises, less would it if she succumbed to panic attacks. Once calmed, she opened her eyes again to face the infants.

She had already touched the one at her left who was Meirin. If she hadn’t touched her own hand, thus known Yzaide’s life, Miyabi would have at first thought that this other baby was Andrea but then again it couldn’t have been for this manor was isolated in the forest -obviously more like a place to hide a dirty secret than a loving daughter that the heroine was- and anyway there was no way that Baron Mitch would have let his beloved daughter with her stepmother rather than her biological mother. Either way, there was no need for guessing game time. Although this baby didn’t appear in the settlement of the game, from what Miyabi just saw of Yzaide’s life, this one was actually Meirin’s twin brother, Hendricksen.

This baby just reinforced the idea that Yzaide really was the worst mother in the universe and he was also the justification of Meirin’s fear of her mother. The reason why the poor girl was so scared of her mother’s threat was that she, after all, saw that woman abandoned her brother with her own two eyes. The child, at the age of four when it happened, just had the misfortune of being unable to sense mana. He was repeating how scared he was and unwilling to be tested. Prior to that, he was already a child who liked talking to himself and acted strangely so his sanity was already doubted. In the end, the test had been forced upon him and the result came that he had no potential whatsoever. Feeling shamed and angered by this boy, the mother who had no use of such a child send him to her maternal family’s home where he was reported missing after just a week. No one searched for him. Later, he was deemed dead and an empty coffin had been buried in his name. None of the family members were even there for the funeral!

What a mess! They all deserved to be struck by lightning! The mother first! The father should follow, and that maternal family certainly shouldn't be forgotten!

Sighing softly, Miyabi reached out and touched the baby’s cheek, wondering what really happened to him.

She softly poked again and again and after a moment she frowned. Nothing happened this time. Why was that? Touching Meirin previously, she had seen her whole life even what was not mentioned in the game. Touching herself it was the same result. Why was it different with this little one? Or maybe she sould asked herself, what was it that was identical between Meirin and Yzaide for it to have worked? Being from the same family didn’t count since Hendricksen too was family. Was it being a girl? If so, then there was nothing to be done. Or was it that they were featured in the game?

There were really too many possibilities if one started to think about it.

Miyabi touched Meirin’s cheek again… But this time nothing happened. For the time being, she could only helplessly concluded that it worked only the first time.

As her hand was still on the baby’s cheek, suddenly, that one started to tear up and wailed from her sleep; prompting the other to follow suit. Oh dear!

Soon it was a cacophony and the angry babies didn't seem anywhere near done crying. What kind of bad luck was this?

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