V2Ch-59-Smarter Than She Looks

I quickly got myself cleaned up and changed into a new set of clothes before walking out of the bathroom.

The first thing I saw was Lou Xia sitting in the chair next to the table I placed on the side of the room. She was not doing much when I walked out of the bathroom, so she looked over at me the moment I appeared.

This action made me want to run away for some reason before I remembered that she said that Mom had already met her. I was immediately worried that Mom would do something again because of this, but the moment I went to say something, Lou Xia appeared beside me and grabbed my hand. I was confused by this for only a second as she then started pulling me towards the door.

When she did that, I was too confused and surprised by this action to give much resistance as I was pulled out the door and to the top of the stairs. I then got my bearings enough to try and resist, but that did not go very well as I was instantly pulled off my feet and collided with Lou Xia's back, causing both of us to tumble down the stairs.

When we both reached the ground, I had my back lying on the floor with Lou Xia propped above me and barely holding herself up by her arms, which were on both sides of my head.

I felt my cheeks heat up again at this position as I was staring up at the woman above me, but she did not stay there and was quickly on her feet once more.

Following her actions, I got up as well and dusted myself off while my brain chose this time to remember that I was only twelve years old at this moment, at least in the physical sense.

This poured enough cold water on my head to get me thinking straight for a moment as I walked towards the dining room. Lou Xia quickly started following me from behind.

Walking through the door of the dining room, the first thing that I noticed was that Mom was not there, and the table was already set. Yuki then walked in from the kitchen with a plate full of pancakes in her hand and said, "Ms. Raina will not be joining us today, and she asked for you to meet her in the library when you are finished with breakfast."

This was weird as Mom had made sure to always be here for breakfast and even made sure that I would show up as well.

Something about this was making me concerned, and I wanted to say something, but this was what Mom wanted, so I sat down at the table where I would usually sit and started having breakfast.

However, before I took the first bite, I asked Yuki, "Is Mom alright?"

When I asked this, I caught Lou Xia giving a slight scowl from the corner of my eye, but I was more concerned about Mom at this point, so I chose to deal with that later. Yuki did not seem to see that, however, and quickly responded, "Ms. Raina did not seem to be in the best of spirits today."

That took all of my attention away from Lou Xia as I quickly asked with some of my worry seeping into my voice, "Why is that?"

Yuki, who was sitting across from me, seemed to pause and contemplate on whether she should answer for a few seconds before saying, "Ms. Raina mentioned something about not treating you correctly and forcing you to do things against your will."

This confused me as I could not think of anything she did that was out of line except for a couple of things that I made very clear. I voiced my confusion and asked her, "What did she force me to do that I did not already deserve?"

I was expecting Yuki to answer this question, but Lou Xia instead nearly shouted from beside me, "Are you saying that Raina forcing herself upon you and touching your tail and ears like that was not wrong?!"

That was something that was unexpected and was also something that I found interesting as I remembered that Lou Xia said that she had met Mom last night.

I then chose to explain my stance on this to Lou Xia by asking, "Did I not almost put a round into the guy who tried to touch my tail in the mission hall?" That seemed to jog her memory a little, but I continued on saying, "Now, the first few times that Mom touched my tail probably deserve an apology, but I am fine with it now. Besides, every time she does it at this point is because I want her to. I would even let Yuki do it if I knew how good she was at making my tail fluffy and getting rid of all the knots."

Lou Xia flinched when I finished explaining and looked down at the table in front of us, but she quickly looked up again and asked, "What about the curse that she placed on you?"

That one was actually a good question, and I responded, "I would have liked it if she had asked me about it first, as it is fairly inconvenient for me at this point. Especially with how fast I am cultivating, I might not ever be able to reach the physical age of eighteen again. There is also the problem of some people not being able to take me seriously because of my apparent age. However, that does not mean I would have been entirely against it if she asked me after some time instead of just forcing it on me."

That seemed to not help her very much, but she still continued to ask, "What about all the supposed punishments she gave you?"

This question was easy for me to answer, and I quickly responded, "Every part of those I deserved as I did something stupid that would have warranted that in any other normal family. I also knew better than to do those things, but I did not care at that time, and my hand got bitten for it."

Lou Xia looked at the table again and gritted her teeth but did not say anything more. Since that was the case, I started eating the pancakes, which had started to get cold at this point. While I was doing that, I was able to put two and two together and figured out that Lou Xia must have said something to Mom, but now things were turning out poorly.

I quickly finished with the meal and rushed out of the house to the library to explain some things.

Lou Xia did not follow me this time as I charged for the library's door.

Opening it, I wanted to say something, but I was unable to as something collided with me and wrapped me in a tight hug.