Episode 73 - Bound Reality 5 “ Normal functioning humans “

After Euria snacked a second time to replenish her energy, they headed out back to the streets to go shopping! This carefree stroll was possible because of the many hidden guards secretly protecting the 8. The guards were lying in wait from everywhere, watching every action of the people walking past the people they had to protect.

With a suggestion by Moniqua, everyone went to get their summer clothes tailored to them. Various dresses and suits were given to the 8 to try on so that they could customize the clothes accordingly.

Because the younger ones are now 3, Eugene and Euria will be beginning their training as a Paladin as well as a family member of the Veria family. Currently, they are trying out many training gear and outfits. Looking for the most comfortable and practical ones of the bunch, but because they were essentially female, this task was a bit difficult.

With no choice, Eugene pointed to the most comfortable and stretchy fabric they had before drawing out the modern training gears from her former world for the workers to make. Jogging pants, leggings, short-sleeved shirts, shorts, long sleeves, everything she could think of she drew and explained. After getting a hesitant okay from the designers she finally stopped explaining.

In regards to Eugene’s enthusiasm for training, the grandmother frowned. Eugene and Euria training to become knights was something she didn’t approve of. She disliked it when Moniqua used to sneak out to train in secret, and when Moniqua chose Levis as her partner for life. Why? Because the Veria family was known as a prominent martial arts household.

She was a conservative, just like the other older generations nobles in Xenperia. For her, women should stay at home and have the 4 virtues of a wife. For this reason, she came to the Veria household to prevent her granddaughters from training and had a deep conversation with her daughter and her son in law in regards to this matter. But seeing Eugene actively talk for the first time to the employee, she couldn’t help but have an ominous feeling…

After finishing up selecting clothes for summer, they were told that everything would arrive within tomorrow except for the children training clothes that might take up to a week to make because of the new design and mass order from Eugene.

Parting ways after clothes shopping, Moniqua’s mother, Aeselak, and a reluctant Euria who did not want to part ways with her sister went to go shop for Jewelry and accessories. Ramon and Aernest went to buy swords and training equipment while Eugene, Louis, and Aedelak went to go shop for books.

Upon entering a new bookstore that had just recently opened, Eugene's nose was penetrated by the intense smell of books. ‘Isn’t this supposed to be new?’ She wondered, her sights set on a huge museum-like book store. The interior design although not luxurious looking to people of this world, would be a national treasure in her former world. This store was too massive and used wood instead of marble, going against the trend of this world.

“Eldest miss, where will you head to first?” Aedelak's voice spoke from behind Eugene. “Hmm..” Eugene thought, before turning to Louis. “Any recommendations?” She asked.

Without looking at Eugene, Louis replied, “You should go to the romance section or maybe the ethics section.” He stepped forward and paused, “You should learn from these books to function as a normal human being don’t you think?” Ending his sarcastic remarks he naturally walked over to the Knights and war section of the bookstore with the help of a book-store guide.

“.......” Shouldn’t have asked. Eugene stared at Louis back.

Another bookstore guide who came to greet them wanted to follow Louis' advice and wanted to bring Eugene and Aedelak to the Romance section but because of Aedelak’s glare, he shut still.

Walking towards Louis, she too went over to the Knights and War section. Standing beside him, she saw him slightly raise his eyebrows in question. To this Eugene sarcastically replied to his early taunt. “Everyone knows that we aren’t normal functioning humans who follow the ethics and morals of a human being, so naturally that’s not a place I should be at.” Eugene raised her head towards him, “But, I’d also like to recommend Romance and ethics to you as well seeing that you’re less of a human than me.” Eugene shrugged and walked away.

“.....” Louis watched as Eugene and Aedelak walked away from him before shaking his head and returning his focus on the book he was holding.

‘World war 1’, ‘World war 2’, ‘The Xenperian tactics’. Walking past books she recognized from the Veria library, she skimmed through many titles, ignoring ones that looked uninteresting.

After a few seconds of walking, she ended up at a small section that says Military and War. Now, this was something that piqued her interest simply because these books did not exist in the Veria library. Towards rare things, she was curious! Not to mention, Aedelak and Aeselak were training under Duke Rodriguez who was a general of the Military might.

Already a book caught her eyes, ‘Military guns’. She knew that guns are banned in Xenperia and that even the Emperor couldn’t use such weapons. So she would think that this book, in general, would be banned from the public but it was not.

Curious, she opened the book.

She as an actress has wielded and practiced hand-held guns for many acting gigs before so seeing this book made her slightly curious as to how guns in this world would compare to the other world but on the first page, she frowned.

‘This..’ She paused. ‘Isn’t this too old fashioned?!’ In shock, she stared at the gun model on the first page. Instead of metal, this world used bamboo! Gulping at the sight of a string hanging down from the bamboo gun, she closed the book.

‘That was a wick needed to be lighted so that the gun could work!’ She blinked her tired eyes and put the book back in place.

‘This world is too old fashioned…’

Deeply exhaling, her eyes caught sight on a book called the binding promise of United West Liasel. United West Liasel was something she heard a bit about. It was the first successful continent to be united and also the most powerful!

Without thinking, she grabbed the book and handed it to the bookstore guide boy to buy. The book besides ‘The blinding promise of United West Liasel’ were two red-colored books with the title of Occul Island and The Art of Magic. Although the last one sounded a bit cliche, because it was in the military genre she handed it to the bookstore guide.

“Oh! This isn’t supposed to be here…” The bookstore guide mumbled.

‘It’s not supposed to be here? Should I put it back?’ Eugene hesitated before her eyes caught sight on another very ‘intriguing’ book!

‘The Art of Torture, Military edition’ How very interesting!! Without much thought, Eugene quickly grabbed the book and handed it to the guide boy once again. Seeing the title of the book, the guide stopped breathing for a full one minute. Sealing his lips tight together from the book’s title.

‘... Am I too psycho?’ She thought, glancing at the guide from the corner of her eyes. With Louis' words repeating in her mind about ethics, she quietly paused for a bit before telling the guide to guide them to the Ethics section.

Upon reaching the ethics section, she regretted coming here for a bit. In the military section, there were only 10 books of which she took 4. At the ethics section… 2 whole 10 meter bookcases were filled with books about Morals and Ethics. It was honestly… scary.

“... Any… Any recommendations?” Eugene stuttered, speechlessly looking at the young guide.

“There are…” The guide boy began, “The guide to becoming a proper lady, A wise noble lady, How to become a woman, Things you mustn’t say, Be loyal to your husband, 8 Virtues of a wife.” Etc. Etc

Bombarded with woman this, woman that, Eugene couldn’t help but feel a bit nauseous. The book ‘Art of Torture’ suited her taste more than whatever the guide just listed out. Listening to the guide boy babbling on she heard an interesting title. ‘Don’t give your life to anyone!’ Wow… This might suit her taste. Nodding to that title, the guide found it in 5 seconds and brought it to her.

Satisfied with her 5 new books, she was about to walk away to pay when a sudden idea flashed into her mind. With her lips slightly tugging up, “Do you have any books about, ‘How a man should treat a Lady’, ‘Ethics of a proper gentleman’, or something amongst the line of ‘Why are you unpopular, Man Edition’? Or, ‘How to become human, Man edition?’” Eugene asked, slightly laughing inside her mind at the titles she just mentioned.

The guide listened to her listing out all these books and stared at her in confusion.

‘Not a single one?’ Eugene stopped her inner laugh and stared at the guide boy. To her surprise, it wasn’t that they didn’t have it, but it was that she got every single word of the title of every book right!

With a 25% discount, she paid for 9 books and left the bookstore with Louis and Aedelak.

On their way back home, Euria and Aernest bragged non-stop about all the things they got. From Euria’s side, she got cute accessories that related to animals. And from Aernest’s side, he got himself a sword and also a small gift for Eugene. Mentioning that it was something she had wanted for a long time now.

When everyone arrived home without any incidents or accidents were Moniqua and Levis were relieved. Naturally, when asked to show what they got, Eugene remained quiet. The Torture book she bought should be kept a secret, especially after the incident this morning. If a child had bought this in her former world, she reckoned that the child would immediately be sent to a mental psychiatric ward without further questions needed. As for this world, she might be kicked out and become homeless, which was not such a great idea as of this age.

To avoid Moniqua and Levis secretly going through her books she decided to expose what she got for Louis. “I got books for Louis.” To which everyone’s eyes widened in surprise! Ramon, Earnest, and Euria becoming jealous of the fact that only Louis got something. And the person everyone was jealous of remaining quiet.

When Eugene brought out “How a man should treat a Lady”, “Ethics of a proper gentleman”, “Why are you unpopular, Man Edition”, and “How to become human, Man edition” slowly one by one, Louis’ face naturally got darker bit by bit until they could no longer become darker. The 4 books on display with eye-catching titles made everyone quiet down.

It wasn’t only until a small chuckle from Euria, that everyone burst out laughing from Eugene’s choice of book!

Dying-laughing, Moniqua asked, “Do you have a grudge against your brother Eugeneia?” To which Eugene only shook her head. Remembering something Louis told her, her lips tugged up, “He seems pitiful.”

The exact words Louis said to her when he bought her the white surrender flag.

Because of Eugene’s gift for Louis, the atmosphere around the house tremendously improved, but it did not mean that Levis was going to let Eugene go. Asking for Eugene to come to his study when everyone went to bed, Eugene could already imagine what she was needed for.

Arriving at Levis’ study, she knocked before entering. The smell of fresh tea wafting her nose the moment she stepped into the room.

Surprised that only Levis was here, she slowly walked towards the resting area and sat down opposite of him, her feet dangling from the couch. Eugene watched as Levis slowly prepared two cups of tea. This was a very familiar sight, because after the big incident 2 and a half years ago, she too, like now sat opposite of Levis with her feet hung down from the couch, waiting for him to prepare tea.

“Jasmin tea is good for sleeping.” Levis smiled, handing Eugene her cup before leaning back on the couch. “Thank you,” Eugene replied, taking small sips of the tea.

The two were silent, with only the sound of the clock ticking resonating throughout the room. The smell of Jasmin tea infused with the smell of pungent ink indicated that Levis only just stopped working a few minutes ago.

Eugene had observed Levis for about 3 years now and knew that as the head of a big household, and as a close aide of the Emperor, he had more work to do than others. Naturally, Eugene knew that Levis had never slacked off when it comes to working which was why Eugene understood that Levis was a reliable person Xenperia heavily relies on. The only exception to when Levis would discard working was if there was an accident that involved Moniqua or his children, again, a reliable family man.

“Was it fun out today?” Levis’ deep voice woke her up from her thoughts.

Looking at his light grey eyes, Eugene calmly answered. “It was alright.” Fun was a word she didn’t relate to or never used. If she were to describe the outing today, alright would best fit. Just like if someone asked her, “Was the food good.”, “How was playing outside.”, she could only reply with “It was alright.”

“That’s good.” Levis replied, sipping on his tea, “Your Veria training, Paladin training as well as your studies will begin next week.” He continued.

To that Eugene only replied with a Yes. She knew because Aedelak had already begun to prepare for her schedules next week as well as reported this matter to her.

“... If you don’t want you don’t have to.” Levis sipped on his tea, his eyes pinned on Eugene’s reaction.

This sentence greatly surprised her. With 3 years of interacting with Levis, she came to a full understanding that Levis wasn’t one to go back on his words, nor was he one to look down upon her gender. If he had felt that a woman should only act a certain way, he wouldn’t have married Moniqua who had a bit of a tomboyish personality. This, according to the gossip, was one of the reasons why Levis fell in love with her.

Confused about his words, Eugene blurted out, “Why?” Her eyes met Levis’ eyes who, too, looked at her.

Eugene waited for Levis to reply with the sound of the clock ticking in the background.

“Do you remember what happened when you were young?”