The man smiled back at the charming, tiny girl and bent down beside her, “Are you lost?”

That question stomped her…As…She wasn’t lost…But, if she said that…

When he saw the little girl blink several times and put her head to the side, he lightly laughed, “I’ll take you back home.”

In a swift moment, Sahara was already picked up and was in his embrace. “You’re lucky that I’m the one that found you. Otherwise…”

Looking at the man, Sahara was honestly glad too!

This guy is pretty cool! Besides having great books, he seems really sweet.

“Big brother…” Her voice was cracked and weak. She assumed it was because she’s rarely used it.

The man laughed and pinched her cheeks, “You’re adorable. What is your name?”

As she was lost in her thoughts, the man suddenly stopped and looked at her in astonishment. “You…”

His voice held such surprise, so Sahara looked at him quizzically.

His stare and silence, started to make her feel uncomfortable…

“Tell me, girl. How is it that you’ve opened your meridians?”

Oh…So, it seems I can’t conceal it…Shame.

With Sahara’s silence, the man asked her name again, remembering that her age was still very young. Very, very young!

Shaking her head, Sahara answered simply, “No name.”

It was no lie! In her eyes, ‘Thirteenth young miss’ was not a name!

“Family?” He asked.

Sahara put her head down.

What family! Seen ‘mother’ once and was dragged out by a boy that’s presumably my brother!

“Father? Who’s your father?”

Yours, well, that’s if my suspicions are correct…

But Sahara wondered how to answer this question with her mouth, and decided upon saying, “Never seen.”

Sahara was young, only about two. She shouldn’t know many words, so she wasn’t surprised when he accepted her answers easily. Honestly, in her past life, she wasn’t much of a talker, so this was all pretty normal for her anyway…And she wasn’t about to start becoming a chatter box now!

Unwavering, Sahara continued to stare back at his stunned face.

“Mother?”

Sahara put a small, toddler finger up, “One time.”

The man couldn’t believe it.

For someone so small and to have already started to cultivate, she should be from a big, well-off family! But this little girl must be a wandering slave!

The second young master felt like he’d found a miracle! Especially since slaves didn’t have the means to really start cultivating in the first place…Without the know-how, how was someone supposed to learn? Yet, this little one…

“Are you willing to become my child then?” He asked, very seriously and without thinking too much about it. He couldn’t let this little one go!

Blinking…Sahara stared dumbfounded at him.

Uh? …I…Uh?

She was in quite a strange predicament!

“Who you?” She asked, now really wondering upon who he really was.

The man smiled at her, quite openly, “I am Talon, the second son of the Right Minister of the Emperor.”

Ah! So, he’s my elder brother! But not eldest...And my father is…The Right Minister. Or did I already know that and just forgot?

“Are you willing, young one, to have me as your father?”

Sahara couldn’t help letting out some strange noise that made him narrow his eyes.

How…Strange! Is this really happening? …Pfft…What do I do!? Whatever I do, I must not laugh! But…It’s so extremely funny!

Talon was sure that this child understood, but what was that sound supposed to imply?

Stomach growling noises fazed them both back and out of their own thoughts.

“Come, from now on you are my daughter, And I’ll take care of you!” Talon smiled, as he started to walk again towards his own residence.

Sahara knew keeping quiet was a smart move…But she so desperately wanted to share the fact that they shared the same father!

Her curiosity was indeed a flaw, almost making her do it, just to see what his reaction would be! But…Sahara stilled her mind and laughed hysterically inside of her head instead. How could she pass up on this opportunity just because of curiosity!?

That’s right, Sahara could see way too many benefits from just letting this man take her away! And, not even to her knowledge but she will never be found out to have had a family or where she came from when her ‘new’ father tried to find out either…Simply because she had come out of nowhere! There was no slave contract for a childless mother, nor one for a child at her age or assumed time of her birth. The little slave that could cultivate at two was a miracle that showed her face to Talon like fate!

I must remember that from now on my ‘stupid father’ is now my ‘stupid grandfather’!

Finding resolve to her secret, Sahara was then led to her ‘new’ father’s ‘house’. A newer version of Sahara started here. She had…Finished the first area, like in a multiplayer game, and was making her way up in the world!

​

Talon had a daughter already, she was close to Sahara’s age, but older. Her name was Gabriella, and she might not have said anything upon her arrival, but to Sahara it seemed obvious that Gabriella found her to be an intruder.

Talon also had a son that looked about five years old, his name was Samuel and he seemed to resemble his father a lot. Both father and son had the same goofy, happy and honest smiles on their faces, so, Sahara couldn’t help but smile back at them, in which made them even happier. Actually, it was like infectious to Sahara. Are you one of those people too that smile if someone else is? They were complete idiots, sometimes losers, but they smiled so happily that still made her smile too…I guess she just got used to them pretty fast…

What a strange situation, where my ‘stupid grandfather’ hadn’t even seen me once, yet his own flesh and blood son and grandson seemed absolutely satisfied just to see me smile within just a couple of hours of bringing me to their ‘house’…

With what was happening, Sahara realized that she will be meeting with the old man soon…

Talon’s wife, Celeste, seemed pleasantly sweet and happy, accepting Sahara openly, yet at the same time…Not. Sahara could already see the daughter was much more a like to her mother…They seemed to have two faces. They acted well behaved and all in front of Talon, yet Sahara already had seen a certain aggressive face from both of them when Talon wasn’t looking!

…Would it have been better to just stay in the Kitchen?

She never used to like books or shows that held hatred ‘just because they were the main character’. It was so utterly obvious that the author just wanted to add in drama, and it made no sense to her whatsoever!

Sahara wasn’t used to obvious dislike either…

Not going out much, having minimal friends, Sahara couldn’t, for the life of her, find any legitimate reason upon why her new ‘mother’ and ‘sister’ would look at her like this!

Was it because she might take away attention from them? Where they really that superficial or shallow?

It sucked that just hours after meeting two people, Sahara was put on edge…She knew already that she might have to endure through something that a ‘main character’ might have had to in a show or book…It was already annoying just thinking about it!

Even though things could turn out to be for the better, Sahara did have her worries. She was not one that liked confrontation. She didn’t like fighting…

Nonetheless, what was done was done!

With her new family, her father agreed to give her the name of Sahara, letting her choose it. Honestly, Sahara thought of changing her name. Something heroic, like Xena. What about something she’d always liked, like…Penelope!?

But what was a name? Was it so bad if she just kept her previous name, I mean, it was a name that she was already so used to being called! If she had been named when she was reborn, she might have gotten used to it by now, but she had not been called anything, at least to her acknowledgement…

So, now with a real name, even though it was her old name, Sahara was finally in a place where she could have normal food and her own roof over her head. It was most definitely a big change from how she used to handle her personal deeds and how she would clean herself! Now she could go to the latrine…For the first time that she went to the toilet here on this new planet and…Was not really feeling too much different…

The ‘toilets’ were different here…They still had their own space, for obvious reasons, but it was a lot more dirtier, like those toilets at national parks where your pee falls into a pit!

And well, a bath! I mean, water surrendering nearly her whole body since…Well since birth! Can you imagine!?

It was absolutely beautiful. So good that Sahara let out a loud sigh! And that’s just looking at it! Getting in and washing herself, she had this funny smiling face on her that literally hurt when she stopped!

So…Indeed…She already preferred this way of obtaining shelter, being clean and substance!

Being on her own and stealing everything, seemed to be much harder and took a hell of a lot more effort!

The lazy side of Sahara was sighing in relief, and she realized that she should remember to think before she acted now. She can’t just go wandering off and stealing anymore. If she showed bad behavior, they’d probably do as they did before and be rid of her…

Wasn’t it sad though, that Sahara was worried? To have been abandoned once before and to worry it’ll happen once again, when she had not done anything wrong? She hadn’t asked to be conceived, she also hadn’t asked to be the female gender. She was born when she was ready, not even knowing about days and what not…So, didn’t they owe her something? Or where they waiting for her to show them a reason to keep her?

…Sahara’s line of thinking was indeed…Sad…

So, even though it was a strange situation, Sahara was going to make the most of it!

Funnily enough, she was accepted openly by not just Talon’s immediate family, but by her ‘stupid grandfather’ as well! For the life of her, she had been nervous, anxious and filled with anxiety because she knew just a few words from this ‘man of the house’ would put her back to square one once again!

But, to her astonishment he was the opposite on what she thought he’d be!

Sahara had forgotten about people like this person, who only cared for what could bring him or his family fortune. Even though Talon had brought up her cultivation, Sahara forgot that it was something ‘good’ for her. That she showed that she understood also meant she had great potential, which only meant good things for her and her future.

I went through hell to get here, and you only want me because I can cultivate?

Sahara couldn’t help but be sad and angry. Why hadn’t he given her a chance in the first place?

Her heart had already hardened but now it only hardened more because of the reason behind her new ‘grandfather’s’ reasoning to ‘keeping’ her…

Sahara met him for the first time the day after Talon found her and she couldn’t help being rather astonished by his happiness.

“You are still so young, and yet you have started to cultivate! How fortunate!”

He seemed to show his age, not like many books, manga or anime where elders stayed beautiful. He looked like he had worked hard and had experiences behind his eyes.

Looking at both her real father, and her new father, Sahara saw the similarity between them. They both had the same circular face with brown hair and brown eyes. Fancy that hey, Sahara had the exact same type of features, and they had no idea that she was biological related to them…

To her preference, Sahara preferred Talon as her father anyway, with his age. Having a 45-year-old as her father, wasn’t something normal for her at all!

Hell, a father having thirteen kids wasn’t normal for me either! Men must have been a lot hornier in the olden days! Oh wait! That’s right, there’s also better contraception on Earth…Yeah…

Now, seeing this person and hearing his words, reminded Sahara of one thing that hadn’t changed from the books that she used to read. That was the obvious greed in his eyes. Even though he was lightly touching her head in a gentle manner, she could already see him want to calculate her future as a pawn…

Being only two and a half, in earth years, Sahara was easily picked up and put onto the old man’s lap.

The ‘stupid grandfather’ laughed at her shocked face and said, “She is indeed remarkable! She even knows to be wary of this man! Very well, she will become your second daughter! I approve! Talon, you must let her continue her cultivation and treat her well! Prepare her papers and then we will celebrate her joining the family in one month.”

“I will do as asked father and will treat her very well. I already consider her to be my child.”

The ‘stupid grandfather’ laughed happily again and pinched Sahara’s cheeks. “What a treasure to have found!”

…You’re an idiot! If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have even been conceived…Then you lost me! Idiot! No, you’re more than that, you’re a fuckin bastard! Humph, just you try and butter me up and think that I’ll ‘think’ of you when I get famous!

***