Abnormal Standards (3)

"Did you think a hunger strike would work?" Alex scoffed.

Unfortunately, I was sent to the family tutors the next day. Joanna and William didn't care if I ate during mealtime anymore. Instead, I felt tiny remains of food on my tongue when I woke, showing they fed me while I slept. I was surprised by the large patience they possessed. My dark overlord act was completely ignored, only Luke generous enough to go along with it. I desperately needed a new plan as I was raising my head from digging into my workbook.

"How much do you get paid to teach us?" I faced my tutor.

"Enough money to continue teaching a student like you," my tutor despised me.

"Are you a trillionaire?" I wondered.

"If I was, I would immediately quit this job. Let's continue this chapter," she urged me.

Another bright idea entered my head. If I gave my tutors an item worth a trillion Aris, they would resign from their positions. With no tutors in the house, there would be no one to teach me anymore. Unlike school, Joanna pushed Luke and Alex to progress further in their studies instead of tutoring me. I was always impressed by their tutors managing to simultaneously teach different subject levels, nearly splitting the room into two. When I sneaked a peek at Luke's workbook, it was terrifyingly difficult to the point I suspected it wasn't high school level anymore.

Unexpectedly, Alex struggled to match Luke's level, eventually receiving easier workbooks than him. I could tell Alex began to greatly fear Joanna, more than his own mother. He went silent during mealtime, trying to pretend he didn't exist. And whenever he was within a five-meter radius in Joanna's line of sight, he instantly plastered on a better version of himself. I wasn't surprised when I overheard him mumbling, "auntie is the strictest person in our family."

When my tutor was about to switch places, I ran out to the room to catch her, yelling, "I have some questions regarding the previous chapter."

Both Luke and Alex were surprised, knowing I nearly never asked questions. Usually, my brain was too dead to listen to the content. Thankfully, they left me alone, not suspecting anything as I stopped the tutor. Similar to his parents, Luke loved it when I showed the tiniest interest in studying. I dragged the tutor to a less noticeable spot, avoiding the windows.

"Here are a few elixirs worth a trillion Aris each," I pulled them out of my inventory.

"You want me to quit my job," she instantly guessed.

"You hate me, and I hate you. This would mutually benefit both of us," I urged her to take them.

"I'm quitting this terrible job today," she laughed.

I silently cheered inside my heart as she took the bribe. In fact, it wasn't hard to have my tutors quit after chasing them when class ended. I was surprised by how much I underestimated their hatred towards me. Meanwhile, Luke and Alex had no clue going on, falling for the fake notes the tutors provided me as a cover.

"I always thought you were a demon unlike your angelic appearance. I had no choice but to teach you, the salary here was the highest out of all the other houses," my last tutor cried.

"You won't ever have to teach me again," I tried to console him.

"I'm never coming to the Roselia family again. None of the benefits are worth it. I'm rich now," he was liberated.

"Can you spread the word to the rest of your connections?" I clasped my hands.

"Everyone already knows to avoid this house if not for the money. You're famous among us," he revealed.

"Money doesn't equate to happiness," I pointed out.

"It doesn't. In exchange for the elixirs, I'll spread more rumors to prevent more of us getting victimized by you. Isn't that what you want?" He offered.

"It is, I wish you good luck on the rest of your ventures," I brightly greeted him farewell.

I had to prevent myself from happily skipping into the dining room for dinner, the last event of the day before my free time arrived. Immediately switching to cautiously sitting on my chair when Joanna seemed close to exploding. She dazzlingly smiled, waiting for everyone to settle in. The atmosphere was very tense, unlike the freezing atmosphere the previous day. I was more adamant in staying ignorant when even William shifted further away from her.

"Rika, can you explain why all your tutors resigned today?" Joanna targeted me.

"I don't know. Maybe because they couldn't tolerate me anymore?" I pretended to guess.

"Luke? Alex?" She turned to them.

"The only thing unusual was Rika asking the tutors about the content," Luke fell for my cover.

"Everything else was the same," Alex agreed.

"It's obvious they gave up on me when I struggled to understand anything," I added.

"All her tutors resigned?" William was surprised.

"They gave me their resignation letters a few minutes ago," Joanna was furious.

"What about the penalties? Can we fully employ our backups?" He suggested.

"They don't care about the penalties and our backups terminated their contracts. None of them are willing to give any references and I tried to contact others and got no response back," she was frustrated.

These former tutors were really working hard to pay me back for the elixirs. Why didn't I think of doing this earlier?

"At best, they're only willing to teach Luke and Alex in exchange for removing the penalties," Joanna angrily revealed.

The penalties must have been huge. I was sure none of my former tutors wanted to return to this place again. A few days later, Joanna guiltily faced Luke.

"I'm sorry Luke. I'm tripling your schedule starting from tomorrow. I already made the arrangements with your tutors to add more classes and increase the duration."

Luke stopped eating and nearly dropped his utensils. It was obvious Joanna was close to giving up on shaping me as her successor, leading my plan to be somewhat successful. She shifted more of my burden towards Luke, the talented one. I silently cheered inside my heart, happily eating more than usual. Until she angrily turned to me, "I have no choice but to tutor you myself while taking turns with your father."

"Aren't you busy?" I wondered.

"I am and you will see your previous tutors as generous. I am not as tolerant as them. For most of the remaining subjects, Luke will teach you. The reason why I have tripled his schedule. In addition to calling Lucius and Belle to help," Joanna elegantly cut her steak.

This was bad. In some ways, Luke was stricter than his family's tutors. There was no way Luke wouldn't hold a grudge against me. He disliked his schedule to the point he avoided visiting his parents when possible. When I took a glance at his face, he was absolutely devastated when reading his new schedule. It was inhumane, only living to study. Meanwhile, Alex couldn't comfort him, almost crumbling as he found himself in a similar situation. Unfortunately, Joanna dragged him along for the ride, managing to get Juliana's approval.

I shuddered as I had underestimated Joanna and William. My head nearly hanging as I listened to their discussion. I was really close to confessing I bribed the tutors into quitting but decided to see how the first day went. The next morning, Luke was really angry at me, and didn't shake me awake like usual. Instead, I woke from crashing onto the floor, soon rolling underneath the bed. My eyes went large when he pulled out his long sword, using the end of its handle to poke me towards him.

"What do you want?" I groaned.

"How did you make the tutors quit?" Luke slid his sword further inside.

"I didn't do anything. They really gave up on me on their own," I stayed ignorant.

I was surprised when Luke eventually resorted to using a spell to forcibly drag me towards him. His patience was hanging by a thread more than before, coldly watching me get prepared for the day. It wasn't like I could blame him. His new schedule became effective after he ate dinner yesterday. I slightly felt guilty as his face was slimmer, some weight lost in his arms and legs. If I was him, I would kill Rika while she slept.

"I'm sorry," I blurted.

"It's already done. Nothing can be changed anymore," he sadly knew.

"I can give you a break. You can pretend to teach me," I offered.

"I need you to catch up soon. Our points depend on it," he refused.

At least I gave Luke the choice. Maybe he was desperate to avoid the shack or asking my friends to take us in like Alex. He pushed me harder towards the dining room, nearly tripping me. I was sure he was getting his revenge through these subtle ways. Both Joanna and William were surprised by Luke, harshly stuffing a nonstop number of spoons into my mouth. Intensely glaring at me, pressuring me to unconsciously swallow.

I had to tread carefully with this family. Silently following William to his stuffy office where the time-space feature somehow broke its limit to skyrocket higher to slow time. Instead of a couch, the space was replaced by a proper chair and the coffee table with a high desk. I gulped as I waited for him to start, watching him open a thick workbook. Looking down at the content, it was slightly harder than what the tutors gave me.

"Unlike the tutors, I'm letting you go after you finish the allocated section. I'm not doing it by time," William tapped the workbook.

Unexpectedly, my head instantly went blank, unable to function from predicting the rest of my day. It made sense I would collapse onto the floor the next second, my vision flickering in and out. I gazed at William's face in between, discovering his eyes slightly widening from my reaction. Was I supposed to be glad this body was weak to shock? My world faded into black as I lost my vision, only able to hear my surroundings.

"I don't think she can handle this schedule," William called Joanna.

"What happened?" Joanna was annoyed.

"She fainted. It's not due to her bad eating habits, she ate more than normal for breakfast," he explained.

"Wake her, continue until she dies," she urged him.

"I can't have her be more behind. We can't have her dragging Luke down," Joanna justified her thoughts.

I finally found a person worse than Allison. Joanna was officially the cruelest person among the people Rika knew. William hesitantly attempted to shake me awake, not knowing only my eyes weren't working. Eventually, my vision suddenly returned to me when he used precious heal. Wiliam surprisingly whispered to me, "I'll decrease the number of chapters you have to complete by more than half. Make sure to keep this hidden from your mother."

"What about the other people?" I wondered.

"They're under your mother's control," he feared Joanna.

Unfortunately, the real head of the Roselia family in the generation before me seemed to be Joanna. As William seemed powerless under her.