Abnormal Standards (4)

"Why is your body so fragile?" Joanna was frustrated.

Fortunately, my body was stressed to the point I couldn't stop fainting. Joanna eventually ran out of mana, not able to continue using heal on me. Meanwhile, I was stuck with more nosebleeds whenever I was conscious. I was happy this weak vessel could barely handle anything, especially the extreme form of studying. I internally danced as she adjusted my schedule, removing more classes, almost shrinking more than the original plan.

"You could lower your expectations," I suggested.

"I told you I can't lower them further than this. I only want you to reach the same level as Luke when he graduated from kindergarten," she deliberated.

"My pathetic stamina probably can't compare to when Luke entered kindergarten," I pointed out.

"It's much weaker. I'm erasing your physically intensive lessons for the next eight years," she sighed.

Normally, I would be able to handle Joanna's horrible schedules, but I recently survived from cramming everything to graduate. In addition to my mind already burnt out under William, immediately pushed to his wife afterwards. My face was placed against the desk, gazing at Joanna disappointedly staring at the lack of progress. We have finished one chapter during the week inside this room. It was her fault when I told her multiple times I reached my limits.

"You're free. I'll cancel all your lessons and tell Lucius and Belle that they don't need to visit anymore. I'm sending you to the infirmary for the rest of the week. We can't do anything with your health at this stage," Joanna gave up on me.

"You should have done this earlier," I brightened.

"You don't need to eat with us nor follow the dress code anymore. We'll bring your meals to the infirmary and you can stay in your nightgown," she lowered her expectations.

"You're still tripling Luke's schedule, right?" I wanted my revenge.

"I have to increase the intensity for him. There's some empty space now where he was supposed to teach you," she was merciless.

"What about Alex?" I wondered.

"I can't push him as much as Luke. Alex is close to breaking down," Joanna noticed.

I nodded as I happily skipped to the infirmary after she let me go. A sudden rush of energy filled me, nearly playfully turning and walking backwards sometimes. Humming a sweet tune, I ended up bumping into Alex along the way. As I noticed his exhausted state, dark eye bags starting to form, I carefully began to walk around him, stiffening when he yelled at me, "apologize. We're suffering due to you."

"What do you mean?" I remained ignorant.

"I know you know," Alex narrowed his eyes.

"And why aren't you with auntie?" He noticed.

"I'm free for the rest of the week. Your aunt canceled all my lessons," I brightly smiled.

"What?" Alex nearly shouted.

"Your aunt is giving me time to recover," I bragged.

"You look perfectly fine," he complained.

"You talk to her," I shrugged.

Unexpectedly, Luke walked up the stairs to join us as I wondered if he was taking a break. It was odd, knowing Joanna wasn't the type to let any gaps exist in his schedule. Maybe I felt my revenge was too extreme. I gave him a heads up, "your mother is adding more classes to your timetable."

"I received a message to meet mother in her office," Luke wasn't surprised.

"You don't have to wake me every morning anymore," I tried to console him.

"I would rather wake you every morning than my schedule getting adjusted again," he tiredly revealed.

"All her lessons are canceled for the week," Alex was angry.

"Is this true?" Luke was stunned.

"You can ask for a break too," I nodded.

"You're spending your time inside the infirmary," he immediately guessed.

"I'm never leaving the infirmary," I evilly planned.

"Mother wouldn't do this unless you were close to dying," he sadly knew.

"But she looks perfectly fine!" Alex disagreed.

"Both mother and father used heal on Rika more than fifty times. Rika's body is overworked," Luke scanned me.

"You were that sick?" Alex was in disbelief.

"It did get worse after I ate some raw herbs from the fairy world," I recalled.

"Do our parents know?" Luke seriously studied me.

"They don't. They thought I was overworked. Micah told me if I ate those herbs, it would curb hunger and I really didn't feel like eating that day," I blurted under the pressure before sprinting.

Unfortunately, Luke sent a message to Joanna he would be late for their meeting. Soon dragging me to William's office after catching me within the first second. It was my mistake. I shouldn't have revealed anything. I gulped as Micah was summoned the next minute, the herbs I consumed laid out on William's desk.

"How much did you eat?" Micah sighed.

"Around six strands. They were chewy and good snacks," I found them particular.

"Most humans die within a week from consuming them raw. I told you to boil them first. You're very lucky we figured out within the first few days. You can still recover, but the quickest it will take you is a month," he revealed.

"You can go now," I happily gestured.

This meant Joanna would have to cancel my lessons for the rest of summer vacation. My luck was finally getting better.

"You eat anything we don't give you," William was disheartened.

***

Today was the last day of my vacation before Joanna would implement her horrible schedule for me again. I totally forgot she could slow time inside this room to make me recover faster. I sadly smiled as it felt really nice, not being forcibly woken in the mornings. Thankfully, none of Luke's family members visited me while I was fully awake. If not for feeling a bit odd when I was half-conscious, I would have felt truly liberated.

Someone was always lightly squeezing my hand or feeding me. A sweet song entered my ears, luring me back to sleep when I was close to becoming aware of my surroundings. I wanted to figure out their identity soon, curious about who was taking care of me. It was hard to believe someone in Luke's family would act loving, almost resembling my mom's warmth. I wondered what their motive was, what they had to gain from this.

On the other hand, I was practicing a new spell from boredom. It allowed me to have an out of a body experience, able to go through the walls to spy on people. Although I failed to implement the spell so far, it could be different today. Putting myself into a state of deep concentration, I entered a wide white space. Ripples formed inside my mind, thoroughly focused on drawing imaginary magical circles on the floor.

As the circles glowed to activate, I desperately hoped it would work this time. I gasped when I found myself staring at Rika, deeply sleeping on her bed. Like usual, her innocent young beauty made her appear precious. Someone you had to protect as if she was helpless on her own. I moved onto studying my new body, almost translucent, experimenting with going in and out of the thick walls. A smile merged on my face, having fun while flying around inside this room.

It didn't consume any mana, from doing many tricks like swimming in the air to maintaining a certain distance above the ground. This was the perfect timing to discover how the members of Luke's family usually spent their day without me in the factor. I began to fly to the room Luke and Alex were using, suffering under their family tutors. There was a lower possibility of getting caught, testing the reliability of this spell before visiting his parents.

But it was odd, finding Luke separated from Alex. I flew back and forth, discovering they were using different rooms as their respective tutor taught them. I decided to watch Alex first, slightly pitying him when he seemed like he was close to dying. His head was unstable, nodding sometimes, struggling to listen to anything. I flinched when his tutor began yelling at him, "Luke went through this the previous year. This means it is possible for you as well. Please focus."

"Luke isn't human," Alex sleepily mumbled.

"If Rika was here, you would yell at her instead," he missed my presence.

"You are almost reaching Rika's level. Cry and I will see no difference between you two," his tutor was harsh.

"Rika went through this before?" Alex was stunned.

"Her schedule was slightly more lenient than yours in the past," she exaggerated.

"Do you need Luke to scold you to properly pay attention as well?" She mocked him.

"I apologize, please repeat the past few sections," Alex instantly became more motivated.

Joanna was right, Alex was close to breaking down. Without me joining them, my former tutor who could have retired, brutally scolded Alex for nearly everything. She enjoyed searching for his faults, venting her accumulated stress on him. It was no wonder Alex became angry when I received a vacation while he was suffering. My mood improved as his eyes welled with tears, his voice almost cracking every time he answered his tutor.

How was Luke faring compared to him? I flew to the next room to discover his mentally was much stronger than Alex. Although Luke seemed extremely drained, he attentively listened to his tutor. My former tutor hid his surprise, pushing him further to see when he would break. It was obvious he wanted revenge on the Roselia family. He could have gone on a luxurious vacation if not for the penalties.

"Let's move onto the next section," his tutor decided.

"Is this a new topic or a continuation of the current one?" Luke wondered.

"A new topic," he began writing.

As Luke absorbed the material like a sponge, his tutor gave up on his revenge. He switched to praising Luke, "you're learning the last year of basic university level material. You should be proud of yourself."

"It's not enough. My parents want more from me. I have Rika with me," Luke stayed humble.

"Rika is smarter than you think," his tutor recalled my deal with him.

"Rika is only good at applying her current knowledge. Her weakness lies in studying," Luke sadly knew.

"Rika is a special case," he couldn't disagree.

Time quickly passed as Luke was eventually liberated for lunch. I followed him to the dining room, wondering what difference my lack of presence made. Surprisingly, the atmosphere was very stiff, more awkward with everyone quietly eating their meals. No one possessed the extra energy to speak, everyone clearly overworked. Until Joanna broke the silence, "I'm taking a one-year vacation a few years after you graduate from university. It's been approved by your grandparents."