Chapter 3 - Punch! First Meeting

Whack! "Ah?!" The girl who had just awakened punched the boy, hovering over her, in the face. She hit him so hard that she broke his nose and even her hand. The boy feeling hurt retreats from the bed in shock once standing at a safe distance. The pain begins to fade, his nose starts to blood lightly then more blood flows out in a matter of seconds. The boy feels a warm liquid running down from his nose and it had an iron-like taste. He wipes his nose to see that it is blood leaking out of his nose quickly he uses his sleeve to try to stop the bleeding while looking at the girl in confusion and pain. Seeing that the boy has moved far away from her, she immediately shoots up while checking her body to see that she is properly dressed and not taken advantage of. Only then does she take a look at her surroundings for an exit for her grand escape, however, the male though injured was still able to catch on to what she was planning

She just woke up in an unfamiliar environment, in such circumstances human logic flies out the window as the brain reacts to danger by activating its survival mode. These are the animalistic instincts that all living creatures have, even in humans, yes humans. Whether we like it or not, we have it and just like in animals, it will only be triggered when we feel in danger or feel that there is a high possibility of being in danger. To explain it more easily, most people call it the flight or fight reaction, that was the punch but it doesn't stop until the person is completely out of what seems to be dangerous to them. So when the door opened servants and guards entered the room to defend their young master or find the source of the noise. The boy knew that the brown girl was planning to run in between the people, this would be advantageous since she is still small and the people entering don't know what to expect. Thus the boy jumps in front of the girl just as she gets off the bed and grabs her, preventing her from escaping through the crowd of scared and confused people

The girl struggles and thrushes with all her might to loosen the boy's grip and slip through while she still had a chance to escape. Her efforts prove futile as the adults pay attention to the kids, the brown little girl notices and stop her struggle as she looks at the ground. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. She glances behind her to see who stopped her from making her escape so she could make his life a living hell. To her surprise, it is a boy who looks no older than 11 years of age. How could such a small child stop a full-grown adult such as herself from escaping? This is too shameful unless she glances around the room but finds no mirror object to see her reflection. She decides to see if there is a lake or pond or a bucket of water to see her reflection, but as she moves the people are now aware of her. They block her from exiting the room, it is only because they know the young master needs her to avoid marrying his royal uncle's, the seventh prince, daughter. And escape his father's hold on him, his father can keep his mother but he has to break free before he dies from the fight for the throne again - a story for another day

For now, his main priority is getting married to this girl as soon as possible to save his own neck. Proving that he was neither neutral nor taking sides in this fight but rather an outsider in the matter supporting whoever is to become the future emperor. Thus he would be saving himself from experiencing a bloody death once again. That's right, you've guessed it, this boy has lived this life more than three times and died in all of them, he hasn't lived past 25. Also, this is the first time he has met such a person, it's too much of a coincidence. She could be his key to escaping death and breaking. So no, he would take advantage of this opportunity to the best of his abilities regardless of whatever the person in question's true identity is. The girl points at herself and then at the bucket as if to say she wants to go to that side of the room where the bucket is. Surprisingly he understood her weird sign language, he nods his head and then let go of her arm

She quickly rushes to the bucket without anyone stopping her this time and it's filled with water to her relief. Peering into the bucket, she sees a familiar baby face but it has regressed by what seems to be 10 years. Dumbfounded the girl looks at her hands and then points at herself in disbelief. She desperately tries to put her distress into words but the lack of language knowledge just added to her stress. Everyone stares at her mouth as if looking at it will somehow magically make her able to speak the language. In the end, both the servants and the girl gave up as they couldn't understand her strange language. It is so foreign to them that they can't help but be suspicious of her origins, whether she was a witch or some evil spirit sent to possess their master. But the master has always been a nonchalant person thus he didn't know the workings of the outside work. However, the person in question is over 75 years in theory

Then again how would they know about his phenomenon, even if he told them which he tried to do in his first rebirths, they wrote it off as a kid having a nightmare and confusing it with reality? Or if he persisted like in his second rebirth, they would mark it as him going insane and then lock him away for his said safety. Then he would be locked away and die of some disease that is probably airborne due to lack of care. Which is one death he would like to avoid reliving thanks. The girl drops to the bed with an expression of defeat. Minutes later a group of adult members of the family come rushing to the room with armed guards. Everyone present stood on alert as the crowd approached them. The girl quickly stood to her feet while the young boy remained in place, unphased by the ruckus. They slow down once they see the servants staring at them as they enter, at a loss for words. Soon the servants snap out of their trance when the head butler clears his throat

They bow paying respects to the elderly man, even the girl tries to give her respects though it comes out awkward more than anything. This also catches the lord's attention as her skin tone stood out in this setting - though it would in any setting in this era and part of the world. The lord stares directly at the girl. The room fills with silence, which they find unusual since the lord is always shouting at the eldest young master who does things for his own entertainment and never taking anything seriously, ever since he found out that he is a candidate for becoming the next emperor. It was like he never thought before acting, however, that is not the reality. Anyway, the servants called this boy a retarded young master. He is nothing like his younger brother, whose a prodigy in martial arts, swordsmanship, and politics, his even said to be an unbeatable military strategist in the future. But because his the youngest of the Great General's grandsons

Tradition has it that the eldest of the candidate family to take up the throne when an emperor dies without an heir shall inherit unless he is to pass away due to unforeseen circumstances or be disowned by the family head due to performing a disgraceful act. Then will the remaining juniors have a full evaluation of who is the most suitable for the position. This rule really caused a grievance not only for the second young master but also for the father and first son pair. The father felt his legacy was going down the drain for being given such a useless and untalented son for a firstborn son. Why couldn't his second son have been born first? How can this fool be the emperor?! Due to shame, he doesn't know where to hide his face. The first young master felt wronged, he didn't want to be born first. Second brother should blame his own fate for being born a few seconds after him! So why does he have to die every time because of his brother's ambitious heart? Back to the task at hand, standing before him is this... is this little girl with burnt skin, does she have a disease? Why is her skin so dark? Or did she work under the sun her whole life? Regardless he has to marry her to escape his fate

The new arrivals look at where their young master is looking and spot the little girl staring at the ground, feeling uncomfortable from all the stares she's receiving. Finally, an elderly man stepped forward and spoke, "Do you understand me, little girl?" The little girl raises her head to the old man who just spoke to her. Her eyes were wide open as she heard a tongue she never thought she would hear again, especially among these strangers. The head supervisor of the mansion spoke in a language that no one in the room understood. Well, no one but the little girl, to her surprise this was her mother tongue, how did this old man know of this language? She stood shocked, her reaction kind of proved his theory, and he spoke again, "Do you know how you got here little one?". To this, the girl shook her head and approached the old man while everyone else stepped back, including the lord. The old man remained still as a smile graced his old face. Seeing the little child with tears welling up in her eyes, panic and fear began to dawn on her. The old man understood her situation and wanted to help to the best of his abilities, however there was nothing he could do for her in his current state, as he is but a aide