When dinnertime came, they did hear the usual humming of the demoness. The secret door clicked open, and as soon as she opened it…..
Strands of hair reached out to her again!
But she only smiled, and that hair went back to the owner, wrapping him up like a cocoon. An array of colorful curses came, fully waking up all the other boys in their bunk beds. Ms. Lovette walked towards Harker with a hand to her hips.
"You're awake now, sweetheart…. And I suppose this is your real face. I love it! You're even more handsome than I expected! I'd say even more than that Ben doll friend you replicated~"
Harker struggled and squirmed around like a worm. "You fucking whorish old bat…. Urk!"
Harker's fist went to punch the inside of his mouth as he said that! Ms. Lovette just laughed at this.
"Oh dear. You just called me young and pretty 3 days ago, and now you call me an old bat…. That won't do. We'll have to fix your manners since you're older than the others, you know? You have to set a proper example for them." She kneeled in front of him. "You're like their Big Brother now. And the eldest siblings should show respect best for the younger ones to do the same."
She caressed the side of his face. "Or would you like to know what I do with Big Brothers who don't take their responsibility properly?"
Harker shook his head in 'terror'.
Ms. Lovette smiled. "Someone must have told you already. How long has he been awake? What does our new brother know about our home?"
Giosue raised his hand. "I did, Ms. Lovette. I told him the rules and warned him about what happens to bad boys, Ms. Lovette."
"Good job, Giosue." She ruffled the boy's curly hair. "But you should also tell our new brother that I am very forgiving. I always give my boys second chances. And I am very caring too, I have prepared a great supper to welcome him. I worry since he wasn't able to eat for days, and we don't want any of you to become weak or sickly, right?"
The boys stood up straight, and bowed their heads. "Yes, Ms. Lovette!"
"That's right! How can you boys have fun with me if you get weak or sick?" She patted each of their heads. "I love all of you very much, and it would be a shame to lose any of you…. My sweethearts…."
She had Harker's hair put him upright. "So do you understand now, sweetheart? Would you promise to behave so you won't be like the other Big Brothers before you?"
Harker nodded profusely, and he can now finally take away the fist he shoved in his own mouth. His hair also released him, and he can finally move himself.
"I…. I won't make trouble anymore. Just please don't kill me and turn my bones into paste….." He looked nervous and scared. He had his hands behind his back with his head bowed down as he stood up...
And those hands were facing Giosue, who saw one finger rise up, then two, then three….
Giosue cleared his throat. "But Ms. Lovette…. What happens to the batches now if the new Big Brother is joining? There won't be enough chairs since there's 23 of us. Only 11 boys can join you at the table at a time."
"Oh, that is a good point." Ms. Lovette rubbed her chin. "There will be one poor boy who will have to wait for everyone else to finish eating. And I don't like people eating in the living room or on the bed because of the mess. Everyone should eat at the table properly, sitting down and practicing manners. "
Giosue raised his hand. "I could stay, Ms. Lovette! I could wait for the others to finish, Ms. Lovette!"
"But you're usually the one managing the first batch." Ms. Lovette frowned.
She thought about the most logical way about this…..
Then, she turned to Harker. "Hm, but maybe this new Big Brother can replace you. His hair is very handy, we can use it to make sure everyone behaves and stays in their places."
"M-Me?" Harker pointed to himself. "I…. I don't want to hurt any of these kids…"
"Oh, you won't be hurting them. Just keeping a watchful eye towards them." She smiled and then trailed her fingers on his chest. "Or maybe…."
"You prefer to be the one left behind so we can eat alone together…. Maybe we can have some fun while I feed you my homemade casserole—"
Harker 'panicked' and pushed her hand away. "N-No thanks…. I'm fine with guarding the first batch."
Ms. Lovette looked disappointed, but shrugged. "Very well then. We still need to feed you after all so that your energy would be better for dual cultivation. You must be very hungry now."
Right on time, Harker's stomach growled. "Y-Yeah….. I'm pretty hungry…"
She patted his head, and Harker fought the urge to break that hand that patted him.
"That's wonderful, sweetheart. You'll love it! Come now, everyone. Watch over the second batch for me, Giosue and Phillip."
Giosue and the 'Big Brother' of the 2nd batch bowed their heads and replied at the same time. "Yes, Ms. Lovette!"
And so, Harker had to accompany 10 more children with him to join Lovette's table. They all sat on their assigned seats, but Lovette stopped one of them.
"You would have to exchange seats with the new Big Brother today, Robbie. I would like to get to know him better." She told the boy. "You go take Giosue's seat."
The boy with tanned skin nodded. "Yes, Ms. Lovette."
The seat was on the right side of Ms. Lovette's. Harker hesitantly sat there, acting meek and frightened as a kid that wets himself on his first day in nursery school.
"You don't have to be so tense, sweetheart." She poured some of the casserole on his bowl. "You'd notice that my casserole is a bit on the soup-y side, like a hotpot. It's my own recipe. I'm not sure what your preferences are, but you'll love it!"
Harker looked at the contents. Regular lamb meat, some vegetables that seemed to be grown fresh off her garden, and some mushrooms. But he turned to her own bowl…..
There was some kind of powder she sprinkled into hers. That powder was white, and came from seed packets.
Ms. Lovette noticed him looking, and she smiled. "It's my secret to staying young, dear. Concentrated qi hidden within the bone marrow. It's said that qi is stored in the dantians, located near the spleen or kidneys, lungs and forehead but... The divine energy also flows inside our bones. It would be a shame to waste them."
She sipped her bowl. "Don't you think? When I have received all the energy I could get from my boys, I can't just stop there. That would be putting them to waste ...."
She pointed at the hard, white thing sticking on the mutton. "I should go all the way to the bone."
Harker stayed quiet and just ate like he was too anxious to speak. But internally, his thoughts were like this:
'Going all the way to the bone to not waste anything, eh? Maybe I will do the same thing and grind your bones later too. Once Giosue and I succeeded in our plan.'
Their first phase was already a success, his acting was perfect. Ms. Lovette sees him as a reckless barbarian that just dive headfirst like her daughter. She needed to think that way so she'll never see their schemes coming.
Once the meal was finished, they could go to Phase 2.
However, Harker still had to survive this meal as Ms. Lovette placed her hand on his thigh and then started asking questions.
"So tell me, sweetheart….. How did you manage to turn into my daughter? Is your Dao taking on the forms and abilities of others?"
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A/N: If you are liking this story so far, leaving some powerstones and reviews would help this humble one cultivate the Dao of Writing Motivation XD