"Maria, I am back. Did you miss me? Are you wondering how I know your name? I asked the in charge, and she gave me your name. It is a pretty name, and I am glad to know it."
"But listen to me! Today was the worst day of school for me. Every day is boring and worthless when you are in class, but today was especially bad. The teachers here do not know what they are teaching us."
"When did the standards of teachers fall so much? They all looked so capable a few generations back, and it's all about the show now. Hey, are you listening to me? Are you ignoring me?"
Lea liked to be addressed. And once she felt ignored, she would do her best to get your attention.
Had Maria known this beforehand, she would have given Lea an indication that she was listening. But since she had no idea, she continued to maintain her silence.
"Maria, is that a challenge? If you do not take your head out of the blanket, I will take it as a challenge that you are trying to ignore me."
Lea warned, and Maria felt satisfied.
'You are feeling this because I am trying to avoid you. I do not want anything to do with you or these weird feelings I get every time I look at you. I will not let my nature control me.'
The tingling feeling Maria got every time Lea touched her was the attraction. But she was confident that it was due to her being a sentinel and Lea being a guide. Maria refused to acknowledge anything else.
"Lea, there is no need to linger here anymore. That girl made it far too clear that she does not want you here. You should head back now and enjoy the day with us."
Emily tried to get Lea to move. She hated seeing Lea being affectionate and attentive to anyone else.
She knew that she was jealous, but so what? Emily had enough gut to accept her true nature - as a bitch who wanted her crush only for herself.
"But Emily, we cannot leave poor defenceless Maria alone. She will feel lonely if we walk out, and I-"
"Leave now. I do not want to see your face. It will be much better for me if you leave now."
Maria threw her pillow toward Lea's face. But Lea was too fast not to dodge it. The pillow hit the old nurse instead, and she pulled it off her face with a simple sigh.
"Now, which one of you rascals is responsible for this? I promise that I will not get angry if you tell me."
The old nurse promised, but everyone in the room knew it was an empty promise. The old maid would rage as soon as she realised that she had been hit.
"Maria hit you, but that was an accident. I hope you forgive her and have a nice time with her. I shall get going now, so bye."
Lea left before the old nurse could finish speaking. The other two with her looked at each other and decided to make a quick exit as well.
In the end, only Maria had been left on her bed with an embarrassing flush on her face. She could not bring herself to look at the old nurse she had hit.
"I am…sorry. I did not mean to hit you with this pillow. I was aiming for Lea, but she dodged."
Maria confessed because she felt guilty after what she had done. She had promised to kill Lea, but she had gotten distracted.
Her body had also started to feel weird, and her nightmares had stopped. The lack of dreams helped Maria get better rest.
She hated to admit it, but she was feeling better now. And it was all because of Lea.
"Don't worry, dear. I have seen patients who were in a fit of rift madness. You are a tame dog compared to those kids. But you also need to decide what you will do next."
The old lady reminded Maria of her fate. Maria cringed when she heard this, and her heart gave a fearful tug. She knew she would be punished but did not realise how heavy that punishment would be.
"Well, you are lucky that the only person you attacked and wanted to hurt was Lea. There will not be a heavy punishment waiting for you. Maybe reducing food and a few hours of physical labour should be it."
The old nurse sounded confident, and Maria felt conflicted.
"That will be all? But I tried to kill someone. Don't most places charge such a crime with a death sentence or something similar?"
Maria was confused and a little concerned now. She was beginning to doubt if this place was even safe or not.
The old lady in front of her answered all her questions. The old lady blinked at Maria with a knowing expression before sighing.
"This base and the government only hand out a death sentence when the crime involves murder or attempted murder of a human being. Lea does not fall under those categories. Legally, she is a weapon and laws connected to her are different."
This was news to Maria. Lea looked and felt like a human to her, but Maria could never forget the horror she saw Lea commit the day she killed her guide.
It made sense if Lea was not a human but a machine. It also made sense why she never aged and her weird strength. But technology took a lot of work to maintain with the rift around.
"She is a robot? That does not make sense to me. Lea is-"
"A machine? Of god, no! She is a living biological weapon. I do not know the specifications, but we all know that Lea is not human. Anyway, you do not need to worry about it. Trying to kill Lea will not affect you in any way."
Maria knew that she was not supposed to feel sympathy for Lea, btu she ended up feeling bad for the other female.
These people did not even consider her a human, which was worse. If she had been treated like this since her birth, then it made sense why she was so detached from everything.
'These people, they are more like monsters than the rift is. No, do not feel sympathy for the enemy. Remember what Lea did to you and what she took from you. There is no need to feel anything for that monster.'
It was easy for Maria to remind herself of all this. But following through with her intentions was getting more difficult for her.
"Anyway, you should rest for now. I will bring you food once you wake up at night. You should rest until now."
The old nurse advised Maria, and he pretended to listen to her and lie down. As soon as the old nurse was gone, Maria quickly exited her bed and removed her gear from her inventory.
She was surprised these arrogant people had not taken this inventory from her. She quickly dressed up and walked out of the room.
Maria was worried she would be recognised as an intruder and immediately caught. But no one paid attention to her when she walked around the base. These people were caught in their problems.
'This is good for me. I will be able to move around undetected.'
Maria turned on her ability as soon as she was in the hallway. Her body disappeared into thin air, and any trace of her existence was exhausted.
She knew her ability was useless in the rift, but it had too many practical implications.
Grooming was a process Maria was well-acquainted with. People had tried to brainwash her into a perfect enslaved person before, and that was why she felt a little bit of pity for Lea.
But that was not enough to overcome her hatred. She walked around until she found Emily. This was someone Maria had seen with Lea before, so she felt a little confident following Emily around.
This way, Maria got to map out the base and knew what to do in an emergency.
'Now, I only need this girl to show me where Lea's room is. I hope she goes to visit Lea soon. It will be an excellent distraction to slit Lea's throat in front of her friend. I will make them feel the same pain I felt.'
Thankfully, that did not take long. Emily walked around aimlessly until she found Lea's room and knocked. Lea did not answer, so Maria entered the room,
Lea also got ready to enter and quickly assumed an attacking position.
"Ah, Emily, do you need something? And I see that you brought a guest with you as well. I was getting bored anyway, so this is nice to see."
Lea's words confused Emily, but Maria knew she had been discovered. She needed to take care of Lea now.
And that was when she made her first mistake, knocking off the vase from the table and tripping on the towel lying on the floor.
Sara, who had been hiding in the corner, hit Maria with a sleeping dart, knocking her out.