"So what do you say, Anabel? Will you help me? Even if you refuse, I won't expose you, but I want you to stay out of my way."
"I want no trouble with conspiracies; I don't want to die like a loser again."
"What if I let you touch my breasts? Would that convince you to join me?"
Oh, Kami, why? This lady was brilliant and knew my weakness. Had I made it too obvious that I liked her massive cow-size breasts?! Fuck it! I'll do anything to touch those breasts once before I die again!
"Yes, MAM!"
I said while bowing deeply at my psychopathic mother. Hey! Hey, reader, cut it out! You would've done the same! Don't pretend like you wouldn't; puff like you have a higher, cleaner sense of morality. Yeah, right!
"Good, then your first task is to keep your studies up. I need you to behave exceptionally during the upcoming assassination ceremony, and please pretend like you truly mourn your brother's death, okay?"
My eyes widened as I heard Mother admit her secret plan right in my face. Yet, I couldn't believe it, she was going to kill him? Fine, I had never met the guy, but he couldn't be that bad, could he?
"Can I know why you want him dead?"
"He's too stubborn; if he takes the throne, he's sure to drag us unto a nasty war against the Tempest nation of Monsters."
"Why not try and talk him out of it? Killing isn't ideal."
"And I want you to become the Queen instead of him."
"Kill him! Heck! I'll stab him myself to be sure he's dead."
I was just playing along with Mother to make her think I was entirely on her side. By the way she spoke, it increasingly sounded more like she had initially put the previous princess in a coma so she wouldn't be a barrier between her and her plans to kill my brother.
She was psychotic, alright. There was no denying that the level of evil did not match the face of the holder. You would never suspect that such a sweet-looking MILF is plotting an assassination attempt against her own blood.
Yet here she was, revealing all her secret plans to me until I realized. Why the heck was she telling me all of it? She couldn't fully trust me, so why was she telling me everything? Was it a test to see how stupid or naive the person behind her daughter's skin was? I had to ask.
"Why tell me all of this? You don't know if you can trust me, so why reveal your whole plan? Doesn't make sense."
"So you're not stupid. Good, an improvement over the previous you. Although you had me worried when you agreed so fast."
"Quit playing mind games with me, please! I didn't like this one at all!"
"Sorry, I had to make sure you were someone I could let live next to me. Since you will be my daughter from now on or rather another son. I know you're male under that, aren't you?"
How did she know? She was way too bright for my liking! If I didn't want to be read further, I would have to stop engaging in her questioning and escape. It felt like I was an open book against her! Her intellect was more remarkable than mine, and I did not like it!
It was a good lesson despite the uncomfortable lies she made up. She taught me to watch my words when I spoke. Imagine if it was someone else, someone looking to kill reincarnations; if they were her, I would've been fried, so this experience was a lesson.
Just like back in my world, this one also had people who knew how to use reverse psychology and play mind games with you to make you believe in whatever they tell you. It was an excellent reminder that despite how magical and fantasy-like this world is, it was still authentic to me. It was real life, a real world not a videogame.
I had blinded myself by the magic surrounding me, and I had become numb to it, thinking this was all just a game, but I had to turn back to reality; this was not a video game; it was real life.
If I had gone all my life thinking this was a videogame, I would have kept making stupid mistakes, and for that, I had to thank Mother. She reminded me that I couldn't take this world lightly just because it seemed unreal.
Everything you did and said had real consequences with genuine outcomes. I just hoped that was what Mother wanted to see in me, that understanding of life, or maybe she was simply testing my thinking capacity; whatever her intentions, I learned more from her in a day than in my whole ten years alive in this fantasy land. Thanks Coco-Mommy.