Chapter 125: What if you drown
A scrawny man with a menacing glare and upturned eyes charged at Zoey, yelling, "Why didn’t you tell us something was wrong, why?! You obviously knew something was wrong!" Zoey ducked the man’s attempt to shove her and looked stunned, her face a mix of shock and disbelief at his words.
"Because of you, my friend is dead!" The man deliberately ignored how she had warned them; he was overwhelmed with grief over his friend’s death and needed someone to blame to feel better.
Slap!
Zoey’s sudden slap knocked him to the ground, his mind buzzing, and his ears ringing from the force of her hit.
"Are you sober now! It’s none of my concern whether you live or die, I’m not your damn nanny, and you should be grateful for my warnings earlier instead of blaming me for your stupidity and lack of caution! How the hell did you survive dungeon raids with so little awareness of danger?!" Zoey’s thundering voice crashed into everyone’s minds, and they looked down in self-blame and embarrassment at her words.
Zoey heaved, so enraged by his words and their lack of help—it was as if they were blaming her in their minds. Only the man was bold and straightforward in his blame, instead of keeping it in his mind like them.
She hadn’t expected a thank you, but she wouldn’t tolerate any nonsense from them—next time, she’d mind her own business and save herself, since they don’t appreciate it.
"Thank you for your help back then." Selina’s voice was filled with gratitude, but a calculating glint flashed in her eyes as she glanced at Zoey.
"Hmm." Zoey hummed dryly and moved to a secluded spot to sit. Selina’s sudden act of gratitude didn’t fool her—if she had truly been grateful, she would have spoken up for her when the man attacked her with his words.
Selina’s smile cracked at Zoey’s bland response, her fist clenched tightly to hide her frustration—she still needed Zoey to survive here, since only she noticed something wrong with those petals. ’I’ve to get close to her.’ With those thoughts, her emotions calmed, and she glanced at Zoey with a determined glint in her eyes.
The scene where Selina actively helped Zoey and the others heal their injuries took place in the forest as they escaped danger.
Over time, Zoey’s heart begins to soften, but deep down, she feels a hint of suspicion and caution about Selina’s helpful actions — and that caution ultimately saves her in the future.
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Eva felt miserable. A sharp ache twisted through her stomach as though someone were wringing out a wet cloth inside her. The pain had jolted her awake minutes earlier, and now every small movement made her insides throb. She lay still, sweat trickling down her face, a low moan slipping past her lips.
’Am I going to die? I haven’t enjoyed...huh? Why are my pants wet?’ Eva’s thought stopped abruptly as she looked down to see that the formal white cover was stained red.
Eva’s mind blanked for a split second before she screamed internally, her eyes filled with reluctance. ’Ahh, why! Why do I have my period? Why is the pain much worse than what was described about the female lead’s period in novels?’
"I feel so deceived. What part of listless and slight ache in the stomach was this?! Ow... I want to go back to being a zombie. It’s too painful...’’ Eva, hissing under her breath, tears welling up as a surge of pain and blood slid down her thighs.
Her pale skin was even paler, like a ghost, as she clutched her stomach and closed her eyes to ease the pain.
Minutes passed as she slowly got down from the bed, her breath coming out in short pants from her small action. She tried to channel some energy into herself to ease the pain, but it made her bleed faster like a gushing tap, and she quickly stopped her actions.
"Foxy, take me to the stream," Eva called out weakly as she knelt on the ground, her face pressed against the bed, clutching her stomach with a pained look etched on her sweaty face.
Foxy’s nose twitched as it entered the tent; upon seeing Eva’s pale face and blood-stained bed, its eyes widened, and it bolted out to find its master’s husband, assuming Eva was in a dire situation.
"Wait!’’ Eva shouted weakly, having a bad feeling when her beast bolted out of the room. An embarrassing thought flashed through her mind, and she quickly shook her head in denial.
"No, it wouldn’t. Maybe it just went to fetch something for me. Yes, that must be it." Eva tried to reassure herself, but the hurried footsteps approaching her tent told her otherwise. Her beast had summoned her husband at her most embarrassing moment. She swears not to stew it for dinner.
Eva groaned and buried her head deeper into the bed, wishing for the ground to swallow her or for the ability to turn back time.
She felt her legs lift off the ground, and she quickly hid her reddened face in Ethan’s chest—she was too embarrassed to meet Ethan’s eyes and planned to play dead.
’Ah, someone please wipe my memory (/_\)’
"Are you alright? Haven’t you been taking your vitamin capsules?" Ethan asked, his tone filled with concern as he covered her with a black jacket and headed toward the stream.
He felt her stiffen at his question, and a disapproving frown formed on his lips. "If you had been taking the capsule regularly, you wouldn’t be in so much pain now. The capsules help regulate your system and give added nutrients to compensate for the lack of sunlight and other foods." Ethan chided her sternly.
Angry, she didn’t care about her body; if it had been long-term, she would have endured deformities or other chronic illnesses.
Eva sensed Ethan was angry, but she felt wronged—she wasn’t aware she needed to take those small capsules she had dumped in the corner of her space ring. She transmigrated with only a day’s memory of this body.
"I’m in so much pain...’’ Eva could only cry out weakly, knowing she couldn’t let Ethan know she didn’t know such basic information about the capsules, or he might become suspicious of her or even think she had mental problems.
"Sigh... endure it for a bit. I’ll ask the chef to make some soup to warm your stomach." Ethan’s voice softened, feeling he must have been too harsh on her, but he mentally planned to supervise her capsule intake from this moment on.
"Hmm..." Eva hummed in a nasal tone, too weak to speak. Ethan waved through the trees, heading deeper into the forest. The sound of rustling leaves and the cool breeze almost lured Eva to sleep, but the sharp pain coming from her stomach forced her awake.
Finally, they reached another secluded pond deep in the forest, and the forgotten sense of shame hit her like a volcano erupting.
"Y-You can just drop me by the boulder and leave. You don’t have to watch me so closely," Eva stuttered. Her face flushed red to the tips of her ears, and her eyes darted everywhere but his.
"No, I’ll stay here. What if you drown?" Ethan said seriously, clearly unwilling to budge. Eva almost pulled her hair out in frustration. He should save face; she was already embarrassed enough.
"Turn, or I would stay in the water without coming out. You don’t want me to catch a cold, right?" Eva almost pleaded. To her relief, Ethan turned back, but his presence still made her self-conscious, and she tried to hasten her bath.