Chapter 53: The Threesome Was A Lie
"You didn’t have to kidnap me all the way out here for this," Tera moaned. "I had already planned to take the rest of the week off."
Both males looked at her with identical expressions of disbelief.
"You were sorting branches when I found you," Xavi said flatly.
"That was... recreational sorting."
"There is no such thing," Ermin muttered from his spot.
Tera shot him a look. He wasn’t even looking at her. His tail flicked lazily against his leg.
"Have you even eaten today?" Ermin asked, his tone grumpy and almost shy, as if the question had been dragged out of him against his will, and he wanted it known that he was asking under protest.
Tera noticed this, and she was rendered speechless by the fact that Ermin, of all people, was asking about her well-being.
He was talking to her face-to-face after subtly ignoring her throughout and throwing random thank yous during the day.
Tera remembered when he had stared at her across the lake, and she closed her eyes, fighting to keep the depraved thoughts out of her head again.
She’d liked how he looked at her then.
’Oh, wait. Is the increase in favourability causing all this?’
[( ` ᴖ ´ )]
[Is that really your question?]
"Tera?" Xavi called out to her.
Tera flinched, snapping out of her thoughts and looking up at them.
"Oh, sorry."
Tera opened her mouth to say yes, because of course she had eaten today, she was a functioning adult who remembered to feed herself and—
Her stomach growled.
Tera looked down at her own stomach in betrayal.
’OMG...’
Xavi’s ears twitched. His expression shifted from proud to concerned. Ermin’s brows also rose in concern.
Tera could still not shake off her shock at seeing Ermin so concerned for her.
Truly, what was happening?
"I will prepare the meat. Sit and rest." Xavi pointed at a spot Tera hadn’t noticed until now. "We will take care of everything."
Near the edge of the stream were leaves draped on the ground and held down by small flat stones, while there was an assortment of fruits laid out.
And the place Xavi had also walked to, there was a small fire pit neatly arranged in the style Tera had taught them, with raw meat on the skewer.
Tera looked at Xavi, already crouching by the fire pit with a bundle of more meat. She looked at Ermin, who had gone to join Xavi, pretending he didn’t care when he so clearly did.
Tera’s chest bloomed with warmth.
This wasn’t so bad...
Tera quietly went to take her spot on the makeshift mat, the trees above offering cool shade as the trickling flow of the water soothed the air.
She wasn’t so disappointed about the lack of threesome anymore... even though it was still a possibility she could see later.
But as she watched the two males move around the clearing—Xavi fussing with the meat, Ermin pretending not to watch her from the corner of his eye as he helped Xavi—she thought that maybe this was exactly what she needed.
And for some strange reason, the sound of the water made Tera miss music.
- ※ - ※ - ※ -
Xavi had just lit the fire when he frowned. "I need more of those herbs. The ones from yesterday have dried out."
Tera wondered how long exactly they had been planning this?
This oddly felt like a date.
Xavi turned to Ermin. "Watch the fire. And make sure she does not go anywhere."
Tera pouted. "I am not going anywhere."
Xavi looked at her as if she had just told him the sky was green. He clearly did not believe a single word, but he nodded once and disappeared into the treeline.
And then it was just Tera and Ermin.
The clearing suddenly felt much smaller.
Ermin watched the fire crackle, and the silence was louder, minus the fire and the water of course.
Tera found it strange to sit still. She had not remembered when last she had sat down doing nothing. Tera’s hands kept twitching toward things that weren’t there. Branches to sort, earth to dig, something to build or fix or calculate.
Her body had been running at full speed for so long that the absence of work felt less like rest and more like something had broken.
It was a bit scary.
Most importantly, she missed her phone.
’Hopefully, I will rebuild civilisation long enough to witness the birth of an electronic device,’ she moaned in her mind, knowing just how far-fetched that wish was.
She eyed Ermin, wanting to say something, but what would she say?
Things were awkward between them.
"Thank you for taking care of me."
Tera paused, stunned that he had spoken right when she had thought of what to say to him.
He was still staring at the fire, though.
"Ermin, you have thanked me several times now." She smiled faintly. "It is fine. Really."
Quiet again.
"Have you really changed?"
The question landed softly, but it felt less than an accusation and more like he was trying to wrestle with the Tera he had known in his mind.
And she understood.
She was about to answer when he continued.
"I have been watching how you care for the clan and how you have been helping them..." His voice was low and almost reluctant, as if each word cost him something. "You did not have to do any of that."
Tera’s heart squeezed. She looked at him, and for once, he was looking back. His eyes were soft and no longer guarded like before.
"I just wanted to help," she said simply.
Ermin looked away, pursing his lips inward as his tail gave a slow, thoughtful curl against the ground.
[Ermin’s Favourability: 28% → 30%]
Tera was happy to see the notification. Since it was no longer in the negatives, he didn’t hate her anymore. At this rate, he might actually like her by the time this task was completed.
’I’ll take it.’
[This system is proud of Host]
[(◡‿◡✿)]
[No depraved thoughts for almost ten minutes]
[A new record]
’Do NOT ruin this moment for me.’
They sat in comfortable silence for a while.
After some time, Tera felt thirsty. She walked to the stream and drank some of the flowing water.
She was about to scoop another handful when she glanced down and froze.
The water was so clear and still near the bank that it reflected like glass.
A face stared back at her.
She had not properly looked at herself since arriving in this world. There had never been time or a surface clear enough.
She had been too busy surviving, building, arguing with the system, and having her internal organs rearranged by beast men to stop and check what she actually looked like.
This was a beautiful face, but that was not what made her blood run cold.
The face staring back at her was her own face from the modern world.
’That is... me?’