Our Family Has Fallen

"The second one! I choose the second one!"

Audrey blurted out, without even a trace of thinking, and her face showed a yearning for freedom.

She didn’t want to stay in this damn place for another second, she would agree to anything as long as she could get out.

Lance was not surprised by her reaction, but he could see clearly that she was obviously pretending just now.

This also indicates that not a single word from that guy can be trusted...

"Do you think you can shake us off just by getting out?" Grendel understood her task and immediately exposed Audrey’s facade.

"How could that be? What happened before was all a misunderstanding, I’m not that kind of person." Audrey had absolutely no embarrassment at being exposed, instead she kept affirming something.

"Really? I don’t believe you~" Grendel decided to give her a small shock of nature, smiling and handing over a small mouse, "Take it, it will tell you the answer."

These mice, selectively bred through more than ten generations in the laboratory, were continually purified and didn’t have much aggression.

Because they were born with ample food, they didn’t need to fight, and they hadn’t eaten raw meat. Furthermore, due to extended contact with human feeding, they were not afraid of humans; in contrast, they were very docile.

As individuals displaying aggressive behavior would be eliminated.

Where did they go? These neatly bred mice were the best snacks for pregnant wolves and Fergus, and ever since Laura arrived in Hamlet, she didn’t need to prepare food for her raptors.

Audrey looked at the little mouse that sat quietly in her palm, although she didn’t understand, she felt a bit contemptuous inside. What a joke, she wasn’t one of those noblewomen who could be scared by a mouse?

She directly reached out and pinched the fur on the mouse’s neck, lifting it up, it even seemed kind of cute~

But the next second she changed her mind, because the mouse suddenly began to struggle desperately, as if resisting Audrey.

In this situation, most women would probably have screamed and let go, but Audrey’s character clearly wouldn’t let go easily, instead she tightened her grip, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.

At this point, Audrey suddenly seemed to realize something, was it trying to express that she couldn’t escape their palm like this mouse?

But the development of the matter completely exceeded her understanding, because she suddenly felt that the strength of the mouse’s struggle was rapidly weakening, and at the same time a peculiar "vitality" appeared in her hand.

When she came back to her senses, she saw a green sprout emerge from the mouse’s mouth, a hint of blood staining the tender greenery.

Then the sprout grew visibly fast. By this time the mouse had ceased reacting, as countless tiny grass roots pierced through its fur and grew outward. It was hard to believe that tender white stems possessed such strength.

Including extending from the mouth, eyes, and ears, until they climbed over the red eyeball, but the eye actually moved slightly, for a moment, an indescribable eeriness and evil instantly filled her brain.

"Ah!"

Audrey was startled and let go, her face filled with uncontrollable terror, even her breathing became hurried, with no trace of performance.

Her eyes were still fixed on the thing that fell on the ground, because it was still growing, at the cost of the mouse’s body rapidly withering until completely taken over by the grass roots, while a bright green weed grew from its mouth.

This scene hit Audrey hard, while Grendel continued explaining leisurely.

"When the Devil’s Grass Seed enters a warm and humid environment, it will sprout. They will let animals eat it and then take root inside.

They absorb the host’s blood to grow, and finally the roots completely fill the insides, allowing the plant to emerge.

This process is very long, as the parasitized creature doesn’t die immediately, the plant needs you to travel further away to spread its seeds.

However, during this process, you can feel the roots gradually penetrating into your internal organs, flesh and growing within your body, a kind of maddening agony.

No one would want to endure this, only some ancient Barbarian Tribes discovered this plant’s reproductive method and used it to torture enemies, as a form of torture."

Listening to these words, Audrey seemed to watch this horrific scene unfold, while Lance chuckled, adding a sarcastic remark.

"Eating what you shouldn’t have leads to this, but who would eat such a thing just for the heck of it?"

Wasn’t this mocking her for stealing the Blood Garment? And eating...

No! What did she just eat?

Audrey’s face was instantly filled with dread, she constantly mimicked retching, but with days of no food or water entering her body, how could it come up easily?

"It’s actually fine to eat it, after all, it doesn’t react that quickly, usually it takes two or three days." Grendel chimed in like a sidekick, looking at Audrey with a smile, adding, "But certain special potions can accelerate this process, just needing a few words for it to start rooting and parasitizing."

Her words just barely soothed Audrey for a second, but the next sentence kicked her back down to hell.

Audrey wasn’t naive. As soon as she heard it, she reacted, quickly looking at the thing she drank from earlier, why did it seem like a potion bottle?

In this moment, Audrey’s eyes lost their light.

Now she understood why they said the little mouse would tell her the answer, it turned out to be like this...

"Seems you’ve finally realized, feeling anything yet?"

Grendel picked up the mouse from the ground, examining it like a twisted work of art.

As if the seed inside her body could hear those words, Audrey truly felt a slight stabbing pain, directly causing her body to tremble uncontrollably.

"Alright, drink this, the Devil’s Grass will enter dormancy, but the effect only lasts seven days."

Lance handed over a Panacea, which she almost immediately snatched from his hand and drank down.

Whether it was truly effective or not, the peculiar sensation seemed to ease, but Audrey felt no relief, instead a bit of sadness, covering her face with her hands, sobbing.

She truly regretted it, why did she have to provoke them for no reason, now she was entirely bound here.

Lance and Grendel exchanged a glance, seeing the amusement in each other’s eyes.

She believed it! She actually believed it!

There was no Devil’s Grass, it was like how adults said as a child that swallowing watermelon seeds would make them sprout in your stomach, it was all fabricated nonsense by Lance and Grendel to deceive Audrey.

The sprouting mouse was entirely controlled by Grendel, and Audrey’s bodily anomalies were orchestrated by Lance, easily duping this fool.

Lance wasn’t planning to have a heart-to-heart with Audrey, she wasn’t worthy.

He initially intended to use her as food to feed the Ancestor, but later he abandoned that idea, just when Geralt had to leave, it got repurposed.

Talking more to her was useless, such people aren’t bound by contracts, they need to suffer a little.

Look at her now, how obedient...

"What do you want me to do?" Audrey, tough as she was, quickly reacted again, her stiff expression revealed her unstable emotions.

"Assist us in exploring the ruins." Lance looked at her, somewhat curious if she looked like this when she planned to poison her ex-husband?

That deep-seated hatred was well concealed, but with Lance, it was wide open.

However, he never cared, with a wave, her equipment appeared out of thin air.

"Alright, prepare for an hour, then we set out."

Lance didn’t plan to waste time on her, estimating the frontline at the ruins might start fighting, had it not been for Geralt, he would’ve already set off.

He also needed to move quickly to beat the Ancestor.

Grendel glanced at Audrey, after turning away from Lance, her expression turned frighteningly cold, full of warning, clearly sensing Audrey’s hatred.