The cake, despite seeming bland, had a vibrant mix of chocolate and vanilla flavors. It tasted so unbelievably good!

  Well, it clung to my skin as though it had a personal vendetta against me. I could feel the sticky residue on my cheeks and nose, prompting me to hurriedly wipe it off since it was obstructing my nostrils.

  Damn Ghomas! Because of him, I couldn’t enjoy it!

  I stood up in a fury, my gaze locking onto Ghomas, the mischievous culprit responsible for my dessert disaster.

  Hessien and Vacinay glanced at me with raised eyebrows, puzzled by the sudden turn of events.

  I pointed accusingly at the clone lying next to Ghomas. “He tripped me.”

  Hessien scowled as he inspected the clone. “That bastard…”

  Ghomas decided to speak up. “Well, that’s kind of insane. But it's good we’ve finished this conflict. Now you two can release me.”

  Release him? He thought he could get away with this so easily?

  Vacinay tightened her grip on his arms, her determination clear. “Who said we were going to release you?”

  “What are you going to do? Seriously. Okay, okay, I admit I was wrong. I didn’t actually plan to do it at first, but it tasted so damn good, I couldn’t help myself.”

  I’d had enough of Ghomas’s nonsensical babbling and made my way to the dining room. Determination fueled my steps as I grabbed the necessary tools, plotting my revenge against the cake-stealing mischief-maker.

  I returned to face him.

  Desperate, he looked at me with pleading eyes. “Uh, can you get them to free me?”

  “Nope.”

  I dropped the tools on the ground, letting the metallic clatter resonate through the room. Knives, a collection of gleaming blades, lay at my feet, ready for use.

  “What the hell is that for?!” Ghomas began to panic.

  Vacinay, with a wicked smile, declared, “Ah, I like the way you think. First, we skin him alive.”

  I nodded vigorously, handing her a knife. Ghomas struggled against his restraints, resembling a desperate worm trying to escape certain doom.

  “You only got knives?” Hessien asked.

  I shrugged, then remembered this place was filled with weapons. After all, finding swords and spears was easy. I bet it had something much more useful for this situation…

  “Give me a second,” I said before running off.

  I ran down the hallway, looking for the racks of weapons. I came across some, but none had what I wanted…

  Ah, found it! It wasn’t a weapon, but it was good for aiding in torture—a rope.

  I returned to find Ghomas still struggling. “Back,” I announced my presence. Hessien was the only one who turned to look at me, as the others were too preoccupied with each other.

  Hessien grinned upon seeing the long roll of rope in my hand. “Perfect.”

  I walked in front of Ghomas, who eyed me frantically. “You all have to realize this is an overreaction, right?!”

  I smiled as I crouched down. “I can rewind time, so even if you die… you won’t stay dead for long.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Fear painted his eyes nearly white.

  Time to wrap him up!

  I looped the rope around his head, resembling a cow's noose. Despite his thrashing, there wasn’t much of a struggle. He began screaming, capturing the attention of the maids.

  “What’s the ma—“ They saw Ghomas completely roped up.

  Fearful, they asked, “I-Is everything… alright?”

  I replied, “No, we’re going to eat him.”

  They trembled, exchanging fearful glances. With a bow, they quickly made their way out of our home.

  It felt kind of fun to say that.

  “You all are psychos!” he complained.

  Vacinay, leaning against the wall opposite Ghomas, said, “The only thing missing is an apple to stick in his mouth.”

  Hessien pointed at her with his knife. “Like a roasted pig?”

  She nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Welp. No apples, only knives,” I said, flourishing the huge knife in my hand and resting the dull side on his shoulder.

  As soon as the cold metal made contact, Ghomas squirmed in a panic.

  I softly dragged the knife across his stomach. “We’re going to rip it open.”

  “SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”

  Holy hell! He screeched so loudly that I dropped the knife and clasped my ears.

  The sound of a door crashing down echoed through the air. In a blur of motion, someone shot toward us. Clad in knight armor with a sword at her side, a woman appeared, standing protectively in front of Ghomas.

  “Who… are you?” I asked.

  An old but familiar face ran in to explain—it was the president. “She is Yamanda! She'll be your teacher. She’ll inform you about the world and train you all.”

  I was starting to hate how they could just walk in however they wanted.

  She untied Ghomas before saying, “I’m confused by this situation, but… Did I wrongly interfere with some sort of ceremony? The maids who prepared food here said it was cannibalism, but perhaps they heard wrong?”

  I should have answered, but as I gazed at her, all I could think was how I wished I had her physical features. Well, except for the tiny ‘snake’ patterns at the edges of her face, connecting at her chin.

  But ignoring that, she was amazing. Red curly hair, flawless skin, brown eyes, a tall stature (though, honestly, I didn’t think I wanted to be that tall), a small waist, perfect hips, and actual breasts(the shape of the breast plate suggested so anyway) instead of tiny, fist-sized ones.

  She was perfect, something I wasn’t.

  Well, I was young! That meant I still had a lot of growing to do. My body would eventually develop into something so damn appealing, I’d start saying stuff like, "Oh my gosh, being this sexy is so damn tiring. You wouldn’t understand."

  Please, please, please let my dream come true.

  Hessien muttered, “Yes, miss, they did,” completely enchanted by her beauty.

  Vacinay wasn’t impressed and even shook Hessien. “Stop being so easy.”

  “Mind your business.”

  “Your business is my business.”

  “Ignore this one.”

  “No.”

  Yamanda awkwardly looked at us, then at the president.

  She looked at us again and took a deep breath. “Well, I’d normally prefer a formal greeting, but since President Urmar already informed me of your names, we can move on to the interesting stuff.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Well, we can start training as soon as possible!” she smiled.

  I mean, cool, but I was still insanely hungry.

  Vacinay muttered, “This Ghomas here, the useless slut, ate our breakfast.”

  Yamanda raised an eyebrow, confused. “What’s a slut?”

  “Don’t worry about that. The important thing is that we can’t train on empty stomachs. Well, I don’t want to, at least.”

  She thought for a moment. Then, with a snap of her fingers, she suggested, “What if we buy food from a restaurant on our way to the training area?”

  I

  I wanted food so badly I didn’t care how brutal the training was going to be.

  “I agree,” I said, moving to her side.

  Hessien frowned. “Damn, but we’d have to train.”

  Vacinay leaned against him. “I know, right? But food.”

  “Yeah, food.”

  Ghomas stood beside her, arms folded. “I agree with your premise, super sexy miss.”

  “What...?” she looked puzzled.

  “I said, I agree with your premise, Miss Yamanda.”

  “I thought you said something else.”

  He shook his head. “You must’ve heard wrong.”

  Level 10 gaslighting at its finest.

  She frowned. “Well... okay. So, let’s get to it! I hope we have an excellent day!”

  Just get us the food.

  Apparently, the president wanted us to keep the fact that we were reality defenders a secret. He didn’t explain why, but I had a feeling it had to do with how weak we were—some pride thing.

  I wished I could argue against the logic, but it made sense. Of course, that didn’t apply to someone like me.

  Time freeze was pretty amazing.

  Anyway, we were walking through a bustling city now. People moved quickly in all directions. As we made our way down the sidewalk, single-wheeled bikes zipped past us, and every so often, huge jeeps rolled by.

  The buildings were mostly made of concrete, with plenty of glass. They weren’t skyscraper tall, but on average, they stood about three stories high.

  I asked, “Are jeeps rare or super expensive?”

  Yamanda answered, “The latter. Only the rich can afford such things.”

  Ah, damn. I had planned to own one someday.

  After what felt like ages of walking—and with my stomach gnawing at itself—we finally came across a large restaurant with a wooden sign reading Telltale hanging outside.

  It was packed, people constantly entering and going.

  Yamanda smiled, then flourished her hands. “Meet my favorite restaurant!”