Chapter 3 - Clouded & Sunshine

*Lirona*

Waking to a flutter in her eyes, the bright sunlight rippled through the many leaves in her view as she raised her pale, thin hand to cover part of her light blue gaze. The sound of shuffling, words being echoed and supplies being moved while loud grunts and feminine war-cries were echoed throughout the forest floor a short distance away. Lirona sat up from her comfortable bed made of leaves, vines and various fur patches of coats and sown together intricately. 

"Lady Lirona, you're awake. Here, please eat. You must recover your strength if you are to follow the Pri-... Queen Yumi from now on. "Lirona squinted her light blue eyes as she met the beautiful, orange-haired woman kneeling on her side that she has been resting her head on her soft lap. "Oh… you look like you don't remember me. Heh, cute. I'm auntie Lexi. "

Lirona's eyes widened in disbelief as she reclined a bit as she remembered the woman, Lexi from her memories was a slender, frail and timid young woman who was the only one out of the three who had a variation of colored hair in the King's harem. Shifting her gaze up and down Lexi, Lirona was astonished by the complete change of her body. This new Lexi held a toned and balanced body. Light sharp outlines touched upon her tanned skin and stomach as proof of hard training and her face showed her to be a top-tier beauty. Her legs were long and slender as her bust had grown a considerable amount since the last time she laid her eyes on her. 

"Oh, Lexi. Don't tease the child. She may be 'that' wicked woman's daughter but, she is still a good kid. I could still remember her worried face when her mother and brother kicked us out. Even though it was wrong, I bet Lirona knows that too. Otherwise, why would our Lady take her in after all this time. Poor thing, she must have been barely living off of scraps. Heavens' forbid what dangers she faced all on her own in that big empty castle." Esther, another woman of considerable beauty spoke while elegantly weaving a fur coat as Lirona soon looked all around and found herself in the center of many familiar faces. "Oh, do eat child. You'll need your strength if you're to stay with us here. "

Lirona gaped her mouth, shocked and feeling blessed to have encountered Yumi at the castle. Lirona sat firm while unable to control herself as she devoured a hot leg of meat from her soup she was handed. Tears streamed down her blushing face as she was feeling all sorts of emotions from anger, regret, and relief as well as sorrow for what her family did to her many aunts and half-sister.

Lirona soon caught sight of Yumi, still holding an indifferent expression as she stood beside Hastella, her loyal and faithful maid, in front of her many other aunts. They were in the middle of harsh training and many looked red from the amount of sweat they were accumulating yet, none dared give in as they looked at the bigger picture which was to protect Yumi. Jealousy and envy crossed her eyes yet, quickly disappeared as she knew that what happened to her was a result of her family's misdeeds. Now, she held genuine gratitude toward her savior who came back and rescued her from her fate.

~

*3 Years Ago*

To Lirona, who was betrayed by her own maids and family, she was forced to run and hide when the invaders came for her. Lirona rushed into the nearest room she found after escaping her maids as discovered she was in her aunt Estra's bedroom. Hearing the metal armor clanging, steadily approaching, Lirona shook her head.

The way she recalled, she stumbled backwards on her back and hit the wall with her hands. Suddenly, a loud sound of wood cracking echoed and Lirona fell into a secret passageway as the wall shut behind her and the sound of the wooden door breaking caught her ears. 

After a while of waiting, the many voices and footsteps finally left and soon, Lirona walked around the passageway only to see through narrow cracks and holes as she saw her own people stealing, looting and taking whatever they could get their hands on from the castle.

Lirona waited for a while before she could leave the passage as she feared what the men might do to her. She had always relied on her twin brother and mother to manage her safety and interactions. That was the first time she was alone, cold, and afraid of what was going to happen to her. 

However, slowly, she began venturing into the castle as soon as night fell, she began gathering whatever little food she could find but failed. Seeing the kitchen a broken mess, Lirona felt her hunger grow in the passing hours. Turning back to the hidden passageway, Lirona wandered around for hours until she noticed a blocked off doorway. Using all her strength, she kicked her way inside and as she entered, she gasped as she raised her eyes and then tilted her head upward. Vines upon vines of green circled the walls in a spiral. In every direction and within each, fruits of some kind were present. Within the vines, fresh water and the vines themselves were oddly edible. 

For the next three years, Lirona had only lived by climbing higher and higher to the ceiling to pick her fruits to eat.

After those three years, she knew she was soon going to run out of her supply and miraculously, a day before she finished the last of the rationed fruits, Yumi and her group appeared. Whisking her away from the quiet hell she was living in for three long years and undoubtedly saving her life. 

~

*Present*

Now learning to weave along with her aunts, droplets of water fell to her slender wrists as many of the women glanced toward her with a sudden delight she was still human and ache in their hearts for having a rotten family yet, remained silent as they gave Lirona time to cope and let it all sink in… 

She was now home. 

~•~

*Yumi*

'Three weeks have passed since I brought Lirona back from the castle and slowly, Lirona is getting back into shape. She is eating more and exercising. After a while, she began snuggling into me. I let her as she was still just a kid who had terrible caretakers. Now, she won't leave me alone and the others sometimes laugh and other times, scold Lirona as they know I just go with the flow when I am not inside my head.

Had I known this would happen, I would have made more preparations and had her stick to Mom. '

"Princess!" Feeling the weight of Truck-kun spam right into my stomach a second time, I lower my indiffrent gaze and meet a particular and spirited set of light blues as Lirona looks much happier and more refreshed than before.

"Now, now, Lady Lirona. You musn't bother the Princess so much. "Came up Lexi as she then effortlessly picked up Lirona with ome band and burried her into her two massive mounds as she had taken Lirona as her adopted daughter she adored. "Esther has finished sowing the new bedding for all of us. I can't wait for tonight! "

'They began to miss the massive, comically large bed from the previous time with the King as they all usually liked to sleep in the same room from time to time.

I was to out of it when making and formulating new plans and ideas inside my head ever since I found thinking and planning was soothing and calming to me. I mainly focused on my memories from my Original life and recalled many shows and movies I watched as a kid play out in my head in 1080p. It was surprising to have discovered that in this world's body, I could remember everything from both my previous lives clearly and wothout missing a single beat.

It still remains to be seen if this is good or bad on my involvement in this world.

My memories as Yumi had garnered more truths as I was able to dream of 'her' future and what happend to this world when I unlocked the memory recall ability. Future Yumi was still a timid and shy girl. She was captured by a New, Up-and-coming tyrant at the same time Vise was raided.

She and the guy eventually came to an understanding and married. Had a boat load of kids every two years and after reaching the summit of their lives, brought about change to the world.

Not in the good kind of way either. They built a primitive utopia where anything goes and from it, hundreds of random factions came into existence. Few of which caused the two naive rulers their lives in a raid. It was a couple of decades in the future and from it, technology and modernization began to sprout as the evolition of the world moved forward to the modern age.

However, the previous Yumi was happy, but weak and died in the end.

Now that I possess her body, I'll create my own Utopia and can send that horn-dog of an idiot running off with a stick up his-'

"Yumi." Snapped out from her thoughts, Yumi turned to Hastella as she was inches from her cheek. "You doze off again and I could have kissed you dozens of times already. "

'Why didn't you?' Though, Yumi remained impartial and it was taken without revrence as Hastella understood what Yumi wanted to get across, expect for her perverted feelings toward her and the other women of her group.

'Ah... three years. I'm already a teenager, huh. I even have to deal with the worse cramps that I now find is the most annoying and unfair function of my new female body. Who was the smart-alec that decided it would be fun to give women 'menstrual cramps'!

Ah... I have to deal with this now for a large portion of my life. Ugh, I now have a new sense of profound and deep respect toward women for enduring this pain every month.

I'll treat women right, more than right. I'll treat them like Goddesses and be there for them in their time of need... 'She who knows well the pains of womanhood, shall ascend into a Goddess I shall pray to for her kindness...' That bitter woman that was my Nanny in my first life that always puzzled me always said that saying. She herself swung the other way also and told me about her life in the service and how she fought and loved while fighting many battles with other women from other Platoons. She was rather graphic in her counts of storytelling which in hindsight, only deepened my love for strong, beautiful and independent women in my heart. hmm...

I wonder if that old crone was still alive after I died. '

________