The answer to this question will be answered very soon, but for now, the tension between the two girls was palpable.

Grandma sighed, troubled, wondering how to handle this without hurting any one of her precious grandchildren.

Seeing her like this made Naia soften and calm down. "Well, relatives have skirmishes all the time, Grandma, don’t overthink it."

She just gave Pani a look over before looking away. Unexpectedly, the subtle move actually triggered Pani, who had been looking down on her for failing the exams and becoming poor.

Before she could explode, however, Naia slid her hands under her grandma’s arm. "You didn’t come here to pick a fight did you? Why don’t you just say what you’re here for?

"Do you want to stay here over the weekend like others? You’re jealous of our peaceful life or something?"

This made Pani look disgusted, as if offended that she’d think she was envious. "I live in a villa, why would I want to live in this kind of place?"

"Your grandmother also lives here. Are you looking down on her, too?"

"You—"

"You’re here to throw insults at villagers, I see..."

"NO! That’s not—Mum said I should go!"

"Why? You certainly can’t do filial piety; look at your face right now."

"What’s wrong with my face!?"

"It’s so unpleasant to look at. Grandma’s eyes are getting weak, do you want to destroy them?!"

"YOU!!!"

Pani looked behind her and the cab parked somewhere nearby. Obviously, this girl wasn’t planning on staying overnight either.

She just had to push her to leave earlier.

"Look," she said. "If you can’t say your true purpose, there’s no point in staying here and ruining everyone’s moods. I’m embarrassed for you."

Naia ignored her and looked at the twins, looking torn about what to do, and smiled at them. The contrast in getting along was very stark.

"Get inside," she said, looking at the cab they came in, and then at Pani. "If you really insist on staying here, fine," she said. "But you better have brought your own mosquito repellents."

The mention of mosquitoes and then cockroaches caused Pani to shiver. She had never stayed here overnight before and her bias against the rural areas was very strong, so her imagination went wild. She even imagined waking up with snakes and spiders near her bedside.

"Eek!"

In the end—after sending Naia a glare—she turned around to leave.

...

Sadly, they were not able to get rid of her for long.

The next day, a weekend, it became clear what Pani went there for, and it wasn’t very wholesome.

The day started so nicely, too. It was such a shame. Naia slept relatively well, and waking up to a family already preparing breakfast was kind of touching. The food was delicious, too. It made her love her grandma even more.

This was combined with the beautiful and peaceful scenery that tugged at her heart.

If she didn’t know that there would be major climatic disasters, she’d think this place could be a good place to stay. Sadly, while she wasn’t sure the area would be directly affected by the Fall’s impact, this place wouldn’t last a major storm or a major earthquake.

Three months was too short a time to build something she was sure would last, not to mention she lacked the funds to pull off something like that.

Anyway, it was sometime in the morning that they had some unpleasant guests.

Pani came with her mother this time. They looked alike and acted alike and both had punchable expressions on what would’ve been pretty faces. It was almost amazing.

This time, it was not the ’newbie’ Pani taking the stage, but her aunt Michie, who went straight to Grandma.

She was using such a soft voice, her eyes glassy with near tears, holding the old woman’s arm as if she were the sweetest daughter. To Naia’s eyes, however, it just looked fake.

"Mom...we talked about this before. You should just give me that piece. It’s too valuable to keep here, and it will really, really help your daughter’s family.

"Besides..." she paused. "What if bad people come to steal it?"

When she said this, she even gave Naia a lookover as if she had itchy hands. Naia’s eyebrows rose in understanding.

Ah, so that’s how it is.

Apparently, Grandma was holding on to a valuable set of jewelry and had been hiding it for a long time.

"My husband’s company is expanding, and we really need the funds! I promise to send you back money after we sell those things."

From her time, the amount of money she’d actually send was up for this aunt’s interpretation.

"I don’t have it anymore."

"What?" "Mother, don’t lie to me—"

"We were so poor and struggling years ago, don’t you remember? How did you think we were able to pay for your dowry?"

She said as if the money hadn’t been spent on her. At this, Michi’s face paled. "What? Nononono—"

"I don’t believe it!" Michi gasped. "My dowry isn’t that big! Don’t lie to me, mother!"

Grandma looked at her with disappointment in her eyes.

"Believe it or not," the old woman waved her hand.

... 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Even after a full hour of nagging from Michi, Grandma acted like it was really gone. The woman and her daughter regretfully left, but somehow, still certain that they did have the jewelry.

Unexpectedly, when they left and the kids went out to help with the farm, Grandma pulled her to her room.

Naia was surprised when she pushed a very, very normal-looking floor tile, revealing a hidden compartment inside. Inside was an intricate box with some inlaid gems!

"We found this in our youth," she said. "Back then, the fascists and the nobles were overturned and a lot of wealth was plundered. Some tried to hide their wealth here and there, and your grandfather and I found this thing."

Naia blinked. "Why...are you giving these to me, Grandma?"

"Well, it was your mother who found it," she said. "She liked to dig around for things. As her daughter, you deserve to have it."

Linda and Melinda had wanted to give it to Naia as a dowry gift, but that was useless now.

She decided to just give it to her now. Since its existence was out again, thanks to Michi, she thought to give it to the proper owner before things could get complicated.

"You hold the box," she said, standing up. "You can do what you want with them."

Naia admired the box for a while, studying the pieces inside. They were mostly very high-quality jade with intricate carvings.

They were pretty, though she was more interested in how much they could sell. For her prideful aunt, approaching like this must mean it could sell for a lot of money. Naia, for one, would definitely exchange it for money. Funds was what she needed the most right now.

Unexpectedly, while her mind flew like this, she felt a bit of movement and change on her palms. She blinked when her palms warmed and the jade bagel she had on her palm slowly disappeared, as if being absorbed into her skin!

Her eyes twitched. "Eerr...."

Oops