Under the blue skies near the Forest of Solace, a small village with only a lone dirt road leading toward the next settlement sat up against the treeline. Although the Forest of Solace was known for having abundant monsters roaming within it, they rarely left the forest itself, and this poor, rundown village was able to survive by foraging the forest edge.

It is in this village that a young girl, around twelve years old, with blue hair and silver eyes, carrying a handmade wicker basket filled with flowers, walked toward a run-down hut. “I wonder if Mother will like the flowers…”

The girl looked down at her basket filled with colorful flowers. She wanted to cheer her mother up since she had not been feeling well the past few days. She opened the wooden door to the hut and walked in with a cheerful smile. “Mother, I’m back!”

“Lorei, your home. What’s this?” A pale-faced woman turned and wiped her hands on her apron. “Flowers?”

“Hehe, I picked them for Mother. I hope they will make Mother feel happy and help you feel better.” Lorei smiled brightly as she held the basket out in front of her.

“You…” The woman smiled and took the basket from the young girl. “I will always love anything you give me. Plus, these flowers are magical since I am already feeling happy and energetic.”

The woman’s pale face did not change. She already knew she was counting her days, but she would never tell her daughter this. She just had to hold out until her daughter turned fifteen and could marry.

“Hehe.” The girl ran up and hugged the woman’s waist. “As long as Mother is feeling better I will fill the whole place with these magical flowers…”

- - -

“It’s bright…” A young woman with blonde hair and striking blue eyes looked up at the blue sky above that had fluffy white clouds floating by with an annoyed look. It was one of the very few expressions that could be found on the girl’s normally stoic face.

“Angelica, I know you hate being outside but you need to get out of the basement once and a while!” The woman, who looked very much like the blonde-haired girl, sighed as she pushed the girl forward. “We are just having a mother daughter’s day outside.”

Angelica could only be pushed into the restaurant. She was what people called a genius. From the time she was able to speak to the time she graduated from college at the age of fourteen she had been seen as a genius who could change the world. Sadly for those scientists and colleges who wished to bring her on board, Angelica only wanted one thing: to hide in her parents' basement and work on projects she found interesting without being bothered by the world around her.

Due to speeding through her academics and being surrounded by peers more than twice her age or even more, she had become socially inept and unable to express emotions very well. That was unless you were not talking about something she found interesting at the time. It was how her professors interacted with her in college once they found that her switch would be flipped if you talked about her current project. She would turn into a lively girl who spoke passionately about her work. But as soon as she finished speaking, her lively atmosphere would turn back to the normal stoic one she always had, no longer speaking more than just enough to get a single-word answer out of her.

And such a person was now being forced to go to a restaurant with her mother out in public, the one place she hated to be. She was the type to hide in the basement for days living off snacks and coffee, working on her projects. If someone did not drag her out to bathe and eat, she would never show herself to the world.

Sitting at the table, Angelica looked at the food that was picture-worthy for any social media post and wondered just how many chemicals had gone into each portion. She sat there with her fork, using her mashed potatoes as a piece of paper, doing math. “Angel, cut it out. I did not bring you out for you to start using your food to do equations.”

“Mom, you yell at me for doing such things and drag me out to this stuffy place with so many people, when it’s your fault for bringing me up in such a way.” Angelica looked up at her mother. She spoke without any emotion or expression, so it was hard to figure out if she was mad or not.

“Are you really complaining? I only gave you the materials you wished for growing up. Is it wrong for a mother to support her daughter? I never made you do anything. You learned everything on your own. I even tried to take you out to go shopping and do many other things but you would throw a fit and cry.” Angelica’s mother sighed. Every time they came out, they had the same conversation. She wished her daughter would at least remember this fact.

“Right… Well… Can we go now?” Angelica asked while tilting her head. She still had many things she had to do research on. She was working on creating the first wormhole. She felt that maybe, just maybe, she had the right idea this time on folding time and space.

“At least finish your meal! We have only been here for a short while!”

After what Angelica thought of as a dreadful time outside, she could finally relax in her basement lab. With her sweatpants and hoodie equipped and her lab coat covering them, she sat in front of her computer, going over data models. She did not hate the fact of spending time with her mother, she just hated being surrounded by so many people. This was the reason why she stopped at getting a master's at fourteen and didn’t go for a PhD.