Chapter 45: Little brother, you are knocking on death’s door and you didn’t hear it creak open?

In her first life, it was too late when the school and the Bennet couple found out their son was getting bullied. They found out about it when Hugo saw Slater’s bruises, but just like Slater asked Penny, he begged not to tell their parents.

Although Hugo didn’t tell his parents, he barged into Slater’s class and beat Slater’s bullies in the teacher’s presence. He beat the bullies so badly all of them ended up on the hospital bed. Things went so out of control that Hugo was expelled. Fortunately, Hugo still got into the military despite his bad record. However, after that incident where Penny was imprisoned, that story would be dug up again.

Slater also had to change schools while the bullies only got suspended. The Bennets chose to take their children out of the school because it was a traumatic place for Slater. However, the Bennet couple still sued the school. Even so, it was futile. The damages were already done.

Not in this lifetime, though.

"If I kill you today... I won’t get jail time too, right?"

Keith and the other boy furrowed their brows while their lookout looked back at her in terror.

"Who is this little thing here?" Keith asked.

"Keith!" the one on the floor grabbed Keith’s ankle. "Do — don’t pick a fight with her! It — it’ll be dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" Keith frowned and kicked his friend’s hand away. He shifted his eyes to the little girl and smirked. "I don’t fight with kids. Go away from here. Tss. This is a boy’s restroom, go."

"A fight?" Penny blinked adorably as she tilted her head to the side. "This is not a fight, little brother. This is going to be called discipline."

"Discipline?" Keith burst out in laughter. "You want to discipline us? You? You look like you just stopped drinking milk from the bottle!"

Penny nodded and Keith laughed even louder. The other boy also forced a laugh while the other one on the floor shook his head vigorously.

’Is there some big guy outside?’ the other boy wondered. ’There’s no way this little girl is the one who tossed him in, right?’

Meanwhile, Slater, who was still in the cubicle, froze as soon as he heard that familiar voice.

’Is that Penny?’ his entire body stiffened, unsure whether to feel shameful to be seen in this state or terrified that because of him, she would be in trouble!

Slater initially denied it was Penny, telling himself they only sounded the same. But when he took a peek, his eyes dilated.

"Penny?" he blurted out, earning everyone’s attention back to him.

"You know this little kid?" Keith hissed. "What? Did you ask for her help? Involving a little kid... Is that how pathetic you are?!"

Keith angrily kicked Slater back inside the cubicle, making their already-beaten lookout gasp in horror.

"You pathetic loser. Even if you ask your brothers for help, they’ll only get humiliated. That pathetic brother of yours cannot even enter the special section, no matter how he buries himself in the study, while that other brother is just pathetic. So what if he’s a school ace player? All he did was to look pretty! The entire Bennet Family is simply pathetic, especially that pathetic loser uncle of yours!" Keith launched continuous kicks, laughing as he dissed the entire family. "Do you know how your uncle bowed so deeply in front of my grandfather while being humiliated? The man’s a pathetic loser who doesn’t even know how to be a man. He just stood there while my grandpa spit on his face!"

Slater covered his head to shield himself from the kicks. However, seeing that he wasn’t making a sound made Keith even angrier.

"You fucking loser —" Just when he was about to launch another powerful kick on Slater, one of his friends jump to take it.

Keith frowned as he looked at his friend. "James, what are you doing?" he asked coldly.

James, the lookout and also the first one who had a taste of Penny’s wrath, jumped and shielded Slater. Slater froze as he looked at one of his bullies, who was now hunching in because of the pain in his stomach.

’Why did he... block the kick?’

"Keith..." James clasped his stomach, forcing himself to look up at Keith. "Don’t. Stop." — that little sister was downright diabolical!

His breath hitched when he felt this ominous aura coming from the entrance. When James looked back, his face turned white as a sheet upon seeing Penny’s entire face darken.

"Stop?" Keith scoffed, only to kick James one more time. "You’re asking me to stop? Well, if you’re switching sides now, I’ll let you know it’s the biggest mistake of your life!"

Keith assaulted his friend and vented out his irritation. Now, instead of Slater, James curled up on the floor and received the beating. Slater, who was seeing this, couldn’t help but scoot in the cubicle.

’They...’ His heart shook in fear. ’They were friends. How can he beat his own friends...’

"Keith, dude." The other boy panicked as he tried to stop Keith from hurting James. But alas, he could only shut up and shrink back when Keith glared at him. He didn’t want to get beaten too!

The four boys, including Slater, quickly forgot Penny’s presence at this turn of events. They were only reminded of her when a small, chubby foot hovered over James’s back and stopped Keith’s kick.

Huh?

Keith arched a brow as he followed the owner of the foot underneath his foot. His expression turned sour as soon as his gaze landed on the little girl.

"Little girl, I warned you," he hissed under his breath. "If you don’t leave here now, you might get hurt."

As soon as those words rolled out of his tongue, he tried stepping on her feet harder to kick James. But alas, she didn’t budge.

"What?" Keith tried to stomp her feet down, but again, her foot didn’t move. It remained hovering over James’s back.

James slowly looked back and the moment he saw the little girl, he felt equally relieved and horrified. Her face was chubby and adorable, but her eyes didn’t carry the slightest trace of innocence. It was as if a malevolent demon was hiding behind those round eyes.

"Penny... don’t..." Slater shook his head, afraid she would really get hurt if she involved herself more. ’This glutton! What is she doing?! If she gets hurt...’ he would never forgive himself if Penny got hurt because of him.

Penny looked up at Keith as a thick layer of frost coated her eyes. "Little brother, you are knocking on death’s door and you didn’t hear it creak open?"