Chapter 410: How To Bribe A Rich Brat?

“Lilith, honey, could you be a dear and open the door for us?” Mandy asked the little one, who was watching us through the porch window while licking a homemade lollipop—the fancy kind, like the ones crafted by a professional chef.

Lilith shook her head slowly and kept watching us, locked out of the Lansky manor. Janice wouldn’t open the door for us while Delores was basking seminude on her surfboard up in the sky, hiding from my family.

I wouldn’t either—but how were we supposed to have fun at her expense now? I might as well go home and work on my curse energy control.

“Ace, you are her landlord, don’t you have a spare key or something?” Lyra asked in frustration. To her surprise, all the wooden doors and windows were not only locked but sturdier than the ones in their own house—possibly even stronger than steel. No matter how much force she applied, they wouldn’t budge, unlike at home, where she had to be careful not to break anything with her newfound strength.

“No, she changed the locks the very first day she moved in,” I lied, as, with Mandy here, I couldn’t just tell that she was using some kind of annoying curse tool to turn the entire house into a sentient being capable of protecting its residents and defending against the intruders. Unless a resident permits us to enter, we can forget about entering the house.

“That’s smart. But we have to get in there somehow. Mandy, just try bribing the little psycho,” Lyra suggested, not letting her baby brother and little aunt call it quits.

“Only you would be childish and petty enough to hold a grudge against a child,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes at her niece, yet she turned to the porch window, offering, “Lilith, you like candy, right? If you open the door for us, I will buy you a bag of candies.”

Lilith did not reply; she gazed emotionally at Mandy and licked her lollipop before heading back in. Only for Lyra to remark in frustration, “My god, Mandy! Do I need to teach you how to bribe a kid—” just then, Lilith returned with a tray of fancy homemade candies in her other hand, shutting her up.

“You were saying,” Mandy eyed her niece with a smirk, before adding, “We need a better bribe. But, what do you bribe a rich brat with? She has everything she needs in that house.”

“Not everything,” I said, taking the lead, “Lilith, if you let us in, I will get Dr. Druid to meet you.”

“Really?” Lilith finally spoke and, getting a firm nod from me, she headed inside, and soon enough we heard the front door open.

“Ace, is Dr. Druid real?” Lyra asked skeptically, wondering if the comic was actually based on a true story. Also, unlike Mandy and others, she treated Lilith as an adult, so if Lilith believed Dr. Druid was real, she believed there had to be some truth to it. And her brother wouldn’t make a promise that he couldn’t keep, especially to a child.

“Yes, she is,” I said, exaggerating my tone as we entered the house. Now it was up to the listeners to decide what to make of it.

“Pickles, we are home!” Mandy called out to her bestie aloud, but did not receive a response. So, Lyra shouted, “Come out, come out, Pickles!”

“She is in the basement,” Lilith informed, pointing at the basement door. Then, turning her gaze it me, she asked, “When do I meet Dr. Druid?”

“Why don’t you go play outside? She will join you soon enough,” I answered with a gentle smile, only to find that Lyra, who was following Mandy down the basement stairs, paused, conflicted about whether she should go watch ’Origin of Pickles’ with Pickles or go meet Dr. Druid with Lilith.

Shaking my head, I rushed her down the stairs, lying, “It’s just my clone posing as Dr. Druid.”

Seeing her still conflicted, I added, “I will show it to you some other time.” And closing the basement door behind me, I decided for her.

“Fuck, a dog would’ve been a better investment—cheaper, listens better, and probably wouldn’t let my eniemes into my house and reveal my location,” Janice remarked in frustration seeing us arrive down the basement stairs, only to be met with three unamused pairs of eyes. Mandy shook her head in disappointment, uttering, “That’s not funny.”

“Well, she is not the one who is going to relive the most embarrassing moment of her life for your entertainment,” Janice snapped, unapologetic about her comment.

“Pickles, it’s only entertaining to us because we care about you. Otherwise, do you think we’re some deranged psychos who get off watching a video of some stranger humiliate themselves?” Lyra said, looking around the basement, that looked more like one big Victorian library. The walls were covered with neatly arranged bookshelves. At the center, there was a personal office/study furniture with a couch, tea table, and all to entertain company. If we didn’t know better, we would think Janice made the changes just for us.

“Lyra, I didn’t think we were that close,” Janice remarked, a little taken aback by how familiar Lyra had gotten with her. It was not surprising for a fan to feel close to her Dame Wasp persona, but the latter was acting familiar with her, with her actual persona. She did not know how to deal with it. Because she didn’t actually know the latter, she couldn’t come up with a quality comeback. Her stage teacher did teach her how to deal with troublesome fans, but failed her when it came to shameless people in general.

“That’s okay, Pickles. After this morning, that’s going to change for good,” Lyra said, resting her arm around Janice’s neck and looking around the basement. She remarked, “You got a nice little setup, Pickles. Or did you change it just to impress us?”

“Don’t flatter yourselves, I didn’t even invite you guys over. Get out of my house before I call the cops on you guys,” Janice curtly warned, trying to remove Lyra’s arm around her neck, but to her surprise, she found the newly awakened curse master was physically stronger than her.

It was shocking because even though she primarily focused on curse craft, she had been slowly building her foundation. Though she wasn’t strong for a veteran mortal-tier, she could be considered stronger than a newly awakened curse master.

Ignoring Janice’s empty threats, I stood beside her and took out my cursed phone.

“Okay, huddle up. The Origins of Pickles is about to start,” I announced.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep