“Wow, this food is great!”
A knife cut through the egg.
“…It’s been a while since I’ve eaten something so good. It’s also seasoned nicely. Who made this?”
The yolk spread across the plate.
“Was it you?”
Kiera suddenly pointed her knife in the direction of the Viscount who looked at her with a surprised expression. He appeared to be at a loss for what to say, but at the same time a little touched.
Was he that starved for Kiera’s attention?
Whatever the case was, it was clear that he really doted on Kiera. The more I looked at him, the more the situation felt weird to me.
It felt like there was some sort of veil covering my vision, preventing me from seeing what was truly going on.
“Did you change the chef like I told you yesterday? In any case, it’s delicious.”
Kiera took a bite of the egg and started chewing, her face lighting up as if she were savoring the most delicious egg in the world.
Everyone was looking at her strangely.
Indeed, as opposed to the sight that greeted them yesterday, Kiera looked like an entirely different person.
“Is she bipolar?”
“….Probably.”
Even Aoife and the others looked surprised by her sudden shift. They did notice that something was wrong, but they couldn’t quite tell what it was.
This was especially obvious for Evelyn, who tended to be quite observant. For a moment, I almost thought she mumbled something along the lines of, ‘Oh no, did she get possessed? Not another one…’
If only she knew…
The only ones that seemed to be doing okay were Amell, Caius, and Kaelion. The three of them were just eating quietly, with Kaelion passing the salt to Caius, who accidentally dipped the entire thing on his plate before eating it with no concern.
What the fuck?
“Is everything alright?”
“Hm?”
Feeling a small nudge, I turned to look at Leon, who sat next to me. He had a strange look on his face as he looked at me.
“You seem a little weird.”
“….Do I?”
“Yes, your face looks a little pale. Is something wrong?”
“I… yes, actually.”
Leon’s brows furrowed as he mumbled something under his breath. It went along the lines of, ‘As expected, there’s something wrong with Kiera.’
Oh, there certainly was something wrong.
The one before us wasn’t Kiera. Unfortunately, I couldn’t let that be known just yet.
“It’s really bad.”
“…That bad?”
“Yes.”
Leon looked even more alert.
It was then that I sighed.
“I didn’t get enough sleep because someone woke me up when I didn’t want to.”
“…..”
Leon’s face suddenly froze as he looked at me. Whatever was running through his mind stopped, and all I could see was just hatred. Raw and unfiltered hatred.
I turned my gaze away from him and focused my attention on ‘Kiera’.
‘What is she doing here? Where is Kiera…? And most importantly, why am I the only one that can see through her disguise?’
I didn’t really understand what was going on, and perhaps because I was staring at her for too long, she seemed to notice my gaze and turned to look at me.
Our gazes met, and my heart clenched for a brief moment.
“What are you looking at?”
“….You.”
In spite of the situation, I managed to remain composed.
“Me?”
Kiera raised her brow.
For a brief moment, her eyes narrowed, and I felt my entire body cool.
“You can see, can’t you?”
“…..”
The atmosphere seemed to freeze then, and just as everything was about to boil over, I nodded my head.
“I can.”
I continued before she had a chance to speak.
“I can see that you’re pulling another one of the tantrums. Whatever you’re trying to achieve, you should stop it. It’s making the atmosphere uncomfortable.”
“…..”
It all suddenly turned quiet from that point, as all eyes fell on me.
Kiera’s gaze lingered on me for the next couple of seconds before leaning back on her chair.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
She looked around and noticed the other’s gazes before eventually nodding her head.
“Very well, then.”
She stood up and raised both of her hands.
“Since it looks like I’m making the atmosphere uncomfortable, I’ll excuse myself out of here.”
“No, wait…”
The Viscount tried to stop her, but it was no use.
Kiera left shortly after, and the atmosphere turned awkward once again. This time, I was the one subjected to most of the stares.
Feeling uncomfortable, I helped myself up and excused myself.
“I’ll also excuse myself.”
I didn’t let anyone say anything before directly leaving and following the obvious imposter.
Thankfully, she didn’t walk very far as she just made it to the stairs that led to the second floor, and I quickly caught up to her.
“Wait.”
“…Uh?”
Taking note of my voice, Kiera stopped and looked back towards me.
“What do you want? Weren’t you the one—”
“About our talk, do you still remember?”
“Talk?”
“Yes, regarding the mirror.”
“….”
Kiera’s face suddenly froze, albeit for a very short moment. She then licked her lips.
“Oh… Right, yes.”
She made an uncomfortable expression.
Her acting was great, but I could see through her disguise. She couldn’t fool me.
“What about it?”
“Didn’t you say you’d help me find it? Last I recall, you said that it was here.”
“…I said that?”
“What? Are you okay? You seem to be acting strange.”
“Huh.”
Kiera scratched the back of her head. She looked conflicted. Of course, it was more like she was surprised by the sudden turn of the situation. She probably hadn’t expected me to have made a deal with Kiera regarding the mirror.
….I didn’t.
I hoped that this would be enough bait for her to lead me to where Kiera was. While I knew that I was no match for her, I wasn’t scared she’d do anything to me.
She and I belonged to the same organization.
In fact, I was probably in a higher position than her.
‘She can’t touch me.’
Of course, even though I was certain she couldn’t, I didn’t let that get to my head. In my mind, she was bat-shit crazy.
Even if the likelihood of her doing anything to me was almost zero, there was still that chance.
…And for that reason, I remained cautious.
“Honestly, I don’t really recall much of our conversation. As you can see… I’m not really in the right mindset of anything at the moment.”
Ah, so that’s how you’re going to play it. I suddenly pursed my lips and nodded.
“That’s understandable.”
“No shit, why the fuck else wouldn’t I recall fuckface?”
‘She really is good at acting like Kiera…’
I was just about to retort when I suddenly paused and took a better look at her. As things stood, my search for the mirror was like a wild goose chase. Regardless of what happened next, it wouldn’t bring me any closer to my goal.
I had tried searching through Kiera’s memories before, but it was all in vain as the strange black mist interfered.
The mist made things more difficult, but I also realized that even if I could access all of Kiera’s memories, I still wouldn’t be able to find the mirror.
‘Kiera’s memories… it almost feels like they’ve been tampered with.’
I wasn’t sure if this was the truth or not, but she wasn’t here, and I couldn’t check again.
But what if there was an alternative?
…What if there was someone else I could look into to determine what had happened in the past?
‘That’s right, I’ve got the perfect person right in front of me.’
Maybe with her help, I could uncover more clues about the mirror’s location. Time was running out, and I didn’t have the luxury to wait any longer.
Since I knew that…
“Hey, Kiera.”
“What?”
“Hold my hand.”
“Hah?”
Kiera suddenly looked at me weirdly. For a brief moment, I felt my back tense but I remained cool-headed.
“Are you not forgetting I’m an emotive mage?”
“So?”
“I can calm you down.”
“Wait, yeah, but… what?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
I suddenly frowned and tilted my head while looking at her.
“We’ve done this multiple times already. I’m only going to touch you for a second.”
“…..”
Kiera’s jaw visibly clenched. Clearly, she wanted to refute my words, but she couldn’t since she really didn’t know if my words were true or not, and she didn’t want to expose herself just yet. Especially not when I had just revealed to her that Kiera and I had plans to look for the mirror.
She had to do this, and despite the obvious struggle, she finally managed to extend her hand and touch mine.
Soon, as our hands touched, I took the chance to press onto the second leaf.
My vision grew dark.
*
“What would you like to be when you grow up?”
A voice suddenly shattered the darkness. It was a soft yet warm voice. When I managed to come to my senses, I found myself inside a small room.
Sitting in the center of the bed was Kiera’s aunt, her soft blonde hair framing her face, and her deep crimson eyes reflecting the gentle light streaming in from the window.
She was different than how I was used to seeing her.
‘She looks like she’s in her teens.’
Her features were softer, appearing less mature, with a look and vibe that closely resembled the current Kiera. Sitting opposite her, with her head resting on the table and eyes fixed on the window, was a different figure.
Her platinum hair glimmered as she stared out, lost in thought.
‘That’s…’
“Dunno, why are you asking me such nonsense? I’ll worry about it when I get there.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, I’m still young. What does it matter to me?”
“….Are you having fun?”
“Fun?”
Rose blinked while looking towards her sister, or more specifically, Kiera’s mother.
“More than fun, it’s… like living? Yes, that’s it. It’s like living.”
“Like living…?”
Suddenly raising her head, Kiera’s mom looked in the direction of Rose, her eyes looking a little lost.
No, looking carefully, she almost seemed…
‘Jealous?’
…Or so I thought. The thought only crossed my mind for a brief moment before she suddenly burst out laughing.
“Pfttt—!”
“Uh, what?”
This obviously didn’t sit well with Rose who started glaring at her, but it was no use. It only made her laugh louder.
“Hahaha.”
At that moment, staring at her, I felt something tug at my heart.
It wasn’t love or anything like that. God no… but it was something that I felt resonated with me. I just couldn’t quite explain what it was.
I just thought… her laugh felt oddly familiar.
How come?
It was also then that my stomach started to drop. For some reason, I was starting to have a really bad feeling about this.
…A really bad one.
