Chapter 71 Volume II – Chapter 37: After The Lie

When I heard the rector’s words, a big smile appeared on my face.

“Of course, I’m sure. We can make a contract if you want, but you have to be the intermediary.”

Contracts are things that are not bound by any limits, that are ‘almost’ impossible to avoid the outcome. So there is a limit in the system, people can only create a contract on their own once every thirty days.

So if the rector has the right to create a contract, we can do it right now and there is no reason why I shouldn’t.

“You say you’re going to solve my daughter’s problem… You say you’re going to eliminate the Malus family… You know the problems of the academy so well… And you talk about them as if they were nothing…”

The rector narrowed her eyes and looked at me, ready to attack at any moment.

“Who are you? How can I really trust you after all this?”

I did nothing but smile.

“My name is Aiden Tenebra, you can research my background if you want. I don’t give a shit and as for how you can trust me… it’s quite simple. The answer, as I just said, is with a contract.”

The Rector just stood there, lost in thought again.

What I was offering her was literally perfect. She was sorting out her existing problems so well that I was like a shining miracle in her eyes. That’s why she had a hard time trusting me.

Of course, with the existence of the contract, all this distrust could have disappeared, but she was still hesitant.

Who wouldn’t be? I was a knot of impossibilities that suddenly ended in front of her.

<<——————————

Contractor 1: Aiden Tenebra

Contractor 2: Melany Quie

Terms of the Contract:

1-) Aiden Tenebra must help Melany Quie in each of the following areas until he graduates from the academy:

-A: Lucia Quie’s problems with her overly high charm statistic will be resolved.

-B: The Malus Family will be eliminated once and for all.

-C: The external forces inside the academy will be eliminated.

2) If Aiden Tenebra fails to fulfill even one of the above-mentioned conditions within the specified period of time, he will be placed under the direct command of Melany Quie.

3-) If Aiden Tenebra fulfills all of the above conditions, he will be rewarded as he wishes.

4-) Melany Quie will fulfill one wish of Aiden Tenebra if she fails to comply with her side of the contract.

——————————>>

When I saw this notification pop up in front of me, it was hard not to grin.

“Do you have anything to add?”

She had already acknowledged me.

“No, nothing.”

I thought in my mind that I had accepted the contract, and the moment I did, a small amount of mana was sucked out of my body into the atmosphere.

The contract was signed, now I just had to follow up on the steps I had taken.

“Okay… Then let’s take the first step.”

After what I said, the rector fixed her curious eyes on me. I smiled and continued.

“We need to organize some footage, and besides that, we need two potions.”

*******

<<——————————

“The disgrace of our kingdom’s most qualified academy holding preliminaries for inter-academy competitions! How can we sit comfortably at home when our children are not even safe there?”

——————————>>

The reporter’s voice echoed in the dark room.

It was coming from a small holographic screen, a screen I didn’t want to look at.

<<——————————

“Nevertheless, this year’s students did not lose their composure even in the face of this sudden abnormal situation! Six students in particular played a major role in this event and will be directly rewarded by the kingdom at the ceremony tomorrow! These students are Adrian Caleo, Celine Potenbea, Julian Virhen, Alice Liate, Lucia Quie, and last but not least Aiden Tenebra, who unexpectedly shone like a star!”

——————————>>

My eyes opened slightly under my duvet, involuntarily shifting to the holographic screen in front of me.

<<——————————

“The Academy has completely blocked us from interviewing them to give them a rest, but you can watch us at the ceremony tomorrow and listen to our interviews with them! Now… let’s get to know these heroes who saved dozens of lives!”

——————————>>

The screen showed photographs of the students whose names had just been mentioned. Their families, strengths, grades, and school rankings were given in a simple and concise way, and finally, it was time for the last name.

His photo on the screen showed gray eyes and a cold stare. This photo was taken when he first entered the academy.

He was neither happy nor unhappy. The word “soulless” was actually quite appropriate for him. He was bored as if life was dull to him.

<<——————————

“Aiden Tenebra is ranked six hundred and twenty-fourth in the academy’s overall freshman ranking! His general level was F+ when he entered the academy. His only skill was his exceptional intelligence, which he demonstrated quite well in his studies. However…”

——————————>>

An image appeared on the screen.

A green glow enveloped his body. The ‘mana density’ scale, which was specifically shown on the right side of the screen, was rising visibly as the camera turned to him.

His attack with his sword immediately afterward played a major role in bringing the whole thing to an end.

Of course, there was also the scene where he helped the silver-haired archer girl. It was played after this and the reporter came back on screen as the images receded into the corners of the screen in small frames.

<<——————————

“It seems this student is hiding his power! Stay tuned if you want to hear the results of the re-measurements, which will take place just before the ceremony, as quickly as possible…”

——————————>>

I pulled the duvet closer around me, my knees closer to my stomach.

I turned off my watch and the room fell silent.

“I’m not Aiden, Clara.”

His words came back to me again and again.

“I’m not the brother you think you’ve changed, Clara. You must know that anything can happen in this world…”

He was right, unimaginable things were happening in this world. Even if it was close to impossible for such a thing to happen, it wasn’t really ‘impossible’.

I thought about the message he wrote to me a month ago, on the first day the academy opened.

It was the first time he had replied to me that day, after a long time. His message appeared for the first time in his message history, which was full of my messages, and I felt strange.

Why didn’t he ignore me?

That was the first thought in my mind. He said he had changed, and as we talked more and more, I realized that he was right.

He had changed. The old, soulless Aiden was gone, replaced by an Aiden who really cared about me and I… was happy. Even though I saw how much his personality had changed, I took it for granted, I thought he had changed for me.

But he never changed.

He even committed suicide and left me alone in this world.

For a reason I don’t even know why, he ignored everyone for the rest of his life and made life miserable for those he loved.

Still, he was my brother, the last member of our family who had the same blood as me. That’s why I never gave up on him. Even though I never got an answer, I wrote him messages every day, I told him I was angry.

How could I have known that he had really ‘changed’?

How could I have known that my brother was dead, replaced by someone who deceived the whole world?

How could I have known that I was being exploited, that I was just a tool for him to cover up his wounds?

No… I couldn’t. If he hadn’t stood in front of me and told me, I would never have known because I was blinded by happiness.

Why did he tell me the truth? I could have been so much happier now if he had kept deceiving me…

If he had continued to deceive me… I could have accepted him. There was no way he could have been exposed, he could have hidden who he was until he died, but instead, he chose to tell me the truth.

I knew the answer.

Because he decided it was the right thing to do. Even if it hurt me, even if it hurt him as much as it hurt me, he did it because he knew it was the right thing to do.

I remembered the bitter smile he gave me before he left the house.

Even though he had only known me for the last month, he really loved me as his sister, it wasn’t difficult to understand, and the more I thought about it, the more the pain inside me grew.

I… I don’t want to reject him.

I don’t want to be unhappy again after what he showed me, after experiencing that happiness, even if he’s not my real brother…

I want to accept him, but at the same time, I feel like I would be betraying my family, my loved ones.

I opened my watch again and went into the gallery, then opened a photo taken nine years ago.

There was a short, beautiful woman with gray eyes and black hair and an ordinary man with brown eyes and brown hair. The woman was holding a little girl.

I was seven years old at the time, smiling brightly, cheerful as a normal child.

But this was not the case with the nine-year-old boy standing just to the right of my father. He wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t happy. All he must have done was stare soullessly at the camera while the photo was being taken, but I still loved this photo.

Because not only was it the most accurate memorial photo of our family, it was the one and only family photo in which he was with us.

I kept looking at the photo, for seconds, minutes.

Finally, as my eyes slowly blurred, a tear slowly slipped out.

“I’m sorry…”

I took my watch out of my sleeve, gripped it tightly, afraid it would slip out of my hands, and buried it in my arms.

“I apologize… I’m sorry…”

I… I can’t.

“Please forgive me…”

I can’t leave him when I’ve found happiness… when I finally have my life in order… when I’ve already replaced him with my brother.

I just… can’t…

“I- I’m really sorry…”

I closed the photo and buried my face in the pillow.

My mind was spinning with countless thoughts. My head was tingling like crazy, and after a while, it started to ache like it was going to crack.

I… I’d better go to sleep.

I tried to sleep, ignoring my headache as much as possible. Then I felt something spreading from my head to my body.

It was something strange, numb. It wasn’t hot or cold. It was just… that kind of feeling.

It went from my head to my back first. It went down as if following my spinal cord, from there it slowly spread through my whole body and then the sensation of my whole body disappeared in an instant.

As I lost the sensation of my body, my headache stopped.

Even that strange sensation disappeared, replaced by complete ’emptiness’.

I tried to open my eyes. It was the only thing I thought I could do in this emptiness.

But my eyes didn’t open. On the contrary, a bright glow suddenly spread everywhere, as if illuminating this whole void. Then it slowly, gently retreated.

My eyes slowly opened, and when the light disappeared completely, I could finally make out some things.

I was in a room, a dark room. I was in bed, lying in bed, just like before, but there was a difference.

I was… not at home.

Curious, I got out of bed, or rather I tried to, but then I realized something else.

Why… why am I so short? And not just ‘short’… I’m really short, almost the height of a small child.

I tried to pause as I stepped forward, but I couldn’t. I tried to go back to bed, but again, I couldn’t. I just kept moving toward the door.

That’s when I realized something else, something frightening.

I can’t control my body. On the contrary, my body moves on its own, as if I were watching a video.

“Mom?”

The person I was watching through her eyes, the child, spoke to herself and I froze.

No way… This room, the door, the hallway behind it…

I’m… I’m in our family home. In our old house, the house we lived in when no one had died yet.

Then… This must be a dream, but… were dreams this clear?

I focused on the image with all my focus and watched my little body walk out of the room, independent of my thoughts.

She was shivering, she must have been scared in the dark corridor because she soon started crying.

“Mom! Dad! I’m scawed… Whewe awe you…?”

Am I five years old? That’s what my voice sounds like…

Is this… the past? Or is it a random dream?

I… I don’t understand, I really don’t understand, but still… in this dream, I can see my family for the first time in a long time.

I can see them, even if they’ll only be an image, a voice.

After a long time, I can remember them by looking at their faces.

“Ha?”

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t realize what was happening when my child self suddenly reacted with surprise.

A dim light was seeping out from a room at the side of the corridor and my little body was heading toward it.

“Bwodher!”

Ah… isn’t this… my brother’s room?

“I’m scawed… help me!”

My little body slowly approached my brother’s room. He opened the door and looked inside. Meanwhile, I was anticipating what was going to happen.

My brother would probably look at me soullessly and scare my little body even more. He didn’t have the kind of demeanor that babies, or even his own sister, would like him.

But then… something unexpected happened.

My little body was looking around the room when suddenly a figure appeared in front of me.

“Ah, Clara… Are you awake?”

My brother, Aiden, who could have been seven years old at most, approached my little body with a big smile on his face as if rejecting all reality, contrary to all the memories I had.

“Bwodher! I was scawed…”

My brother kept smiling and bowed. Then he hugged me. He calmed me, my five-year-old self, quite well, and then stepped back and took my hands.

“It’s okay Clara. Mom and dad are out on important business. That’s why they are not home. How about we sleep together? That way you won’t be scared.”

“Mhm…”

Holding my brother’s hand, I continued to watch as he moved to his bed.

Even though I wasn’t in control, I could feel it, all my fear had disappeared and I was even happy to be sleeping next to my brother.

I couldn’t even think straight as I lay next to my brother, as if the whole experience was a lie, as he stroked my hair and sang a lullaby to help me sleep.

Where is my soulless, emotionless brother?

Who is this boy…? Is he really my brother?

This is… a dream, right?

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