Jaden, Jamie, and Maria sat in red padded chairs—their fras were made out of black tal, gleaming under the soft sunlight flowing through the window. The room’s walls were similar to those of the previous one, red with intricate black patterns.
Jaden and Jamie collapsed into their chairs, and Maria was first to question with furrowed brows as she called out to Jamie by his nickna.
"Jas, you both already know each other?"
Jamie gave her a slight nod and didn’t say anything for a few monts. He lifted his head and stared at the ceiling before responding.
"He is from the Arcane Knight Academy."
Maria blinked at his words and looked at Jaden before turning back with a confused look as she muttered.
"What?"
An annoyed look appeared on Jamie’s face as he spoke.
"Why the f—"
Bam...
"Why do you not believe my words? Big sister," he replied as he sat up while rubbing his head. A pained expression etched on his face.
"It’s not that I don’t believe you, but... I found him near a gate. He was fighting nightmares coming out because of the gatebreak."
Hearing her words, Jamie’s ears perked up as he quickly straightened himself and slapped Jaden on the thigh.
Jaden still slouched in his chair, slowly turned his head towards him and spoke with a smile.
"It was just an Adept-ranked gatebreak, don’t worry about it."
"..."
Jamie stared at him for a few monts before answering with a deep frown.
"The academy prohibits all students from taking part in a gatebreak without prior notice."
Jaden blinked at his response and looked at Maria to glean confirmation of Jamie’s words. Seeing that he was looking towards her, Maria nodded and began to explain the reason behind it.
"Before, we didn’t have such a restriction, but after the students began to take part in gatebreaks due to their confidence in whatever sparse strength they had, most of them lost their lives to the nightmares of the gates, so to stop that, we established that restriction."
Jaden listened to her and gave a short nod before contemplating them.
’It makes sense... What’s the point of teaching everyone to be strong if they are going to serve themselves up for so nightmares’ al?’
He ca out of his thoughts soon after and questioned with a frown.
"Am I in trouble?"
Maria furrowed her brows and looked at Jamie before gesturing sothing through her eyes. A mont later, Jamie heaved a sigh and spoke.
"This ba—" he paused upon seeing the wide, creepy smile on Maria’s face and gulped before continuing, "bad man... lost his mories."
"Huh?"
Maria’s expression crumbled into a frown as she thought.
’First his parents and now his mories... What does he even have at this point?’
Jaden shifted his gaze between both of them with a deadpan look as he questioned himself.
’Why are they acting like I am not here with them? She could have just asked , no?’
"So... Am I in trouble?" He questioned again, his voice slightly louder and colder.
Maria looked at him and waved her hand as she spoke playfully.
"Ah, don’t worry about it, Big sis will take care of it."
Jaden frowned and raised an eyebrow at her nonchalance. Even though he didn’t know much, he had enough insight into the Arcane Knight Academy... It was basically a school where they taught the youths about the dangers of the dream realm and trained them to fight against those dangers, without losing their lives, of course.
Because of that, the academy wielded a considerable amount of political power, and Maria saying that she would take care of it sounded far-fetched to him... She was just the daughter of the marquise, after all. Things would’ve been different if the marquise herself had said that.
"You do rember I can read your thoughts because of your expressions, right? I told you about just an hour ago, after all." Maria said softly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
Jaden looked at her with a wry smile and responded, "I didn’t an to offend you, Lady Ma—"
"Big sis," Maria interjected.
Jaden looked at her with a confused look and muttered, "What?"
"Forget about what I said in the morning... call Big sis instead." She said while leaning back in her chair. She pressed her fingertips together, forming a triangle with her hands as she looked at him with a tilted head. A wide, creepy smile stretched across her face.
A shiver ran down his spine as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. He waved a hand in his hair and cald himself before stuttering.
"I-I see. As I was saying, I didn’t an to offend you, La... Big sis, it’s just hard for to believe that soone like you has enough power to make the academy take a step back."
Maria looked at him with a playfully offended look and added in a hurt voice.
"Soone like ? What do you an by soone like ? Are you saying I am not good enough to be your sister?"
Jaden shook his head and responded seriously.
"That’s not what I ant—"
Jamie, fed up with their chatter, exploded.
"Oh, for the fuck’s sake! Just tell him you are going to be an Instructor at the academy."
Jaden’s eyes widened upon hearing that, and he turned towards Maria to ask.
"Is that true— Huh?"
However, she wasn’t in her chair.
Bam... Bam...
"Mmmh!? Hmhm?!"
Strange sounds ca from beside him, and Jaden turned towards them. His eyes fell on Jamie, who was tied by a silver rope; his mouth was covered with a similar material, muffling his voice.
"My dear, cute little brother... How many tis must I tell you to stop swearing and act like the noble you’re supposed to be? Are you a human or a pig that can not understand sothing basic without getting thrashed? Do you have no fucking decency?" Maria stated as she punched him again.
Bam...
Jamie looked at Jaden, tears in the corners of his eyes, and seeing this, Jaden turned to look at the garden outside. It was strangely beautiful at the mont.
"I like your garden, Big sis."
Hearing him, Maria stopped and looked at him with a confused look as she responded.
"Hmm? But I’ve already tri— oh! Yeah. It’s beautiful, right?"
Jaden thought that he had heard sothing he wasn’t supposed to, but being the gentleman he was, he didn’t contemplate it.
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