小嫂子的味道

"Couldn\'t it be a coincidence? Or maybe one of those three boys who bullied you sent the letter? And if you are talking about Leon, well, I was the one who sent him there," I claimed.

You can say that I was manipulating her in a way even if it was indirect, but really I don\'t want to do it. Manipulating my family is something I\'ve set off limits but here…it was for her own good.

I won\'t mind breaking the rules if it will benefit her in the future.

"S-So, what you are saying is…that I shouldn\'t trust that letter?" asked Anya as he stared at me in need of an answer.

"Precisely; you should not care about such things. Just imagine the person who sent that letter to you as a prank is now watching and laughing at you since you are falling into his game which was so easy to detect. What will he think of you?"

"But, I had to do it; even if it was nothing but a prank. I mean, your life was on the line!" she exclaimed.

"First of all, I don\'t understand why you are so fixated on saving my life. I am not even your real brother; if this happened in the past then I could\'ve related but now? Now you know my real identity…there should not be a reason for you to care about my life that much."

Maybe there was. Maybe just like I thought of her as my sister even if she wasn\'t in reality, probably she had similar thoughts about me. Still, going this far for someone who isn\'t even from the same world, leave being from the same family…I don\'t think that makes any sense.

Even if it does I can\'t understand.

Her expression darkened as I said those words; could it be that she was hurt because I denied the only relationship we had?

"And even if you do care about my life for some reason I don\'t know, isn\'t it a bit naïve of you to think someone can kill me? When you know what I am capable of?" I posed her with a question.

At the same time, on top of the index finger of my right hand, I created a small shard of ice. As the shard materialized I showed it to Anya while being careful that no one other than her can see it.

She stared at the shard for a while and then back at me, "Even so! How can you be so sure about it? That no one can defeat you? And you are saying this without knowing the power of your opponent," she claimed.

"I can say with absolute surety that no one other than Leon can beat me in a one-on-one. You better carve it deep in your mind, so that you don\'t go falling into others\' pranks like this ever again," I declared.

I was 100% boasting here. There are a number of students who can beat me at this academy. I think if I didn\'t use my magic and fought only with the sword then any class A student will be able to defeat me with ease if their rank is anywhere near me.

Not being able to use magiken drops my chances of winning by a landslide. There are only my magic abilities that I am confident of; nothing else.

"Well…i-if you say so. I guess I\'ll believe you for now. But let me ask this again! Are you really, really sure that that letter is a prank and not real?" she appealed as she leaned forward as if trying to intimidate me.

"Yes, I am sure of it."

\'Sigh, am I done here now?\'

The way I was handling Anya was so careless, so much that she can find the holes in my words if she gained her composure. I\'m well aware of that fact.

But the thing is, I don\'t have much time in hand. Just in a day, I was going to get killed; no matter how much I try to stay calm, no matter how much of a poker face I keep with a relaxed and blank expression.

In reality, I was panicking badly from the inside. Even if I had already planned everything out; I was sure that there was no way I can die. I can\'t help but panic.

I mean, just a little miscalculation, and everything will come to an end. I am not that worried about my death but if I died then so will my parents and Anya from the upcoming calamity.

Maybe that\'s why I made a rash move here.

\'I\'m more amazed than anyone else that this worked out.\'

"So? Will you stop trying to force a relationship with Leon? I don\'t have any problem if you really want to be friends with him, I just don\'t want you to force yourself. I was observing you for the past few days and you looked like you were in pain."

She thought over my question for a while as she finished her cup of tea. Then placing the cup on the table she looked me in the eye. "Okay, I won\'t be doing it anymore. And you are right, I\'m not interested in being friends with Leon," she replied.

Maybe I smiled a little? It was a smile of satisfaction and relief probably, but it was only in my mind.

From yesterday, I was not letting a single shred of emotion come out of my face. Why? I think I know the reason for this…My life was in danger, that\'s why my that persona was surfacing again.

\'Right now, other than the survival of me and my family, nothing else matters. I\'ll destroy and erase everything that will get in my way, indifferent to what or who it is. Even if I had to bend the original plot, I\'ll do it; it was going to change after I dodged my death anyway.\'

Yeah, that was it. I\'d be willing to do anything, right now at this moment. Other than my family nothing else matters.