Chapter 4 ~My Lovely Kiera~

Lea couldn't help but think that the environment in her house felt somewhat unusual.

Ma's voice came in, "You're here, my child?" Lea shuddered and couldn't understand why the voice was filled with sadness with a tint of joy.

"Y-yeah. I'm back. Sorry if I worried you. Wait... Brother!! you're back?!" Lea soon forgot the tension when she saw her brother sitting on the sofa and jumped on him. Leon caught her while she snuggled and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Hey, hey. Calm down, my girl." He laughed and kissed her cheek, then continued, "But why are you wearin--Oof!" Chryseis bumped him.

"Hm? What?" Lea questioned.

"Oh, nothing."

Leon put her down.

"Why are you coming now? You should have returned as soon as you got out of the gate. More than that, you should have at least informed us that you are going to raid a gate, and with only Rae?" Raion said it with a serious tone.

"Those siblings made me have dinner at their guild." Lea's face drooped. "I'm sorry, papa. But if I had told you, then you wouldn't have let me raid the gate. That's why I asked Zecora to handle all the paperwork." Then she muttered, "But I never requested him to inform Papa about this..."

"He couldn't have done all that paperwork without my help, as Azad Market is in our territory,"

Shit, she forgot...

"My beloved daughter, do whatever comes to your mind. I'll let you do whatever you want." Raion's voice sounded tattered, then Chryseis's voice attached to him, "So please... please..."

"Don't wake up and find yourself in trouble anymore, please." Leon completed the string, and all three of them hugged Lea. Her heartbeat fastened, and her throat went dry. She was stunned. What happened to her family? Why are they so emotional?

"We're sorry, Lea. You're the only one we have left."

"What happened? Why are you all talking like this?" A silence fell.

"Ugh..." Raion made a disgusted face.

"What?"

"First, get rid of these clothes," Chryseis whined.

"Why the hell do they smell of Zecoaaaaahhhouch!!" Leon barked but was again jabbed by Chryseis.

Lea flustered as she couldn't think of any excuse but before she could make anything up, Chryseis ordered her to go to her room. Raion and Leon just kept glaring at those clothes.

The three of them saw her until the door of her room shut.

"We can't tell her about what we have done." Leon looked at his trembling hand with a frown and eyes on the verge of tears. Raion and Chryseis squeezed their son's hand and said, "It's a burden we all have to carry, unknown to Lea, and we will take this truth till the day we die. Don't worry, child. She won't find anything about it."

After some moments, Raion said, "But did you sense it? Lea got stronger from a single raid, but she is weaker than her usual self."

***

"It's been a hectic day. I hope Ma and Papa didn't realise that my rank has gone down. Author, you can come out."

Author appeared in a second as if she was hiding in the air.

"Your family is much more powerful than I expected, Lea. They must have sensed it, but they can't particularly tell that your rank has gone down. By the way, I read your memories."

Lea stared at Author for a few moments, then smiled. "So? What did you find out?"

"Nothing important. Are you familiar with the term 'regression'?"

"What about it?"

"The thing is, I got information that two certain people in Hiraeth are regressors."

Lea flinched.

Questions were hurled inside her tiny brain.

What...? regressors? Who might be the regressor? What if it's me? No, no. It can't be. But if this world is written by Author, then everything will unfold just like it's written... If it's written, then that means it's a book. What if someone's reading it? Are they real people in a distant, real world? But that means I'm just a fake. I'm...fake? Ugh, I should not panic...

Lea took a deep breath.

"You must be puzzled, but this was the only information I got. No, I think there was one more. It said, Every world meets its end with a *thud*."

"What does that mean?" Lea asked while drinking water.

"I think every world that I've created ends with a thud noise. It said that the main character of the world is the only person who can hear this. So with this, I think we can find the main character of Hiraeth. If we befriend them, then we can get more answers about this."

"What do you mean? I must be the main character because I have an OP skill, which is you. This is the regular setting for a main character." Lea spilled the facts.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Author said this in disbelief.

"Come on. There's always a possibility."

"I know, but..." Author started flying into the room. She does that when she is concentrating on something. Lea looked at her, thought of something, and then said, "Come here, girl. Sit on my lap."

Author stopped and stared at her. Soon she landed and sat on Lea's lap.

"What?" She asked.

"You're such a cute kid. I thought that I should change your name. Would you like an Indian one? You know, because we are in India."

"Anything but short and simple."

"Kiera. How about it? Do you like your new name?" Lea said as she ran her hands through the little girl's hair. She just innocently nodded.

"Can I get up from your lap now?"

"Pft! Why are you even asking that? Yes, you can. You can vanish or just fly, but don't get out of my room, okay?" Kiera nodded.

"I'm going to change these clothes. Who cares about washing? I wanted to wear these for at least three days. Such a shame." Kiera cringed at how smitten Lea was with Zecora's clothes. As she was changing, Kiera asked, "What about the appointment with Zecora? It looked all weird to me."

"Ha? You wandered through my memories, but you didn't realise what that was?"

"Unfortunately, no," Kiera said, shrugging.

"You'll soon find out about that." Lea let out a chuckle, and then something came to her mind, "Wait.. talking about the appointment... It is tomorrow at 4 a.m., right? I have to go to sleep, or else I will wake up late! You should sleep too!" Lea finished changing and jumped on the fluffy bed.

"Come here. Your status window said that you would also grow like ordinary humans starting now. So you'll also have to follow human habits. Now come here and sleep with me."

Kiera obediently landed on the bed, which surprised Lea, as she was always hesitant from the start. Lea gave her the clothes she used to wear as a child. Both of them were lying beside each other when Kiera said, "From looking into your memories, I can say that Zecora's got a personality similar to Sung Hyunjae. His sister, Rae's got the likeness of Han Sooyoung, though their faces are like polar opposites."

Lea looked at her and smiled. "I don't know about Sung Hyunjae because I didn't read until that, but he must be a good person because Zecora's got a really good personality."

'No, he doesn't. You don't know Zecora very well, Lea. You just don't know... I've only seen him one time but I can completely sense that this Zecora guy is a Red Flag.' Kiera thought. She didn't say this to Lea.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Anyway, about Rae, Han Sooyoung and she are not alike in some ways."

After some moments, Kiera said, "Could she be the main character or the regressor?"

"I don't think she is the main character, but there is a possibility that she could be a regressor." Lea answered, then patted her cheeks, "More or less, I will raise you like my own child now. And I'll introduce you to my family tomorrow. Do you want me to sing a lullaby for you?" Lea gave an angelic smile. Kiera looked at her and smiled.

She just has to pamper Kiera to make her listen. She'll slowly make a place in her heart. Well, even if she doesn't, Kiera can't escape her. No skill can escape from its user's body unless the user agrees to it.

My dearest author and my sweet creator, my Kiera, you are bonded to me with shackles which can't be broken ever. So, don't even think about escaping your master in your entire lifetime...

The corner of Lea's lips stretched into a smile.

***

"Something like this happened, and Lea didn't even tell me... She must be suffering too much." Rae drooped.

"So, that's the end of my story. Now tell me yours." Zecora said.

"Ugh... I feel like I shouldn't have thought about trading secrets with you, brother."

"Oh, please don't regret your decision, cockroach," Zecora replied with seriousness dripping from his eyes. Rae glared at her brother but couldn't overpower him.

"So the thing is..."

~ To be continued.

-My fav lines-

Ugh... I feel like I shouldn't have thought about trading secrets with you, brother.

Oh, please don't regret your decision, cockroach.