Chapter 23
Aeliana could faintly hear the conversation that was happening as she walked closer and closer.
"Heyyy this is boring!!"
"Then you can leave first Marius."
"But I don't want to be left out!"
"Now now Marius, why not read a book? There's one about swords here."
"Brother Claud you have been giving me the same book twice already. Why not we stack the books until it drops!"
"Marius that's dangerous..."
"You too Darius? What kind of twin brother are you!"
'Marius is loud as always.' she thought to herself, laughing internally.
Aeliana paused her footsteps and wondered to herself; should she meet them or not?
As much as she wanted to be closer to them, she didn't want to force anything to happen. Only the twins were comfortable with her and probably would not mind if she was there. But her brothers Leon and Claud? A huge no.
She peeked a bit at her brothers who were all sitting at the table, chatting and laughing once in a while. The vision of her siblings from her first life lightly clashed with the present moment. It was all so familiar to her yet she couldn't go close at all.
She felt a slight sting in her chest. She too wanted to be there with them laughing and talking, spending time with one another.
Aeliana chewed on her bottom lip as she continued getting lost in her thoughts.
'Perhaps it's better if I don't go there.'
That was the final decision she had made and turned her heels, preparing to head back to her usual seat at the front of the library.
"Hm? Aeliana, is that you?" a soft tone voice spoke out.
The chatters at the table she heard died out, leaving only silence and four stares directly at her. Aeliana, stumbled by this unexpected situation, slowly turned her head towards them and gave a sheepish smile.
"....Hello brothers.."
A long silence fell and they all stared at her. Aeliana awkwardly stood there with a book in her hand. Neither of them said a word nor moved which made her uncomfortable.
"S—sorry for intruding.." she finally muttered with a quick bow before proceeding to leave the situation she was in.
"Where are you going?" Leon suddenly spoke.
She paused her footsteps and puzzledly glanced at him.
"Huh?"
"Come sit here, Aeliana." Darius gently spoke, pulling a chair out beside him.
"Oh—uh it's okay..."
"You're already here, just take a seat." Leon coldly said, shaking his head.
Aeliana glanced at Claud who had a frown between his brows, extremely displeased but didn't say anything. Slowly, she took a seat beside Darius and fiddled with her fingers. Her eyes couldn't stay still and continued glancing around, finding something to look at even if it was for a mere second.
'Even the floors suddenly look so interesting..'
"You've cut your hair..." she heard Darius's soft voice, bringing her gaze up from the floor.
She turned to him and nodded. As she touched the ends of her hair, she said, "Does..it look bad?"
Darius stared and before he could reply, Marius spoke first.
"It looks weird...in a good way!" he said, trying to cover up his first words.
"I think it suits you well." Darius smiled, brushing out her hair.
Claud scoffed and looked down at his book, "It's ugly." he stated rudely.
Aeliana didn't really care about his opinion and turned to the twins instead, "Thank you brother Marius and brother Darius."
"Ugh, hearing you say brother makes me sick." Claud fake gagged before snickering.
"Right, brother?"
Leon side-eyed Claud and proceeded to look at Aeliana. She could feel his gaze drilling into her head as his eyes fixated on her hair.
"Brother you don't need to keep staring at her, she looks terrible with that hair—"
"It looks good on you," Leon commented, cutting Claud off.
Aeliana and Claud gaped at Leon, both for different reasons.
"Thank you..."
"What did you just say brother!?"
Claud glared at Aeliana before exclaiming out loud as he pointed his finger at her, "You look extremely hideous with that hair!"
Aeliana wasn't fazed by his words which angered him even more. He huffed and stormed away, not without yanking a bit of her hair as he left.
"Ow.." Aeliana hissed from the pain, rubbing the spot in a circular motion.
"Aeliana are you okay?" Darius asked frantically.
"Brother Claud shouldn't have done that," Marius muttered under his breath as he glanced at her once in a while.
"I'm fine," she answered with a small smile.
Aeliana was kinda regretting her choice of taking a seat with them.
"I'll talk to Claud and tell him not to do it next time." Leon promptly spoke, looking straight at her.
Baffled by Leon wanting to help her, she nodded with wide eyes, "Thank you."
He furrowed his brows together, "Thank you what?"
She blinked, unsure of what he meant. She tilted her head to the side and asked; "What do you mean?"
Leon heaved a big sigh before getting up and leaving the library. Aeliana had the most puzzled look on her face as he left.
Aeliana could confirm that today was a hectic day for her.
***
Claud stormed into his room and groaned in annoyance. He grabbed his pillow from his bed and began swinging it around, hitting the ground with loud mellow-out thumps.
"She's so irritating!!" he yelled as he let out his anger.
After tormenting his poor pillow, he soon calmed down, reducing to only panting heavily. He let out a mischievous laugh.
"I know just the thing to get revenge.."
"Claud, if you're thinking of doing anything stupid let me be clear to you," Leon's voice suddenly echoed as he leaned against the door.
"Brother? Why are you..." Claud trailed off as he realised.
He glared and grumbled out, "Don't tell me you're on her side."
"No, I want you not to cause any trouble." Leon retorted back.
"It's not like you like her either!!"
Leon sighed and shook his head, "Claud, just don't do anything stupid and cause trouble."
With that, Leon left Claud alone. Claud groaned and slammed his door shut. He wasn't going to listen to his older brother's words this time.