Chapter 20: Confession

My sister caught me keeping secrets from our family, and she wanted me to discuss it with her. She invited me to her room as our meeting place tonight.

After our conversation earlier, we proceeded to the music room and performed our final rehearsal of our duet. We danced and behaved like normal, and her behavior around people was also normal.

But when there's no one around, her sharp eyes keep glaring at me like a stalker. She also keeps reminding me to come to her room tonight, over and over again.

We did not talk much during and after dinner. We continued our daily activities until it was time to sleep. That was the right moment to come over to my sister's room.

Clad in my sleepwear, I silently opened my room's door and peeked out my head. I looked around my surroundings and confirmed that there was no one awake.

(Good.)

I slightly opened it enough for my whole body to pass through and closed it silently. I already activated the Soundless Skill beforehand to cancel the noises of my movements.

I turned my feet to the right and walked along the dark corridor. I approached the door next to mine, my sister's private room. There was another door beyond, and that was our parents' love nes—private quarters.

Anyway, I am standing in front of my sister's room right now. Despite the dark corridor, I can see things like it is still morning. This is because I activated the Nocturnal subskill of the Monarch of the Night.

(You can do this.)

I am motivating myself as I am staring sternly at the wooden door. Sneaking into a woman's private space was a bad idea in the first place. If I get caught here, who knows what's going to happen to me?

Knock, knock.

"Sister. It's me, Raphael."

I knocked on the door twice and introduced myself to the person behind it. It would be rude if I just waltzed in without permission, especially if it's a woman's room.

"The door's open. Come in."

A girl's voice gave me permission to enter the room. I twisted the doorknob and slowly opened the door.

"Pardon my intrusion."

"Close the door and lock it."

I slowly closed and locked the door as she said. The room was quite dark as the lights under the ceiling were turned off. The only things that gave light in this dark room were the dim lampshade and the moonlight that passed through the opened curtains.

The room was filled with various ornaments. Full-body mirror; dresser; desk; cabinet; etc. There was a door on the right adjacent to the mirror, which was her wardrobe. Our rooms do not have their own bathrooms, so we have to wash ourselves in the bathhouse.

"So you have come."

"I have a word, sister."

My sister was already sitting at the foot of the bed, waiting for me. I have fulfilled my promise to come to her room, and now I have to tell her my secrets.

"Please take a seat."

"I appreciate your kindness."

I approached the chair she pointed at and took a seat on it. It was the seat for the table behind me, and my sister had already prepared it beforehand.

"Forward closer."

I moved my chair closer to the bed as she instructed. So close that our knees only create a close gap and are almost touching each other.

"You looked great in our dress tonight."

"Hmph. I'm glad you noticed it. I am wearing my favorite nightdress just for you."

"Is that so?"

My sister right now was wearing a see-through white negligee. It did not hide the red lingerie that covered her voluptuous breasts. Now that I think about it, she has a better body than I originally thought. I already saw her in a nightdress, but not this close.

"You keep staring at them again."

"I'm sorry. I lost myself in thought."

"Hmph. Then, can you open yourself up to me now?"

"Yes." I answered her question without hesitation.

"Then, you are now allowed to elaborate yourself."

"Thank you. But before we start, I have something to say first. The things that I will be saying might be absurd and hard for you to understand. It might change how you look at me, and that could ruin our relationship. Are you sure you want to listen to my darkest secrets that might ruin our family.?"

"I am certain. Whatever you say, you are my only little brother. I am sure that you had reasons for keeping your secrets until now. And I will accept you no matter what. I am also curious about these absurd secrets of yours."

"Thank you for your understanding, sister."

Confirming that she will listen to my stories, I will not hold back on revealing the details I should reveal. This is not because I was ordered by my sister; I did it of my own free will.

I am tired of keeping secrets from my family. I wanted to at least tell one of them about myself. I'll start with my sister first since she's special to me. 

"Okay, I will start now. First things first, do you know about the First Pope, the Demon Lord, the Hero, and probably the Mother of Arts?"

"Hmm? Yeah. Almost everyone knew about them, right? The First Pope who found the Primaria Theocracy, the Demon Lord who invaded almost half the continent, the Hero who defeated the said Demon Lord, and the Mother of Arts who greatly improved our current sense of art. So, what about them?"

"Had you noticed what they had in common?"

"What did they have in common? Like they had great contributions to the world?"

"Other than that, like the things that historians and theorists noticed about their existence."

"Theory..." sister put her fingers under her chin and thought for a while, "Ah! Historians and theorists noticed that they appeared once every five hundred years. They their own uniqueness like vast wisdom, immense power, remarkable skills, and limitless imagination."

"Precisely. Can you please tell me how old the Mother of Arts is this year?"

"This year is 988... Mother of Arts was born on year 475... 988 subtracted by 475 is 513... the former queen is going to be five hundred thirteen years old this year."

"Subtract it with my age."

"That's gonna be five hundred. Wait a minute—is this the reason why you asked about those extraordinary people? Are you telling me that you are... one of them...?"

"That's right, my sister. I am one of those extraordinary people that will be born every five hundred years."

"Y-you are telling the truth, right?"

"I know it's hard to believe and you still have doubts, but it's all true. I was chosen by the Goddess and got reincarnated in this world."

"I see... Let me think a little bit."

"I understand."

Sister looked like she could not comprehend the things that she just heard. Of course, my story was just too absurd to immediately believe. Hearing this from her own relative must have left her thunderstruck.

"Phew. That takes too much mental energy to just absorb it in my mind. Is there more to it than anything?"

"There are many things that I want to discuss. And you can ask me anything that you don't understand."

"Okay, I'll start asking now. What does it mean to be chosen? What do you mean, got reincarnated?"

"But before I answer your questions, I have something to tell you. There are worlds other than ours.

"Other worlds? Does it really exist?"

"Yes. And I once lived in one of those worlds."

"I don't understand."

"It means that every five hundred years, a wandering soul from my former world is chosen to be reincarnated in this world with their memories intact. And I was the chosen soul of this era."

"Soul?"

Sister once again got confused by the complexity of my words. Suddenly, learning new things increased the load on her mind. Her brain had already reached the limit of her understanding and began to metaphorically overload, then explode.

"Can your mind still withstand the suddenness of our discussion? If not, let's postpone it and discuss it later."

"No, Raphael. I want to learn more about you, right here, right now," she declared.

"Then I'll continue. Like I said before, I once lived in another world but died in an accident. Luckily, my soul got chosen and got reborn in this world. But before my reincarnation, the Goddess granted me the abilities that I needed to survive in this world, and she told me that I could live as much as desired."

"I see. I get the gist of it. That was the reason why those reincarnated people were powerful, intelligent, and talented: they had their memories and had obtained the skills they desired. It means that you got those rare and convenient skills from the Goddess, right?"

"Right. That is correct."

Not only was she stunning and beautiful, but she also had sharp thinking and an observant mind. No reserved memories or even photographic memory—just pure intelligence and wit. Our expected of the product of our mothers' genes.