Exposed secret

"Brother Demien." Called Kyle when he saw his big brother passed by the room area, half-whispering. 

"What?" He halted. Blinked at Kyle who waved at him suspiciously. 

"I found something amusing." 

He kept his eyes glued to his brother as he strode. 

They walked towards one of the rooms which 'coincidentally' was in the middle between them both. And we know who the room was. He shot a warning gaze at him as they stood in front of the door. 

"Inside Elizebeth's room regretfully." He added. Put a bitter smile.

Demien arched his brow. 

He blinked, yeeted his guilty face that flashed on the face, "look, brother, I have a perfect reason for this. Just trust me."

"You have the perfect reason for trespassing our little sister's room without her consent? That's rich coming from you." 

"Hardly. I have reasons." 

His stoic face didn't convince. "She's not even present in the room."

"Brother…" He stammered. "You have to see what I saw." He pleaded.

"Saw? What a strange word you use to justify your action. Rummaging in the unoccupied room without the owner's knowledge, what punishment should I carry out?" He folded his arm and one hand rubbed his chin. 

Kyle smiled at him and leaned against the door at his side. "My action may be unsavory to some rigid human sapiens, I have my interest still. I apologize for this. Your fragile ego didn't care enough for her-" 

He shifted his gaze, sharpened. 

"Fine…" Kyle sighed. "But I'm not giving up. You need to see this." He pestered him without giving up. He needed to move faster before Elizebeth returned from her outing.

Demien flickered his long eyelashes, thinking deep. "Only this time." He gave in at last. His brother was so hellbent to show him something. He had to listen even though they broke inside her sister's room. 

"Marvelous." Kyle pushed himself from the door and pushed the door without a second thought. Entering the room as if he owns it.

Demien came inside a second later with a long fed up sigh. His eyes studied the interior design of his sister's bedroom and the description of Elizebeth's knights of her room was spot on.

The knights told him her room lacked a princess touch but sprinkled with power hunger rich princess. And he's proud to say he's proud of the fabulous interior.

Kyle ambled straight to her study desk and leaned against it. His hand propped his body. "Brother. May I show you something?" He sounded ecstasy. 

Demien focused back on Kyle, walked languidly next to him. "That's the whole point we break-in." 

He proceeded with grabbing the red like a blood book laid solely on the desk as if its practice 'pick me, choose me, read me like one of your complicated beautiful victorian girl' slogan without the consent of the owner. 

"No." Demien held his hand, stopping him from overstepping the boundaries even further than it was supposed. "Break in her room is bad enough, now we go through her stuff too?" 

Kyle smiled vilely, "this diary is the whole reason we are breaking in…" 

Demien tightened the grip on Kyle's arm. 

Kyle didn't elaborate and waited. Descriptions weren't really his forte, anyway. Demien didn't ask more. 

Demien knew better than to demand an answer from his brother when they were both in an awkward position. He's having a hard time focusing on either, the fact they were breaking into her room or to read the flipping book.

He put down his hand, gestured his brother to continue. 

Kyle gave him a brilliant smile that made Demien feel terrible for allowing him to do what he wanted. "Please read the diary from this page until this." He shoved the opened diary to his brother's face. 

Demien took the book, not sure what he's doing with it, but Kyle's eyes convinced him to start reading it. Then, he read it half-hearted. Just to fulfill the obligation. Not until he was invested in every word, every syllabus Elizebeth wrote.

Her diary was triggering for him and apparently to Kyle too. He narrowly avoided tearing off the paper, mostly because he was aware it was not his diary but his sister. 

"This…" He put down the diary after he finished almost half of it. Decided to put it down before he lost his sanity. 

"Yes," Kyle admitted. Already sat at the edge of the bed. Propped his hand under his chin. "She knew the future."

"The dream she had." Demien groaned softly, not enough to carry out from the room. "I would never guess the thought that consumed every inch of her life. And I couldn't…" He shook his head, rubbed his palm on his face roughly. 

"I fairly shocked myself." Kyle huffed. Ruffled his black hair. The thought of Elizebeth's suffered alone consumed him. 

"I couldn't imagine it. She is the only one who knows the future. She carries the burden ever since. The action she took, she had taken and will be taking, she'd calculated…" He let out a mixed sound, a groan of disappointment and moan of annoyance as he put the diary back to its original place. 

"Half of the pages were all about us." 

Demien leaned his waist against the table. "She was not as innocent as we thought. In her head, she had crafted thousands of plans to help us. Forming the alliance with the king, entering the magic forest, reconnecting with our aunt. I don't know what she's planning but the idea, if she's suffering alone, makes me want to murder somebody." 

Kyle's locked his mouth. A smile with a hint of dissatisfaction appeared on his face. The voice that came out of his mouth just now was neither sweet nor pleasant. The contents were vicious too. 

"She changed since she had those dreams. She was more mature than usual ever since. I should've guessed then." Demien mumbled. 

"She was the one who can get away with being cocky just because she was Elizebeth. But she was exceptionally skilled for a five-year-old kid. Even if she got on our nerves… She is Elizebeth. She had a pass…" Kyle couldn't think straight. 

"She is selfless." Demien gestured to Kyle to get out of her room as she would be returned at any minute. The outing was not as long as she told him previously. 

"She trusts her dream. She treats it as a valuable piece of information. She did all the hard work by herself, and we don't cooperate enough." He remembered the day she begged them to enter the magic forest. 

"I never told her about mother's origin." Confessed Demien. It shocked him when Elizebeth's smirked at him as if she knew something before. It turned out, she did know something. 

"And how did she know about that? Of course inside her dream." Kyle strode towards the living room together with Demien side by side after tidying up the bedroom back to its original to erase their trace. 

"She knew we hated or at least thought we hated magic forest, she had to swallow her pride to make us agree." Demien found the couch in the living room, waved the servants away as they greeted both of them while passed by. 

"She did it for mother and the future. The explanatory variable of the action she'd taken was writing in detail in the diary. Reconnecting to the magic forest was her second move." 

"Is it safe to say she had the king's weakness?" 

"I believe so. She states 'the chain of the king has been fastened, the key is inside my hand, the swordlike spellbinding us together, may the future be in the hand of the savior.' though it is bizarre for both of us." 

Both Demien and Kyle locked their mouths. Went into deep thinking, ignoring the commotion from outside the mansion. The arrival of Elizebeth in the mansion stirred chaos as usual as the servants lined up from the carriage door until at the front door. They acted like Elizebeth was some sort of VVIP. 

"Brothers. Hi." Her face was radiant to see both of her brothers inside the living room in deep thought.

The sudden cheerful voice filled the living room and jolted them. They snapped their necks to her, gulped in shock. Demien's eyes wavered though wore a stoic face while Kyle smiled like usual but the lips twitched and she saw both of the awkward covers. She didn't raise the issue, however. 

"What's going on, brothers?" The lovely lady tilted her head at a side, smiled cheerfully. 

Even though she was wearing a wrinkled gown because of the previous activity and her gown was easily wrinkled, she gave off an aura of sophistication. Even the ridiculous messy ribbon and worn out face didn't hinder her good looks. It reminded both Kyle and Demien that beauty truly could be wasted. 

"Is there something wrong, brothers?" The happy face slowly loosens and form a slight frown. She ambled towards them and checked the temperature of their forehead respectively both of them. 

"Lize… you never tell us anything-" Kyle cut himself off when Demien's arms tightened around him, pressing his lips into a tight line, evidently frustrated. He closed his eyes and simply breathed for a full five seconds. "It's nothing," he said when he deemed himself calm enough, rubbed his palm all over her face. 

Elizebeth furrowed her brow in confusion. "Yes? Did Elizebeth do something wrong without her knowing? Can brothers tell me what it is so Elizebeth can fix it?" She became anxious. 

Demien frowned and quickly took Elizebeth inside his arms as he shot a warning gaze to his brother. "Nothing Elizebeth. Nothing." He kissed her head. His words were simple but powerful to both of them. Though Elizebeth didn't understand anything, she kept quiet and enjoyed the spoiled session with her brothers.