Chapter 165 - Development (8)

(There were some things added on each of the paragraphs which I purposely didn't add on the previous chapter.)

"Stand up. It's not like I'm doing this because I want to help you or something, you just looked stupid sitting on the ground," He said and averted his gaze just like he usually does.

Alexandra snapped out from her thoughts and she was pulled back to reality. She accepted his help and she was able to stand although there was this pain on her knee, an aching pain and she couldn't help but squeeze her eyes shut because of it as she groaned. God, so much for just giving him these cookies. This is probably why I can't stand up earlier. I hope it didn't get destroyed or something when I tripped, she thought to herself. Instead of worrying about herself and the wound on her knee, she was worried about the cookies that she will give him. What if he doesn't accept it because it got destroyed when I tripped?

"How stupid are you, getting a wound like that just by tripping, come with me, I am going to heal it," Her brother said when he noticed that there was blood flowing down her knee coming from her wound. His eyebrows were knitted and there was a frown on his face when he saw the wound on Alexandra's knee.

But Alexandra immediately protested and insisted that she would just go to Rowan right after this since she is just here to give him a cookie. She also told him that it doesn't hurt at all and that was a lie, it feels like a bottle of ethyl alcohol was poured on her wound because of the pain that she was feeling. It was just a wound, a scrape because she tripped but why was it hurting so much? Was it because of the dirt or the small bead-like rocks on the ground that added to the pain and wound?

However, her brother just stared at her with his eyebrows furrowed, not removing the frown placed on his lips. "Just shut up. Rowan is not here today, he is doing a task outside the palace. It would be hard to find the other palace healers since there are only a few of them. Besides, this is just a small wound, it's not like I can't heal it," He said and he forced Alexandra to sit down the chair before he kneeled. He could completely see the wound on his knee and it was quite deep, is a girl's skin really this delicate? To think that she would have a deep wound on her knees just because she tripped

He remembered one of his female classmates (he only has a few of them since its rare for females to have a high amount of mana and it's mostly boys who have) that fainted while they were doing their training about mana and magic. They were having a duel and the girl fainted in the middle of it, it was probably because of exhaustion but she didn't even last longer than 10 minutes while fighting. Girls are probably weak and fragile that's why they get exhausted very easily yet this girl in front of me keeps following me and my brothers non-stop.

He placed his hands in front of the wound while they were multiple thoughts inside her head. "Heal," he said and just with that one word, something glowed the gap between her knee and the palm of his hands. Alexandra stared at it with amazement in her eyes. This is the second time that somebody healed her, the first one was Rowan. Although Rowan's felt cool and refreshing, Chandler's felt warm and ticklish yet it was gentle as if her wound was gently being caressed.

In just a blink of an eye, the wound was already gone.

"Amazing…" She said as she stared at her knee. Even the blood the trickled down her leg was also gone. "It's nothing really," His brother said and he stood up. He stared at Alexandra who was staring at her now fully-healed knee. There was a bright expression on her face and her lips were curled up into a smile. Chandler gulped. Before, he was mean to her and every time he sees her, he experiences this kind of pain in his chest. It was painful and he couldn't breathe. So how? He acted tough and strong around her and showed how much he hated her. So why? His guard was always raised when he is around her, thinking that she was a horrible person and that she is a witch.

When did he start to become soft and care for her? When did he raise his guard down when she is around him? Was it because she keeps on following me around and giving me those artifacts which I really like? That's probably not the reason, I wouldn't easily give in because of that. I'm sure it was a completely different reason yet I don't know why, he thought to himself and he let out a sigh. As if he found himself in the middle of a case and he was the detective.

-- "N-No! I hate her, so I would probably be g-glad that she w-wouldn't c-come today"

"What are you so nervous about?"

"It's nothing, I just remembered what father and Brother Gilbert told me before,"

"What about Gilbert? I can only recall the one with father while we were having breakfast,"

"Should we trust her?"

"That's what father told us to do, to just be patient and spend some time with her even though it would be short, and try to get close to her,"

"B-But—"

"Father also said that it was one of what mother wanted, that even if it was a girl or if it was a boy born with a disease or something, let's treat him or her as siblings. That was what our mother wanted and wished,"

"Are you really going to trust her?"

"I'll try to get to know her first and judge her by how she acted but based from how she treated us for the past few days, it seems like she doesn't resent us even when I treated her harshly and she looks innocent,"

"That's weird coming from your mouth, you would always badmouth her before but now… you're sort of… soft,"

"Shut up, I'm trying to be an understanding brother. That is also what our mother and father wished and told me before. One of the responsibilities of the eldest sibling is to take care of his or her younger siblings. I am just trying to do my responsibilities, although I still hate her,"

"Hmm…"

"And you too, act maturely and stop arguing with Christian. You two are siblings, try to get along with him,"

"I don't want to,"

"You just don't know how to,"

"Of course I do! I just refuse to get along with him even with that girl,"

"Even when she gave you the things that you've been looking for since last year?"

"W-Well, I still hate her! Argh, I just don't want to get along with either of them,"

"And your reason is?"

"I'm not telling you,"

"You tsundere,"

The feeling when he is around with his brother, Calixander, was completely different when he is around Alexandra. He looked up to his brother and adored him, it was like he was his idol and he was his number 1 fan. He wanted to help her brother and would always listen to him. He does whatever he tells him to do without hesitation except for killing someone but he doubts her brother would even ask him to do that. The way he protects them from danger and would be willing to sacrifice anything just to protect them was incredible and amazing. Even with that cold and intimidating persona, he was still a protective and caring brother. He was willing to follow him.

But when he is around Alexandra, he has this comfortable feeling as if he was relieved that she was there. It was weird, truly weird. The fact that she is the girl that he hated for years when he learned about her existence through Cortez who blabbered and when her brother told her about her while there was hatred in his eyes, it feels weird suddenly being comfortable and soft around her.

--"You still haven't gotten close to her, right? Why are you making such assumptions? Did anything bad happen after she got close with father? It doesn't mean that something completely unexpected happened, doesn't mean that it is a bad thing. You will never know if she was a bad thing or not because you still completely don't know her."

--"Aside from that, her attitude and personality are likable and better than yours,"

"Brother, are you okay?" Alexandra's voice called out to him, cutting off his train of thoughts as he returned to reality. He was in a daze and he was staring at somewhere. "W-What?"

"Somehow, your expression became more annoyed than before. If I may ask, what were you thinking about?" Alexandra asked in a gentle tone of voice. "Mind your own business. Anyways, didn't you tell me that you are going to give me something?" He said and Alexandra suddenly remembered the cookies. She checked if it was still okay and not broken into pieces, relief washed over her when she saw that all of it were still intact and fine. "Here, these are cookies. I don't know if you liked cookies though," Alexandra said as she handed to him the bag which he stared at for a few seconds. Doubting her and it seems like his expression was asking her if these are safe.

Nevertheless, he still took it from her. "Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"Doing what?"

"Giving me those precious artifacts which I don't know where you found and now, you are giving me cookies," Even though he already knows the answer to that question, he still asked. It would be much better if he heard it come out from her mouth so that he can confirm it or something. The reason was probably the same as Christian's.

"What do you mean? Didn't I already tell you that I want to change what you think about me? I even followed you when you left the library and you got angry because I kept on calling you out without saying anything," Alexandra responded, her lips were pursed into a thin line after she spoke. Right, that challenge, he thought to himself and nodded.

"And by the way, brother, you shouldn't overwork yourself. I saw how hard you trained earlier and it was amazing although it seems like you didn't take a break judging by how much you were sweating early during this morning. You probably started a few hours ago before I arrived," Alexandra said as if she was scolding him. That triggered a memory inside him.

"If you overwork yourself, you might collapse and get sick, you know? Even though I already know that you are strong and tough even when you are still just a few years older than me. Eat those cookies and take a break," Alexandra said and she smiled widely at him. Worry lacing her tone of voice as she spoke. He was like their father who always stays in that office of his, buried with a mountain of paperwork, he has his own assistant yet he doesn't ask him for any help? He either sleeps late or doesn't sleep at all, I'm amazed that he could still last without sleeping for 3 days.

Alexandra would do that sometimes in her previous life when she has many things to do but she could only last for a day. It was completely unexpected that she died from an accident and not by working too much where she would have only an hour of sleep. That was already enough for her.

Chandler stared at Alexandra. Somehow, her smile resembled her mother's.