Chapter 166 - Development (9)

Hold me close

And hold me fast

This magic spell you cast

This is La Vie En Rose

A sweet and gentle voice filled the whole room and dominated the silence which once surrounded it. A little boy who was sleeping beside her mother slowly fluttered his eyes open as he heard the gentle voice which rang inside his ears. Somehow, the melody danced around the room and the boy who was sleepy was now fully awake as he listened to the voice. But he remained quiet and just listened to her mother's voice, he can clearly imagine what expression she was making while singing. He can't see her face because he was facing down, his head was resting against his arm, and he was sitting on the ground.

He remembered her mother telling him to not sleep while sitting on the ground and resting my head on the couch because that would hurt my neck yet she still just let me be and would just sigh. She would sometimes ask for someone to carry him to his bed but this time, that didn't happen. She must have a happy expression on her face, a tender smile across her lips, and her gaze warm as she stared at her swollen belly. Her mother was pregnant with her 5th child, he will have another sibling even though he already had another sibling last year. But he didn't complain, he was happy since he would have another person to take care of and protect just like how Calixander protects his younger siblings. He wants to teach them how to use and wield a sword too as well as teaching them about magic.

But he is still young so he can't do that as well as his siblings. He was still 3 years old yet he was already having that kind of thought. He still haven't used a sword not even touched one yet. I wonder if they would admire me too. Just the thought of that would make him happy.

When you kiss me

Heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

I see La Vie En Rose

Once again, he heard her mother sing. The song sounded unfamiliar and new to his ears, that's the first time that he heard her song as well as her mother to sing it. He wondered who made that song, maybe her mother was the one who made it. Well, the only songs that he heard were the ones his mother would sing, so he completely couldn't tell if she was the one who made it or she heard it from other people and decided to sing it because it left an impact on her or something.

Nevertheless, the song was so gentle and sweet, it was like he was being comforted.

When you press me to your heart

I'm in a world apart

A world where roses bloom.

And when you speak angels sing from above

Everyday words seem to turn into love song

When his mother was pregnant with her 5th child, every day, she becomes weaker and weaker as if the baby inside her womb were sucking her life force. Sometimes she would suddenly collapse and would be out of breathe while they were walking around the garden, sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night and would vomit. Those were probably one of the effects of pregnancy but that doesn't seem like the case, it was worse than the previous ones. Yet she would just tell them that sometimes it would be like this when being pregnant so they don't have anything to worry about. That's what Calixander would tell Chandler when he would ask him about the condition of their mother.

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be

La Vie En Rose

But she seems perfectly fine as she was singing. Chandler who just woke up from his dream which he can't remember felt sleepy once again as he listened to her mother's voice. It was like a lullaby, her gentle and lovely voice that he could hear rang inside his head loudly telling him to go back to sleep. Chandler could imagine himself sitting in the middle of a vast and empty field where he is the only person there, windy and the sky was filled with clouds that looked soft. The breeze was gentle and it caressed his cheeks.

And when you speak

Angels sing from above

Everyday words seem to turn into love song

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be

La Vie En Rose

His eyelids felt heavy as he was already sleepy while he listened to her sing. And as if on cue, as soon as the song ended, he closed his eyes and he was pulled into a deep slumber.

--

Though Chandler was still just a child back then, he was still able to recall all of his memories and remember everything. That's how impressive and good his memory was, most of the people tend to forget their memories when they were children, mostly when they were 1-3 years old sometimes 4 years old. Yet he was one of those kind people who can remember everything.

It was a blessing, a gift to him, as he was only very young back then when he had memories about his mother. He was 3 years old when their mother died and that was devastating for him, he only spent a few years with his mother and only had a few memories about her. And one thing that he would always recall or remember about her was her smile, it was tender and gentle yet it was bright and warm. It was filled with joy and it was beautiful.

Just like how Alexandra's smile is. It resembled their mother's and there was this squeezing pain in his chest as he stared at it. "Brother, you're spacing out again? Is there some dirt on my face?" Alexandra asked as she noticed her brother just staring at her without saying anything. He snapped out from his trance and he blinked multiple times before he responded to her, "Nothing," Then he looked down on her dress to see that it was still dirty. Alexandra saw him staring at her dress and she also looked down. Ah, it's dirty. How should I tell Diana about this? I still have to give this cookie to Calixander, should I just ask another person to do it? But that's sort of… disrespectful or something because I personally gave the cookies to my other brothers while I asked someone to give these cookies to him.

Wouldn't he think that I'm afraid of him or I don't want to see him? Wouldn't he think that I hate him or something? There were multiple thoughts and questions inside her head as she stared at her dirty dress.

"Your dress…" She heard her brother said and she lifted her gaze to look at him, he was still staring at the dirty spot of the skirt of her dress. It tainted the end of a dark color of brown, this is why she needs to be careful while walking. Carlos would definitely scold me because he would always tell me to be careful, she thought to herself. "You're hopeless," Her brother said and sighed before he kneeled once again. What is he going to do now?

"Brother?" She called out to her.

"What?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Get rid of this dirty spot on your dress, who knows what will your personal knight do? He would probably scold you," Cortez was also like that to him despite his carefree and happy-go-lucky attitude, he would always scold him even with the smallest things. He was more of a butler or assistant rather than a personal knight.

"How would you do that?"

"Just stay still and be quiet, I can't concentrate when you keep asking me some things," He said and Alexandra remained quiet right after. She could clean that with water along with some things and just scrub it against each other but looking around, there is no water everywhere. Wait, is he going to…

Then her guess was correct because just by some simple words, a clear ball of water formed on top of the palm of Chandler's hand. To be able to control water like that, he must have great control over his magic. That's amazing. Yet what was more amazing because he knows what to do to get rid of that dirty spot on her dress. It wasn't small nor was it big yet that spot was easily seen and noticed.

And he proceeded to do the things that he needed to do just to get rid of that stain on her dress with a serious expression on his face. It was unexpected that he was suddenly doing this when he could just ask for someone to let her borrow a dress so that she wouldn't go back to her palace but a dress of her size in this place, that's quite impossible. The reason was already obvious, this palace never had a female child like her to be a guest or a daughter not until now.

I wonder what it would be like to live in this palace along with my brothers and father. Since I was already known to every person who works here in this palace, it was safe for me to walk around unless there is a visitor or an event, she thought to herself, She decided to get lost in her thoughts as her brother got rid of the stain on her dress.

Then moments later, her brother spoke and grabbed her attention, cutting off her train of thoughts. She looked at him and saw that he was already finished, her dress was clean and sparkling. There wasn't any wet spot after it was splashed or drenched with water. It seems like he dried it with magic. Oh, the wonders of Magic, she thought to herself and she smiled at her brother.

Again, with that smile, he thought to himself when Alexandra smiled at him.

"Thank you, brother! You are the best!" Alexandra said as she smiled at him and that was it, he blushed once again when he heard her say that he was the best. Nobody said that to him, not even Christian because they really weren't close and they would always argue. Somehow, he was happy that he got a sibling like her. Yet he still acted tough as if he wasn't moved by what she said, he averted his gaze and he pouted his lips unconsciously, "It's nothing. That's just payback for the cookies and the artifacts that you gave me," His brother said as he averted his gaze.

There he is with that expression of his, Alexandra thought and couldn't help but widen her smile. She knew that he was soft and caring after all. He was acting as a caring older brother to her like how he was worried earlier when he tripped and helped her. This is the second time that her brother helped her today and that just happened within a short amount of time just because she tripped.

"But still, Brother Chandler is really amazing! You can easily summon that ball of water within just a few seconds and you even got rid of the stain on my dress. Aside from that, you also healed my wound. You really are the best. You are amazing, I want to be like brother too. You probably worked and trained hard just to do it, your efforts are appreciated, you have done well," Alexandra continued to pamper him with compliments which made him blush more. It seems like he was letting her call him brother. Unlike back then when she accidentally called her brother and he got ticked off as if he hated it. Alexandra knows how much effort you need to go through just to control that ball of water.

One wrong move and it could be as huge as the houses near them which would be a disaster if you wouldn't be able to control it properly. Aside from that, he was also training hard and non-stop earlier all by himself. I guess just like Carlos, their efforts weren't seen and appreciated.

"Those are just really easy even though they consume a lot of mana," He said.

He may not show it but he likes it when he is being complimented especially when it is about his abilities. He was getting tired of his looks and face getting complimented and when they would compliment his abilities, they would always follow up with 'As expected from the prince' or 'As expected from a member of the Everly Bloodline'.

He hated that, it feels like his abilities were only getting appreciated and complimented because he was a prince or a member of a powerful bloodline. He worked hard and trained hard just to improve. So when Alexandra complimented him with that bright expression on her face, somehow, he was happy and relieved. To think that somebody would compliment him like that so much. He was glad that he got Alexandra as his sibling.

Why did he even hate her in the first place?