The Extra of The Lunerra-Chapter 485 - 20: After Almost a Year

Being able to talk face-to-face with Alaric, that 'crazy' part of me, the one that acted like a psychopath every time he appeared before me when I was completely unaware of anything, was strange.

I had been scared of him since the day he first appeared before me, after all. He was a terrifying presence to me, an evil parasite living inside me.

That's why it wasn't easy for me to accept that he and the real Aiden were working together, that he wasn't actually my 'crazy side' but someone else, in reality much crazier, who carried a part of me.

Ever since I woke up from my coma, I kept thinking about how much stranger things would get when he showed up and started teaching me caora.

I thought I had prepared myself a little.

...

Well.

I was wrong.

Because I can feel it.

How my body trembles, how my thoughts feel like they're about to scatter at any moment, no matter how hard I try to hold them together, the disgust and fear I feel toward the presence in front of me...

And he could feel it too. He was 'me' in a way. We both carried a piece of each other, whether we wanted to or not. His attitude reflected that.

And yet, despite all that scary truth, I managed to hold myself together...

Just as Ethan Subter had influenced his personality to lessen his madness, to make him more 'human,' Alaric Wisderm had changed me step by step... slowly.

And realizing this made me even more disgusted with the whole situation.

"Anyway, in short, I can appear before you now, even if it's limited. Our plans were inevitably disrupted because you messed up your psychology just because you lost your girlfr-"

~baam!

He suddenly paused, his purple eyes slightly shifting toward my hand that had slammed down hard on the table, his mouth slightly open, unable to finish his sentence.

But I didn't care.

"Shut... up."

My lips twitched, my eyes trembled. The anger that suddenly rose inside me was so sudden that even I was surprised.

After not feeling anything properly for a year because of the Absolute Mind, now being exposed to this...

It was something I found excessively difficult to control.

"I don't give a damn about your plan or you. I'm aware of how important my role is to you."

I even thought about getting up from my desk and punching him to death.

He, however... simply narrowed his eyes, then clicked his tongue.

"Good thing you're disguised. I never thought the mere idea of you acting like that with his face could be so disturbing."

Then he pulled his back away from the wall he had been leaning against until now, approached my desk, and sat down in one of the chairs.

"And you raised the grade of that stupid skill, I would have said simply. But now that I'm here and actually check..."

The purple in his eyes seemed to become... shimmery. The atmosphere in the room grew heavy and cold. He raised his hand, clenched it as if into a fist, and then opened it again.

"The bond between you and caora has grown even stronger than I thought. Forget about being a representative candidate; if you learn a few techniques, we could pass you off as a representative to someone right now."

He paused for a moment, his demeanor and expression changing abruptly, as if he had realized something very important. But then, as his eyes turned back to me, he sighed softly.

"It seems my time is shorter than I thought for now. But we'll extend the duration as time passes. We can probably start caora training in a few days."

The atmosphere in the room returned to normal, the temperature began to rise, as it were. Alaric's body also slowly began to disappear, of course.

"See you soon, Ethan."

He waved at me with a broad smile on his face and turned completely to dust

Absolute Mind quickly reactivated. It suppressed all my emotions that had surfaced, even if only briefly, rapidly stabilizing my mind.

And with that, the only thing I could do at that moment was... sigh. Taking a deep breath, filling my lungs as much as possible.

And also think.

Absolute Mind is a skill that Aiden somehow managed to grant me, even though I don't fully understand how. It's a skill that exists to suppress my wiera side and make me act according to his 'plans'.

And despite that, just because I increased its grade, it can cause problems, is that so?

This skill... is it really that powerful? Even though it came from him, it's something even he can't fully control...

As I stared at the ceiling, I felt my body tense up with what was going through my mind.

What if... I raise the grade of the skill one more time? I can do it, after all. One of the skill enhancers I got from the dungeon I entered with Alex is still there.

But then I hesitated, a more disturbing but highly probable possibility crossing my mind.

What if... even this is part of Aiden's plan?

These thoughts crossing my mind; thinking that I might be able to escape his control, even if it's a low probability...

I clicked my tongue, taking my eyes off the ceiling and turning them to my desk.

I don't like this situation.

The feeling of being under someone's control, of being a 'puppet'... even though he said he wanted to prevent me from being that way.

...

"Haaah..."

It's really irritating.

*******

…

I waited silently.

It was the only thing I could do, after all. The only thing I was allowed to do at this moment...

To wait silently.

And that's what I did.

I waited, no matter how tense I felt, as two ocean-blue eyes looked at me and then at his father standing right beside him.

"Now, Matthew."

The man who was his father, Chris Laergas, looked at him without much concern for me, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What do you think about Adrian?"

The subject was entirely about me. In fact... there was even the possibility that this would be the end of my life.

And yet he acted as if I wasn't even there. It was as if only he and his son existed in the room.

Matthew, on the other hand, as a seven-year-old child would in this situation, seemed confused. After all, his father hadn't told him anything about this. For a week, he had simply thought they were on vacation. So when suddenly asked his opinion about this person who had been doing all their chores for a week, seemingly like a servant, no matter what they were, he was a little... tense, just like me.

"U- uh... why are you so serious now, Dad...?"

After finishing his words, he turned back to me, as if directing the question to me as well as his father.

"I thought we were going to watch a movie..."

Chris Laergas smiled slightly, brought his hand to his son's hair, and ruffled his not-so-long hair.

"We will, but first we need to settle this matter. Adrian has been with us for a week, you know. He played games with you, served us like a sl—"

...?

Was he going to say... like a slave?

"Ehm, in short, he helped us with many things during our vacation. So I'm wondering what you think of him. What kind of person do you think Adrian is?"

Matthew turned his eyes back to me, as if looking to me for a way out. After all, I had spent quite a bit of time with him during this week of games. And... I even had generally felt like he liked me.

But if there was even one thing he suspected about me, one thing he found 'strange', Chris Laergas wouldn't trust me. The fact that we got along well didn't mean I was completely sure of the outcome.

So I wasn't quite sure how to act in this situation either. And the fact that Chris Laergas had forbidden me to say a single word before we came here was another constraint on top of all that.

"I want you to tell me how you feel inside. I know you are fond of him because he plays lots of games with you, but you need to tell me what you are thinking. Only that way we can go watch a really fun movie."

I was sure the kid was wondering what the connection was between the movies and me. His confusion seemed to be growing after each word his father spoke.

Still, after his dad's last words, he seemed even more intimidated by him, so he finally started talking, albeit reluctantly.

"H- he is... a good person? He always takes care of me, he never says no when I want to play, he even gives me extra food when we eat!"

...

While I couldn't even think of anything to say, Chris lifted his son by his armpits and sat him on his lap. His smile was a little wider this time.

"Okay, that's all well and good. But have you ever felt anything... strange when you're with him? Like something's wrong. You know, like when you looked at a photo of your great-grandfather and wanted to leave, or when we had guests over and you told me you felt bad about them. Has anything like that ever happened when you're with Adrian?"

Matthew answered quite quickly this time. He shook his head rapidly as the words left his lips.

"No! Why would I feel that way? Adrian is a really nice guy! I wish he lived with us! I want to play more games with him!"

I felt all the tension and burden on me disappear in an instant.

The change was so great that it was as if I had changed seasons in that brief moment, between what I had felt just seconds ago and what I was feeling now.

It was also at that very moment that I realized something, and I held myself back as quickly as I could.

I almost… took a deep breath…

I have to hold it in…

"All right, thank you for answering my question, Matthew."

He put his son down from his lap and pointed to the door of the room we were in, still smiling.

"Go to your sister for now. Adrian and I will prepare for the really fun movie we're going to watch. Okay?"

Matthew quickly ran toward the door with tiny steps. At first, he couldn't open the door because the handle was at his eye level, but he managed it on the second try and went outside.

"Okay! But be quick!"

As his voice and footsteps faded away, my eyes remained fixed on the door he had opened. He had forgotten to close it. He probably chose to leave as quickly as possible because he didn't like the tension in the room.

After a second or so, Chris got up and closed the door his son had left open. Then he came over to me.

Damn... why did I just stand there watching the open door instead of getting up and closing it...?! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I was about to pull my hair out over this little issue alone.

The mindset of a slave had truly taken root in my mind after that one week.