Deon V. Eirenios [4]

Walid took the pieces of black clothing that Vierenna had chosen for him to wear and began putting them on, piece by piece. His movements were precise for someone whose focus was entirely elsewhere.

'I know very little about Deon.'

Although Deon's character was supposed to be the first main antagonist the main character - Emlyn - would face, this did not mean that Walid's writing of him was in the finest details.

In fact, in his novel "Forever Unfinished," Walid had not yet written a story or attributes for the character Deon, just a name and a face. One of the reasons he recognized him in the mirror, albeit faintly.

This means that Walid was and still is unfamiliar with the person who was in his body. Whether his personality, way of thinking, upbringing environment, nothing really.

And this ignorance spread even to the place Walid thought he was in now.

The capital of the Macezar Empire - Zeleshyre.

Walid reached this conclusion easily.

True, he wasn't very familiar with Deon, but the opposite was true for Vierenna as she was an important character in his novel's events. Walid knew a lot about her, but not everything. And those small details are what show the difference.

One of Walid's current self - asigned tasks was uncovering those small details. He simply did not know the things he didn't know. Although he knew little, he couldn't allow himself to be reckless. Being reckless is just a well deserved tragedy.

One thing Walid was sure of was that the timeframe accompanying his entry into Deon's body was after the events of the first volume of his novel. Why do you say?.. Because Deon and the main character are the same age. Also Vierenna mentioned something about Deon becoming a curse magician now. This can only mean that the body's owner had already undergone the awakening ceremony.

'I had only written the first volume, which takes place in the western borders of the Macezar Empire, I was planning to have a one-year time skip and move directly to the second volume set in the imperial capital, Zeleshyre.'

'I am likely somewhere in that year between the events of the first and second volumes.'

Walid sighed as he looked at his fully dressed reflection.

'I'll ask Vierenna at the breakfast table and verify for myself.'

With that in mind, Walid gathered his final thoughts and proceeded to leave the changing room to the expanse of his new room, where he was met by Vierenna's eager gaze.

... 

"You didn't comb your hair!" Vierenna stood up hurriedly, her previous smile disappearing into something of expected disappointment.

Under her stern gaze, Walid combed his hair to the sides with his hands and tried to lighten the mood with a smile, but what came out was just a fake imitation without any characteristics of any kind of smile.

Vierenna's body shuddered slightly at the terrifying smile, but she controlled herself and sighed in helplessness.

 "Come here." She gestured to Walid with her hand, her gaze, and body language appearing commanding, not to be refused.

Walid, nervously and anxiously, walked towards her standing place beside the bed. He didn't break eye contact when he stood in front of her.

In a swift, smooth motion, Vierenna placed both hands on Walid's shoulders and forcibly sat him down on the bed.

"If you resist, you'll bear the consequences." Her voice, despite its softness, carried an undeniable coldness. It made the base of his spine shiver.

'Did I do something wrong?!'

But contrary to his dark thoughts, Vierenna climbed onto the bed to sit behind his back. She began combing his hair with her delicate fingers. Her movements were like a gentle breeze passing through the strands of his messy black hair. Her touch eased the tension in the veins of his head with gentle care.

Walid found himself completely relaxed under her tender mercy. He closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles.

"Thank you, I needed this." He said in a faint, warm voice.

"Anytime, for my Baby Brother."

In the midst of the silence and relative comfort of the moment, Walid found his thoughts drifting again to dark places. Not needing this now, he decided to ask about one of his safe curiosities. "Why Baby Brother?"

From the first word exchanged between Walid and Vierenna, she had only called him by his name once - well, the body's name. She continued to use 'Baby Brother.'

"Oh, this is a first. I guess the days of pretending to ignore it didn't yield the desired result heheh…" She laughed cheerfully.

"For me, I found it very cute. Every time I call you Baby Brother, you make that face, and every time you try to hide it from me with all your might…" She pinched his cheek. "To answer your question, I call you Baby Brother because it's cute, and you made it so. So suffer the consequences, Baby Brother."

Walid didn't understand much of Vierenna's words, but he knew her words were directed at her Brother Deon, not him. But he continued to ask anyway. "Can't you call me by my name like a normal person... or like a normal sister?"

"This is the breaking point, huh... Let me think.. hmm…" Vierenna hummed to herself, her finger movements slowed.

Before Walid could point that out, she gripped his scalp tightly and pushed her face over his shoulder from behind to meet his gaze, her eyes burning with a strange light.

"No... and never to the end of time. You are my Baby Brother, and no one will change that, not even you." She said intensely as if her words were unchangeable.

But Walid knew better.

'The truth will.'

She let go of her grip on his scalp, and made a startled motion. "Oh no... I messed up your hair."

Suddenly, she pulled his hair back to meet her gaze from below, her angry expression towering over him. "If you hadn't distracted me with your questions, I wouldn't have messed it up. It's your fault."

'What a strange girl.'

As she began to let go of his hair, she grabbed it again tightly and pulled it back until he fell into her lap.

"And what did you mean by 'like a normal sister?'" She said the last word in imitation of his voice, with some exaggerated body language.

From her gaze down on him, Walid knew she wouldn't let him go without an answer, so he made one up, already regretting speaking in the first place. "I meant, that you are special. No disagreement there."

The smile Walid expected didn't come. Instead, her grip tightened, and his head sank deeper into her lap.

'What kind of situation is this?'

"Elaborate." She said, unconvinced.

Walid, against his better judgment, suppressed his pride and began to fill the strange girl, who he was sitting on her lap in an awkward position.

"You are considerate, kind, and..and.. the other obvious things."

That was all he could think of. He wasn't about to say the things he knew about her crazy personality from his prints of her in his novel.

Vierenna shook her head, her gaze growing angrier and colder.

Walid felt the chill creeping along his spine, and from the sheer terror he felt, he began to speak nonstop, his eyes closed and his body trembling. "Emotional, patient, brave, stylish, elegant, strong, agile, friendly, cultured, wise, intelligent, kind, playful, tender, beautiful, radiant, delicate…"

Walid's words were halted by the hand that closed his mouth.

He opened his eyes and found Vierenna smiling at him with an embarrassed and gentle smile...

"It wasn't hard, was it. It's liberating to be honest and say what's in your heart from time to time, Baby Brother."

But all Walid felt was terror.

'Crazy!'

Walid helped himself sit back up to his previous position when he was free from her grasp.

"We should head for breakfast." He said and tried to get up to escape her.

But his efforts were in vain, despite her loosening her grip on his head, he was still under her mercy. She pulled him back as she hugged his head, a playful smile decorating her expression as if all his intentions were known to her.

"Where to, Baby Brother. We still haven't fixed what needs to be fixed, or.. perhaps,.. you didn't mean what you said about me just now?"

She tightened her grip around his head and pulled him closer to her. Her smile deepened as if challenging him to say otherwise.

"....."

Walid remained silent.

She nodded at that as if her expectation could never be anything more than just… expectation.

Walid felt helpless under her gaze, he felt like a doll to the girl,..

A doll with very little freedom.