Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

My brother's face tensed and his jaws clenched upon seeing my friends entering the house. After all, this is Alex's house to begin with.

"Krisella… I see you are with your brother today." I heard Lucas said, looking as if he was surprised to see my brother here.

To his right is where Alex is standing, muttering to himself, "Why am I here?"

"Ah yes, he's here. Friends, I want you to meet my brother Devin. Devin, these are my friends Alex and Lucas." I said, hands trembling, when I saw my brother glaring each of them.

"Hi. Nice to meet you both." said my brother. But his glaring look says otherwise.

"Have a seat, you two." I offered to the two lads, acting as if this is my own house.

I gave them a pleading look that begs them to stay with me, which they all followed. Both of them took the one-seater couch facing each other on both sides. In front of us is a marble-surround fireplace that has not been lit, since winter hasn't come yet.

Above the fireplace are other picture frames and some figurines displayed above.

"Are you all classmates of my sister?"

Oh no... the interrogation session between my brother and my friends had already begun before I knew it.

"N--"

"Yes!" It was I who interrupted Alex and responded to my brother's question.

My brother may have not seen it but I caught a glimpse of the impatient lad arching his eyebrow at me.

"Is she being bullied around the school? Are you making sure that you are always by her side?" my brother asked another question.

What the heck brother? These are my friends… not bodyguards!

"Yes, we are always looking out for her, Krisella's brother." Lucas was the one to respond to that one. "With us being around with her, she never gets bullied at school."

I saw Lucas smiling at me as he said that statement, making my cheeks burning all of a sudden.

Rica, the servant, went back again in the living room, with two more glasses of orange juice for Alex and Lucas. The old lady earlier bid her goodbye, saying she needs to rest in her room at this hour.

After we said our thanks, Rica then helped her master stand up and carried the basket that my brother gave to the old lady. And soon enough, they left this room, leaving me in an awkward situation with my two mentors.

Silence momentarily hangs in the air as all of us concentrated on eating the cookies that the servant had prepared for us and drinking the orange juice she made.

If I am not in this kind of situation, I would have praised the deliciously baked cookies out loud. However, I chose to remain silent and waited on both sides on who might break this silence.

"Which of you two is my sister's boyfriend?"

His last question made me choke all of a sudden from the cookies that I am munching and my friends to almost spurting out the juice that they are currently sipping.

"Brother! What kind of question is that?!"

My face may have turned bright red out of embarrassment. What does he think he is saying?!

Devin. In turn, turned his head to look at me. I can see the serious look in his eyes didn't change one bit since the first time he saw my friends.

"Tell me honestly, Krisella. Is learning magic really your reason why you had to run away from home all of a sudden?" he said in his sharp, reprimanding tone.

Somehow, I was hurt by what he said. I mean, I knew both him and her mother didn't approve of me going here in Gilead and learning magic at its constitution despite how many times I had persuaded them.

But to think me of this low? How dare him?

I was equally serious and pissed-looking right now as that of my brother. I looked him straight in his gray eyes.

"Really, brother? Is that what you think of me? A low-graded lady?! Huh?!" I gritted my teeth, gathering all my willpower altogether just to fight off these tears that are on the verge of going out.

"To see you befriending guys your age and visiting you in this house, what else would you want to think of you then?" my brother shouted back at me, which really surprised me.

He never ever raised his voice at me despite how much he is annoyed with me.

"I want you to trust me! Both you and mom!" I choked back the tears before proceeding. "Now, if you can't do it, then better not show yourself to me once again!"

I can't take it anymore. Before he and my mentors could see me crying, I ran out of the living room and out of this house without thinking much of where to go from here.

It was almost sunset when I decided to storm off from Alex's house and roamed around the corner. I don't exactly know where I am, but all I care about right now is to get away from my brother and from his judging looks as much as possible.

I remembered the first time I discovered that I have magic stored within me when I accidentally created a dirt bump across our little farm back in Ziv Village.

He then stated no ordinary human being could do that thing, thus encouraging me to be better with my magic since he himself is a mere mortal.

My brother was the one to get my hopes up, that I could somehow enroll in a magic institution as soon as I got bigger.

But now, I don't exactly know why, but he suddenly changed. Instead of pushing me to get better, he always tells me things such as 'Give up your hopes of becoming a master wizard" or something like that.

Is it because he also didn't get the chance of fulfilling his own dreams of becoming a musician? Could that be the reason why he suddenly chooses to degrade his younger sister's dreams as well?

I was just continuing walking and walking when something caught my attention… something that made me stop in my tracks. A beautiful melody coming from a reed pipe was echoing somewhere near me that lets me draw in with it.

Before I knew it, my feet moved on its own... and the next thing I knew was seeing my brother standing from afar near to Alex's house. Of course! I thought. That was his own pipe he was using.

He stopped playing his reed pipe when he saw me standing from a distance and slowly walked towards me.

I didn't move, whilst I anticipated for him.

"I'm so sorry for how I acted earlier, Kris."

The moment we were just a few inches apart, my brother extended his arms and encircled me in a tight hug. I hugged him back as tears rolled down my cheek.

"I guess… I was just carried away by my jealousy towards you. You know, since I wasn't able to fulfill my dreams, I also don't want you to fulfill yours too. And I know that is so selfish of me." he said, as apologetic as he could.

"I understand brother. I'm also sorry for the things I have said." I apologized in return.

"Don't be. After all, this was all my fault. But even so, deep inside I was rooting for you. So do everything that you can to fulfill that dream of yours, okay?"

I beamed, "Okay, I will!"

Later on, my brother bid his farewell, since he didn't have so much spare time to spend staying here. I was still standing outside of Alex's house as I waved my hand at him.

But before totally leaving though, I saw him glancing over his shoulder before opening his mouth to speak.

"You will have a great future ahead of you, Krisella. Please, always watch your back… and choose wisely whom to befriend with. Alright?"

"A-alright… I will." I was quite confused.

Before I could ask further questions though, he already left.

"I'm glad that nuisance has already left."

I quickly turned around and saw both Lucas and Alex already standing right next to me. Since when did they get here?!

"We are sorry for our sudden intrusion in the house earlier Krisella. Lancelot just wants to check if how you are handling things with your brother and see to it that everything is under control hence he sent us two to do that. But by the looks of it earlier, we just caused trouble between the two of you."

Lucas looks guilty for what happened earlier and scratched the back of his neck. I only tapped his shoulders gently and reassured him that everything went well between the two of us before my brother left. The lad was finally convinced and smiled at that.

So far… we're glad that everything still went well in the end.