"W-What?!" Both Kaya and Eva almost choked on their own saliva when they heard those words. They never expected something like this.
'F-Fiance?! No, no, no, you wanna tell me Kai had a fiance?' The two entered panic mode immediately. It was an instinctive reaction to hearing that their beloved was engaged. But, they quickly realized the current situation and how he looked at the woman.
"I-Is… Ehem, is that true, Kai?" Kaya asked.
"Yes." He nodded his head. "It was an engagement of benefit for her family and for the people that gave birth to me." He said with a cold tone.
Kaya and Eva noticed how he didn't even call them his family and instead 'The people that gave birth to me'.
"I see, so it was a political marriage in a sense," Eva murmured before she looked at Aria again. "So, what did you do to Kai?"
Although she still didn't harbor any great hatred toward this girl, Eva was certainly starting to dislike her, and depending on what she replied, the hatred might be birthed at that moment. What hurts her beloved hurts her directly, after all.
"I…"
"She helped provide unnecessary information about me to unnecessary people," Kai replied in her stead with a cold tone.
To this day, Kai considers trusting this woman to be his biggest mistake. Because of what she did, he lost too many things to even count.
"So, she's a snitch?" Kaya asked with a confused expression.
"More or less," Kai replied.
"I see…"
Although both girls were angry that Kai got betrayed that way, they still couldn't hate the girl for some reason. Something felt off about her. Mind you, Eva and Kaya were masters at reading people's emotions, especially other girls.
'I don't feel guilt from her. She isn't looking happy either. Something is really wrong here but I can't wrap my head around it.' Eva thought.
"Anyway, It's getting late. I'm going to chain here again if you have no other question." Kai said as he stood up.
"One last question, please. But… Can I request something from you, Kai?"
"Why?"
"Please, just for a few minutes," Eva asked seriously.
Kai looked at her trying to discern what she wanted to do for a while before he nodded his head and then turned around and left.
When Eva was sure Kai wouldn't be able to hear them, she turned around to Aria and took a deep breath.
"You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Aria looked at Eva confusedly.
"I can see it all over your face. You have something you want to say but you hesitate to say it. What is it?"
"You picked up on that too, Kiddo?" Kaya asked.
"Yeah, it was very apparent. But, Kai didn't notice it."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I have nothing to hide." Aria replied.
She had to keep her face completely stoic when she realized how sharp these two girls were. Especially Eva, she could vaguely recall meeting her somewhere before and she seemed like a pretty clever girl.
'No wonder Kai likes them. They're really smart and sharp. I have to keep my composure.' She thought to herself.
Although Aria thought that way, Eva's question awakened the memories in her head. Luckily, she only remembered the good ones, and most important of all, the day they met.
***
*11 years ago*
The location is unknown, but it was certainly a place shrouded in mystery and hidden from the eyes of most people.
From a panoramic view, this place looked so mesmerizing. Hidden amidst the vast expanses of nature, this city-like place was so beautiful that it could put the biggest of cities to shame. In the heart of this city was a gigantic temple that was almost as big as the city itself.
The temple was made out of beautiful white marble and had countless towers surrounding it. One could easily mistake it for a castle rather than a temple.
Inside this temple -or castle- was a beautiful library, tucked in a hidden corner where no one could easily find it.
This library was massive in size, boasting countless books, maps, old scriptures, and many other historical, scientific, and philosophical pieces of literature.
In the heart of this maze of knowledge was a small table, surrounded by rows upon rows of books. Barely any light could reach this particular table day or night. So, for one to be able to see, they had to use a lamp.
On this table sat down a small boy, no more than 5 years old.
His appearance was majestic, to say the least. People would instantly lose themselves in his facial features, not realizing the passage of time. He was akin to a divine prince lost amongst books, imprisoned by the knowledge he seeks.
In front of him were stacks of books that filled the table with one of these books being open in front of him as he read quietly. His purple eyes didn't leave the book, not even for a second as he rhythmically flipped the pages, one after the other.
Nobody knows how long he spent reading there. Perhaps it's hours, days, or even weeks. It couldn't be told from his appearance or doll-like expression.
When he finishes one book, he would go for the other and then the one after that like a machine trying to memorize every word it sees. That was his life, if he wasn't training, he was reading and if he wasn't reading or training, he was learning some skill he was forced to learn.
His genius was a curse, never been a blessing. It made him lose things he didn't even know he had. All he had to do was to be what they wanted, do what they wanted, move how they wanted, and obey what they wanted him to be. He had no sense of freedom or even a sense of what it is to be a human.
It reached a point where his mind asked the question 'Am I even a human? Perhaps I wasn't one? Humans are supposed to be free according to these books. But what is freedom?'
These borderline existential questions bugged his 5-year-old mind day in and day out. While kids his age think about what they should play or eat for the day, he is thinking about how to learn to kill someone, understand complicated mathematical or physics problems, gain more strength, manipulate his Origin better, or do something else along those lines.
As he was reading like that, he heard a noise coming from a faraway place in the library. His eyes finally moved away from the books and to the direction the noise came from.
Then, he stood up and walked toward it, easily maneuvering his way through this maze. Eventually, he reached the source of the noise. There, he saw a pile of books on the ground that clearly fell down from the shelves.
Beneath this pile of books was a moving thing that rustled and fought it was out of that trap.
Eventually, a head popped out of the pile and looked at Kai curiously, or, to be more precise, looked in the wrong direction of where she thought Kai was. Aria's blindness has always been a problem that she couldn't overcome.
Entering a library this big was like a nightmare to her. But, she couldn't bear listening to adults talking about boring things so she excused herself to explore the place, only to end up here.
"What are you doing?" Kai asked coldly as he moved the books away from her with a simple gesture of his hand.
"I was walking around the place and I ended up here." She said.
"What's the point of walking around here? You don't see anything." He asked.
"Hmm, I can't see. But I can feel if a place is good or not."
"..." Looking at this odd blind girl, Kai didn't know what to do. He never really talks with anyone except for maids or butlers or someone from the family who tries to talk to him.
"What are you doing here?" The girl asked.
"None of your business."
"Well, I can guess. You're reading, right?"
"... Yes," Kai replied after a while when he realized that it could be easily discerned.
"Are there any good books here? I want to read too?"
"How can you read?"
"... You can read for me, right?" She said as she smiled slightly.
"Why should I?"
"Why shouldn't you?"
"..."
Kai found himself speechless again at this odd girl. She seemed rather quirky and hard to predict even for him. But, he didn't hate that at all, if anything, he found it interesting.
"Come on, please read for me. I'm sure that would be better than reading alone."
"... Ok." Eventually, he nodded his head. Well, secretly, Kai did want someone to talk to, someone other than the usual faces he sees every day.
"By the way, my name is Aria. What's your name?"
"Kai."
"Nice to meet you, Kai!"