Vivia collapsed on her bed, exhaling a long breath of fatigue. Her body ached everywhere, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the poison, the chaos that unfolded today, or simply the emotional stress now taking its toll.
But she was glad the long day had passed. Under house arrest, she was relieved nobody caught her missing.
Or maybe it was Aeren who prevented that from happening, she wondered.
She heard a knock on the door, tensing her shoulders. Her heart pounded in apprehension. She exhaled a tired breath and walked to the door.
"May I come in?"
Her eyes widened slightly to find Aeren standing before her.
Talk about the devil…
She smiled. "Brother Aer. Of course. Please come in."
This was the first time that Aeren had personally come to her chamber ever since her return to the palace. Until now, he had barely spoken to her.
"You look tired."
His gaze betrayed nothing, but his deep voice was enough to seep a faint pressure through the air.
Am I supposed to act ignorant here?
Thinking it was pointless to hide, she said, "A lot happened today."
"The Chronicles of Clairette Emberlain."
Her brow twitched violently.
Yet again I don't know…Was that supposed to be a joke?
She cleared her throat. "Why did you come here?"
Aeren stood near the window, brushing his finger against the lilybell petals. He withdrew his hand and approached her with slow, deliberate steps.
"I thought it was a good time to talk to you."
Vivia held her breath.
Did Lady Judith possibly tell her about Zerath?
Aeren's impassive stare remained fixed on her. "You used to laugh at my lame jokes before."
She blinked.
"You don't know how to take a sword out of its sheathe, much less swing it at your opponent - yet you fought Lady Judith at the tea party."
She stiffened, swallowing a silent gulp. "That was just…"
"I watched your dance in the courtyard the other night, when you also confronted Lady Priscilla for some reason. You have never danced like that before."
Where is he getting at…
"You're strangely fixated on Audreya, the same woman who attacked you, yet you were ready to help her escape, and then break your house arrest order to find her."
"Audreya is not the culprit."
He continued. "And then you slapped Brother Elvin, which I really wish I could attribute to your newfound courage, but my sister simply wouldn't have been able to do that. So my question to you is…"
His detached gaze slowly hardened.
"Who exactly are you?"
Vivia knew it in her heart - what Aeren's question truly meant. She felt its implication sink deep within her very bones. She wished she could look away and act ignorant, but Aeren's countenance suggested otherwise. He wasn't going to take ignorance for an answer.
His every step carried a mounting pressure. When the distance between them was hardly inches away, he looked into her emerald eyes.
"You're not Clairette. You're not my sister."
Vivia's breath seemed to be in a rock and hard place in her throat. A feverish heat bubbled through it, spreading across her cheeks and ears like wildfire, as though her head was under the guillotine.
"I advise you to speak, because silence would brand you as an imposter," his voice turned graver and icier.
When she still refused to answer, Aeren clasped his hands behind his back, tilting his head slightly as he watched her.
"You do understand the position you're in, right? One word from me and you'll be thrown into prison. The only reason I'm giving you even this much courtesy is because…I never sensed any harmful intentions from you. I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, but I never felt that you were a bad person. But if you don't answer me, then that little courtesy ends here. So tell me - if you're acting as Clairette, then where is the real Clairette?"
Vivia looked up, her brows crinkling at the question.
"I don't know how you achieved this."
"...Achieved what?"
"A complete body transformation. You're someone else, but you look exactly like Clairette, down to the very last detail. I'm pretty sure such high-level transformation magic is impossible. The most we could do is change our appearance for a limited time, and even that is quite unstable. But you've been able to maintain Clairette's form for over months now."
Her lips parted, stunned.
He-he's assuming Clairette is still alive…?
Aeren's eyes narrowed. "Your expression just changed. Did I say something wrong?"
Vivia's heartbeats climbed up to her throat. The dizzying thoughts refused to halt their spinning inside her mind.
"...I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
Her eyes grew misty, thinking how the inevitable truth would crush him without mercy.
"You are…right. I'm not Clairette. But…T-The truth isn't what you think it is."
"I don't follow."
"There isn't any magic. This is indeed Clairette's body. Her own flesh and blood. I'm just…a soul who reincarnated into her body after I died…After…" she breathed hard, her voice turning hoarser, "Clairette died…"
Overwhelmed, her tears fell, pouring out like a dam torn apart.
"What…What I mean to say is that Clairette is only physically alive. H-Her soul left her body long ago. But she-"
Her next words were silenced as Aeren clutched her neck within the furious pressure of his palm. The lack of air immediately suffocated her, and her hands reached out in self-defense.
"Just because I was courteous to you doesn't mean you get to cross the line," the calm stillness of his eyes had now taken the shape of a vicious storm.
Vivia coughed and choked. The brutal stifling sensation felt similar to how Astaroth had strangled her, yet the intentions of these two men were vastly different.
"I understand…your anguish…" she managed to squeeze breathlessly, "but by doing this…you're hurting Clairette first and foremost…"
Aeren froze. His gaze fell on her hand, still holding onto his. The opal ring on her index finger glimmered with an urgent emerald hue.
The pressure eased from her neck slowly, making Vivia cough again, but with relief this time. After a long stretch of heavy silence, she met his eyes again.
The truth had hit him like a boulder collapsing on his shoulders. His face had turned white, his gaze torn between grief and disbelief.
"You…cannot be serious. It's my sister you're talking about. If I find even a hint of a lie in your words, then I…This cannot be true…"
In just one moment, Aeren's world had come to a tragic flip. He peered into the same emerald eyes, but they were nothing like Clairette's. Those eyes, that gaze, that smile - all of it was a stranger to him. Clairette stood right before him, yet she wasn't Clairette at all.
He had assumed the worst when the news of the attack on her had reached the palace. But when Rudaheim's letter arrived, that worry had quickly dissipated into relief.
His sister was alive and safe. That was all that mattered.
Yet, he had known something felt odd about Clairette the moment he met her face-to-face in Rudaheim. Even if the near-death experience changed her, he found it difficult to believe his same sister could muster the courage to slap Elvin. The odd feeling grew stronger the more he observed her acting differently.
The only conclusion he could reach later was that the woman before him was not his sister. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt it - she was a different person.
"You said…" Vivia wiped the tears off her cheek, "that a complete transformation magic to change one's appearance is impossible. So," she trembled, "I think you knew."
Aeren stayed quiet.
"I think somewhere in your heart, you knew the truth. I think…you came here to ask me this question because Lady Judith probably told you everything that happened today and…you don't want me - Clairette - getting involved in this danger anymore. So you finally broke your silence to find out where the real Clairette has been hiding."
Not even a single trace of mistiness occupied his eyes, but tears weren't needed to understand his grief. The truth of his sister's loss he had been running away from had finally punched him in the face. Behind that cold, impassive facade, a crack had formed in that tough exterior. A crack revealing how much he loved his sister and how much he was mourning her in this very moment.
"But Clairette is not completely gone."
Those words stirred him at once, and the fog of grief lifted from his eyes. A streak of hope shone back in his rigid countenance.
Vivia held up the opal ring, still glimmering emerald.
"This Moonflame Opal houses Clairette's soul."