Paradis Island (2)

After boarding the ship, the warm ocean breeze swayed Ainaira's gray-blue hair. The smell of the sea left a distasteful nostalgia taste in her mouth.

In her first life, she would often come to the harbor because it was the Saintess's favorite place. The voices would often make her do various pranks on Josephine. It was in this city where she angered the Mercenary King and the Eminence.

Setting foot in the city and the island made her feel as though her memories were being presented to her on a silver platter.

Trying to look for a distraction, she observed the little pink haired boy. Ainsley, in the distance , was quietly observing the dolphins that were following the ships. Ainaira smiled, thinking Ainsley finally got what any child desires: "Family time".

"Can we talk?"

Her mood was suddenly ruined by Aeron's voice behind her. She turned to look at him, but continued to ignore him.

His face was unusually expressive as of late. His brows knitted close to each other, worried and anxious. He kept biting his lips every once in a while and was unable to focus his eyes on her.

She was amused by his sudden change of Aeron's emotionlessness, yet didn't push the matter. Why would she care about her killer?

"Please..." His voice sounded like he's begging.

"What do you want?" She distantly asked him, without turning her head at him.

"I know I haven't been the best older brother...but I just want you to know that I care about this family... especially you. You're my twin, after all." He tried putting his hands on her shoulder but there was something blocking his hand from touching her. It was also restricting his body to move and get closer with his sister.

She didn't respond, but she turned her head and looked at him silently. Her eyes were devoid of light. She did not once believe a single word that left his mouth.

How can she believe that when he killed her? He didn't even change his expression at her last moment. He stayed true as the icy expressionless Knight that everyone knew. The only person that was able to see his face lit up in all sorts of emotions was Josephine.

What made her even more frustrated was the fact that killing her was justified in their perspective. She knows this through and through, yet Ainaira couldn't help but feel it was unfair. The pain she felt when she saw that his face was indifferent to her death. She hates his monotonous face, she would've even felt a little better about everything if his face showed disappointment or anger.

"What I said is true. I-" Aeron knows that face of distrust. He wanted to reassure her, but once again their conversation was disturbed by the sailors.

"WE'VE ARRIVED!!" The ship started to disembark, and sailors began to move the belongings of the family.

"Hahaha! I made sure that they build a nice, cozy but luxurious cottage for us on this island!" The Marquess boasted to his children, yet they were only silently judging him.

While the others went down the ship, Ainaira stood still. looking at the island.

(So, I'm back...)

Her gaze was fixated on a specific part of the island, the forest, seemingly deep in thought.

Aeron, who was still behind her, noticed her lifeless eyes. It was different from how she looked at him earlier. It was instead as if she was staring at death itself.

—

Not long after, they arrived at the cottage, which was made out of bamboo. Surprisingly, it wasn't too lavish, or at least it wasn't in their imagination that the Marquess would ask someone to build a house like this. Ainaira asked herself what part of it was "luxurious". The cottage was similar to a commoner's house on the beach, except it was a bit larger and the window frame, doorknob, and doorframe are made out of gold. Compared to the March standards, this was humble.

...

Maybe it isn't as humble the more you look at it. The only thing that made it look less expensive was because of the straw roof and unrefined bamboo walls. Not a lot of nobles would be pleased living in something like that.

Ainaira wondered why the Marquess opted for this kind of architecture. She took a glance to the Marquess who was nodding in satisfaction, beside him was the Marchioness, eyes closed and smiling.

(That woman doesn't mind this, surprisingly.)

Ainaira knew her family was a bit odd, but she didn't think Rosetta, who grew up in the capital and was sheltered under her family county, would be appreciative of something that is less than the standard she lives in.

Maybe she was being stereotypical and close minded, but it cannot be helped when most noble ladies she met are copy and paste cardboard that try to imitate whatever's trending.

The Marquess told them the various activities they will do throughout the 3 nights they were staying. He said that they should take the time to settle in and get familiar with the island for the time being. The Marquess and Marchioness went inside the cottage to unpack. Usually, servants would do these menial tasks, but the Marquess believes that unpacking, cooking, and doing all the preparation is part of the joy of a vacation.

In the meantime, the 3 siblings explored the outer part of the forest. Aeron maintains a 5ft distance to the other 2. There are a lot of broken walls and pillars, as expected from a ruined island. Ainaira recounted the various places where the Saintess and her boytoys would discover groundbreaking national treasures.

She can steal it for herself, but what would she do with it? She doesn't want to be hailed as some kind of figure or Hero, as a matter of fact, she finds it revolting. She can use it to commit crimes but she doesn't feel like stepping on these maggots for now.

Ainsley tapped on Ainaira's shoulder

"Sister, let's do magic!" He swayed from side to side, his eyes sparkling.

"Alright, let's resume the lesson. How many can you do now?" Ainaira sat on the nearest rock she could find and patiently waited for Ainsley's demonstration.

"Well, I can do 2 elements and 4 transformation magic...but-" He stopped momentarily and looked at her. He had a cheeky smirk on face

"—!"

(This familiar feeling)

Ainaira quickly activated her magic and saw the mana configuration around Ainsley.

The temperature around Ainsley started to rise rapidly. The azure blue trails of particles turned into black red. It wasn't the same light of a fire element, rather, it was something much more destructive. The dirt cracked from the overwhelming pressure. A deep,glowing and thick liquid started to rise up around his feet. Sparks of embers started to fly around Ainsley.

Ainaira stood there, shocked at what she was witnessing. Aeron, who was silently observing them from the shade, couldn't help but walk closer to them after seeing what was happening. It wasn't out of worry, but out of curiosity.

(Elemental Fusion! He made lava!!) .

Elemental Fusion takes a lot of mana for Sorcerers, while for Witches, it is harder to fuse two elements. But that wasn't what made Ainaira impressed.

Ainsley, who didn't have the capacity to visualize and imagine like a normal person so he had to memorize the mana configuration, had managed to do Elemental Fusion. But, she doesn't remember giving him the mana configuration for Lava, which means he accurately computed the correct series of the unknown language and risked getting hurt if he was wrong.

(He found a pattern, reconstructed them and somehow ended up with the right mana configuration. He's a genius!)

"S-So, how did I do?" Ainsley was anticipating her answers.

Ainaira observed the lava with her veiled azure blue eyes once again, and with a quick flick of her fingers, the lava disappeared and the ground returned to normal.

A proud and calm smile painted on Ainaira's face and said:

"You did great."

Ainsley's face lit up upon hearing her words. "Thank God! I was a bit worried you might not find it impressive...I worked really hard on mastering the fire and earth configuration you gave me and I realized that I can rearrange them and also add some text from other elements to create a new type of magic! So I experimented on the elements and was able to create lava on my first try!"

(Hahaha...this kid... he's basically saying Elemental Fusion is nothing.)

Ainaira's thoughts suddenly went blank. In his first life, Ainsley became a sorcerer but he was just an average one. She's sure that with his memorization skills, he could memorize all the chants and prayers. And it's not like his mana capacity is low, in fact, his mana capacity was the biggest that she can "see".

(What prevented him from becoming the second strongest Sorcerer?) Her trail of thought was cut short when she was surprised by a deep voice.

"What. You did this? This mana configuration...?" Aeron looked at her with eyes wide open and mouth agape.

When Ainaira was deep in a train of thought, Aeron questioned this new term he heard. Ainsley explained to him what it is and how he knew it in grand detail. It left Aeron in shock, it was like he was listening to his friend Maximus planning something crazy and unusual.

"What about it?" She hissed at him.

"No...it's nothing, it's just really... unexpected." He mumbles at his words.

Not long after, the Marquess went to get them and said that they should start preparing for dinner.

The Marquess went somewhere in the coastline, teaching Aeron and Ainsley how to fish while he left Rosetta and Ainaira to start the fire.

Both Marchioness and Ainaira quietly ignored each other while doing their job. Ainaira gathered some dried twigs and Rosetta was starting the fire. Although Ainsley or Ainaira can create a fire using magic if they want.

The two women are cautious of each other. Rosetta had been way too complacent and quiet and so was Ainaira. They both believed the other one is planning something big. The thought of Ainaira changing did cross the Marchioness' mind, but even if she did change, "What use does a parasite have?" is what she was thinking.

So she was patiently waiting until Ainaira's new self cracked and returned back to normal or until she messed up.

They were at a vicious but silent war. The fire was started and the boys returned with a lot of catch. They had squid, sardines and a light soup for dinner.

The Marchioness talked to Aeron about his academics while The Marquess awkwardly conversed with Ainsley. Ainaira sat, eating quietly and looked up to the sky. her red eyes turned blue, glowing faintly in the dark night

(it'll be a big storm...)

After everyone dozed off at the cottage and finished up the day, a few hours passed and Ainaira couldn't sleep.

So, she decided to take a stroll on the beach. She opened the door to see Aeron slouched on the bamboo chair with his head hung up. His eyes were dazed and relaxed. Ignoring him, she went back to her stroll.

The sounds of the calm waves made Ainaira feel at peace. She sat down on the sand, hugging her knees while looking up at the sky once more.

She didn't know how to feel about everything, she felt so many waves of emotions, she didn't want to be here but at the same time she didn't care, it all just felt numb and empty.

Feeling complicated she laid down her head on her knees. Not long after, she felt a shadow lurking behind her. It was getting closer but she didn't have to look behind her to know who it was. The footsteps stopped beside her and sat down. Ainaira smelled a faint pungent of sulfur mixed with smoke with slightly a sweet-earthy odor.

She peeked to her side. She wanted to ask him: "Why did you follow me?" but she didn't want to waste any more energy. The day was exhausting and she just wanted silence. Aeron thought the same. So the twins sat there, despite their strained relationship, they had a silent agreement to quietly accompany each other in this lonely night.