Chapter 40 - Memories II: Birthday
'Sigh* That was a bit tiring' After long hours of training the new recruit Avery and Yue were both exhausted.
As they left the Ascended World they felt something familiar. A sensation that they once felt when they left the Ascended World for the first time.
It was the time when they saw the memories of one another.
Yue then recalled the first time she felt this sensation.
At that time she was eager to know more about her big brother, she also knew that there were painful things that her big brother was not ready to talk about.
It was not that he wanted to hide something from her, he simply said that he was not ready to talk about them which clearly implied that there were some other things that he did not tell her yet.
She accepted them and was willing to wait, so when this sensation or weird event was going to show her the memories of her big brother, she was conflicted. 'I want to know what happened, but is it alright to know it through this way? It feels like I am disrespecting big brother's decision to not tell me yet.'
Despite feeling conflicted, things were not for her to decide.
So before she could resolve her conflicting thoughts she was suddenly transported into another place for her to witness something tragic…
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Meanwhile, Avery found himself standing in a very lavishly decorated ballroom. People wearing expensive clothes were gathered all around. They were all looking intensely at the little girl situated at the center of the hall waiting for her to start her solo dance number.
'Isn't this Yue's 7th birthday party?' Avery thought as she recalled that day. It was Yue's birthday and at the same time her public debut in where she would be introduced publicly.
As he was thinking he suddenly hears a voice through his connection, he shifts her attention to the little girl at the center.
'S-so many p-people… why are they staring so much, i-is what those people said true? T-they said that I-I was an embarrassment to my family…'
She then recalled what happened just before she went to the stage to proceed with her dance.
She was waiting in a room to be called towards the stage for her dance, her big brother just left since their parents wanted to talk to him. She was happily thinking of her big brother when suddenly a group of kids approached her.
She was confused as to why they could enter here but quickly understood as she saw her cousin who she only saw in the pictures. At first, it was friendly talk, and thought that she was going to have new friends when they suddenly started saying hateful things to her.
'HA!? Do you actually believe what they say to you!'
'You look horrible! That dress only enhances your ugliness!'
'Yeah! My father said that your family talks behind your back and that you and an embarrassment!!'
'Your brother was just lying to you! He actually hates you so much and thinks of you as someone annoying!!'
'N-no! That's not true! M-my brother l-loves me!'
'Ehhh.. You know that your father brings your brother to some of his meetings right? I actually met him and he said that he hated you and finds you to be annoying!'
'N-no..'
Avery could hear her thoughts and feel her emotions through the connection established by the soul bound.
Seeing her memories about this incident that he did not know of made him lose control of his emotions.
'What do you mean ugly!? Are they blind to not see that she was so cute and beautiful in that dress?!' Avery ranted in his mind when he heard what those groups of kids said.
'A-and for me to h-hate Yue! Are they insane! Just the thought of me hating her was impossible! How could I hate my lovely little sister!'
After a few more moments of outburst… he finally calmed down and recalled the faces of those kids and realized that it was the kids of those families who schemed against his family which lead to their downfall.
The thought made his clenched fist tremble in anger that was desperate to be unleashed.
He inhaled and exhaled. 'Calm down. This is just a memory. I have time, we'll deal with them later.'
Now that he thinks of it they did a lot of things to damage the reputation of our family over the years before our family fell. They went as far as to order their children to mess with Yue so that she would appear as someone incompetent to the public by ruining her birthday.
Normally, Yue would have been able to handle those kids by herself, but the problem was that it happened before she was able to mature enough to handle those things. She would probably laugh at them for the light insults they said. Though, the matter would be different if they dared to insult and harm her big brother.
First of all, she was homeschooled and had not much contact with other people other than her family and the people working in the mansion.
Her parents were most of the time busy so she was not able to see them much while the people working in the mansion, avoided her and strictly made their attitude as master and servant.
The only person she has many contacts with was her big brother, but ever since he turned seven last year and formally started training, her time with her big brother was reduced.
The lack of interaction with other people made her believe their words and thus she was landed in this situation where she was frozen on stage.
Avery then focused his attention back on the ball.
A scared Yue was still standing in the middle of the hall as the audience whispered and muttered about what was going on as she has been standing there for a minute already.
'Tsk!' Hearing them only irritated the spectating Avery. He can't do anything as this was only a memory.
Hearing the whispers and muttering of the audience only served to increase the doubt she felt.
'M-maybe i-ts true…'
"No! Yue it's not! Don't believe them!" Hearing her thoughts scared the soul out of him which prompted him to shout even if it was a memory.
"Where the heck is my youn-!" Avery then looked around only to stop as he saw his younger self slowly walking towards the frozen Yue.
Realizing he lost himself again, he quickly calmed down and remembered what happened next which made him smile.