[A/N: Soo.... things might not be good. I wanted to create some tension as preparation for something, but I did not know how given the good relationship they had. So I did the easiest thing I could think of, a misunderstanding. If you guys did not like it... then please have mercy on me hahaha I am only a beginner writer ok. Anyway, I'll end it here and enjoy the chap!]
[A/N (After Edit): Looking at the response from this and the next chapter, I decided to review what I had written. After reviewing, I could see what you guys pointed out, and so I decided to edit some of the parts of this and the next chapter. Hopefully, it was better after the edit. Anyway, you don't have to worry as this misunderstanding would be resolved quickly. Plus, you might even like the end result.]
Chapter 60 - Tension
Under the night sky, Avery and Yue had their head raised up as they gazed at what appeared to be the moon.
The moonlight shined upon them as Avery looked at the moon with what appeared to be a reminiscent smile.
He had an expression that seems to indicate that he was thinking of someone.
For some reason, Yue felt somewhat bothered at what she mistook as a fond expression that her big brother had for someone else.
Seeing that kind of expression expressed to someone else other than her bothers her.
She decided to probe what was on her big brother's thoughts.
"Are you thinking of someone big brother?"
Avery still looking at the moon nodded at her question.
"Yeah, I just remembered a woman from my past timeline," Avery said carelessly, thinking that he had already mentioned it to her before.
Hearing those words, Yue felt threatened and nervously asked, "A w-woman?"
Not seeing her current state as he was looking in the moon, Avery answered "Yeah, we had quite a long history together… and in a way, what I have now is something I owed to her."
Hearing his response, Yue quickly looked down at the grass as she anxiously thought of what her big brother said, thus failing to hear the latter part of the sentence.
'B-big brother with another w-woman? A-and l-long history?'
"After freeing myself from that lunatic…. I'll make sure to pay her back for everything she's done to me," Avery who had a calm voice a while ago had a sudden dangerous tone as he said those words.
Sadly, Yue anxiously still in deep thought was not able to hear what he said along with the sudden change in his tone.
Past trauma that she felt when his big brother distanced himself from her started to haunt her again.
'Big brother with another woman? Impossible!'
'B-but what if big brother and that woman…. after all, he did distance himself from me for a couple of years…' Yue thought before suddenly remembering one of the memories she saw in the soul bond.
'My other self also said that their relationship became tense in the future… maybe that w-woman was involved.'
'B-but! Big brother is mine!'
Not hearing a response, Avery looked back only to see his sister looking at the ground.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and worriedly asked, "Is there something wrong Little Yue?"
Yue flinched before giving him a somewhat forced smile, "N-nothing big brother."
She did not want to let him know the trauma that he gave her when he distanced himself from her years ago.
She loved him enough to the point that she did not want him to feel guilty over something that had happened in the past.
"Really?" Avery asked as he somewhat felt something off with her, she lacked that glow that she always had on her when she smiled.
"Yup! I was just wondering how could there be a moon in this world. I remember you saying that the Ascended Universe resembles the Flat Earth Theory." Yue asked to divert the topic.
Hearing that it was nothing major, Avery decided to let it go before preceding to explain what he knows.
"Oh, the moon? Hmm… first of all as I said, the Ascended Universe is not really a universe per se, it is more like a humongous flat world with the size of a galaxy that continuously grows at the outer edge as time passed."
"The Ascended World where we are now is one of the newly formed outer areas of this huge flat world. Once a certain period of time has passed, the barrier separating the Ascended World from the rest of the Ascended Universe would disappear and thus fully integrate us with the rest."
"The Ascended Universe then goes back to gathering energy in order to expand itself again later on."
"Now, the moon you see is not really a moon we know, it's actually a big mass of condensed dark mana. This is why some creatures are strong at night."
"Then the sun that we see during the day meanwhile is a condensed form of both fire and light mana."
"There are a couple of others, each with varying color and size depending on what type of mana is condensed in there."
"The day-night cycle that we have is a result of this condescended mana moving on a certain path inside the Ascended Universe."
"Though that is not the case for all places in the Ascended Universe due to the fact that…."
Forgetting his sister's off expression a while ago, Avery explained the details without knowing what was currently brewing inside his little sister's head.
***
After arriving in the village, Avery and Yue addressed some matters before leaving the Ascended World.
After waking up, they then cleaned themselves before heading to the kitchen to get some food.
However, as they ate, Avery noticed something wrong.
His little sister seemed a lot more silent than usual.
Normally, Yue would cheerfully talk with him as they ate dinner.
She would even subtly flirt with him once in a while.
But… this time.
She did none of it.
It seems that she had something deep in her mind, as her expression betrayed the fact that she was anxiously thinking of something.
Her expression would sometimes show that of fear.
Fear of losing someone.
Then her expression turned into a panic to the point that Avery could not leave her be.
"Little Yue, is there something wrong?"
"..."
"Little Yue?"
"..."
Not hearing a response, Avery frowned as his sister was acting very unusual.
He is starting to get worried, wondering if something had happened to his little sister that he did not know of.
Avery then stood up and placed a hand on Yue's shoulder to get her attention.
"Little Yue?"
"!!" Yue jumped a little in surprise before accidentally spilling some of her thoughts, "Ah! No! I am never allowing it!"
"Hm? Never allowing what?" Avery frowned in confusion, wondering what she was pertaining to.
Yue looked up and saw her big brother's confused expression.
Seeing him, she calmed down a little.
She then shook her head and calmly said, "Oh, it's nothing, big brother."
"Are you sure?" Avery asked worriedly wanting to probe deeper.
"Yup! Don't worry about it big brother!" Yue cheerfully said.
Avery decided to leave it be as it seems that she isn't willing to divulge anything, "Hmm… fine, but just so you know I will always be here for you okay?"
Hearing those words somewhat brought relief to Yue as she genuinely smiled, "Thank you, big brother."
Avery smiled back before sitting back in his chair.
The two siblings continued to eat before going their separate way to do their respective tasks.
However, what Avery failed to notice was how Yue's smile fell as he turned to go to this room.
'...I know I should have told big brother, b-but what if it is true? What if he chose that woman over me in the future?'
'I want to know… b-but at the same time I don't want to. I am scared. I am afraid of what of hearing something I don't want to hear.'
And so with that in her head, Yue went to accomplish her task.
However, she was not able to accomplish much with her work, as her mind was elsewhere.