The Great Lie (Part 3)

Leonard was about to return to his room in the inn when someone caught him by his forearm, forcing him to stop. He turned around on the stairs, seeing the young maiden from the tavern.

“How can I help you?” he asked her.

“Your traveling companion,” she said, looking straight into his eyes, “is he with that woman? You paid only for two rooms.”

“You mean Kasian?”

“So his name is Kasian? Is he sharing a room with that woman?”

Leonard felt jealousy growing inside of him while seeing the cheeks of the maiden flush. He broke free from her soft grip, annoyed.

“Forget about him,” he said. “He is no good.”

Leaving her speechless, he turned around and went upstairs. Instead of going to his own room, he stopped before the door right next to it. He knocked three times and went inside.

The room was small and simple, but it was enough for travelers to sleep over. There was only one bed with proper sheets in there. Mira was sitting on it, her cloak finally down, hanging over the backrest of the wooden chair. Her long silver hair fell to her waist. She was braiding it, trying to tame it.

On the desk with the chair, there was a single candle burning in the holder. The wooden shutters of the window were open wide. Kasian was there, standing near the wall, leaning over the windowsill, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Leo,” Mira looked at him. “Took you long enough. We need to agree on our next steps.”

“Sorry for that, I just had to go outside to clear my head.”

“We were discussing with Kasian, how to get to the Lunaria and find out what happened. We can cross the border tomorrow, but we need a place to stay and find a way to earn some money.”

“I guess Kasian has no problem with that,” Leonard commented. “He can just flash that smile of his, and every young girl in this world will ask him to share a bed with him, free of charge.”

Mira looked at him, her brows raised.

“Was the waitress asking for me?” Kasian caught up quickly with his snarky comment, moving away from the window. “Why are you so jealous of me? You were always awkward with women. They don’t bite, you know? Unless you ask them to.”

He was about to say something more, but then noticed the glare Mira gave him. He stopped himself, his voice calm. “I am going to gather some information now. I will be right back.”

He left them alone in the room.

Leonard shook his head and sat down on the empty chair next to the desk. Turning his gaze to Mira, he could see, she was upset.

“Are you okay with him going after that woman?”

Mira did not look him straight in the face, her head lowered. She just finished braiding her hair and now tied it with a black ribbon.

“It's fine,” she reassured him after a while.

“That did not sound convincing at all.”

“He cannot do much with that body of his, anyway,” she muttered more to herself than to Leonard.

He wasn’t sure what she meant by that.

“He is so strange now,” Leonard said, looking at the closed door. “Sometimes, he speaks like… himself, but his words feel empty. Even down at the tavern, when he talked to that waitress girl, his smile looked fake. I did not see him show proper emotion once since we met.”

Before, in his original world, Kasian was very expressive. His emotions were always genuine and strong. Even though he said Mira lost all her memories and was now just an empty shell of herself, in fact, Leonard thought Kasian was the empty one. He wasn’t sure why, though.

Looking at Mira, something definitely has happened between them in this world.

“Are you sure you two are not dating?” he pressed her again.

Her voice broke. “He never loved me,” she choked out, hiding her face in her palms.

Leonard came closer to her, gently taking her hands away and uncovering her face. He thought she would be crying a river now, but he was mistaken. She raised her head, proud. No traces of tears in her eyes.

“I made him my servant,” she said. “Now he has to listen to me whenever I order him.”

Leonard knew this wasn’t the right thing to do, especially with Kasian, who loved his freedom, but she probably knew that, too. She just hid it somewhere deep inside of her.

“Hey, Mira,” he said.

He was still holding her hands, kneeling on the floor before the bed she was sitting on. She looked at him properly now, her red eyes wet, but without tears.

“Do you really not remember anything? About Kasian or me. Or even about yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were summoned into this world, just like me. We knew each other in our previous lives, before we were pulled into this mess.”

“Stop it.”

“We were even together when all of that happened.”

“For God's sake, just be quiet!”

She wrenched herself free of his grasp. Holding her head with both hands now, she rolled over onto the bed. Her eyes were now unfocused, tears spilling out of them. She convulsed.

“Mira? Are you alright?” Leonard asked her.

She screamed, clearly in pain. Rolling over the bed, she fell on the hard floor.

“Mira!”

The door to their room burst open. Kasian was right at the doorstep.

“What happened?” he asked Leonard.

Seeing Mira rolling on the floor, he stepped in and shut the door behind him. Three quick steps and he was right beside her, pushing Leonard away from her. He picked her up. Craddling her in his arms, he turned to Leonard.

“What did you do to her?”

“N-nothing,” Leonard said. “We were just talking.”

“Did you try to force her to remember?” he asked.

Leonard dodged him, not able to meet his gaze.

Seeing that he was still unable to take responsibility for his actions, Kasian hugged Mira more firmly. Then he held her face in both of his palms, turning her to him.

“Mira, please, focus.”

Her eyes were now rolling in their sockets, unable to see what was before them. The tears streaming down her cheeks were not pinkish in color, stained by her blood. The tiny blood vessels in her eyes ruptured.

“Please, look at me!” he pleaded, shaking with her.

Seeing his words did not affect her, he leaned closer. His lips touched hers. Mira bit him on his mouth, hard. Blood spilled down his chin, but he did not mind the pain. Instead, he took a deep breath. The candle in the room flickered. Kasian's eyes turned red for a moment. Then, he breathed out his power directly to Mira.

He moved again, watching closely. Her ragged breath slowed down, her knitted eyebrows evened out. She blinked slowly. Her gaze now focused, she saw Kasian before her, with Leonard standing right behind him, their faces worried.

“What happened?” she asked them. “I feel like my head is going to split into two.”

“That's what I would like to ask,” Kasian finally let go of Mira, turning to Leonard. “Just what did you tell her?”

“I was just asking if she remembers us.”

“Why would you ask that? She clearly doesn’t.”

“I would like some water,” Mira said. “And I feel like I am a bit peckish.”

“I will go downstairs to the kitchen to ask for some bread and cheese. Don’t you dare to try this stupid shit again,” said Kasian.

Once the door closed behind him again, Leonard turned his head to Mira. “You really don’t remember,” he said, disappointed.

She shook her head. “I have only core memories, which stayed because I chose them. Do you want to listen to them?”