The Duke's Daughter's Third Life

Chapter 57

Aeliana stared at Zeru, unable to speak up or move from her seat. Why in heavens was he asking such a specific question? Her thoughts trailed away. Could it be she isn't the only one with memories?

Her palms began to sweat profusely and beads formed around her forehead. The topic was making her nervous— to her, it feels taboo to speak about such a thing.

She felt a hand touching hers, drawing her back to reality. Zeru nodded, patting her hand gently.

"This sounds bizarre doesn't it?"

Aeliana could only nod in response to his words. He let out a suppressed laugh before removing his hand away from hers.

"When I heard that your mana was similar to mine, one thought came into mind," he began, looking at the family of dolls resting on top of her cabinet.

"I wondered if you were like me."

"Like you?"

Zeru bobbed his head, "Someone who has their past life memories."

Aeliana kept quiet, unable to come up with any words or sentences to reply to him. Zeru shot a glance at her before continuing his words,

"I'm from Cerdia. I was a knight who fought for the king and died for the king. I died at the age of twenty-five with a sword to my heart."

"I thought I was dead but I was able to open my eyes and I was in an unfamiliar place."

Zeru looked at her and let out a self-deprecating laugh; "I thought I was going crazy when I saw my reflection through the water."

Aeliana listened to his words attentively, understanding his feelings. She knew he was exposing a small part of him for her to relax and stay calm through this. She also knew it took a lot of courage to speak about such a topic.

"I was taken in by the tower master and I began searching through every recording of magic. One in particular stood out as it recorded down a theory; that whoever is born with light magic, retains a certain part of their previous life though I never heard of people receiving two types of mana like us."

"So when you heard I was similar to you..."

"Yes, I had to find out which is why I asked to meet you. I had to know if the theory was true and that this wasn't some random blessing blessed upon us. By looking at your reaction, I can see the theory is true."

Aeliana touched her face, wondering if the expression she had made was really obvious. Zeru glanced at her and shook his head.

"If you don't mind..will you tell me something about your past?"

She stared at him, "It's...it's a bit hard."

Zeru nodded and didn't press further on, respecting her wishes and privacy. However, Aeliana felt guilty for not saying anything while he opened up to her.

"I...I died around the same age as you. I was heading back home to my siblings when I died from an accident."

"You're the same age as me?"

"As in now or previously?"

"Both."

Aeliana pondered before nodding, "I'm ten this year."

"Same as me! Wow, this is a very big coincidence.." Zeru muttered to himself but before he got absorbed in his thoughts, he snapped back to reality and turned to her.

"You said you died in an accident."

"Ah, something like a carriage accident."

"I see..."

There was a long silence after that before Zeru changed the topic. He chuckled and stretched his arms.

"I'm really glad there is someone around my age. It feels more comfortable!"

Aeliana looked over at Zeru who relaxed his muscles, slumping down onto the couch with a lazy smile across his face. She raised an eyebrow at his drastic personality change but didn't say anything about it. She did the same thing as him too.

She stretched her arms and followed his actions, slumping into the couch. The tension and stiffness in her body flew away as she heaved out a long sigh. She heard a burst of laughter beside her.

"It feels good, doesn't it? I think this is the most comfortable I have ever been since regaining my memories."

"Was it not comfortable in the tower?"

Zeru sighed and held a pitiful look on his face, "Master drills all kinds of things that I must learn in a short period of time...I was just a knight who only knew about swords!"

Aeliana curiously asked; "You don't like magic?"

Zeru shook his head and grinned; "I love swords but I love magic in this life. Master said I have a lot of potential and he took me in so...I don't want to disappoint him."

He realised something and turned over to Aeliana, "I'm surprised at how easy it is to talk to you."

She shot him a smile and answered; "It's because I'm just that amazing."

He whistled and chuckled, "What a great answer."

Despite not knowing one another for that long, Aeliana truly felt comfortable with Zeru. Knowing that she wasn't the only one with memories brought her so much ease and with being similar in age, it felt much easier to talk and understand the other but one thing she still didn't know was how she returned back in time.

When she heard all of the things Zeru had said, she could deduce that returning back in time was not one of them. To be safe, she decided to keep that part of herself hidden. This was something she had to find out herself.

Aeliana felt a finger pressing against her cheek. She turned to Zeru, facing him; "What is it?"

"Your cheeks are very soft and chubby."

She blinked at him before frowning. Her cheeks were chubby? She had been eating less to reduce the fats around her cheek. She swatted his hand away and let out a 'hmph' as she spoke.

"I didn't give you permission to touch my cheeks."

"Eh? I needed permission?"

"It's rude to touch a lady."

"But we're just kids!"

"...Still rude!"

Zeru laughed, clutching his stomach. Aeliana glared at him, clearly not amused by his laughter in this. He wiped away the tears around his eyes and said,

"My apologies, my lady."

Aeliana rolled her eyes and kicked him out of her room. She could still hear him laughing through the hallways.

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Author's note: Not a very long chapter, sorry about that ;; been busy with classes again and my laptop lowkey broken haha...