Chapter 29: The Deceit

This felt like that time when he had landed in this fantasy land, but worse, much worse, because his entire body hurt, and he was crying out in pain. Kai squeezed his eyes shut as he couldn’t keep them open, the light around him, so gentle before, now aggressive and all-powerful. Somewhere close, Pepin was shouting for him, and there were all kinds of noises, unbearable to his ears.

All of a sudden, the pain intensified, and he found himself being pulled forward like a magnet. If he were to describe the sensation, it appeared as if he was getting out of his skin, which was a terrible thing even to envision. All the horror mangas he had ever read rushed to mind; clearly, soon, he would be a walking skeleton with all the skin and flesh ripped from his bones.

If that were some kind of necromancy, the only solace would be that, as a skeleton, he had a chance to have a very long life, provided that he stood out of the way of more powerful undead creatures.

Before he could concoct a new strategy for living his life as a skeleton in a fantasy land, the pain was gone, and he was rolling down the floor. For caution’s sake, he continued to keep his eyes closed when he finally stopped. Eternity wasn’t going anywhere while he remained like that for a couple more moments, lying on his back.

“Seb!” Someone called out loud in a high-pitched voice.

Kai opened one eye. “Tani?” he asked as he recognized the voice right away. Was he back home already?

His sister appeared above him right away. “Seb, where the hell are we?” She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him.

“Get away,” he said as he tried to swat his sister with his hands. “And who are you calling Seb, you little--”

Oh, that kind of made sense ... Kai blinked hard and looked above. Hell, they were still at the Shimmering Cavern as the crystal ceiling told him right away. He grabbed his head, surprised to find his short curly hair instead of long strands of silk.

“I’m back!” he yelled. “I’m back into my own body!”

“Where are we, Kai? What is this place?” An anxious voice asked, also from above.

Kai’s jaw fell when he saw Milo. “What are you doing here?”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re asking me?” Milo, who was usually uber chill, looked downright panicked. He was swinging his body like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to stay put or break into a run.

“Are you really my brother?” Tani shook him some more.

“Who else? Ah, right, so Sebastian was in my body while I was here ... Where is Sebastian?”

He pushed himself on his ass, and together with him, Milo and Tani turned toward the rest of the people in the room.

“Ha,” he barely managed as he noticed Sebastian standing tall in the middle of the cavern, his back to him, his hands turned into fists by his side.

Sebastian still felt his body trembling from the effort that must have been his transitioning back to his true self. Why were they at the Shimmering Cavern? Breathing low and steady, he took in the scene around him quickly. Behind him, Tani and Milo were making a ruckus, as they had to be scared by being pulled along with him into his world. They were already tending to Kai, as it seemed. Why the three young people were here was a problem that would have to wait.

The Shimmering Cavern. The place he had avoided like the plague for so long. His mother or whoever was behind this strange situation had a taste for irony. It had to mean that he had been dragged there for the ritual. Only his mother’s patience reaching its end could explain what was happening right now. Galien and Conrad were there, probably as witnesses. And of course, Pepin, who stared at him wide-eyed while clutching something in his hand.

Sebastian’s eyes set on the object protected by his servant like he had to hold on to it for dear life. “Pepin,” he hissed, “what is the meaning of this?”

To his surprise, Pepin set his chin high. Not that the servant didn’t have the habit of becoming defiant on occasion, but there was something new in his eyes.

Pepin closed his hand over the item even harder. “I’m having Kai’s child!”

“What?!” That was Tani. “Mom is so going to kill you when she finds that you got a boy pregnant, Kai. And it’s really that kind of BL novel?”

“Shut up, butthead,” Kai told his sister. “Pepin’s not pregnant. He just holds on to a thing.”

“What kind of thing?” Milo shouted. “What is going on? Oh, god, I must be hallucinating!”

“A thing that’s like a baby,” Kai explained. “Well, it’s more complicated than that --”

“Quiet!” Sebastian thundered.

Galien and Conrad seemed just as flabbergasted by the whole scene, and their eyes were jumping between him and the group behind him. “Sebastian, is this truly you?” Galien asked.

He hadn’t seen his cousin in more than three years, if he recalled correctly. Seeing how Galien had always insisted that he should listen to his mother more, it wasn’t like there was a time too soon for them to meet again.

“Yes. Would you like me to blast you where you stand to prove it to you?” he asked in an icy tone.

Galien scoffed but right away schooled his face into a neutral expression. “No need for that, Your Majesty,” he said and took a short, barely polite bow. After their last fight, three years ago, Sebastian had demanded his cousin, in a manner that brooked no contradiction, to be addressed according to his station. That day, he had lost a friend, but Galien had been at fault, too, always siding with Reya for the sake of Ifigia, as if Sebastian wasn’t doing so much already.

He grabbed Pepin by the arm. What could have been in his servant’s mind to do a reckless thing like that? “You should have thought twice before acting so foolishly,” he said through his teeth.

“Hey, that’s not how you treat a ... pregnant dude,” Kai protested, after a short hesitation to find his words.

These people, these foolish young people, had no idea what would soon descend upon their heads. Sebastian let go of Pepin and turned toward Kai, the boy who had clearly made a big mess of everything, just as expected. It was so strange to look at that face that he had seen in the mirror over the last weeks. And the dark eyes were wide as they stared at him.

Sebastian threw a look around and grabbed his sword. In a few steps, he was towering above the boy. He pointed the sword at him. “I should cut right through you for what you’ve done,” he said through his teeth, the anger boiling inside him making him tremble. This boy had taken a difficult situation and turned it impossible!

“Wow, wow, wow,” someone intervened.

Sebastian was surprised to find himself pushed back. His gaze met a pair of green eyes that stared at him with undisguised fury.

“Hey pal, who the hell do you think you are to threaten Kai like this?” Milo asked, and without any consideration for his safety, he continued to push Sebastian back with both palms pressed against his chest.

“Milo, stay out of this,” Sebastian warned.

“How the hell do you know my name?” Milo asked, shielding Kai with his body by placing himself firmly between him and Sebastian.

“Because he’s been your boyfriend for the last weeks, duh,” Tani intervened.

“Tani, quiet,” Sebastian ordered.

“Yeah, like I’d stay quiet now,” the girl riposted. “And why are we here? Weren’t you and Kai supposed to switch back? I mean, I don’t think that’s how it was supposed to work!”

Milo was blinking and staring at him, clearly not understanding an iota. From time to time, he turned toward Tani, but then his eyes traveled back at Sebastian like he couldn’t afford to have him disappear from his sight.

Sebastian pursed his lips hard. He needed to rein in his anger and couldn’t continue to look at Milo like that.

“Milo and I didn’t even want to travel to some isekai land,” Tani continued. “Not that this cave isn’t very pretty, but I have homework to do, and mom is so going to kill me and Kai when she sees that we’re not home when she returns from work tonight. Kai, this is all your fault,” she added, this time turning on her brother.

“How is it my fault?” Kai protested. “I didn’t ask for this!”

“Yeah, sure, because you’ve never thought,” Tani said and continued in a weird voice, “oh, how cool it would be to get trapped in an isekai anime and become the hero, and get all the girls.”

“The girls?”

Sebastian turned, somewhat disconcerted, toward Galien, Conrad, and Pepin, who seemed to be in particular dumbfounded by that last phrase in Tani’s speech, above all else.

“Pepin, I swear, that’s not true,” Kai began. “About the girls, I mean. My sister’s a moron.”

Galien, to make things worse, began chuckling. “As much as this situation appears to be complicated beyond belief, I have to admit that it is just as incredibly entertaining.”

“Pepin?” Tani got to her feet and looked to one side to see the servant as Sebastian was trying to block the view. “OMG, Kai, is that my brother-in-law? That bishie? I totally forgive you. Hi, Pepin,” she waved happily, “I’ll be your sister from today on.”

Sebastian stopped Tani before she could reach Pepin and pushed his servant back, as he also seemed keen on meeting his new sister. “All of you, have you lost your mind?”

They couldn’t tell, not as he could, but the air inside the cavern was getting colder. He had no choice but to play this to the best of his abilities. He threw one last look at Milo. The boy was staring at him, his mouth slightly open, and he appeared to be the most confused that he must have ever been in his entire life.

He turned his back on the trio and proceeded to push Pepin back. The servant was holding onto his precious charge for dear life, and Sebastian hoped that he would be able to fool Reya, at least until he would figure out everything.

Conrad was looking at him like he was seeing him for the first time in his life. Sebastian set his chin hard. He held Pepin by the arm and gestured at Conrad. “You will stay,” he said. “But you,” he looked at Galien, “are free to leave.”

The air was getting frigid. There was no more time to waste, and the others’ safety was paramount. So pleasantries of any sort were out of the question.

Soon, she would be here. Soon, she would see Milo. And that was something he couldn’t allow.

“I’d rather stay, dear cousin,” Galien said.

Sebastian bore his eyes into his cousin’s. “If you ever thought of me as a friend, you’ll do as I say,” he let his voice drop low.

A spark of recognition flared in Galien’s eyes. But before he could say anything, Sebastian opened his palm and moved his arm around, making a wall of ice rise between him and the rest, except for Pepin, whose arm he was still holding, and Conrad.

“What the hell? What just happened now? I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming. I’m in the hospital, and they put me on some serious shit,” Milo continued to mumble. “I must be delirious.” He caught tufts of hair in his fists and acted like he wanted to remove all of it from his head.

“Oh, shoot, stop being such an unbeliever,” Tani scolded him. She hurried to him and shook him. “Get it together, man. I should slap you, but I can’t really reach you. Consider yourself slapped and come to your senses.”

Kai shook off the shock of having just witnessed Sebastian using his magic to block them from him, Conrad, and Pepin. What were his plans? What was Sebastian going to do to Pepin? He had fooled around these few weeks, but Pepin was now in serious trouble because of what they had done.