Chapter 38: New Life
Perspective: Klein Moretti | Reflected by Velkaris
"Melissa's awake… She's really as punctual as always."
Zhou Mingrui—no, Klein Moretti—smiled softly, watching the door to the bedroom creak open. Familiar footsteps echoed across the wooden floor. For a moment, the morning felt like a dream too perfect to be real.
Due to Klein's lingering memories, Melissa didn't feel like a stranger. She felt like… home.
Still half in awe of this strange world, he found comfort in the mundane—his sister's sharp eyes, her precise movements, her relentless order.
She walked over, stern and silent as ever, her school uniform crisp despite the hour. In her hand, she carried the pocket watch again.
Klein blinked and reached out for it. "You fixed it?"
Melissa didn't answer with words. Instead, she took the watch from him, pulled the button at the top, and twisted it twice.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The second hand began to move.
He stared, half-embarrassed and half-amused. "Isn't pulling the button up supposed to adjust the time?"
Melissa gave him a flat glance, adjusted the watch again to match the chimes of the distant cathedral bell—six strikes, crisp and ethereal—and said, "It's okay now."
Then, with mechanical grace, she pressed the button and handed it back to him.
Klein took it with both hands. "Thanks."
She didn't smile. She only turned to the cupboard, collected her towel and toothbrush, and left for the public bathroom without a word.
Her expression had remained unchanged.
But Klein felt something in it—a slight narrowing of the eyes, a tension at the jaw.
Not disappointment. Not contempt. Something older, quieter.
Resignation.
Concern.
It was the look of a sister burdened too early. Of someone who had learned to become an adult before her time. He wasn't sure if it was pity or love that lived behind that face—but it was love, in its own cold, quiet way.
"I don't have a younger sister… do I?"
He questioned himself. And yet, deep down, Klein did.
Benson. Melissa.
It all felt real. Too real to be just memory. Too sharp to be a dream.
Maybe returning wasn't a mistake.
Elsewhere — The Reflected One Watched
In a distant chamber of mirrors, surrounded by still water and unspoken names, Velkaris watched through the silver ripples.
He had seen gods be born. Watched empires collapse. He knew how faith twisted people into things they never meant to become.
And yet…
Watching Klein quietly smile at his sister, Velkaris felt something painfully unfamiliar.
A tug in the chest.
A weight in the throat.
Not longing. Not regret.
Envy.
"If only you knew…" he whispered to the glass, "how precious that moment is."
A sister who wakes early just to fix your watch.
A brother who worked himself to the bone to pay for your books.
A home where people remember you, even when you forget yourself.
He touched his reflection, fingers brushing the smooth surface. The mirror didn't ripple. It never did unless he allowed it.
"You have someone to worry about you."
Velkaris' voice was almost too soft to hear.
"I had no one. Not anymore. Only lies to hold me together."
He closed his eyes and let the moment pass. Time moved forward again.
But the envy remained, quiet and bitter.
End of Chapter 38: New Life