“Hey! You said I could ask for anything!” Lucas complained while I kept hitting him. Honestly! He had to be thirteen years old!

“Ask for something less stupid!”

“What other thing am I supposed to ask for? There’s not a lot we can do here in this cell, is there?”

I huffed, putting down the pillow and narrowing my eyes at him. Lucas pouted, glancing away and scratching his head embarrassedly.

“So it wasn’t ‘anything’ after all… ah! Ok, I won’t talk anymore! Stop hitting me!”

Really! He was about to die, and that was what he wanted? It wasn’t like it bothered me he asked specifically for a kiss. After all, even if in this life I’ve never kissed anyone, in the past one I did far more than just kissing. It wouldn’t be a problem for me… but it was such a stupid request!

Not counting it felt awkward since my mental age went up dramatically after recovering my memories from my past life. Although I was actually only two years younger than him, the truth was, I saw him as a kid.

He would probably cry if he knew what I was thinking.

“Alright, I understand. Sorry for asking something so unreasonable” he sighed and let himself fall on the bed again. I stared at him, noticing the blush staining his face and ears, and wondered if he was being serious. I mean, a kiss was an intimate act. You didn’t do it with anybody, though there were people who simply enjoyed kissing way too much. It would cost me nothing to grant his wish, as for me it would be just like kissing a pet or one of my nephews or nieces from my past life. The reason I refused was because I thought it was a request that was out of place, but then again, he was at that age…

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. Now sit up so we can be done with it.”

Lucas sprung up like an elastic band and looked at me with eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth completely open. I remained calm, holding his gaze until his shock washed away. We had a few hours until they came to pick us up, so I was patient.

Finally, he closed his mouth and exaggeratedly gulped. “Are you sure? When I asked I didn’t expect you to actually say yes…”

“If you don’t want it, that’s fine with me too.”

“No, no! I do want it!” he corrected vehemently, moving his hands from side to side and up and down as if making emphasis on how much he wanted it. “But, is it truly alright? It’s going to be your first kiss too…”

“It’s not my first kiss.”

“HUH?!”

How innocent he was. It made me want to keep poking fun at him.

“B-but… you’re younger than me…”

“You want that kiss or not?”

He closed his mouth immediately. After that, I sat there, waiting for him to take the first step. I already gave him leeway to do what he wanted, I wasn’t going to be the one to kiss him first. If he really wanted it, he should come and get it.

“So… here I come…”

He closed his eyes and came closer. I resisted the urge to sigh. He was going a little off ways since he closed his eyes too early, and was on direct trajectory towards my jaw. And why was he pursing his mouth like that? Was he a fish? Taking pity on him, I straightened his face with my hands and gave him a soft peck on the lips.

Then someone cleared their throat.

I pushed Lucas away with so much force he actually fell from the bed. Feeling my face burning, I looked up just to see the person I wanted to see the less, and witnessing me kissing his younger brother of all things!

“Mathias!” Lucas was the first to talk, standing up with his face as red as mine. The bastard simply raised an eyebrow at the sight of his brother like that. He was leaning against the doorframe, the door wide open behind him.

“If you’re too occupied, I can come back later…” he said slowly, keeping a straight face but I could see the corners of his mouth twitching. The asshole was laughing at us!

“How long have you been there?” I asked since Lucas was too busy doing his best to imitate a dying fish. Went perfectly with his expression earlier. I didn't try to hide the venom from my voice as I asked though. Regardless of what I talked earlier with Lucas and how much he loved his brother, for me he was the same asshole through and through.

Mathias shrugged, but I was happy to see my tone of voice incommoded him a little. “Since Lucas started making duck faces and you looked like you would rather kiss a dog than my brother.”

“Mathias!” Lucas yelled. Wow, how come his face can turn so red?

“So not very long. What are you doing here? Is it time already?” I asked contemptuously, crossing my arms and glaring at him. Mathias sighed.

“Yes, it is time for both of you to get out of here. I prepared a small carriage with what I thought you would need. Wherever you go after leaving this place it’s up to you.”

I frowned, not understanding what he meant. He didn’t pay attention to my expression and just walked towards me, his eyes fixed on my leg. The leg he broke. I instinctively hid it under the covers.

Seeing my obvious distrust, he halted, and this time turned to Lucas. “You did a very good job healing her. Your magic ability seems to be increasing.”

Lucas was taken aback. He cleared his throat, at a loss for what to say. “I… couldn’t heal her completely though. I spent the whole day trying… but I always felt so tired afterwards…”

“Practicing it’s good. Depleting your energy will be good for your endurance. In that way, your internal paths will strengthen and little by little, your accumulated magical energy will increase.”

“Yes, I know.”

He didn’t say anything else, probably because it wasn’t necessary since there would be no future for his internal magical paths to become stronger. Really, what a thing to tell your doomed brother. Mathias nodded, before he extended a hand towards me. I didn’t hold back and hit his arm, unfortunately without as much force as I wanted since the angle was awkward.

Mathias sighed again. “I want to complete Lucas’ work. I promise I won’t hurt you anymore” he raised a hand while putting the other over his heart. My response was hissing at him. Yes, like a cat. He raised an eyebrow. “I can carry you again if you prefer that, or are you good enough to walk on your own?”

“The hell you saying you son of a b-”

“Ok” Lucas intervened before I could jump him and scratch his face, standing between the two of us with hands raised as if to placate us. “Mathias, please be nice to Elaine.”

“I’m being nice.”

“And Elaine…" he ignored the obvious bullshit coming out of his brother's mouth and looked at me, "can’t you see what’s going on?” I frowned. “Mathias says we’re leaving! That means, we’re escaping!”

“Ah.”

Damn, didn’t hear that part. Was too busy trying to get him to burn with my glare alone.

I looked at Mathias again, and was satisfied to see him blushing while glancing away. Ashamed? You should be. However, there was a part that was bothering me in all this.

“What took you so long? Do you know how much anxiousness you caused Lucas? And why so close to the appointed time? Be more conscious of the situation!” I complained, remembering Lucas' tears yesterday when he thought his brother had abandoned him.

“You mean you wanted me to pointlessly fight my father and end up locked with you two, without possibility to plan your escape or get rid of the guards?” he asked, showing a small frown. I clicked my tongue. Why his explanation made so much sense? Still, he was incredibly insufferable, so I crossed my arms and lifted my chin.

“So you really have our means of escape ready? Or is it only for Lucas? You can’t disobey your father’s orders, right? Someone needs to be sacrificed so you’re going to leave me here. In that case, what’s your purpose trying to get close to my leg? Are you going to break it again? That’s it. You’re acting all righteous now but when I don’t look, you will leave me behind and run with Lucas” I spit as I could feel my face tightening with distrust. “If you think I’m going to trust whatever you do or say, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought, Mathias de la Rosa.”

Mathias looked at me, his expression unchanging, before glancing at his little brother. “Lucas.”

“Right away” the little traitor said, holding my arms and taking off the cover from my leg. I started to struggle.

“Lucas! What the hell?!”

“I get it. I really understand you don’t trust my brother, but be reasonable! If we’re getting a chance to escape, why are you resisting so much? What’s the worst that can happen? The two of us will die?”

I growled, hating that he was right, and although I was completely against it, I stopped fighting, letting the scum heal my leg. The light from his hands was brighter than that of Lucas, which wasn’t a surprise since, from what I remembered of the manga; Mathias had a healing ability, and a big affinity for it at that. He was the medic of the team, after all, along with Adela, because apparently working with the dead meant working with life, and life healed wounds or something like that. That meant, just a minute or two later, my leg was completely healed, something that would have taken Lucas a week or more to accomplish at the pace we were going.

I hated this bastard so much.