Kylie: Thanks to all those that had given a review for this story and the other one. I'm very grateful. I hope you'll like this chapter. Opinions or comments are gratefully accepted. Thanks you very much if you did. :)

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Chapter 23

*Tyki's point of view

… I only spoke with him to gain information. I'm just using him.

So Alyce is just using me. She would never care. She thinks of me as dead. She thinks of the Tyki she knew as dead. She does not consider me to be the same person since the one she knew was a lie, supposedly a lie.

I shouldn't be that affected. I shouldn't. It is to be expected. It shouldn't be surprising for me. It was bound to happen. I'm a Noah and she's an exorcist. We were born enemies. We were brought here to this world to fight each other in this war. We are in the middle of a war. Using someone isn't that unusual.

And why else would she speak with me if not to gain information? She detests me. Why bother trying to get along if she hates me? All was done to gain information, to win in this war. That is how things work. It is the nature of things. It is the nature of humanity to use others to survive.

It started last night or rather it started since we met again. She hadn't asked anything that important yet but I know she's about to go there. And I won't let her. I can't let her. I've been playing in the game too long. It has to end.

It has to stop since I've been letting her live longer than I should have. I'm letting her affect me the way I shouldn't. It will end. I'll end it when we meet again. I can't let the past meddle with what I'm supposed to do. I won't let it. She is a hindrance to the earl's plans. She has to die and I'll kill her. I'll kill her with my own hands then let others do it. She will die.

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*Lavi's point of view

I was right. It was Tyki who had been with Alyce and Lilia. They'd become close when they shouldn't have. Nothing good ever comes from being with a Noah when you're an exorcist. It only leads to death.

And if Alyce had been speaking with him that way, it means that Alyce never really had forgotten the past. She remembers everything clearly. If that is so, why did she pretend to forget? It doesn't add up at all. What's the pretense for? Was she avoiding something to be asked of her that she'd pretend to forget to avoid it?

She pretended to forget the time she entered the order. It means that she is keeping something a secret that happened after she'd joined the order. It might have something to do when she was at the order or when she has left it.

Why did she leave the order? And then why did she suddenly come back? And her name, why had she changed it to her mother's maiden name when she entered the order?

There is a lot of mystery to her that isn't solved. There aren't that many who are close with her or know her past. I don't think Lilia knows that much and if she does, Alyce might have asked her to keep things a secret. There is Komui but he isn't the type to give information that freely. There is Lenalee too but she might have kept it a secret for Alyce since they are friends.

It does not necessarily have to be the time she entered the order. It could have been before. Why did she leave her home? That is what I need to know first. And there is one person here whom I could ask … her older brother.

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*Alyce's point of view

Why does things have to be complicated? How can I make that bookman apprentice keep quiet? He said that he'll try but I know he can't keep my secret long. I don't trust him that well as much as he does not to me.

How can I make him keep it?

There is the result of using blackmail but I don't really hold anything much on him that is of the same value …

But there is a tactic that I could try. And it is what cowards choose. Does it even matter? I'm running away from a problem so I'm such a coward already. I don't care. I'll go along with it.

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*Lavi's point of view

I searched around the house for Ernest. It took awhile before I found him since the estate was so big. I got lost a bit until I found him. He was by the fireplace in the room.

"So what brings you here, bookman junior?"

"Looking for answers."

"You are a curious one but then again that is part of the requirement, isn't it? You have to have that will to gain knowledge."

"You've heard about us?"

"Met one of you."

I looked at him in surprise.

"Didn't expect that now, did you? I won't tell which one of them. That is not important. Have a seat. What do you want to know? Is it about my sister? I know she keeps a lot of secrets."

I took a seat by the fireplace and faced him.

"Why did she leave?"

He grinned then said, "She hated us, my father and I. She considered us heartless and seems to be right about that one."

"Is that really just the reason?"

"We had a younger brother born more than fifteen years ago. Our father got rid of him for his abnormality or differences. She hated father for that. And she hated me as well because I was like a dog following him. She only stayed here long enough to gain money to go around and search him."

"And then she ended up at the order."

"That was the last I heard of her until she appeared here. And of course she wasn't the same."

"But the hatred was still there although not visible."

"Yes. She hated us very much for being heartless."

"Why did your father get rid of your younger brother? What was that abnormality or difference that made him do that?"

"Our younger brother had an abnormality that is not acceptable in society. He had a deformed arm."