"You are awake," Bryan's voice tore through the small room like a bullet, directed at the singular figure strapped tightly to a chair at the far end of the room.
Xavier was met with the unexpected question. "You can't get away with this," he screamed as he tried to get up.
"Eh!" He muttered with surprise. "Loose me now." As he yelled, shaking the chair violently, trying to break of.
"Don't injure yourself, I will lose you anyway, as long as you listen to me," Bryan said with a calm, soothing tone as he tried to calm him down.
Xavier did not answer; he still tried to force himself out of the chair.
Bryan looked at him, then smiled. He raised his palm slightly, then walked closer to Xavier.
'No, not again,' Xavier's mind stirred. He thought of the fate that came with Bryan's fist.
"I agree, talk, I wouldn't do anything," Xavier pleaded, but Bryan did not answer. He walked closer to him with each step.
Although Bryan looked calm on the surface, his thoughts were actually running wild. 'Alex, what is the point of this? He has given up already,' he asked with a thought.
"Just continue, stop when I ask you to," Alex said with an evil grin that made even Bryan scared.
Bryan stopped before Xavier, his hand coming down with force.
At this time, Xavier stared at Bryan not as a person, but as a god of torture that had come to reap his freedom.
Just mere inches away from his neck, Alex's voice rang in Bryan's mind. "Stop."
Bryan stopped and went back. "If you act up, then I might just knock you out again," Bryan repeated the words Alex spoke to him fluidly.
Xavier nodded frantically.
A smile formed on Bryan's lip, subtle but calm.
"First, I was only trying to save you from your mother," he started. "It was obvious she wanted to kill you."
Xavier heard this, but did not budge
"You did not check if she was possessed by a type of curse; you just killed her," Xavier yelled in response.
Bryan looked at him, eyes twitching slightly.
'You have a really dumb protagonist to help,' Alex said with a smirk.
Bryan could only sigh. From the history of this world, which he had gathered, he knew that there was nothing spiritual or curse-like. Even most powers were only physical augmentations, with only the rarer ones being elemental.
"You also know there is nothing like a curse in this world," Bryan blurted out after a moment of silence.
At these words, Xavier's heart shook. He knew the curse he said was only to deny the belief that his mother tried to kill him.
But his resolve remained unshaken. "How much of this world do you know? There might be curses, and you don't know about them," Xavier said.
"Shut up! Did I ask you to speak?" Bryan roared. Although he had wanted to talk with Xavier calmly, he could not condone Xavier's naivety.
"She told me everything: the cause of your birth, her hate for your father after he raped her, and how she wanted to live a wealthy life after claiming the bounty on your head. So, now tell me, do you believe me?" Bryan concluded.
Like thunder, Bryan's words hammered in Xavier's mind. A tear fell from his eyes. Then he burst into uncontrollable tears.
Bryan looked at him, but did not try to comfort him.
12 minutes, that was how long Xavier cried for. And through it all, Bryan did not utter a single word. He looked at him calmly, his eyes tender and gentle. Devoid of the cold and apathetic gaze he wore before.
"Are you hungry?" Bryan asked as Xavier stopped.
Xavier's tearful face twitched at his question. Who asked a broken person if they were hungry right after they finished crying?
But still, he nodded. Subtly, but undeniable.
Bryan smiled and stood up. He walked directly to the kitchen and soon came out with a plate full of green grain.
He dropped it on the table and walked up to Xavier. "Just act normal after I untie you," he muttered to Xavier as he loosened the rope.
Xavier's hands moved up immediately. His hands, which had gone numb due to being tied together, regained strength as blood rushed through his veins.
"Thank you," he said before talking to the table. 'He is probably serving the leftovers from yesterday.' As the thought flashed in his mind, the image of his once-loving mother surfaced.
"She is gone, got to live on," Xavier murmured silently.
Bryan heard this and smiled.
Then, a spoonful of grain. Xavier's tongue absorbed the flavor as he chewed. His eyes widened when he tasted it. "What is this?" He asked, staring at the grains like they were foreign.
"Can't you see? It is the same virnseed," Bryan replied with a wry smile.
"I knew it, but it tasted so different and sweet," Xavier exclaimed with wild laughter. Spoon after spoon entered his mouth in rapid succession.
"Can I get more?" Xavier asked, his mouth still filled with food.
"There is more in the kitchen, help yourself," Bryan replied.
"Thank you," Xavier said happily, running into the kitchen. Soon, he came back, drawing an astonished breath from Bryan's mouth.
"Why did you bring the entire pot?" He asked.
"I was helping myself like you said, just making it faster," Xavier said, already digging into the mountain of virnseed before him.
Bryan smiled. 'See how fast he forgot his mother because of food,' he thought, a part of him satisfied, but the other part, Alex, just scoffing.
'It is quite fun seeing him this way, or what do you think?' Bryan asked Alex.
'It's all thanks to my flawless plan,' Alex praised himself.
"Tch! You feel you are smart, huh? Why don't you fight all the battles with your high intellect?" Bryan countered.
'My brilliance lies in tactics, not brawling,' Alex replied.
Bryan wanted to refute, but he could not talk. Alex was true after all.