Chapter 26 |Present|

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Arina was staring at the chess board on the table. The glass marbles littered on the chess board particularly intrigued her. She wanted to peck at them. But deep down she knew those marbles were not playthings. As if following a memory, she picked up one marble. The coolness from the marble seeped through her skin and into her body. She placed the marble into a container. Then she picked up another and repeated the action. Soon the whole chess board was clear. She felt that she had done this countless of times, clearing up the chessboard after a match of chess. 

Countless of times? When? Chess was a pastime for human, not birds. Why would she be playing? With whom? She stared at the container holding the white marbles. She picked up one and placed it on the chessboard. Immediately, someone placed a piece of black marble on the chessboard. She looked up and found Carlisle smiling at her. 

"This time you couldn't cheat." 

"I didn't cheat last time." She was pouting slightly. 

As if they had done this countless of time, they began to place a piece on the chessboard in turn. 

"Are you sure that's the best move?" Carlisle raised his eyebrow. 

Arina remained silent. She knew it was probably not the best move, but instinct told her that if she responded, she would fall into another trap. And she found that her instinct was mostly correctly when dealing with Carlisle, so she followed her instinct. She remained silent.

"I gave you the chance. Don't cry later on." Carlisle shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. 

She let out a breath when Carlisle placed his next move. Carlisle observed her expression, he was not happy that she avoided his trap so easily, as if she remembered her past. Now he had to think of a new trick. 

Carlilse was certain Arina did not remember her past. She really thought she was a bird at birth even though there were actually a lot of tiny hints that indicated the truth was not that. The Arina in the past would definitely notice them, but the Arina now could not. It seemed like her brain skipped over anything that contradicted her identity as a 'bird'. 

She had a tiny smile on her face when she placed her next move. She reacted in the exact same way as the past Arina after avoiding a trap. She had not change. Carlisle smiled at the thought. But that didn't stop him from crushing her on the chessboard. 

Arina tiny smile appeared once again as she avoided a trap she had fallen into in the past on the chessboard. If he wasn't sure she didn't remember anything, he would have believed that she was pretending to fool him. 

Annoyed, Carlisle patted on her head and said, "Arina, if you're actually pretending, you'll be dead." 


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