"And that's practically all that happened. I mean... I never thought I would have seen George cry!" Henry spoke while laughing. He had been blabbering on from the time he had met up with Aefia at the palace gates, while anxiously looking around for her hat which she had forgotten about completely, given that her maid would have gotten mad if she didn't return with it.
"I basically missed a lot then." She replied while still not managing to fix her hat properly. Eventually, she took it off and tossed it to the side of the carriage and folded her arms. Her maid loved to style her like a doll, with elaborate accessories... and hats, which she found the most irritating and annoying. Her head was the most decorated and her hands the least, because her hair was most of reach and not her hands.
Ever since she had started staying at the palace, ribbons were the most common things that would have a place on her head while rubber bands were definitely exiled for her. The most common reason as to why she would do so, was that the maid always had a clip or pin that she wanted to match with her coat and overall, and from her side of view, she didn't mind as long as it didn't trouble her.
And ever since the last banquet, she would also find a way or two to 'pin' the hat in place. It was specially where the same coloured ribbon was firstly sewn onto the inner walls of the hat and then a bobby pin would be stuck to the back of her head which trailed down her tied hair. And right now, placing it back on was a terrifying job because the back of her head was something she couldn't see.
Even after tossing it all the way to the side of the vehicle, and diverting her eyes to the streets outside, she still felt uncomfortable with the weight now gone from her head. She really appreciated the way it managed to block most of her view and shadowed her face from being seen, and she really wanted it back now as some passerbys stared at their transport.
"Tsk... I am walking from tomorrow." She unconsciously spoke while narrowing her eyes at the shocked faces of some other peoples. "Do they really have nothing else to do then just stare? Oh... wow. Yeah that is what happens when you keep glancing at anything that seems interesting to you." She flashed a mocking smile as her eyes caught sight of a man who stumbled against a cat while walking with heavy groceries and his head turned towards them.
Suddenly, recalling how he wasn't an ordinary person, but a familiar face she had seen many times long ago. "You... should be happy... that I still haven't torn your vocal cord out of your throat. Now what? Struggling to survive?" Her smile wiped off as she continued staring out of the window with shadowed eyes and glowing red underneath the shade of her front hair.
"Who are you talking to?" Lewis asked while narrowing his eyes at her with a questioning gaze. "No one." She replied while leaning against the window with a careless expression. "Then who is it that you want to silence out for the rest of their life?" He asked while looking at her with a new and more harsher stare at her.
"No one you might want to know. And even if I tell you, you will never recognize the person in your entire life." She answered back with the same level of harshness. "You might want to be silent to me for a few minutes. I hate people who distract me in the middle of my thoughts...but I think I also need to swear in the name of mackerals that I can't seem to shut my mouth nowadays. What was I thinking..."
She trialed off as her eyes closed themselves and her brows furrowed with annoyance and regret hovering her face at the same time. Her arms crossed as her index and thumb of her right hand pressed against her forehead, along with a gritted teeth. Well that was a close call...I am definitely walking from tomorrow. It's not a major problem since the first day of my arrival at Nikoan. I could walk back then, and I can walk now too. Soon enough, she got dragged back into her own mind as the child beside her continued speaking.
"I still can't believe you forgave mom like that! Although...aren't you still mad at her because of what she did to father?" Henry asked while still speaking about his surprised expression when they interacted with their mother in a different way since this morning. This question was enough to snap her back to the real world. I understand he is still a kid, but there is a restriction to what can be told! Her ears pricked as she stared at their silver haired brother with an expressionless face. Best if he doesn't reply.
"Honestly...I still don't forgive her for that...but she must have her reasons for doing that." Instead, he smiled back. "Besides...father passed away about four years ago, I don't feel like missing him anyways. Why not forget that matter for now where mom might have died this time around? We don't know what her overall health is." He looked at the her face with the suddenly shocked expression.
"...So you think that too?" She asked while straightening at her seat. "That George must have done something or said something to the nurses that made them all silent like that where it was a clear sign she was definatly not well? You knew that too?" Her rapped through her words as she nearly became breathless with her fast speech. Despite, if it was someone's health...more specifically the duchess's health that was on the line, it was the most concerning thing now.
"I had my suspicions. But it seems you have your too." He replied while leaning against the carriage sit and placing his hand against her chin. "Either ways...it's not my concern. Why do I need to be worried about her health when her dissappearance would be the best thing that can happen. I don't want to carry her burden when I am older...and as an adopted...neither should you."
At her sides, she fist clenched tightly as white knuckles came visible and her teeth gritted so hard that her jaw vibrated against itself. Her mind rattled and her eyes shadowed heavily as her eyes turned darker. "What do you mean neither should I?" But what I must have asked was...why should I?
"Do I need to repeat myself...because her death would be a must easier and faster step towards our freedom. You don't know what she is scheming along this time." He added while closing his gaze agianst both of the people sitting opposite to him. "Get a control of yourself. She forced you into a contract...and she took you in just because someone told her about a false prophet and about the entire empire burning down."
"That's not what I mean..." She spoke while lifting her gaze and silently shutting her blood vessels without knowing so. "I mean her as a person...as a mother...why is it so that you don't appreciate it? That she is trying unlike the day I had first been introduced to the rest of you?" Her calm was depleting by the passing seconds.
"I don't like her as a person!" He shouted while sharing a sharp gaze back. "Why do you care about someone you hate too?! Admit it already! You are trying to seperate yourself from the rest of us because you are trying to put us back together as a family again! What are you planning on doing next?!"
"I don't hate her! She saved me from a huge trap alright?!" She shouted back after her hands blocked both of Henry's ears as the child shut his eyes flowing that. "At least she tries to be a good parent unlike my own biological parents! She has more mercy than they did!" Her eyes became teary unknowingly as the realization hit her that she was speaking the most unwanted speech too. Letting go of her grasp against the kid's ears, she leaned back and sent her head all the way back.
Her right arm rested on top of her eyes as she slouched deeper into her seat and water drops escaped the corners of her eyes and a regretful smile at her face. "I am sorry...if I said something." She finally spoke a lot calmer now as another line of sentence left her mouth, which wiped away her smile along with it. "My head is dizzy and painful, I didn't know what to talk about." But then, silence interrupted as she kept her eyes covered the entire time.
"...Aefia...where are your parents now then?" Lewis finally spoke after a long time as he leaned back against his own seat and looked back at the said words she had been spilling just a few minutes ago.
"...my parents...that's a long story you might not want to hear." She spoke while slightly leaning forward from her sitting position and smiled with closed eyes. "Then what about your family members? Are you the only child?" He asked while watching her from the short distance.
"No...I have a brother...same age as Henry." She spoke while gazing outside with her dark eyes that seemed to have zoomed out. "Sometimes I still wonder whether he is suffering the same fate I faced all those years ago. He is the age I was when I took that huge turn in life...but of course...he isn't as reckless as I am."
"Where is he now then?"
"...I don't know." She spoke while shadowing her eyes. "But I really want to know...which I definitely can't."
"Why not?"
"Because...my family lives far from where I am now." She answered as her mind slowly fell into a weak state, and it was definitely a confusing factor as to why it was so. She forced herself to stay awake despite the headache and its dizziness. Recalling certain memories...causes my head to turn around itself. Is this what that mirror image must have warned me about?
It didn't take long after that to reach their school and she was the first one to get down from the carriage. Her footsteps landed lightly as she leaped down while holding her hat. "I think I will be busy today, I won't be able to get along during lunch...but I will try." She added while stepping away from the carriage. "Is that alright by you Henry?"
"I guess." The kid added as Lewis helped him down from the steps and rustled his hair, making it way more messy. "Anyway, you will come check on me before your break ends, right?" He spoke with shimmering eyes from the distance as a bag appeared at her hand, a completely black, plain looking school bag. "I will try, don't worry." She spoke while turning away and walking towards the entrance. They had arrived unusually early today and the entire campus was silent.
A few students who come from pretty far away were already present, but she still didn't want to give anyone proper idea that she was related to the most famous person in the entire school, or that's what she heard from most of the girls in her class. Specifically Merissa, the ginger haired girl who had brought the three bulldogs to the banquet a month ago.
She was, by behaiviour and looks, very nice. With wavy hair that she would let free and just wore a headband to hold it back. She had bright blue eyes that looked lively as she smiled or laughed, it almost reminded her of Nada back when they were studying together at the same school. Although she was called Merissa around campus, she did tell Aefia that her full name was Mary Isabella Jaine, where her elder brother would mostly call her Merissabella mockingly.
She had an elder brother, and he was supposedly the lieutenant of the military of the empire of Margenta. Which she didn't give much ear to and didn't seem to care about until she had asked Aefia about her siblings. "Well...I am the only child to a merit army officer...who passed away not long ago. And I am using the hostility from the duchess to continue my education." And that was a huge lie she had told to hide her identity, which felt false to say she was part of the Imperial family...because she wasn't from Nikoan to begin.
"Oh...I hope your grief finds ends." Was the only reply Merissa had given her before a group of 'popular' girls had come in to intervene with their conversation. But now that she had finally adjusted to this school, she just let them do whatever they wanted until they were tired of no reply.
***
"So...how was your day yesterday? You said you were moving in with one of your relatives?" Merrisa asked while leaning against her locker and watching Aefia open the door to hers. Tossing her heavy back inside, she shut it and glanced at the only friend she knew. "Well...stressful...and painful...and what else...definitely a mess." She added while pointing at the side of her head. "I still can't come to understand a book would fall onto my head and injure me like that. I must have been dumb honestly." She forced a smile.
"I take that as a rough day then. That really does look painful." The ginger haired girl answered while standing straighter as she pointed towards the small crowd of pink approaching them. "Well! Look who has gotten their element today!" One of the girls spoke as they grabbed onto Aefia's shoulder.
"Did I ask you? Or did someone ask you to tell me?" She sternly replied while dusting of her hand. The others behind her started smiling as she spun her around and held her throat, and consecutively lifted Aefia into the air. "An insolent, ignorant person like you will never understand the real meaning of power."
Her breathe left her body as Merissa stepped back and watching with horror. "The only child of a merit army officer who passed away...it really does feel useless to be completely weak." A dark purple gaze observed Aefia as her hands squeezed her throat a little bit more.