Waking up from plenty of rest, Amelina sat straight up, stretching a bit. She was pretty much satisfied with her nap, after being exhausted-
Wait.
'I don't remember going to the training ground today...'
And for some reason her eyes were puffy, but from what?
All of Amelina's inquiries were answered, when her stretched arm bumped into something soft. Abnormally soft, if she must say.
"Can you put away your hand?"
The girl swiftly jerked her hand away, backing away from the source of the voice.
A boy's voice.
"Who-who are you?" Amelina carefully asked, slightly traumatized with her previous meeting with the other children.
The said boy stretched a little, oblivious to Amelina's accusing look. Or more to ignoring it.
"I'm Khun Aguero Agnis. You?" 'Aguero' answered, his relaxed posture of leaning against the tree contradicting Amelina's tense figure. The boy threw her an incredulous look when she stayed silent, and sighed instead. "Look, I know the children in this family are always at each others' throat, but I assure you-"
"They do?" Amelina gaped at the new fact. For her, anyway. Was that why those children coaxed her into entering the forest?
Once again, Aguero looked at her as if she was out of her mind. "You don't?"
"I don't know? I mean-"
"Yea, yea, whtever it is, can you give back my vest?"
'Vest? What he's talking about-'
Only when Aguero gestured to her lap did Amelina noticed the crumpled denim colored vest.
'Why is this on my lap. Wait- Oh.'
Amelina hazily remembered back the moment when a mysterious boy gave her a handkerchief, with the two later talking about the cursed family and then-
"Did I fell asleep?" Amelina meekly asked the boy who nodded back, a smirk adorning his handsome face.
"I guess you remember now?"
"S-sorry for troubling you!" the girl hastily tried to flatten the crease on the vest (though to no avail), flustered by the turn of events.
After giving the cloth back to its rightful owner, Amelina sat properly, facing the boy. "I'm Khun Amelina. I guess.. you can call me Ame?"
"Hmm. So mind telling me why you were bawling your eyes out earlier?" Aguero questioned with a hint of amusement from his tone even when his eyes weren't focused on the beet red Amelina.
'Should I tell him about it? Well, he doesn't look bad and all...'
So Amelina told Aguero tidbits of her concern, at the same time censoring the names of the people involved in the story like Eduan or Maschenny. There's a high chance that the boy knew who the two was, so she didn't want to directly spill that she's related to them somehow.
And from what Amelina saw from her own point of view, the boy doesn't seem to be surprised with various parts (a lot actually) that it spooked her a little.
"Hmmm.. I think I know the solution to your problems," the boy looked serious all of a sudden, making Amelina perk up.
"W-what is it?"
"Climb up the tower, I guess?" Aguero smirked mischieviously, pointing up to the sky.
The boy expected her to grumble or even glare (and maybe cuss) at him, but instead Amelina gave him a dumbfounded look, her confusion as clear as the day. "Tower? What tower?" Amelina slightly tilted her head.
"What?! You don't even know about the tower?" Aguero gave her a disbelief expression. He could tell that the girl wasn't pretending with how dumb she looked right now. "Come on, you're a child of the Khun family!"
For a short five minutes, Amelina was briefed with introduction about the tower where they literally lived in right now, with the girl nodding along with each fact.
An unexpected lesson due to her ignorance, as Aguero worded it.
He'd seen many wives forcing their children to learn many thing just to ensure they can climb up the tower, but an uneducated child within the Khun family? Surely there's none like that except for this girl.
On the other hand, Amelina was pretty surprised, to say the least. She did read about a legend of a tower climbed by a king and ten great warriors, but to think that it was actually true...
And Maschenny only ever focused on her training and never mentioned anything about the tower.
"So you mean I can escape from this family once I climb up the tower?" Amelina probed, eyes sparkling.
"That was meant to be a joke, but yeah I guess you can."
The girl excitedly clenched her hands, hope filling her as she completely forgot about what had happened earlier.
Including the fact that she skipped her training for the day.
"Hey, didn't you hear what I said? Most of the children of this family can't even live until they become a regular," Aguero raised his eyebrow at the girl's excitement. He didn't actually expect her to take the matter seriously.
"Didn't you also said to work on something that I'm sure of?" the girl turned her attention from her hands to Aguero, smiling to him albeit a little hesitant.
"So you're sure that you'll climb the tower?"
"I don't know how, but I'll thrive for it," Amelina determinedly declared. 'Cause that's my only choice now.'
The silence that followed after wasn't at all awkward since Amelina was busy thinking and remembering back about the story she'd read about the tower, with Aguero staring at her with an unreadable expression.
As if figuring out something foreign to him.
"Well, I guess I'll get going now," Aguero stood, brushing his short pants.
Before he could turn away, a hand slightly tugged at his sleeve, causing him to turn around.
"Will you come here again, Aguero?"
Aguero slightly widened his eyes, as the girl fidgeted, waiting for his answer.
"Aguero."
The people around him knew him as A.A, initials from 'Aguero Agnis'. The only ones that call him by his real name was probably his mother and older sister and some other people.
No, he wasn't mad.
In fact, he didn't know what he was feeling. It was as if something churned in his stomach, and also a lump stuck in his throat, rendering him speechless.
"I always hang out here when I'm stressed out," Aguero managed to blurt out, still unsure how to react. 'Why did I told her that?'
The girl- no, Amelina's eyes filled once more with excitement, throwing another unexpected question. "Can I come and see you again?"
It took a few seconds before Aguero managed to gain his composure back. "How can you know when I'm going to be stressed out?" he mused, turning to face the younger girl properly.
"Eh? Um.."
'She's actually serious about thinking the solution,' Aguero covered his smile.
"Let's meet here next week, then... Ame."
Amelina's eyes lit up, but Aguero wasn't sure whether it was from the offer or the mention of her nickname. With a furious nod, Amelina waved goodbye to the boy as he walked away, after confirming when they should meet up.
'Khun Amelina,' Aguero traced his lips before smirking. 'She could be useful in the future.'
As soon as Amelina got past the tree areas, she was greeted by a fmiliar voice that made her jump.
"Have you calmed down, Miss Amelina?"
"M-miru?! What are you doing here?" Amelina stuttered out. 'Oh no. Did he saw Aguero?'
Amelina had intended to keep her meeting with Aguero a secret, but looks like the secret's about to leak soon.
"Miss, can you hear me out here?" Miru crouched down to the inwardly panicking girl, seeing her eye-to-eye. Amelina hesitantly nodded, her mind still scrambling on how to silence the retainer. "I promise I won't tell anyone about that boy."
"Huh?" Amelina dumbly stared at Miru. Was he serious? Well, she didn't mind it, but-
"Also, I promise not to tell Princess Maschenny nor Sir Eduan about your promised reunion next week."
"Deal."
Miru chuckled at his young missus cute, pouting expression. "I'm not finished yet, miss."
Maybe letting the two be wasn't a bad idea after all.
"Just promise me, if you ever feel like you've had enough, or maybe even crying-" Miru took both of Amelina's small hands, firmly clutching onto them, "-please remember that both me and Eira will always be by your side."
Amelina widened her eyes, Miru's bigger hands warming hers and her heart.
How could she forget about it?
Both of them has been by her side from the very beginning.
'Ahh, I feel like crying again,' Amelina bit her lip, silently walking beside Miru, both of their hands intertwined.
"Oh, miss. I forgot to tell you, but the princess said to be prepared for double training tomorrow."
The girl shivered, an image of 'smiling' Maschenny came across her mind.
"Miru?"
"Yes?"
"Can I cry now?"
Sure enough the moment Amelina stepped into the main estate, Eira was already there, looking fidgety. The maid then rushed to her, tackling her into a tight hug.
Albeit a bit reluctant, Amelina awkwardly returned the hug, slightly surprising Eira.
"Are you hurt anywhere, miss?" Eira fretted, checking every part of Amelina's small body.
"She's not hurt anywhere, Eira. Don't worry too much," Miru popped up beside Amelina, smiling widely to greet the fellow servant.
"Oh, you're back," Eira gave the retainer a deadpanned look.
Eira had never once used that kind of flat tone with Amelina, but she can tell from the maid's judging eyes that she still hasn't forgiven the retainer completely.
"Wait, are you still mad? Come on, I already went through a week of suspension, don't tell me you're gonna shun me-"
Amelina let the two have their moment, heading back towards her room. Those two look exactly like a married couple in Amelina's eyes. Not that she knew how real married couple looks like.
Opening the door to her unusually dark room, Amelina searched her way towards the bed, eyes straining to get used to the darkness. Why aren't the curtains drawn? The night hasn't even nearing yet.
Amelina almost yelped when a hand suddenly grabbed hers, pulling her to the bed. And here she was, face-to-face with a pouting Ran, who didn't seem to be pleased.
At all.
"R-ran?" Amelina carefully treaded. She knew not to mess with the boy when he gives her those eyes. "Are you mad?"
"Where did you ran off to?"
"Uh... nowhere?"
With that, she earned a flick to the forehead, knowing fully well that she deserves it. Ran wordlessly got off the bed and turned on the lights, revealing her messy bed with crumpled pillows and blankets everywhere.
She shuddered at the thought of the impassive boy throwing a tantrum.
A violent one, she imagined.
Amelina decided not to question it, seeing the sour mood her half-brother was in.
"Ran? I'm sorry, really..." the girl tried to apologize.
Ran stared at her woth a doleful look, the turned his head away. "I even came today to train with you, and then you suddenly disappeared?"
Welp. She even forgot about her own selfish request to the boy.
Feeling guilty, Amelina meekly reached out to hold the boy's hand, hoping to earn his forgiveness.
"Ran..."
'He's really mad at me. What should I do?'
"You're... probably the only person I've considered as not bothersome," Ran clenched the girl's hand as he looked to the side, "-so don't go on vanishing from my life now."
It took a moment for Amelina to process what Ran just said as she held back a gasp, not wanting to ruin the moment. She even held the urge to just hug the impassive boy tightly.
Just when she thought she was all alone, here was another person that actually cared about her.
So there's no need to hold back, right?
"Ran!" Amelina engulfed the boy in a tight hug, copying Eira's actions just a few moments ago as the two fell onto the soft bed. "I'm sorry.. really sorry for worrying you.."
The boy didn't reply but softly patted Amelina's head instead.
"I'm glad you're here," Ran finally smiled.
Author's note:
Ugh, another late chapter. Very sorry for that.
I knew this from a long time ago.. but updating regularly is just.. pretty hard *coughs*. I really hope this chapter turned out good since I really want to speed up to the main events that I planned for this arc (that probably won't turn out good).
Anyway, for a change of pace, I will probably add bonus chapter(s) that I can't include in the plot. (I just don't know where to put it) And surprise, another Khun may or may not show up!It mainly consists of fluffs and cracks
P.S.: Doing my business course works consumes more time than school time. Is that a bad thing or not?
P.S.S.: Thanks for those who suggested some names for the possible love interest! I'll discuss about it with my co-author! (Totally did not wheezed when ennette-san mentioned Rachel lol)
Sayonara! Love chu guys!!