"Okay, Elin, listen carefully!" I started, his face taking up my entire view.
"If you are rejecting me, I accept, but I want you to know I like you!" Elin bowed softly.
"Thank you, and yes, this is me rejecting you, not because you are bad, I am just not interested in marriage!" I said and ruffled his hair.
He smiled at me.
He definitely has horrible taste, first Illaine, now me.
And all of this happened within a day.
Like, wow, is every mini-aristrocrat high?
And then we went to have dinner.
Elin sat with me on the girls' side.
Eleanor tried not to laugh.
Miarale looked like she was studying me and Elin.
Damn shipper aristocrat.
Eliana was leaning against Elin.
And the rest of the eight boys ate together.
"Where is Ella?" Illaine asked, taking a bite of something I could not recognize due to the fogging up of my brain.
Tragic.
"Ella is with the other maids," I answered.
"I miss Ella and maybe Mia," Raine said, biting the steak.
"True, brother!" I laughed, and I was sure everyone was staring at me.
"What?" Illaine looked stupefied.
"I'm sleepy!" I said, laughing.
"And deranged!" Raine added.
"Big words, Raine!" A certain blonde said.
"Ah, shut up, Mia, I'm smarter than you!" I don't know why I replied to Mia.
"Of course, you are a plant absorbing all knowledge!" She snickered and patted my head.
"I thought I was a goat?" I leaned against her.
"You are both," she chuckled.
"So rude, Mia!" I pointed at her, almost falling, and I felt drunk! "I'm firing you!"
"Yes, yes, fire me, who will make you food?" Mia said.
"You don't know how to cook!" I scoffed.
"And it is time for you to sleep!" Mia started, and while I was sleepy, I would not admit it.
"I'm going to stay up all night!" I said.
"No!" Mia said.
"Yes!" I said.
"I'll call Ella!" She threatened.
"Please don't," I said, mumbling half asleep.
"I'll fire you!" I said, and she lifted me.
"Fire me after sleeping!" She carried me to the carriage.
I hugged her.
This body fell asleep quickly.
Useless seven-year-old body.
Mia put me to sleep, inside a tent.
And when I woke, the Gods were screaming!
[Lucas, you were so cute!]
[Sleepy Lucas the goat]
Remembering all that happened yesterday.
Raine was not here.
Did she wake up before me?
I got to the campsite after twelve minutes of groggily getting ready, and wearing clothes set out for me.
There was a lot of noise coming from outside.
I walked out and saw Ella. And others outside.
"Ella!" I ran to her, and she picked me up!
"How have you been, young master?" She asked, and the other maids stared at her.
"Fine, tired!" I hugged her, and she set me down.
"You should go play with them!" I nodded and walked away.
"Lucas!" Miarale screamed my name. That girl was very sharp-sighted.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked and sat between Eleanor and Miarale.
"Talking about things?" Eleanor said, her brown eyes shining.
There was an eyelash on her nose.
I picked it off softly.
"Eyelash."
"You act so mature around us, but are so childish with your maids?" Lorencia said, watching me with careful eyes, "Also, I ate two breads today!"
"That's great! Eat as much as you want, it's your body after all!" I smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Lucas is such a gentleman!" Eleanor muttered.
"No, I am just a normal human!" I chuckled.
"No, most boys are so…stupid?" Miarale added.
"Yes, of course they are, so are you, so am I, we are kids, we are supposed to be stupid!" I said removing hair from my face.
"But you are not!" Eleanor said, and Lorencia nodded.
"I'm just exceptional!" I laughed.
"So normal human of you!" Miarale joked.
"I think I might have a problem," Illaine sat down and muttered.
"Me too, it just sat down," I muttered.
"Shut up, it's serious!" Illaine glared at me.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Raine is too cute!" She started.
Huh?
"Like when we were eating breakfast, she ate bread from my hand like a cat!" Illaine said it was a problem, but it does not sound like a problem.
"Also, I think Raine is beating someone up!" Miarale said.
Everyone turned to look at where the prince and princess were starting.
I got up and ran towards them.
The girls followed.
Fuck.
Raine was beating up Illaine's brother.
I picked her up.
He was bleeding, with a missing tooth and a black eye.
I went to the boy, and he slapped my hand away.
I sighed and forced him to show his face, he was crying.
"Call the maids!" I shouted at Illaine.
The boy's shirt was torn.
He was Illaine's older brother by two years.
Damn, Raine was strong.
"Are you okay?" I asked an obvious question.
"No!" He spat out.
I took a handkerchief and removed the blood. But it was bleeding.
Shit, this is not going to go well.
I turned to Raine.
"Why did you do it?"
She remained silent.
"Raine!"
"He called you a whore!"She yelled, her voice high enough to echo, "And he insulted Illaine!"
"I'm not going to listen to people insult people important to me!"
The saddest part was that she knew the word 'whore', that she knew the reality.
"It does not matter what people say, you have no right to react like that!" I said, almost regretting bringing Raine with me.
"He does not know what a 'whore' is, he does not understand it!" She shouted, "His mother did not take a man after a man just to die from it!"
"He has no right to call you something you are not!" She yelled with so much force, I could not breathe, "Just because, just because you were kind to others, why was he cruel to you?"
"This bastard does not know what he said, yet he said it, because it was the extent of him!"
"So what?" I muttered, anger seeping through my body, I glared at the boy then at Raine, "Do you think anyone cares about what you think?"
"People like you, people like me, we are fucking fodder!" I said, my mouth moving before my head, "We could die tomorrow, and not a fly would care!"
"That's how meaningless your life is!" I grabbed Raine by the collar. "So don't do things that would hurt you!"
The maids came and grabbed the kid. They took him somewhere.
Raine did not move
I sat down on the ground.
[LUCAS FUCKED UP]
[Oh my god, Lucas messed up!]
[Can't believe he messed up]
[messed up]
[messed up]
[messed up]
[messed up]
I stood up and walked into the forest.
I wish I didn't have to ever come back to this mess.
Illaine would save Raine.
I am not needed.
Fucking mess up.
It was afternoon.
Then evening.
Then night.
I stayed there
And I fell asleep.
But when I woke up, I was not alone.
"What are you doing here? Illaine?" I asked, refusing to lean into her.
"Same to you." She remarked.
"I'm sorry." I did not know what else to say.
"Why? My brother deserved." Illaine scowled, I think, I can't see in the dark.
"Calling you a whore…I would have had him killed!" She sounded serious, "Because to me, you are more of a brother than he has ever been!"
"I messed up, Raine is angry at me!" I sighed.
"No, she is not!" Illaine said.
"How do you know?" I asked, looking at her for some hope.
"Because I watched her look for you like a kid looking for her parent!" She hummed.
"She was looking for me?" I questioned.
"Of course she was looking for you!" Illaine shook me.
And we stayed silent.
"Wanna go home now?" She stood up.
"Sure." She helped me get up.
And we started walking.
"Am I really a whore?" I asked. I don't know why I asked that.
"What?" She squeezed my arm.
"Do you think I am one too?" I asked.
"Ask that to Ella, I will just get angry!" She said, and we continued walking.
And we reached the campsite.
Everyone was there.
They all ran to me.
I don't know what they all said.
I looked at Raine, who did not come.
I saw the boys, the boy who got beaten up.
I walked to Ella, who looked like she thought I would die if I moved.
"Ella, am I a whore?" Ella looked at me, then at the boy. Probably having heard the drama already.
"Lucas, if being kind makes you someone like that, then none of nobility would be that, but we both know it's not true. Even if they are the ones giving money."