In the fields of Orvud, at the outskirts of an empty plain with a small house in the wilderness, an injustice was unveiled.
"Historia, stop pulling!" Arthur hissed as Historia, the blonde girl, pulled one of his arms in circles around a tree. She said nothing and only hummed and pulled as hard as she could, marvelling that those limbs could still stretch some more.
On the opposite side, and with a wicked grin, Frieda was pulling Arthur's other arm just as much.
"Why are you even doing this!?"
"Dummy, have you forgotten? We're doing this to check what's your limit," Frieda said with a 'tehe~'.
"Okay, fair enough, but why do you need to wrap my arms around trees?!"
"Oh, hehe... you will know in a bit~".
"..."
"This is amazing, Arthur! Does it hurt?" Historia asked, only after looping my arm around the three for the third time. If it hurt or not, she clearly cared very little.
"It doesn't, but you don't care about that, do you? Why entangle me like this?"
Once they were done, both girls looked at their splendid work of art. Historia and Frieda looked at each other evily and pushed him to the ground.
"Eh?".
Arthur saw two hissing snakes start wriggling their fingers.
"Now we can tickle you all we want, and you can't run away. This is vengeance for the last time~" Historia promised a world of torture.
Arthur paled, "W-Wait! Let's talk this out!".
"Hahahaha, no", the sisters said in unison.
!!!
The mad laughter of a boy resonated in the field for a few hours. However, those vivid laughs progressively turned into the shrieks of a pig getting slaughtered. Only once they were too tired did they stop. The boy lay down frustrated and with an existential crisis. Two juvenile beauties lay happily on his chest. But he wasn't happy… he wanted vengeance... but first there was something else he had to make very clear.
"Girls, I don't need to tell you to keep this a secret, right?" Arthur mumbled.
"Of course, I won't say a word. You too won't say anything, right, Historia?" Frieda smiled and promised.
"Hmn... if you don't want me to. But that's amazing! Don't you think everyone should know?" Historia said.
"If they know we don't know what they could do to Arthur, so it is better if it remains a secret only between us. Here, let's do a pinky promise," Frieda mumbled and had us all promise that we would never say this to anyone.
Some noise resonated, waking them from their stupor. A carriage had arrived; it was Historia's mother. She had arrived unexpectedly early. Historia's countenance decayed; she clutched onto Arthur's clothes as if saying 'don't go'.
"Do you have work this evening, Arthur?" Frieda asked him.
"No, not after this. Tomorrow we won't be able to play, though–" He explained.
"Then, how about you stay with Historia today? I'll have Mr James pick you up in the morning so you won't be late, wouldn't you like that?~" She put her hands on his shoulders and begged.
"Uh? Really?!" Historia overjoyed and jumped on Arthur with puppy eyes, "You're staying, right?!"
Arthur sighed and hugged the blonde, "Alright, I'll stay. But where should I sleep?"
"Hmn? You can sleep with Historia..." Frieda mumbled, "Is that even a question?".
"…" Arthur sighed.
"Yay!" Historia jumped in joy, only to be put down by Frieda with a 'smile'.
"Just don't do anything funny with Arthur, okay?~"
Historia's expression fell in sadness, "We can't have fun? Why?"
"I don't think she means that type of fun, Frieda…" Arthur glared at the young woman nonchalantly, and the girl pouted and evaded my gaze.
"Oh, so we can have fun!?" Historia smiled.
"Of course", Arthur said.
"You can, but don't get too funny~" Frieda just wanted to mess around.
"Frieda, you're confusing her…"
**
**
[Arthur's POV]
Frieda left, and I remained... it would be the first time I slept at Historia's place; my parents may have questions, but they know I am safe here. There was nothing to worry about.
We played in the grass for a bit until I saw Historia's mother shoot me a glare from the back door. She was a beautiful woman, but her countenance was always cold. She sat in a chair, admired the wilderness and read a book. She didn't even glance at her daughter, even a once.
This woman is a mystery. She leaves the house, dressing like a noble lady at different periods... then she comes back and just stays here reading books until she's ready to go again.
I don't know much about their life except for a few things. First, Historia is Rod Reiss' illegitimate daughter with this woman. She and Frieda have the same father but different mothers.
Second, Historia's mother received this land as compensation, but she was told never to approach Rod again. So either mother-in-law confronted her and they came up with this compromise, or I don't know.
Third, and the saddest part... Historia doesn't know who her father is. Frieda coming here to play with her is Frieda's own choice; it is not Rod Reiss asking her to do so. The girl just wants to be in her little sister's life.
Frieda told me not to divulge her father's identity to Historia. He said that 'it was for the best' because his existence would only burden Historia in the future.
It was not my business to meddle in their family matters, so I accepted my role, and I agreed to conceal Rod's identity as well.
If that man didn't want to acknowledge her as his daughter, then it is better for her not to even know who her father is.
What truly pissed me off, though, was Historia's mother's attitude towards her daughter. Perhaps Historia's birth came as a curse to her, or her life was ruined because of it... I don't know, but that is no reason for her not to even acknowledge her daughter's existence.
Especially with how sweet Historia is, if she were my daughter... this girl would be getting spoiled silly every day.
But for her, forget about getting hated; Historia was just ignored.
As for the girl, she did everything she could to get her mother's attention, and I mean everything.
"Mom, today we played. I learned that Arthur can stretch really far!"
!!!
I jumped on her to cover her mouth.
"Y-You little–! Do you think pinky promises are a joke!? You will get pinched by a thousand needless," I hissed in whispers, and she gasped, only now she realised what she had done.
"E-Eh?! S-Sorry... I am sorry, please don't pinch me!"
I sighed, "It's okay, since you apologised, then it's okay... but don't do it again".
This girl went down and just revealed the secret we just pacted to never reveal!
I had paled, but when I saw the woman didn't do so much as to listen to her daughter. I somehow felt relieved, but at the same time, it pissed me off even more. And I was starting to like Historia quite a bit. This sweet girl deserves everything in the world.
A good mother included... and if this woman is not going to be it, then I'll have to see how I go about convincing my parents to adopt her.
"Hey, she's talking to you…" I said.
"…" She didn't look at us again, but I could see her frowning brow start twitching.
"That's how it is going to be...? Okay," I sighed.
*PA!*
!!!
She had to look at us, however, when I slapped the book out of her hands and it fell on the dry grass with a dry thud. The woman gasped and looked at me in disbelief; all she saw was my enraged expression.
"Are you fucking deaf or something? I said your daughter is talking to you".