While all of this was happening, the family had no idea what Aria was doing.
Aria ran into the forest and sat down with her back against a tree, tears streaming down her face. After about five minutes, she wiped off all her tears and forced herself to stop crying. She was a girl who hated crying as she believed that it was a sign of weakness, and Aria was not weak.
She looked at the sky and thought, "Maybe Beth is right, I might have stolen the love of mom and dad. And I did steal all the attraction after I went to the gathering today."
After some time, she came to a decision, "I wanted to talk about it to grandpa for a long time. I guess this is it. The academy has become really boring and I hope he will let me go on some missions to see the kingdom. And Beth would be happy too. And....." But her train of thought was disrupted by the sound of people arguing.
She sighed to herself, "What is with people coming to argue here in the forest? Is it some kind of custom I am unaware about?"
Aria was thinking about going back to the castle when she recognised one of the voices. It was Sebastian. The father of Penny's child. "He might just be in a disagreement with someone else. Doesn't necessarily have to be Penny, right? Anyway, won't hurt to go and see." Aria thought as she walked towards the voice.
Aria could also soon make out Penny's voice and her heart sank. Aria was worried and increased her pace. As she reached the clearing where they were arguing, Aria was shocked by what she saw.
Penny was on the ground kneeling while holding Sebastian's legs.
She said, "I don't know. I truly don't know how Madam found out. I swear I never told anyone."
Sebastian pulled her hair and said, "Bi*ch, so you mena to say that Madam magically found out something was wrong with me, and reduced my work to less than half and my salary to a quarter of what I was getting."
Tears were now streaming down Penny's cheeks as she said, "Please. I don't know how she found out. I never uttered a word."
Aria wanted to rush up and save Penny. But she hesitated for about five seconds, because she knew how much Penny loved this piece of scum and she would get equally hurt if Aria hurt Sebastian. But little did Aria know that this little moment of hesitation was going to turn her whole life around.
Suddenly, Sebastian lifted his leg and kicked Penny's stomach. Such a heart-wrenching scream escaped Penny's mouth that, at that moment, Aria lost all her rationality. Her mind, heart, every inch of her body was filled with rage as Sebastian tried to kill the little life growing inside Penny.
Aria ran forward without any other thought in her head, than to kill this piece of scum in front of her.
Sebastian was aiming another kick at Penny's stomach when he felt something was wrong. It felt as though something was chocking him and he was rising up into the air.