"Ahh. I'm so full. I'm glad the food taste so good."
Arabella said with a satisfied smile. She chuckled when she saw Blaine's face that's still eating the cheesy macaroni. Although she made this novel that's dated back to the empire era, she clearly listed here the modern dishes, Arabella doesn't know any empire food to include in the novel, she just wrote foods that she saw on the internet and streets, which made her love her past self for being so unknowledgeable about foods in the past.
'I didn't know that not knowing ancient foods will lead me to eat my favorites even though I'm not in the other world anymore. huhuhu'
"Mother, I'm done. I didn't know that we'll be able to finish that, let's eat here again after the harvest next month!" Blaine said excitedly and smiled widely at her.
Aww..what a cute smile.
"Of course I-"
"You piece of trash!"
All of the customers in the restaurant quickly turn their heads where they heard a loud shout from a man who's holding a little girl's hair.
Arabella's heart tightens, she had never seen this kind of violence towards a child, but she experienced them herself with her abusive auntie and uncle. When she saw the bleeding lips of the little girl, Arabella quickly stands up and walk towards the man.
Blaine wiped his face with a table napkin and followed his mother. He thought they were going out of the restaurant already to avoid getting caught in the situation, but his eyes widen when his mother suddenly hold the man's hand that's holding the poor little girl's hair.
"Let her go" Arabella said calmly and glared at the man. Seeing the little girl up close, she can see the bruises all over her body and the moment she saw her swollen left eye, she felt like she wanted to hug the little girl and cry.
"This is none of your business! Go away you bitch!" he shouted and brushed off her hand. Arabella quickly retracted her hand and looked at the man.
He's a stout middle-aged man and he looks like a noble who's having his lunch in this restaurant as well. Looking at him clearly, he saw the typical abusive man just like his uncle. She's so furious that she felt like she wanted to strangle him to death.
'Kill him!'
Arabella flinched when she heard something, she had goosebumps all over, and confidence suddenly overwhelmed her mind and body. Her blood lust had become so intense. It feels like something is inside her body that wants to come out.
"What are you doing to a little girl? Let go of her." Arabella said with a furious tone. When she glances towards the little girl, their eyes met and she saw the pitiful tears streaming down her cheeks.
"This bitch stepped on my shoe! How dare this stupid filthy commoner stepped on me!" Arabella frowned at his ridiculous excuse.
"She stepped on your CHEAP shoes?" she scoffed which made the man get red in anger.
"You-" he was about to say something again but the little girl kicked the man's balls and scratch his arms with her fingernails that immediately bleed "aaaahhh!" the man screamed in pain. Arabella was so shocked that she just stood there with her wide eyes. Everyone in the restaurant looked at the feisty girl beating up the big man; they were so shocked that they weren't able to say a word.
The man was already on the ground screaming loudly in pain. Arabella felt two little hands grabbed her right and left hand.
"Mother!" the moment she heard Blaine's voice they're already running towards the exit.
The little girl was holding her left hand while Blaine was holding her right hand. All of them were running like crazy. When they're already far from the restaurant, Arabella gripped her chest gasping for air.
"You-you, are you alright!? Blaine quickly, let's go back to the inn!" after saying that, Arabella lifted the little girl whose face clearly shows how surprised she is.
'She's so light, does she even eat anything?'
With that, the three of them went inside the inn and rented one of the rooms there for two hours to tend to the little girl's wounds and feed her. This made Arabella forgot about the voice she heard when she felt intense rage.
________________________________________________________________________________
A smiling face welcomed the scrunched up face of Blaine when he saw the little girl his mother just took in.
"Motheeeeer! Why is this girl still here?" Blaine asked with annoyance.
"Why not? Isn't it more fun with more people here?" Arabella said while preparing their breakfast, she was cracking the fourth egg with a fork when Blaine quickly replied.
"But..mother, we don't even know where she came from, maybe she was just acting yesterday to get your attention," Blaine concluded that suddenly made Arabella loosen her hold to the fork which quickly fell on the floor.
"I've never thought about that..." Blaine's face brightened up when his mother looks like she's suspicious of their unwelcome guest.
"See? Those people in town are all suspicious, they do not welcome us. We-"
"I'm an orphan." These words that came from the little girl that's sitting in front of the table got Arabella teary-eyed.
"Let's talk after breakfast you two." Arabella just said she needs to prepare her heart when she talks about the little girl's situation.
Blaine glared at the smiling little girl while making his way towards the table; he sat down and focused his eyes on the girl as if she'll do something dangerous.
The two of them weren't aware that the little girl flinched when Blaine said what he was thinking earlier.
"We need a heart to heart talk later." She mumbled with a sigh.
Yesterday after tending her wounds and bruises and after feeding her, she asked the little girl what her name was and where are her parents. She just shook her head and didn't talk. Arabella didn't ask anymore and just looked at the little girl pitifully, while Blaine was just staring at the girl and crossed his arms. Arabella decided that she'll ask the knights to get this girl to a safe place. It seems like the girl is an orphan, she can't possibly support the girl to live in this town and give her money, and she can't raise her while saving money. But it'll be fine if she lives with her in their rundown mansion.
But that's also impossible, she'll soon depart when the time comes, she can't drag a little girl together with her, she's not even sure if she can survive alone, what more if she's carrying a kid with her.
That's what she thought, but when they were about to go out of the inn, the stout middle-aged noble with whom they had an argument earlier was outside while complaining to the knights about the little girl who assaulted him.
Arabella frowned and was about to confront the man, but two hands stopped her, Blaine and the little girl grabbed her dress while shaking their heads. Arabella walked towards the owner of the inn and asked where are their horse and cart, the owner leads them to the back which makes her want to cry with happiness. If they use the backside of the inn, they'll be able to travel back to the mansion without meeting the scary abusive man.
They're already in front of the mansion when Arabella realized that she dragged the little girl with her all the way from the town. Also, Blaine was shocked when he realized that he's sitting on the cart together with the little girl for a long time now.
And now, the three of them are sitting on the dining table eating peacefully.
After a while, Arabella was the first to break the silence that's conquering them.
"Little girl, I'll ask about your name again, since I can't just call you little girl while staying here." She said with a smile on her face, the little girl who was about to eat a mouthful of rice when Arabella asked.
She put down the spoon and stared at Arabella with tears forming in her eyes. After a few seconds, the little girl opened her mouth to talk.
"I-I don't have a name, I was abandoned in front of the church. After I turned five years old, the priest kicked me out and told me that they can't feed me anymore. That was two months ago, I steal food to survive every day." The summarized story of the little girl in front of the girl made Arabella stand up and turn around which made the two kids confused.
"I-I'll be back, you two stay here."
The two children were stuck while waiting for Arabella. Blaine glared at the girl.
"You, you're intentions are leaking you know" Blaine said.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The little girl replied innocently.
"I won't buy your pitiful act, I'll agree with mother if she wanted you to stay, but once you endanger her or you do something bad to her, I'll deal with you myself."
The two mature thinking children looked at each other with their intense gaze, they both crossed their arms.
The little girl was getting annoyed, the mother is very easy to trick but her son is making her work difficult. She'll execute the plan after a few days, she can't stay with them much longer, she hate this kid in front of her, it feels like he can see through her.
"I'M BACK!"
They were startled when Arabella came back panting while holding a book. They both squinted their eyes to clearly see the title of the book.
"Names...for..newborn...babies?" the two children read the title. Blaine glared at the book while the little girl got surprised and confused.
"Yes! I was cleaning the other day when I saw this book! Let's go and find you a name. Hmm.. you got red eyes with blonde hair and a very intense gaze...don't you think the name Scarlet suits you?" Arabella said with glittering eyes.
"I-"
"That's a fine name; don't waste your time finding another name mother, it's not worth it. We need to go back to the garden now." Blaine said then walked out.
The two of them were dumbfounded when Blaine just said those words. Arabella wasn't used to this kind of rude words from Blaine, so she quickly stopped Blaine from going out. She grabbed his hand and glance towards Scarlet.
"Scarlet, you may go first to the garden, Blaine and I will just have a little chat," Arabella said with a smiling face.
Scarlet didn't say anything and just nod, she felt like she doesn't have the voice to use to reply to Arabella, her serious voice made her like that.
When Arabella and Blaine were the only ones in the dining room, Arabella let out a big sigh.
"I know you don't like Scarlet, but you can't just drop those rude words to her."
"Mother, you're just too kind, why would you let in a complete stranger in our house? What if she's just pretending and will soon harm us?" Blaine asked while looking so hurt.
"Blaine, my child, she's harmless. Look at her state when we first saw her, she can barely walk on her own, she's just trying to survive. Those things she experienced, it gives me chills just imagining it. A young lady being beaten like that just because she wanted a piece of food to eat." With those words, the tears that Arabella had been holding all this time came out. Blaine got shocked that he also cried.
"Motheeeer please don't cry..." he said in a low voice while trying to suppress his own tears.
"They why are you crying as well? Hahaha" the two of them cried while laughing.
"Fine, I *hic* I'll get along with her for you, mother."
"That's my boy. One of the reasons why I let her stay here is because there's no one in town that will take care of her. Another person joining us with dinner tonight won't hurt you know."
'I know because I made this novel myself. If this beautiful little girl wanders alone, she'll surely attract trouble. She's the best targets for men to kidnap and be brought in the red light district.'
"Ye-yes mother"
They both wipe their tears and get out of the door.
They didn't know that the little girl they were talking about heard it all.
________________________________________________________________________________
It's been five days since Scarlet came into the Maguire Mansion. All three of them are living well together. But, arguments between Blaine and Scarlet never end. They argue once their eyes met, there's never a day where they don't clash.
"If the two of you refrain from arguing today, I'll make a delicious mushroom soup and spaghetti for the two of you." Arabella's words made the two children zip their mouths immediately
Scarlet had tasted Arabella's cooking's and the taste of those dishes are out of this world. She's zipping her mouth because she wanted to taste the spaghetti she was talking about. The two children just glared at each other.
"No glaring as well. You two go picked me some tomatoes and get me the cheese I made in the storage."
The two quickly run, like they were competing with each other. Arabella let out a laugh when she saw that, she shook her head and sat down on the chair.
A year and eight months, that's the only time she can have with them. Arabella already made a plan, although the two always argue with each other, she can feel that it's their form of bonding. Once the old butler sees Blaine and comes back tomorrow morning with the knights, she's sure that Blaine won't leave Scarlet alone, knowing she had already left. He'll take Scarlet with him and that's what she wanted to happen.
"Ahh, just thinking about leaving makes my heartbroken."
She can change the future if she wanted to, she can hide Blaine forever and stay in this mansion together with the two children and live peacefully, but she won't do that. The story must go on, Blaine deserves to know and go back to where he should be.
A frown formed on her face when she felt something odd.
Arabella felt like someone was watching them, especially when they're in the garden, she can feel the malicious gaze boring onto her. She already expected this, what do you expect? A woman living with only two children without a husband to protect them, they're definitely prone to thieves.
She rubbed her head, hoping that an idea will pop up to get them out of this dangerous situation. Arabella was thinking hard when she heard a scream, she quickly dashed towards the place where she heard the scream.
In the garden, she saw the two children bathing in the mud while holding a pierced tomato.
"You ill-mannered girl! You ruined the tomato!" Blaine shouted.
"Not me! You did, I was the one who picks it first before you grab it." Scarlet replied while arching her eyebrows.
'Yes, I won't die by the thieves, I'll die stressfully just by watching these two.'
Arabella quickly scolded the two and told them that if they didn't quickly wash, she won't cook spaghetti. The two immediately run towards the door, where the two of them collided with one another. She was about to scold them again when Blaine's impressive reflex made him pass through the door while Scarlet was trying to press him at the side.
Arabella laughs out loud when she saw that, she wiped her tears of joy and went inside the house as well.
They didn't know that their harmonious days will soon end.