His words made Zachery frown, "I wouldn't want a mute wife. I want a female who will be my best friend, who I'll be able to talk to, who will share her heart, dreams, and ideals with me. Someone smart."
Well, for all I've heard of him in my past lives, he gets engaged at 18, a year after I was sold in my first three lives, to Hyacinth Octavia Grievleer, a Princess from the Grievleer Grand Duchy, part of the Royalty of the Nebelhain Empire, and Roman's 3rd degree older cousin, as she was 17 at the time of their engagement. And according to the events that took action on my 3rd life, as I was living with Aiden, he was the one who later on became the Alderidge King, when he was 25. Hyacinth, to her credit, was gifted in magic, like my brother, she was of the Fire element. I also heard that she gave birth to triplets when she was 23 and he was 24; naming my unknown nephews Harry, Henry, and my niece Holly.
As given that the rumors said they were inseparable, best friends, and that they became good rulers together, I believe his dream came true.
But Sebastian scowled to that, "You know nothing, Zachary. That's why I'll become the King, and you won't. You keep having thoughts of love and other stupid dreams, when you should focus on power. Amaya may be a mute, but she'll be gorgeous, and more importantly, she's a Alderidge, and given her features, is very magically gifted. Any male who desires to have power, would want to marry her, so they would have a heir who would be gifted like we are!" Then he grinned arrogantly and turned to father, "Aren't I right, daddy?"
Ugh, he was always an ass kisser. A snake, if I may. In my first two lives when I died at 13, I used to think that he was the one who would end up becoming the King, given his pride, ego, and arrogance that mirrored that of a King. I'm glad I was wrong. He would probably be a greedy tyrant.
"Thinking about that is good, Bash," father petted his golden wavy hair. "However, Zac ain't wrong either. It's good to keep love in mind, especially because me and your mother were a love match. So, do not take that away from you mind, Zac. Nevertheless, not all have the luxury of thinking like that, and those are the ones who we need to take into consideration when we decide whom to give your little sister's hand to."
"It'll take time until then," Zachary exclaimed coming closer to me and smiling, his emerald eyes glowing with the sunlight coming in from the window. "In the meantime, this older brother will protect you, Maya!" Oh?
Well, this is a different outcome.
Allya rolled her eyes, blushing, "Well, I guess it won't hurt to have a little sister who will see me as her whole model," definitely not happening. "I can doll her up too, it'll be even better as she's silent. It'll be good to have someone to talk to, who will solely hear me out."
"What's her full name, mommy?" Oliver asked.
"Amaya Elinore Liz Kirsten Roxanne Ivy Alderidge," she said, still holding me in her motherly embrace. "You all can make many nicknames out of that, I believe," she winked at them, and they all blushed.
Oliver beamed, "Cool. I'll call her Liz then," he always called me that. They all each called me by a different nickname, so, I'm not surprised. "She's from the Air element, right, daddy?"
A nod, "She is. And I can feel the Yin energy emanating from her," well, he never said that when I was born on the last four times. "She'll probably be more introverted, opposite to all of us, as we are all Yang and extroverts." He turned to me again, "The only two people in our family I met with Yin energy were my father and my grandmother, precisely the ones to whom she inherited her eyes from."
"I'll teach her magic!" Sebastian exclaimed before anyone else. "I'm also from Air. She'll be strong. I want to teach her." Hah, as if.
He doesn't want to teach me. He wants the credit that will come to my master if I turn out to be a prodigy in magic, which ain't going to happen even if I wanted to. At least, not in my family's eyes, as I'm not good with incantations.
"Not fair. Just because you two are from the same element," Oliver sulked. "I wanted to help her out too. At least, with the initial part. Can I do it when it's a part that we won't need to have the same elemental affinity, daddy? That's only fair."
A nod, "You two can switch. When Bash is with time, he does it. When Ollie is with time, he takes over. But first, we need to guide her on the 888 flowers," which is how the teachings of the Alderidge call the 888 acupoints. "Those with Yin energy who are magically gifted naturally goes through this part with more ease, as they are more akin to seclusion, staying alone, and with maintaining a clearer mind."
"It helps that she's a mute," mother held me closer. "My love, help me breast feed her. As she doesn't cry, she won't be able to tell us when she's hungry. She hasn't eaten yet." Ugh, here we go again. I absolutely hate this part.
Father came closer and helped her out, then she began feeding me.
I've gone through this, consciously, three times, so I'm weirdly used to it, so I didn't even tried to fight the hunger of my newborn body. I was indeed starving, but there's no way I would make a sound to tell her that. With my baby hands, I hugged her breast to be able to get a mouthful, but when they laughed, I didn't feel embarrassed as I did in my past lives.
"Oh, my Gods, seems like she was hungry!" She breathed.
"You have to eat a lot, Maya," Zachary caressed my back. "So you will grow to be strong, okay? To be like us."
"Yes, little Hana," Allya exclaimed. "Be strong like me."
"No. Like me!" Sebastian exclaimed, competitively.
"Of course, it's like me," Oliver grinned. "I'm the strongest."
"In your dreams," Sebastian countered.
"You know I'm physically the strongest, Bash," Oliver mocked.
Allya chuckled, "He's kind of right."
"But she won't grow to be like you," Zachary exclaimed, while still caressing my baby back. "She'll be like me. I'll be her favorite brother. And she'll have me as her hero," I didn't see it, but I could tell he had a silly big smile on. The contagious type.
"You're delusional," the three other scoffed.
"I'll be her favorite sibling," Allya said firmly. "I'm the female in here, so, she's bound to follow my lead. Not yours, idiot. Dream on!"
Aye, this is not what I was expecting. I was counting on them being all against me, so I would be invisible. Guess I'll have to adapt my plan to use this, and gain their full trust instead. Then I'll still be able to spy them.
With all due respect, they may be acting out of character and all cool with me, but I can't forget all the bullying I went through in four lives. I will not hang myself on that, neither will I let that blind me. This is my 5th life, I won't commit the same mistakes as before. But it's not just because they are all being "kind" now, that I won't spy on them.
Not when spying on them might get me a ticket to meet Roman, as I'll use the information to win the spies of his Kingdom in here. And just because my family is being weird now, does not mean the rest of the people won't look down on me for "being a mute". They will, and that's what I'm looking forward to.
As they look down on me, they won't see me as a threat. Thus, I'll be able to gain even more information, which might or might not end up being crucial for my plan.
I end up in a different road than I expected, but the goal of my plans won't change. In the end, I have to get to my savior, to my hero, to the one whom I owe my soul to, even if he isn't aware of that. I need to get to him. To Roman. Call it an obsession if you want, but I need him.
This time around I won't be bullied by my family. Perhaps, I'll be able to make a good use of their resources this way. I may not be great at incantations, but that does not mean I can't do magic if I circulate it through all of my acupoints. I've done it before, I can do it again.
The sooner I start, the stronger I'll be when the time comes.
To be with Roman, even if just near him, I need power.
They can give me the power I need for that.
Let's focus on that, shall we?!