I'm in my room resting. Today was rather exciting. I'm happy I was able to find the boy. And stop whatever his kidnappers had planned for him.
They've been detained and will be deported back to Aendesia to face their charges.
At least what I've done today is bound to raise my reputation a little. So I've spent the rest of my free time practicing all the small spells inside the book. Levitating magic, Sound magic and other types of small spells.
Magic is simply incredible. And since I'm inside Veronica's body I'm sure possesses even greater magic that what I'm using now.
After all she is one of the seven stars of mana. An element type mage who specializes in fire magic.
But the number of spells in this book are limited. I'm sure that the library back home has a lot of spell books. I'll be sure to look at them when I get back. I still have some time until the next story arc begins.
****At the Mattel Manor*****
Isabella kept still and held her breath.
She waited at the corners for the servants to leave. She didn't want to run into any of them as they would yell and shout at her. She had to see her brother no matter what. Asa was right, there was no better time to act than now. Who knows when the Countess would return. And it'd be easier to do what she wanted now that she was out of the manor.
She moved silently across the halls until she came in front of his door. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.
"Come in"
Before going in she brushed her hair to her right so it partially covered the right side of her face.
Her brother lay on the bed his attention on the book he held in his arms. He glanced at her briefly before returning to reading the book. She sat on the opposite side of the bed as she thought about her next line of action.
"Isabella come here" he motioned for her to come to him. She crawled closer to him till she sat beside him.
In his right hand was a small golden box that he opened to reveal a small beautiful necklace inside it.
"Do you like it?"
Isabella nodded her head. It was a simple design but it was absolutely gorgeous.
"It's beautiful Noelle will love it" He chuckled and took it out of the box.
"Don't be silly I had Noelle make this for you. Happy late birthday. Sorry I couldn't be there"
She was dumbfounded and lost for words.
"Did you think I'd forget? Now if I may"
He brushed some of hair aside to put the pendant on her neck. And for a brief moment he saw it. Her right eye was a stunning and gorgeous shade of purple.
"Beautiful" he uttered breathlessly.
Realizing her mistake she quickly made to cover it up but her stopped her.
"I like it so don't cover it up"
He gazed into the mellowness of the lavender almost as if he were hypnotized and in a trance. And only when she called his name did he break out of it.
"Isabella what happened while I was away"
She trembled and hugged herself. Adelio pulled her closer to him and wrapped her in his arms. As he ran his fingers through her hair.
"It's alright. Calm down and tell me everything"
Isabella took a deep breath and began.
"When you left father held a banquet where he invited the eastern and western nobles. Father said I was allowed to be present as long as I didn't cause a scene. Mother disapproved but didn't say much afterwards. At that party I met a certain noble. He said he was the Viscount Argided. We talked for a while and he bid me farewell when the party was over. I went to bed and..a...n..d.....aaaaaa"
She trailed off and her voice became shaky. He stroked her hair and urged her to continue.
"Aaaa...nnd the next morning. Mother told me that i had some I'd been betrothed to. Some who was willing to marry me. She told me that Lord Argided wanted me to be his bride and that in a few months I'd be sent over to his estate to live with him"
At this Adelio's blood boiled. He'd known of his mother's dislike of Isabella and the contempt that she held for her. But he had never imagined his mother would be capable of such. He felt even more irritated at his father for ignoring her.
"What happened to your eye" He inquired
"It happened to me after the party. I've been having headaches for a while. But its gotten progressively worse after that. The next day my right eye began to hurt and that's when it gained this violet color"
"I see. Then why didn't you tell me this immediately"
She took a deep breath and contemplated her response.
"Because I was afraid of mother. You and I both know that the second you leave there's nothing stopping her from making my life a living hell. I'm tired, I don't want to stay here and suffer. I can't take it anymore." She said as she burst into tears.
Adelio bit his tongue and slowly nodded his head. No one dared hit her while her was around. How did the saying go?
'When the cat's away the mice will play'
He racked his brain for a solution but was not forthcoming with one. He had wanted her to wait a little longer. Till he became the head of the family. But that was no longer an option.
'Isabella's already at her breaking point. I need a solution and fast'
He snickered at the thought of his mother's actions. An engagement to someone twice her age. She couldn't even hide her hatred of the girl from the public eye.
He flopped back onto the bed bringing her down with him.
"Don't worry first thing in the morning I'll see to that this ridiculous engagement is called off. And then we'll move on to other matters. I don't know about you but I'm feeling sleepy so let's call it a night"
Isabella nodded and wrapped herself with the bed's blanket as her brother comforted her.
"Hey Isabella do you remember our first fight"
She nodded her although she and her brother rarely ever fought but there was one occasion that stood out.
"Yeah"
He smiled and took her hand.
"I still don't understand how such small and delicate hands are capable of having such a vice like grip"
She laughed and playfully beat his hand away. She remembered it well. The day she met her brother was the same day that they got into a big fight.
"You grabbed my hair and mauled my face"
"Because you're the one who struck first"
The memory of their first fight was a bittersweet one.
It was two days after Isabella had shown up at the manor. He had been observing from a distance as he marvelled at how dark her skin was. He was young but he was able to tell that the entire manor was in disarray because of her. He wanted to talk to her.
He had tried speaking to her but she replied back in a language that he couldn't understand. And it didn't help that half the time she yelled these strange words at him. Then one day he'd had enough and pushed her so hard she fell on her back.
"Why won't you speak English?"
In truth he was just angry and sad that neither of his parents paid attention to him anymore. They only talked about her and gave no mind to him.
What happened next was anarchy. Isabella got up and fought back latching her teeth onto his arm. Her long fingernails dug into his wrist. He yelled out in pain and hit her in a bid to shake her off. But this only urged her to sink her teeth deeper and use her nails to scratch his face.
They fought for a while but he was bigger and stronger than her and soon overpowered her.
He screamed for his mother and the maids and as soon as they saw what was happening the maids rushed to check up on him. Isabella was in tears while his mother hit her and called her a wild animal. The already beaten and bruised Isabella burst into more tears doing her best to shield herself from the barrage of beatings she was receiving.
When she was done with her the Countess left the room with the order that Isabella was not to be given any food for today. The poor girl was already exhausted and curled herself into a ball.
Adelio suddenly felt ashamed of his actions. He had been the one to provoke her and he'd hit her more times than she did to him. He felt guilty as the maids led him out of the room to tend to his wounds.
"What about her?" He asked one of the maids.
"Forget about that wild beast young master we must tend to your injuries"
He had a few minor scratches all that would heal without scars. And luckily the bite he'd received didn't break his skin.
At the dinner table his mother went on a rant about how they should send the child away because she was a danger to him. Adelio felt so guilty he couldn't eat a single bite. He excused himself saying he was going to eat in his room.
His parents didn't notice him leave because they were too busy arguing.
He went back to the room plate in hand ready to make an apology.
He entered the room and turned on the light. She was in the same position as she was when he left still curled up in a ball.
He was scared but he slowly approached her. He called out to her but she didn't react or respond. He crept closed and realized she had fallen asleep. He breathed a sigh of relief before he tried to wake her up. When she woke up she yelled at him before putting her hands up in a defensive position.
"I don't know if you can understand me but I want to apologize for what I did this afternoon. I'm sorry do you forgive me?"
She tensed and looked on confused wondering what he was saying. Realizing she didn't understand him, he waved his hand to show the universal sign that he was sorry. At this Isabella relaxed and waved her hand too.
Happy that they were at least had a mutual understanding of each other he held out his plate to her.
She observed it suspiciously before throwing doubts aside and greedily devouring the food on the plate.
And from that moment on their relationship grew by leaps and bounds.
Whenever his parents were too busy arguing and fighting with each other he snuck off to see her. Though he couldn't understand half of what she said he'd play with her any time he was free from studies. She was his escape from the loneliness the tension between his parents created.
His one and only blood sister. The only younger sibling he'd ever had.
He was going to protect her no matter what.