During the preparations for hosting the guests, Asta was called into the office by his parents. He was excited to see if he was finally getting to see his teacher, but he was bound to be disappointed. His mother started "Son, all these years you haven't made any friends, and i know you don't like them usually because they're vastly different to you, but as your mother it worries me so do try to mingle with other kids"
Asta had a bad premonition about how things were going just before the visit of the winstons. He didn't like this at all, not one bit. Children his age were usually very immature and spoilt brats which he didn't want to bother with at all. But he had to bite the bullet because his mother had a scary smile on her face.
"Yes mom, I understand"
Finally the day had arrived, a carriage with sigil of a turtle's shell and swords across it arrived at the entrance of the manor and Wilson had a huge grin across his face. The Lord of the Winston territory, Graham Winston along with his wife, Lucy Winston and two daughters - Angela and Christina Winston, stepped out if the carriage and Wilson went forward with a huge smile and hugged Graham, who just looked annoyed even with his stoic face.
Asta POV -
Our parents made all 3 of us siblings wait outside to meet the Winston family. I then saw Count Graham walking out along with his wife Lucy and after that, I saw two young kids, or daughters. Both of them had shiny black hair with dark purple strands in between, with light purple irises. They're the perfect blend of their parents, the count had black hair and brown irises and the lady had purple hair with dark purple irises.
The elder one was Angela and the younger one was Christina, being 7 and 5 years old respectively. They were really cute, like how you'd find kids their age, damn I feel like an old man. I looked over at my siblings and saw that they're really excited, especially Benjamin, his eyes were..... shining!? No wayyyyy.. no freaking way, does he have a crush already, he's only about to be 4 years old. Ahhhh this visit might go much differently than I expected.
I looked back and saw Angela being disinterested and Christina looking at Ben!? What sort of cliche is this??? Well this might be interesting though, let's see. I cleared my throat to clear this up since even our parents seem to enjoying their reactions, haaah I already have an inkling to what is going to happen.
"Ahem, hello everyone, my name is Astarot levathian, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"
This brought everyone out of their stupor, and we started heading inside, our parents told us to play with each other, though I'm not sure if I can last long if that happens. I lead my siblings and the two girls towards our living room, so we can rest and chat for a while. I then introduced myself to both of them
"Hello ladies, my name is Astarot, you can call me Asta, it's a pleasure to meet you" I gave a reassuring smile so the atmosphere doesn't get uncomfortable. The younger one immediately replied to me "Hello young Lord, my name is Christina Winston, it's pleasure to meet you as well" and looked at Ben, woaah this should be fun,
I tapped his back and he stopped staring and introduced himself, "H-hello my n-name is Benjamin Levathian, you look really pretty" ohhh boyy, my brother was bolder than I thought.
Everyone immediately froze, including the older one who's somehow frowning at me? why is she looking at me, come to think of it, she didn't even introduce herself, well whatever she looks like she's getting along well with Abby. Christina was fidgeting and in small voice said "thank y-you".
Well that was our first impressions, and the sister was quite energetic as we played a few little games around the garden and our visitors were tired so we came back. I didn't talk much since I knew my siblings were pretty energetic. I saw my sister pulling the girls away, and I took my brother with me to have a 'men's talk'.
Angela POV -
We arrived at the viscount's manor, and I have to say I'm quite impressed, the people were happy, they were discussing so many things about the Lord's family. It shows that they're very well respected around here. But I have to meet their children, ughh I hate nobles, they're so pretentious and have too much ulterior motives. I hope they're different though.
After our parents exchanged pleasantries, both me my and sister saw them, the three children of viscount Wilson. They were very good looking, especially the taller one, silver hair and golden eyes with a nice jawline like those protagonists from the books. I shift my attention since I didn't want to be caught staring, and noticed that my sister and the younger one were staring at each other, ohhhh is this love at first sight??
After we inside, the older one introduced himself as Astarot with a smile that I've seen on all those nobles. I don't like him already, I feel like he's not being sincere. I turned around to see the little girl staring intensely at me
"Hii!! my name is Abigail, what's yours? "
Wow, she has a lot of energy, and only curiosity in her eyes. After I introduced myself she immediately started bombarding me with questions and we played for quite some time as well. This is nice, not having to worry about ulterior motives all the time, and just having fun.
We were dead tired from the journey so we went with Abby, seriously she has a lot of energy.
After we freshened up, our personal maid told us that Abby was here, well even I was curious about a lot of things, so we met her in our room. As soon as she came, she asked Christina
"Sooo, I noticed you totally like my brother, no? "
Wow, how direct, though I'm curious as well. Ny sister started stammering "I, well I don't k-know what y-you are talking about" ahh I sister has a crush, how cute.
Abby - "You don't need to worry, I know everything about my brother, and I can tell you, he also likes you! "
Christina - "Really!? "
'So obvious' I thought. After that we started teasing my sister quite a bit and I quite like Abby, she's very nice. So I asked her a question I was curious about "What about your other brother?"
Abigail - "Hmm? oh him? he's always like that, he doesn't mingle much with others, he's very picky about people. But both me and Ben respect him a lot. He's always there for us, plays with us, and teaches us a lot of things. He also tells us stories when we are about to sleep and he is very talented and very very strong, he always spars with the knights. And whenever we're in trouble, he immediately comes to us to help, or his subordinates will... "
She just went on a tangent about him for quite some time, he sounds like a nice guy but why do I feel like he wasn't sincere, ah I see he's picky so he didn't consider us as friends, well that makes me feel even worse. So I asked her,
"Today he seemed to be very quiet, did we do something? "
Abby - "Hmm? no, I think he's been a little angry for a few days, he kept saying he wanted to train, but our parents didn't allow him, probably because of that"
Oh I see, still training? And subordinates, he's just a few months older than me, and according to Abby he's very mature, impressive. I should talk to him, if things go this way, my sister and his brother will become family.
Asta POV -
So here I am sitting with Ben, talking about today, he's quite distracted, guess being straight forward will help
"So you like Christina?"
He immediately looked at me like a ghost,
"Well it was really obvious", I said
Ben - " Umm brother do you think I looked like a fool?"
"No, from what I could see, she liked you as well. And listen to me Ben, if you want to be with her, get to know her well, take a lot of time. Don't rush into it okay? I'm sure she'll also appreciate it"
Ben - "Yes brother"
Good, atleast they won't mess this up too badly, I just want to make sure they're suitable for each other.
General POV -
Next morning, all the children were gathered together once again, and this time, Asta was approached by both Christina and Angela. He was quite amused. Christina started the conversation
"umm, Mr Asta, I wanted to talk to you"
Asta - "Oh hello, what a surprise, I thought you'd be with my brother"
She immediately went red, but Asta didn't mind
Christina - "Ben tells me that he respects you a lot, so I wanted to get to know you better"
'Oh? this is new" Asta thought.
Asta - "Please Christina, you don't need to be so formal, I'm not some great guy. Though he is still my brother, so I hope you take care of him and take your time so you don't mess this up"
It was meant to be and advice and a little warning, but the girl's attention wasn't there when he said that there was no need to be formal. On the sidelines, Angela sighed, her sister was too dumb and couldn't see what he meant so she interjected
"I heard you had a lot of subordinates and you're always busy, I'm curious about that"
She said in the most mature sounding way possible, though it only sounded cute.
Asta - "Oh? you mean that? it was something I did to help out my father, and get some pocket money"
And after that, they actually spoke for quite some time and the other two also joined. All in all it was quite a peaceful morning.
After a few days, Asta was called into the study where his parents and also the Count and his wife were already waiting for him.
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