Chapter 34

After sleeping for the entire afternoon, Alicia woke up in the evening. After washing her face and having some light snack, she planned to visit the library. But on the way she met up with Daniel and Stella who pulled her into the garden.

There they found the lazing Snowball, and dragged him into their game. After playing for some time, they got tired and planned to rest. They sat under the tree, with Snowball licking everyone tirelessly.

As Alice patted her pet, begging it to take some rest, an argument erupted between Daniel and Stella.

"Whom did you call stupid?" Stella shouted at her brother.

"You. I called you stupid" Daniel reverted back angrily.

"Fine. If I am stupid then what are you? A crybaby" Stella reminded him last night's incident.

Daniel, whose face suddenly turned red, snapped, "I am not a crybaby."

"You are not? I saw you yesterday. Even though you washed your face, I can tell that you cried."

"I said I did not" Daniel did not accept.

"No. you did. You liar" Stella continued to tease him.

After Daniel cried in Alice's embrace, he calmed down. Like some huge burden has finally lightened, he went back to his normal self.

"Stella" Alice called to warn her sister.

Stella becomes silent suddenly. She looked around with pouted face.

A thought suddenly crossed Alice's mind.

"Danny, did you ever felt having an elder brother?" Alice asked the angry brother.

As she looked at Daniel, she saw his face changing from angry mode to shocked mode within few seconds. Even Stella gave the same reaction. Alice suddenly realized her mistake. The issue of the male leads has been revolving in her mind since long, and she unknowingly she asked about one.

"Ah… I am sorry. I just mean you must have felt like having an elder brother to rely on. I mean… whom you can trust…" Alice spouted whatever excuse she could find.

"Sister, last light, was it really a burden for you?" Daniel asked, seriously.

"No… it wasn't… it…" Alice tried to calm the situation.

"Sister, we don't need any elder brother" Daniel said in rage.

Alice was scared when she heard such an intimidating voice. Though Daniel acted mature, but he was never scary. Alice looked at his face. She saw him gritting his teeth tightly. His green eyes were so threatening that it felt like he might throw fire from them if he wanted. He clenched both his palms tightly.

Alice gulped hard seeing her really angry brother for the first time.

She guessed she touched the spot she should never have.

And she didn't doubt it to be Alicia's elder brother, Stuart Etkinson.

"Elder brother…. Huh?" she heard Stella's voice, "We don't need one. We only have one elder sister and we are happy with you."

She looked at Stella. Even she looked equally angry and scary. Woah… this brother of Alicia is really hated. Even though she did not mention his name, even his slightest mention is giving her goosebumps.

"How can we have an elder brother who doesn't exist?" Alice asked a lie.

Both Daniel and Stella looked their sister, now confused. Since she started the mess, she has to clean it. She looked at her younger siblings, fuming in anger and smiled.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to offend you. And Danny, your crying is not a burden for me. What I mentioned earlier was just a small wish. Stella, Danny, I want you both to smile always. I don't want you to be burdened. I wish you always play without any bother like today. I guess that selfish wish made me wish something completely ridiculous."

Her siblings looked at her anxiously when she said her speech. After Alice felt the situation is finally under control, she sighed and tried to act normal. She pulled them and played with them for a while to refresh their mind.

Stuart Etkinson, in the game, hated his sister, the villainess, Alicia. The reason was because she always supported their evil stepmother. Their stepmother, who seduced their father, saw Stuart as a rock obstructing the path of her son.

Being the eldest son of the influential family, it is obvious that he is the heir succeeding his family. The stepmother who dreamed her son in that position, created misunderstandings between brother and sister and slowly pushed him away from his own family.

Left alone by his family, he felt abandoned. That was when he met a lovely girl, who pulled him out of his loneliness. Slowly he fell for that girl. Even though his dearest sister was against their relationship, he still held her hand and trusted her more than anyone.

After the villainess fell from balcony, the evil stepmother saw this as an opportunity and threw him out of the family. She removed his title of the heir and forced him to break all his connections with everyone. So Alice was not surprised to find the missing brother in the family.

He might have already taken the shelter in their maternal family, the Duke of West.