Chapter 9 - Back Home

Mother was right.

Victor really did miss me. The moment I neared the mansion in my mothers arms he had ran out screaming joyfully at the top of his lungs.

"Baby Sister!!!!" His little legs moved at an inhuman speed.

Mother had placed me down, unarmed before I was attacked in tight hugs and kisses by Mallory's four year old brother. It was slobbery and full of saliva, but I guess in a way it was cute. Like when you come from work to your attention starved dog.

"I missed you! Where were you?" His words were finally sounding right and I could understand them without putting much though to it.

"I went by our dad".

"Dad?" His face paled.

"He's nice. He wants to play with you".

"Play with me? Really!?" His voice let out a bit of excitement.

Mother clicked her tongue at the sight of it, "Victor, I told you already, no playing until you've finished your homework. Now come on, let's go inside! It's chilly out here", she scooped up Victor, ignoring his desperate whines, and walked ahead, shutting the door behind her.

She was gone

I stared at the door with conflicting emotion. I knew she was just a story character, but why did the villain have to be such a sad person. Mallory's mother could've been completely normal had she also not been neglected.

I let out a depressed sigh.

"Why did your mommy just leave you here?"

I jumped at Edmunds voice. I had completely forgotten about him.

"Eh? Oh. She does that. She doesn't seem to notice me much. Nobody does", shrugging casually, I walked up to the front door were the two usual soldiers stood guard, throwing me a peculiar glance.

"Children can't access the mansion without any identification", the man curtly said to Edmund.

"B-But she lives here!" He looked flabbergasted.

The knight gave me a careful look before dismissing me with a, "never seen her before. And the madam only has one child".

Wow... just wow...

"Edmund", I turned to the boy with a sorry expression, "follow me. I'll think up something".

This hadn't happened to me before. I hadn't even left the mansion until Jiraels birthday, but maybe my memories of the map can take me somewhere.

"Let's just go back to main palace", Edmund proposed, he seemed much more demure compared to earlier.

"No. I know a way to get in the mansion, but it's going to be scary so stay close to me".

It must've looked ridiculous. A one year old telling a five year old that they'd protect them.

Regardless, Edmund nodded, following my small body which crawled in between dead hedges outside the mansion. The branches scratched against Mallory's soft skin scarring it in the process. Edmund, however, had a much easier time smacking the sharp, dry branches away from his face.

We crawled endlessly and this time I wasn't interrupted by a loud cawing which both relieved me and made me feel a bit lonely. It was pretty cool having a crow for a friend although it didn't last too long.

"There. That's the door to the kitchen!" I pointed to the ajar door with a triumphed grin, turning to Edmund, who to my surprise wasn't at all happy.

He looked just off crying. It was so sudden I was caught off guard.

"W-What's the matter?" I grabbed onto his sleeve, tugging at it to catch his attention.

"I think my mommy forgot about me too", he started sniffing, face dropping with a shaking frown. "She just left me and never came back for me. I tried looking for her, but everyone said she- she's gone!"

He staring balling, dropping to his knees as big tears started to fall down one after the other.

"Edmund..."

"She won't come back will she?" He looked at me for affirmation, leaving me speechless.

"I- I"-

"I knew it!" He declared through his cries.

"N- No. Edmund your mommy is gone. But she loved you so much!" I felt tears gather in my own eyes at his cold words, "she didn't want to leave you. She didn't. She would've stayed if she could, and she loved you a lot. She would be sad if you cried over her like this so please don't cry".

Why did Edmunds story have to be so sad? Why did a small child like him have to suffer so much for a reverse harem plot line? This poor child.

I had hugged him, hoping to ease his tears through back pats and positive whispers. He didn't and instead his arms had wrapped around me in a tight hug. He was truly a child.

He had calmed down after a long while of this and even then, silent tears still spilt from his eyes.

"Really?" He finally asked, looking down at me with large, red, amethyst eyes.

"Yes". It was written in the book.

He wiped the last of his tears and in one sudden grab, he lifted me off the ground and into his small arms which somehow managed to carry my weight.

"H-Hey wait! Put me down! I'm too heavy for you!" I was going to fall at this rate, but he wasn't giving up. He continued to hold me without budging.

He shook his head at my frantic attempt to reason with him, "I can carry you. Now be quiet so nobody notices us" he held a finger up to silence me, making me feel like a child.

Wait... I am basically a child... wait... is this bastard smirking?!

He skilfully reached the door, his arms somehow securely holding me while his footsteps were light and nearly silent. As he neared the handle, the smell of scones and pastries wafted into the summer breeze, but it was ignored completely by the two of us who gulped nervously at the thought of being spotted.

It would be a problem since the kitchen maids haven't seen me before and I doubt they'd have ever met Edmund.

He opened the door, and sprinted in a hurry past the bustling maids who took no notice of him somehow... was this Mallory's power of never being noticed rubbing off on him?

We safely made it inside the mansion halls, the maids had finally noticed us, but thankfully, Martha was one of them. The head maid who also took care of my necessities most the time.

"Princess!" Her brows raised in a new expression I hadn't ever seen on her always grumpy face, surprise.

"Heyo Marta" I ignored Edmund who double-took at my forced baby voice.

"Well, to think you've been alive this whole time and you've made a friend" she looked at Edmund curiously, but only for a moment before she decided to turn on her heels. She gave a strange cackle and then left us, holding a bucket of laundry against her waist with that familiar stern expression.

"Nice to see you too..." I muttered, but she was a long way off now and hearing my small voice would mean she wasn't a normal human being.

Speaking of not being normal human beings... no. Never mind.

I shook my head of the strange heavy thoughts that threatened to weigh down on me and turned to Edmund who stood beside me. He looked after Martha with an expression of wonder.

"She remembered..." he started in a way that made it seem like he really something big had been revealed, " she remembered you.." he looked at me with a happy face.

He hadn't once looked at me like that. Or Mallory. And yet, now... maybe it was because he was still young?

My eyes followed the grumpy, skinny figure up ahead with interest. Maybe Martha wasn't as cold as she seemed.

I sighed.

Everybody was full of surprises today.

"Well", I turned to Edmund, "let's go to my room".

He just nodded, following me slowly while I crawled up the long steps. I was doing pretty well for someone of my size, but Edmund thought differently.

"I can carry you if you order me to", he said to my annoyance.

"I'm fine".

"An order is all you need to give".

"Nothing needed here".

"Alright, but if you need a hand..."

"I'm good". I snapped.

He was silent after that, even after we reached my room and I had told a maid to get a room ready for Edmund. She had left us in the unusually clean room.

The covers were a different set, the curtains suited the weather and the tables were no longer holding a layer of dust.

"Wow. This place looks better", I noticed the box now full of clean toys and with a grin turned to Edmund, "you can play with the toys if you want?"

He wasn't facing me and was instead looking outside the window. Minutes had passed and he still had yet to answer.

"Edmund?"

Again he didn't twitch or turn.

I walked over to the boy to find him staring at the sky soundlessly, purple eyes taking in the usual sky with such concentration you'd think it was another colour.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to see what he might be looking at, but I couldn't see much at my height.

"A bird".

"Oh"... That was it?

"A big black bird".