Darkness' Touch

Chapter 43: Troubles rising

I am sorry for making you wait. Something came up and I couldn't leave right away.

Avy read the words written on the sketchpad her little companion held in front of him for her to see. He was panting when he arrived at the library where the two of them were supposed to spend their day reading books that they find, his face was flushed and beads of sweat trickled down his chin indicating clearly that he had quite the marathon to come to their meeting place.

He looked apologetic but Avy cracked a laugh, knowing exactly what happened. "Your twin was asking to play again, isn't she?" she asked although she was confident it was the real reason why he was late and had to run to not make Avy wait any longer.

Clion didn't nod nor did he shake his head but instead just lowered his gaze, feeling embarrassed. He then held his pen and started scribbling a reply before showing it to the lady in front of him.

She said she didn't want me to go so I asked her to come with me, but she refused and kept insisting that I stay even though we're always together. I don't know why she started acting like that, she's nice, I swear!

"It's alright. She must not be in the best condition to read books, hence the refusal."

Avy scoffed inwardly, amused. It seems like the little girl could no longer compete with her when they are both in Clion's presence. It has been four days since Clari started acting like a complete brat towards her, snatching her twin brother away whenever they are talking, and although Avy did not really do anything to steal the boy, a kid is still a kid, and against a grown lady like her who might act childish most of the time, she's still more than capable to stand her ground.

Wherever Clari would interrupt their conversation by talking to Clion about things that only the two of them could understand, the little boy would answer her and speak to her for a while before eventually coming back to their topic, turning to Avy once more. The cycle goes on and Avy made sure that she piqued the young master's curiosity enough for him to enjoy their conversation, unaware of how his sister glared at her because she couldn't join their talk since she doesn't have any knowledge of what they are talking about.

There are times that the young lady drags Clion away to play but the boy would insist that Avy should come as well and play with them, and although Avy wasn't the type to play dolls and knights and childish games, she didn't hesitate to come along. A little fun wouldn't hurt her once in a while, right?

Another thing was, Clari would always eat more than enough food that was prepared for them to eat every tea time to purposely leave Avy nothing, smiling smugly whenever the older girl couldn't munch on something because she has already swallowed them or dropped them on the floor and tells the maids not to bring anymore because they are full. But in return, Clion would share his food with Avy, giving Avy enough reason to have her chance of smiling smugly after.

Those occurrences happened over and over again until the young girl stopped showing up and instead just tried to keep her twin brother from meeting with Avy although it barely worked because Clion loved Avy's company. She knew she was being petty for being childish and stooping down so low just to please herself by depriving a child of the satisfaction of winning, even so, she also didn't care since it's not that she'll take Clion with her once she leaves the Harrington estate in a week or so.

She received a message from Ciel who went straight to the imperial palace with the second prince, Light, after dropping her off on the estate where she will be staying, saying that she will have to enter the palace soon because almost all the royalties that are needed for the summit has already arrived and the opening ceremony will be held in a couple of days.