I'm the heroine's dead twin... nice! (BL)

Part 10

Arius POV

I too wrapped my arms tightly around the small girl and buried my face into her shoulder, feeling my eyes burn as I inhaled her scent after so long. Although she was dirty and sweaty, this was the first time I felt so at home in someone's arms. Not even big sis could put me in such ease, I was now sure that she was my twin, my other half.

3rd person POV

While the twins were clinging on to each other as if their lives depended on it, everyone else who wasn't already outside, started coming out to welcome their youngest lady, only to be greeted by the sight of the twins hugging each other, melting their hearts. The duke's family (including Lucia who just got outside), on the other hand, were all stunned by both Arielle's boldness and Arius' openness. For the girl had not spoken to them once, except for the one time she had asked them for her twin's name. Arius, on the other hand, was self explanatory.

So now seeing the twins already get along so well in their first meeting both puzzled and hurt them.

The duke cleared his throat, pulled himself  together and turned to the servants, "Escort her to her room and clean her up. Arius, I hope you remember about our talk from last time." This caused the twins stop hugging each other and turning to the duke with their respective blank faces. Despite the clear differences in their attires and growth, they looked so ridiculously similar that the servants had to keep their snorts in.

"Of course, your Grace.", Arius replied to the duke coldly, all the emotions he had shown just a moment earlier was now gone, as if they were but a fever dream. In front of him, this caused a questioning look from Arielle that he pointedly ignored.

"Now, if you would excuse us, I would like to spend some time with my sister. Farewell." With that, he gave his relatives a quick bow, held Arielle's hand and escorted her inside, with a few maids following him. He told Lilith and Yona to make sure that Elizabeth was safe before telling them not to let her work for the day and went into Arielle's assigned room -the room next to his- along with Arielle and some maids including Ophelia and Emily.

Arius POV

Only after Alice, one of the maids had closed the door, did I finally get a good look at my sister, and truly, my imagination had paled in comparison to a ridiculous extent. Although she was dirty and malnourished, it had done little to hide her appearance, for in front of me stood a baby angel with short silver hair, big, doe emerald eyes, long eyelashes, pinkish cheeks and a cute button nose.

'It's confirmed. My baby sister is the most beautiful existence in this world and that shitty crown prince is severely blind.'

??? POV

I laid on my death bed along my dear husband, our children, grandchildren and our family, found or blood, surrounding us. I could faintly tell that they all had tears in their eyes and although it was filling me with guilt, I was also happy and relieved that I was loved enough to have people crying for me next to my death bed.

Slowly my eyes lost their focus however and before I knew, I fell asleep. This time not to wake up the next day.
.
.
"Hello there, Arielle. It's nice to finally meet you."

I was floating in a dark space when suddenly the bright silhouette of a person appeared before me. They were tall and fit with really long hair that pooled around their feet, but except for that, they were too bright for me to make out any other feature of theirs.

"Who are you?" Alarmed, I put up my guard. I was supposed to be dead and in the afterlife, finally meeting them.
At my response, the figure raised its hands in an act of mock surrender and said in a playful tone, "Whoa, slow down there. Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. You wouldn't be here if I was. You see, I'm here to ask you questions and figure out where to send you afterwards."