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

Part 12

Arielle POV

I tiptoed out of my room, now in my nightgown, and quietly opened the door to Arius' room, curious about the earlier incident.

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Two hours ago

Arius barged into my room shortly after I was done eating. He was sweaty and panting, but it was the look in his eyes that caught my attention. Still, he didn't say anything about anything and just rushed over to me to wordlessly hug me. I guided him to sit on the sofa with me and held him close.
Once he settled down, he buried his face in my shoulder, I could clearly feel him shaking.

Still, he must have felt my curious gaze, because I heard him mutter a "Not now, please." Under his breath. This made me freeze in dread, but I held myself back.

Whatever it was that happened during the dinner, it could be taken care of later. Right now, my brother needed some comfort.

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Back to present

I opened his door without making a sound, but I couldn't help but let out a horrified sound at the sight of my brother, all patched up.

He had a bandage on both of his cheeks and there were some bandages peaking out from under the sleeves of his nightshirt. He was leaning on the headboard of his bed with a thick book in his tiny hands, only for him to accidentally drop it on his lap in surprise, flinching in pain at the impact. 'Are his legs hurt, too?'

"Ah, E-Ellie, why are you still up? Aren't you tired after everything that happened today?" I was frozen in place, his voice sounded so fake. My eyes went blank, the sight of him in bandages confirmed all my suspicions, they needed to be gotten rid of.

"Ellie..? Would you like to have a sleepover tonight?" 

Arius snapped out of my thoughts and I just swiftly rushed to his side and laid down next to him, who was still leaning against the headboard. "What happened to you?"
'Who dared to do this to you?'

There was a long silence before Arius finally opened his mouth, "Arielle. I need to tell you something about our family." He sounded serious, his voice was monotonous, no feelings in sight. 'He's only nine...'

I put my head on his lap, the covers cushioning my weight. "Tell me if you're uncomfortable. What is it about our family?" He gave me a rueful smile and brought his hand to my hair.
"You may see them act nice towards each other, but... that love doesn't extend to us. I.. don't know how to say this without devastating you, but I figured it would be better for you if you didn't have any expectations from the get go, instead of having them shattered painfully during breakfast."

He paused to gauge my reaction, probably seeing whether or not I needed time to process everything. I held his other hand that wasn't patting my head and gave him a nod. "*Sigh*, our father, the duke is an indifferent person, he prioritises Lucia and Lucien over everyone else, me -and likely you- included. He lets Lucia go rouge and hesitates to punish either one of them, while I can't even get out of the estate."

His eyes twitched and I could see a vein or two popping out. His tone turned into a condescending one, "Our brother, Lucien is someone who doesn't handle not being the best, well. He's passive and will claim to right his wrongs, only for it to turn out to be only bark, no bite. He feels himself entitled to many things and will throw a tantrum -albeit a silent, passive aggressive one-, if you don't share the sentiment. He hates it when others have things that he doesn't or can't have. Also, I suspect he has an inferiority complex."