~O~
"A sister?" Hosea stares from the girl to Arthur in surprise, "How come you never told us you had a sister?"
"I—I didn't mean to keep a secret from you, I just thought it would be best for her to stay away from all of this." Arthur explains, almost more apologetic towards Lily than the two men, "I wanted her to have a better life than what me and our old man could have given her.. And aside from that, how did you end up here?" Arthur turns to the girl with burning curiosity.
She takes a deep breath, staring down at her drink before beginning to explain, "I grew up with a very wealthy family, a couple who couldn't have children of their own, so they happily took me from father and you. They put me through school and we're very generous in paying for whatever I needed. They weren't the most affectionate parents, however, as I was basically raised by a different housemaid every year."
The three men listen to the girl carefully, sipping from their own drinks in front of them.
"I got into Harvard University where I studied language, I became a translator, travelling around with explorers and professors as I can speak at least ten different languages."
"Interesting.." Hosea muses, "what exactly can you speak?"
"French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian, many of of the Native American languages and Hawaiian"
"Hawaiian?" Dutch raises a brow in curiosity.
Lily nods with a sad smile, "I travelled there with a professor a few years back. It's such a beautiful land, we just wanted to understand it better, learn their customs and religion even. America, however, wanted much more from the island than understanding.." she spits the last part in disgust.
"Okay, but how on earth did you end up in this shithole?" Arthur pushes, still confused as to why she is here in Valentine.
She sighs, realizing she is going to have to explain the downfall to her life story.
"I went back to my adoptive parents.. a month back." She swallows, looking down at the table, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze, "I-I paid them back for the money they spent to put me through school, as I acquired my own having worked for a few years. My adoptive father however," Lily shake her head, spitting on the floor at the mention of the man, "he didn't want me to leave.. H-He always was strange around me.. but this time he was worse.. h-he tried forcing himself on me."
Arthur could already see where her story had taken a turn and he can't help but feel an intense surge of guilt and extreme anger flow through him. The other men also seemed to pick up on her uncomfortable attitude as she speaks of her adoptive father.
"Let's just say I had no other choice but to kill him." She states coldly, "it was self defence, of course, although, I don't feel the least bit remorseful for doing it. And when my adoptive mother saw," Lily chuckles dryly, "she was always a witch that one.. anyway, she wouldn't believe me and so I ran. I'm guessing there's a bounty on my head up north so I don't ever intend to go back. I've been working here, at the hotel and I've been renting a room just down the street."
Lily finishes her story and slams back the shot of whisky that sits next to her empty beer bottle.
"Lily—" Arthur takes a deep breath, "If I knew how it was going to be, I wouldn't have agreed—"
