Cardverse Hetalia ~ Kingdom Of Spades ♠️

Chapter 7 ~ The Master's Brother

A week later, Arthur was tending to some washing when the silence was disturbed by three soft knocks on the door. The servant was debating on the spot on the next course of action. Does he put the washing aside to answer the door or request another servant to answer? His decision was already made when Fritz was passing by. Arthur informed the older man and he smiles in response, heading straight for the doors.

Fritz opens one side to reveal a tall blonde male with a curl dangling at the front, dressed in teal and blue. This was Matthew Williams, a fellow associate to the Kingdom of Spades. He also happened to be Alfred's brother whom has been on travels to visit the other kingdoms in the land. Not an easy feet for one man. The young man comes in with a smile.
"Hello, Fritz. Long time no see." He said. Fritz bows while stepping to the side. "Quite a splendid surprise, Master Matthew. I shall inform your brother that you have arrived." He said. Fritz sees Arthur returning from the washing trip and calls him over.
"Aah! Arthur, please come over here." He said while gesturing. Arthur walks over. "Now Master Matthew, I believe this is a fresh new face to you but allow me to give you introductions. Master Matthew, this is Arthur. Your brother's new servant, he's been working here for quite a while now. Arthur, this is Master Matthew, and yes he does look a bit like him as this is Master Alfred's brother. He has been travelling across the land to take in the atmospheres and knowledge of the other kingdoms." Fritz beamed with a grin. Arthur was about to bow but Matthew lifted a hand to him for a formal shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Arthur." Matthew said with a voice a soothing as a song. Arthur lifted his hand to shake in return. "Likewise, Master Matthew." He said with a positive tone, albeit a nervous one.

Fritz straightened himself up, eager to lead the men to the main master. "Now, Master Matthew, shall we unwind in the lounge room while one of us fetches-" He said but Matthew cuts in. "No no, it's alright. I'd rather see Alfred myself so I know he's okay." He responded. Arthur tried to not appear anxious in front of him but proved to be difficult. "Then, let's head to the master's office as that this most likely where he will be at this time." Fritz said as all three of them headed up the staircase heading to the right of the halls.

As they reached the oak doors to the master's office, Arthur knocked 4 times. A voice could be heard on the other side "Come in." Alfred said. Arthur entered in first and then Matthew with Fritz not too far behind. "Master Alfred. Your brother is here." Fritz said. Alfred looked up and his serious face morphed into an excited face, much like when a kid sees a sweets shop. He gets up and moves around the desk. "Mattie!" He beamed and he embraces his brother, to which Matthew hugs back. Arthur let out a small chuckle but didn't maintain his happiness for long.

Fritz smiles and leaves the room to return to his duties. Arthur wasn't too far behind but was stopped by his master's call whose out of the hug at this point. "Hey, Arthur. It's kinda rude to leave the room without getting acquainted with my brother here." He said in a cheeky tone, which was contrasted with the sentence he just said. Arthur felt guilt pulse through his veins and he bows for forgiveness. "My apologies, Master." He said, to which Alfred chuckles in response.

"It's alright, Al. I've already met him in the entrance hall when Fritz let me in. So, how long has Arthur been here?" Matthew asks. "About 4 weeks now, just over a month at least." Alfred replied. Matthew got even more curious about this new servant as it is a rare occasion in the Kingdom of Spades unless there was a reason for it. Matthew's attention moved to Arthur. "Just out of curiousity, where did you come from? Did you apply to work here to help with family at home?" He asked. Arthur felt his stomach churn from the question. All he could do was look down and answer quietly. "I...I don't have a family..." He said. Matthew raised an eyebrow. "No family? Then how did you come to be here?" He asked. Arthur didn't answer. Alfred knew exactly why he couldn't answer and the only way for Matthew to get an answer to his question was to tell him without Arthur's presence here. "Arthur, could you please fetch us some coffee?" He orders and Arthur nods in return, only stopping to hear Matthew requesting sugar with his coffee. Once the servant was out of the room, Alfred gestured his brother to come closer to the desk to make sure the conversation was private.

"Matthew, he's not what he seems to be. He may appear to be a healthy servant with a smile on his face. But when he first got here, he was anything but healthy." Alfred said with seriousness in his tone. Matthew didn't seem to understand what he was saying so he kept an ear out to hear more. "So what? Was he homeless? Abused? Thrown out? or..." He asked. Alfred ended up nodding to all of them. "He was all of those, Mattie. He was a slave in shackles, on the edge of death." He said. Matthew was speechless. Even if he could speak, he couldn't form the words to say anything.

"H-How did he end up here then?" He asked. Alfred sighed in response. "He was sold here by a greedy slaves dealer. It was terrible.The poor guy was suffering but was expected to be treated similarly when he came here. He collapsed after I talked to him and he had to recover before he could work." He said. Matthew sat down with a saddened look on his face. Alfred's expression was sympathetic and saddened at the same time. "If you were here when he arrived, he looked awful. Bags under the eyes, pale skin, welts and bloody wounds all over. He was like a living punchbag." He sighed. Matthew knew that slaves were often treated poorly but to the point of death? He couldn't possibly imagine. The next question Matthew had he feared to ask but curiousity overthrew him. "How many um...people owned him before you?" He asked. Alfred looked to the side. "15... He was owned by 15 families. One of which Arthur gets overly upset about but he won't say why or what exactly they did. Whatever it was, it must've been terrible." He said.

As soon as they heard the doorknob twist, Alfred passed a piece of document to his brother to cover their tracks. Arthur approached the men with a silver tray with matching silverware serving the coffee. "Your drinks, sirs." He said. Both of the brothers thanked the servant as they retrieved their drinks and he leaves the room to continue his chores. Matthew sighed after the servant left. "My god...He certainly know how to hide it, doesn't he?" He said quietly. Alfred didn't respond, most likely to not talk about Arthur's misery anymore than he already has.

An hour later, Arthur was preparing the quarters for Matthew. It appeared to be much like his master's room, except for the many crystals and a soft teddy bear on the bed. While sorting the room, Matthew walked in much to the surprise of Arthur. The servant shrieked and this panicked Matthew too. "Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." Matthew said in embarrassment. Arthur took a few deep breaths before responding calmly. "Not at all, Master Matthew. I just didn't expect you to come in. I won't take too long to finish cleaning up here." He said. Matthew was fidgeting anxiously before slowly walking over the servant. "Hey, Arthur." He said, thinking about what to say. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to come off as intrusive about you." He said but Arthur stopped to shake his head, now facing Matthew. "Don't worry about it, Master Matthew. It's rare for anyone to want to ask about me anyway. You don't have to apologise about that. It's alright, really." He said with a smile.

Matthew smiled back with a mixture of sadness and joy. The happy side being that the servant is pure and genuine but sad because of what he's hiding deep down. "That's good to hear." Matthew said, taking a breath before continuing. "I just wanted to express about how nice you are as a person and I wish to get to know you a little better." He said. Unable to control himself, he hugged the servant thinking this could ease it for him. Arthur was frozen for a moment, not knowing how to react. He calmed and allowed himself to hug him back. Arthur smiled. "You and your brother are birds of the feather when it comes to hugging." He said with a chuckle. Matthew laughed in response because he knows it all too well. "Yeah, that's true." Matthew said, breaking the hug. "I wouldn't be surprised if I got that from our mom." Arthur kept smiling, but deep down he felt sad from thinking about his own mother.

Unbeknownst to them, Alfred was hanging about outside the quarters with a smirk. They didn't notice until Alfred spoke. "What's this now, a hugging competition?" He said, startling the men. Matthew breathed in annoyance. "Christ Alfred, how long have you been standing there for?" He asked. Alfred chuckled and stepped forward. "Long enough to see the hugs. I can challenge you at that. Hug attack!" He said and on the last part of his line, he tackles his brother playfully onto the bed. Playful laughter echoed around the room as Arthur stood there and watched. Even when they are grown men, they're still like children deep down.

Arthur smiled and was on his way to leave to let them get on with it. Until Alfred's cheekiness extended to the servant by grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the chaos. Arthur felt overwhelmed at first but then joined in in the tackle, feeling something he never felt in a long time. Playful and accepted like family.

END OF CHAPTER 7