At least I'm Alive

A New Home

At the Duke's office

Duchess Frida smiles and says          "Sit over there dear" she points at a red couch, while her and the Duke sit infront of me.

I nod, and sit at the vacant couch.

"Let me get straight to the point, do you want to stay here?" The Duchess suddenly turns cold, and becomes serious.

Should I say no? But where will I go after?

"I-I don't want to go..." I say quietly, enough for them to hear me.

I continue, with a louder tone "I can work as a maid! That way I can repay you through labor."

The Duchess with a serious face, and a colder tone says "No, I will not allow that."

What? So I should've said no... It's over.

My hands, which were on my lap got tense. I gripped on my skirt trembling.

"We want to Adopt you." The Duke suddenly spoke

I pause in disbelief, I look at him confused

The Duchess chuckling and turning sweet again, "Yes, can we adopt you?"
She asks.

Adopt me? Will I be safe? What if they're like my previous family?

They notice me shiver and the duke says "We won't hurt you. It's all up to you if you want us to adopt you."

I grip my skirt and looked down

"I-If it's okay with you to have someone like me here."

Duchess Frida stands up and sits next to me. She pats my head "Don't worry, we'll keep you safe."

Before I realize, tears started falling down. And when I did, I wiped it immediately.

"I'm sorry!" I say.

Are they gonna hit me for crying?

"Ladies don't cry." I remember teacher saying over and over again.

Just when Duchess Frida was about to cress my face, I flinch.

"What's wrong?" She says worried.

"O-oh I'm sorry, I'm not used to it." I reply worried.

"Go take a bath, we need to get you clothes." The Dukes says coldly.

I hesitantly nod and go outside.

Adoption? How about my old family?

Archduke's point of view

Frida smiles at me and says "You did well Edward."

"What are we gonna do with the Hardy family?" I sigh

"Isn't that family obsessed with money? We can just pay them. They probably don't know Abela has mana in her." Frida replies.

"Are you sure about adopting her?" I ask Frida, worried.

"Sure it can stir up some conversations, but you'll soon realize you've always wanted a daughter."
Frida chuckles.

I stand up and sit next to her, I place my hand on her shoulder, feeling a bit shy I look the opposite direction.

She laughs and asks "what? What's with you?"

She kisses my cheek, and I couldn't help myself but kiss her.

Back to Abela's point of view

After taking a shower, I go to the garden to look at the sunflowers again.

But when I arrived, someone was already sitting down and leaning on the bush.

"Oh you're here?" Keith looks at me.

I nod.

"Come sit" he taps the grass beside him

I walk towards him and sit down, I couldn't feel the grass with my yellow puffy dress.

"What did you guys talk about?" Keith asks.

What if he doesn't want to be related to me? What if he hates me?

"I..uh.." stuttering, it was pretty obvious I was worried.

"Relax, whatever they said was probably for the good." Keith says looking at the sky.

How mature for a kid, that's new. Querdia was a brat who never listened, so this is nice.

I forgot that including my past life I already lived for 24 years. All this trauma is making me weak and insecure.

"They wanted to adopt me." I say
less worried and more comfortably.

"I see, that's not too bad then." He says still looking up.

Not too bad? Was he expecting something?

Without realising, I ask "How old are you?"

I cover my mouth in surprise and he laughs

"You can ask questions, it's not like I'll hit you or anything."

He makes it sound like hitting is something light.

I look down and get nervous

He probably noticed and said

"I'm 9." He said changing the subject.

I'm 24 lol, but..he's 9? He gives off a mature era which is refreshing.

"Lady Abela! Young Lord! The Duchess said it's time to leave!"
A maid called for us

Keith stand up and offers to help me up.

"Well Abela, or should I say sister. It seems we're gonna be seeing eachother often, let's have some fun!"

Sister? Is this a dream? Why do I feel so happy?

I hesitantly put my hand on his, and smiled "okay!"

He helps me up.

Do I finally have a place to call home?

This can't get any better!