Capítulo 2: Chapter 2
The week after.
He stood straight, his arms stuck to his sides stiff, and he tried hard not to clench his hands into a fist. He was angry, he was tired, he was confused- he felt alone.
He stared idly into the distance refusing to meet anyone's gaze, refusing to be judged, refusing to stay connected to this reality. He could feel the glances and their curiosity of him. If Lina was here, she would know what to do but she wasn't. She was a traitor, a monster, a murderer- he hated her, he hated that he missed her more than he missed his own mother. He hated that she killed his mother, she ended her life and now he and Alessandro will never get a chance to reconcile with her.
He thought his mother to be so weak to have killed herself, but she hadn't ended her suffering but instead, Lina had ended it for her, trying to make her death seem what it wasn't.
His jaw clenched, feeling as though someone had a hold of his heart, squeezing it and was refusing to let go.
He remembered how they had taken Lina away in restraints. He had finished cleaning his brother and himself off. They had spent a long amount of time there, trying not to face reality and when they came out, they saw the aurors, dressed in their usual disguisable navy uniform.
His brother had screamed at them for touching Lina, for being so rough when handling her like... some peasant. His grandfather had told Alessandro to shut up, holding him in place as he tried too hard to run towards Lina. Of course, he was, they were taking the only person that was truly a mother to him. With tears in his eyes, he screamed at their grandfather asking why, ignoring the pain on his arms as their grandfather held him, while Arturo was frozen in place trying to understand himself, what was going on.
He remembered the very words his grandfather had spoken, 'You would shed tears for the woman that killed your mother?' the man had spoken. He hadn't hissed it; he hadn't spat it out. When he spoke, it was loud, it was clear- he was calm.
His head had snapped to his grandfather as those words were spoken while Alessandro stopped thrashing around in his grip, trying to comprehend the words. Lina had killed their mother? He had been confused, his mother had clearly committed suicide, hadn't she? He had thought. He had stared into his grandfathers' dark eyes trying to see the truth in them, but he wasn't sure what he found, had Lina truly killed his mother?
He turned to Lina who was being dragged away only to catch her gaze, in that very moment she gave him a small smile. A sad one that Arturo didn't comprehend.
How dare she, how dare she smile at him! How dare she!
Why had she smiled at him? He was glad she would be locked away forever.
He just wanted to run and never come back he hated how they were looking at him, waiting for him to make a mistake, waiting for him to shed a tear waiting for him to show weakness.
He was a Carandini and Carandini's don't cry, they don't stumble, they don't make mistakes, they don't show weakness. He wasn't going to allow them to see the heir of the Noble and Ancient of House of Carandini do so.
It was supposed to be a funeral, a funeral filled with family, loved ones, friends but all he saw where fakes. They were all fakes, fake friends, fake families. Maybe he himself was a fake, he didn't want to be there at all, he had wanted to stay in his warm bedroom and read to his heart content, maybe it would fill the gap he seemed to feel in his chest, maybe it would get rid of the lump in his throat that made it hard to speak, maybe it would get rid of the headaches.
Slowly he looked up to the darkening sky. Was it bad he didn't feel any love her? He didn't deserve to be there. His thoughts came to a stop as a tall man blocked his view staring down at him with a sad smile, it was fake, he knew it. The man probably didn't wish to be there more than him.
He looked familiar, with the same green eyes his mother had. The man was a relative it was certain, with his pale skin, his dirty blonde hair- the green eyes, so like his mother. He was tall as he towered over him but not as tall as his grandfather.
"I'm sure she is looking out for you and your brother where ever she is. You shouldn't be sad, this is all for her, a celebration of her life and her accomplishments" the man spoke proudly as he laid his scruff hand on his shoulder. As the man placed his hand, it drew Arturo's attention as he looked towards it before looking back up at the familiar man.
The man had spoken to him in Italian, yet he didn't look nor sound native, if he had to guess he would say he heard a bit of a German accent within those words.
The strange man with familiar eyes stared at him as his words repeated in his head. A celebration? Her accomplishments? Yes, her only accomplishments were producing two healthy heirs for such a grand, ancient, powerful and pure house. Yes, she had done the only duty society saw her fit to do. She should have done more, but that was truly all she had done, give birth to his brother and himself. Other than that, she hid herself away from prying eyes refusing to do her duty as their mother, refusing to care.
He wasn't sad she died; he was sad that she died with nothing to be proud of. She wasn't proud of him, nor did he think she was proud of Alessandro more so the opposite. Had she truly lived a life of nothingness?
"Arturo?"
The voice snapped him out of thought.
His eyes stared into the man's eyes before nodding slowly, his throat feeling dry as he spoke, "Yes, thank you" he replied respectfully with a nod of his head.
Then with furrowed brows, he spoke again, "Sorry, how should I refer to you as, sir…?"
The man then looked as though he had been cursed with a spell, pulling his hand away from him. "Ah, right. It's been a long time I've seen you, hasn't it? You were only 6 months old when we last faced each other. I'm your uncle Karl. Karl Dietrich, your mother's younger brother."
His uncle. Karl Dietrich, the youngest of Lord Dietrich's children. His newfound uncle should be in his early 20s Arturo was sure.
His mother only had two siblings, with her as the middle child and second oldest. Her elder brother being the eldest of the three, Markus Dietrich, who should be in his mid-forties, while his mother had been in her late 20s.
"Ah, well thank you, uncle… did anyone else from the Dietrich family come? Did grandfather Alphonse come?" Arturo found himself asking. Had his mother's father, his maternal grandfather not come? Had his maternal grandmother not come? They were both alive and as healthy as his paternal grandfather, yet he couldn't remember seeing any other green-eyed people that looked like his mother.
As he asked, he took a quick glance around the field where they were all gathered for his mother's funeral, waiting for her to be lowered to the ground to be left to rest.
"Sorry, I was the only one that was able to make it. Something important came up so no one else was able to make it…. But Lynch was able to make it, he's your mother and my second cousin, so a cousin of yours as well." His uncle replied apologetically but was awkward as he did so. Of course, he was.
"…Important? So, uncle Markus, grandfather Alphonse, nor Grandmother Greta couldn't make it? My mother is dead, Uncle Markus's sister, grandfather and grandmother's daughter is dead, yet… something 'important' had stopped them from coming?" Arturo couldn't stop the anger that stirred in him.
'Fake'
'Fake'
They all didn't care. Was there truly no one that cared for his mother?
--
Alessandro finally gave up all hope of tying his tie, he stomped his foot down in annoyance as he pried his eyes away from the mirror in the hallway, while Arturo sat staring out of the window, sitting comfortably on the window seat, which was soft.
He enjoyed exploring new places, they weren't in Italy anymore but in Germany, in one of the many manors they owned. The manor was large but not as large as their ancestral home they lived in back in Italy. The manor they were in is situated in Saxony. It's surrounded by a large forest, unlike their home which is surrounded by fields of either concrete or grass, mostly grass, with a few trees having their spotlight.
"I can't do it!" Alessandro called out breaking Arturo out of his concentration. He couldn't wait to have time to explore the manor and the surrounding area properly. Upon arrival, their grandfather had told them to get ourselves ready.
He looked to his younger brother seeing his tie was still missing from its correct place. He snorted as he looked at the crumbled tie that his brother had clenched in his fist, and nearly let out a laugh and he saw the frustration on his brothers face.
"Only if you were as great as me then you'd know how to tie a tie," Arturo told his brother with a mocking smile.
"You're not greater than me!" Alessandro spat out, a frown settling in place as he looked down then up again looking at his brother.
"Why do we even have to go?" Alessandro asked in a low voice, clearly unhappy. He couldn't blame him; he too didn't want to go to the Dietrich manor.
Their cousin Markus jr was to be 17 this day, and they had been invited to the celebration. His grandfather had told them the day it had arrived, when he heard his grandfather speak he had taught the man would follow up with, 'we will not be going' but instead the man had said when they would be leaving for Germany.
He had no interest in meeting his maternal relatives. He had already met his uncle Karl at his mother's funeral, which had been earlier in the year and a few days later, his maternal grandparents decided to make an appearance to pay their 'respects', although his uncle Markus had not made an appearance.
Arturo shrugged at the question but still answered, "Because he's our cousin and it would be rude to reject his birthday invitation, you only become of age once."
Alessandro rushed to his brother's side in desperation, his hands dramatically waving about as he spoke, "But we're Carandini's! we shouldn't have to go, we're more powerful than the Dietrich's, who cares if it's disrespectful not to go. They can't tell us what we are."
Instead of answering Arturo just shoved his brother aside for being too close.
"Oi!" was Alessandro's response after taking a tumble backwards nearly falling to the floor, his tied falling from his grip.
"Ask Merith to tie your tie for you" Arturo spoke up as he stood up ready to walk to the kitchen.
He watched as his younger brother scowled in response, "No" the younger boy crossed his arms defiantly, while Arturo's head tilted in response.
"No?" he sounded out, repeating what his brother had just told him, "What do you mean no, Alessandro? Are you still being stupid about her replacing Lina?" Arturo continued, speaking calmly, trying to understand his brother.
"Don't speak her name" Alessandro hissed out, clearly angry at the mention of Lina.
"And I'm not being stupid! I don't like Merith, she's annoying and mean!" Alessandro grumbled out as he went to pick his red tie from the floor dolefully.
"Al… Merith isn't mean, if anything she's too nice, and all you do is complain and shout, and throw tantrums. All she wants is for us to like her, she makes great cookies too, if you would actually taste the food, she goes out of her way to make for us, then you wouldn't be complaining" Arturo spoke out, saliva building up in his mouth as he thought of the cookies she always made. She had been with them for about 3 months, and he had grown used to her presence.
Alessandro said nothing in response instead walked slowly towards his brother, not daring to look into his eyes but just straight forward, only to be staring at his brother's chin.
As he avoided eye contact, he spoke in a low voice, his voice slightly shaky as the words came out, "Can't you just tie my tie?"
His voice had been so low that if he hadn't been standing so close to Arturo, Arturo knew he wouldn't have heard it.
It was now obvious his brother was hurting. Why did he hate Merith so much? Did he miss Lina? Maybe he did and hated that he did, after all, she killed their mother. If he did miss Lina, he wouldn't blame him, sometimes he did think of her himself. The woman had been there since each of their births, she was there for every step of the way.
Alessandro wasn't even one for change, so of course, this change was drastic for him. Even them having to stay in this Saxony manor has him annoyed.
He looked down, no longer staring at the top of his brother's blonde hair but to his eyes that refused to look up at him. They seemed watery.
Without a word, Arturo took the tie his brother had in his grip into his own grip, "Okay" he replied simply. He wouldn't force his brother to be like Merith. As he took the tie in his left hand, he left his right hand to grab his brother own hand.
"Come on" he spoke out again to his brother and began to drag him along.
"If I'm going to tie this, you'll have to watch so you know how to do it" he spoke again as he dragged his brother towards the large mirror he had been looking in when he had failed to tie it himself.
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