บท 4: Fighting back
Eli lowered herself onto a padded velvet chair next to the servants' table in the corner of the room, smoothing out the fabric of her skirts. She watched as Lara bustled about the room, lighting candles and gathering teacups before settling a silver tray with a teapot on the table. Lara poured Eli a cup, handing it to her with a slight bow.
"What are you?" She hissed at her inner self but received mockery.
'What are you?' her inner self hissed back at her in the same tone and voice.
Eli understood that whatever this thing inside her head was, it was slowly getting out of hand. It purposely tried attracting Eli's attention to itself whenever she was near people.
'Who are you trying to fool? You fucking know who I am.' the voice answered angrily. 'How long are you going to play this pretend game?' it asked her.
"W-What do you mean..." Eli's face turned red in anxiety. She always blushed whenever she was caught lying.
'You fucking know what I mean. How long are you going to pretend to be a nice girl?!'
"I-I have no choice..." Eli murmured, wondering where all these feelings were coming from. She shivered at the thought of the last time she fought back against her brother, James. "He almost killed me..." Her face turned pale at the thought.
'Things changed...' her inner self whispered in a low tone. 'Soon, I will get to kill that bastard.'
"Miss Eli..." Lara said soothingly. "Did something happen to you?"
Eli's eyes grew big, and her face grew pale as she nervously nodded. She forced a small smile and lied, "Y-Yes... I think I just caught a cold." Her voice trembled, and she avoided making direct eye contact.
Lara nodded and smiled, "I'll be right back." She took the teapot and went upstairs.
Eli sat down and waited for her to return.
'Cold? Seriously? I couldn't come up with a better lie?'
"..." Eli let out a long, deep sigh, his gaze fixed on the window. He heard the soft thud of footsteps and saw Lara coming back into the room, carrying a steaming teapot in one hand and bone china teacups in the other.
"Here you go, Miss Eli!" she said, handing it over.
"Thank you, Lara." Eli answered and took a sip. It tasted just as she liked it. "This is amazing!"
"My pleasure." Lara smiled, "black tea from the Nebula kingdom, with a hint of honey."
Eli nodded, "Just the way I like it."
"I know, but thank you." Lara looked at her with a warm smile. She sat down near Eli and asked. "Miss, is something bothering you?"
"W-Why would you think that?" Eli's face turned red again, wondering how she should answer.
'Let's just say that our family is shit, and I am stressed as fuck.' her inner thoughts suggested as it laughed.
Lara's gaze drilled into Eli, who tugged at his shirt collar and shifted her weight. The sadness in her eyes was unmistakable as she spoke. "You've been avoiding me for days now. What's going on?" "When I first came here, we were really close... You were the only one who was kind to me ..."
"I see..." Eli awkwardly nodded, not knowing what to say to Lara.
'Of course, I would be acting distant. The last maid my sister befriended was fired today!' her inner self gritted her teeth in anger.
"Did I do something wrong?" Lara tilted her head and batted her eyelashes as she asked, her eyes hopeful and sparkling, the most adorable expression Eli had ever seen.
Eli paused for a second and then smiled awkwardly. "No, Lara. Everything is fine ... It's just... My family. "Eli sighed. She looked straight into Lara's eyes and continued. "Family problems. "
Lara's heart sank, and her stomach tightened as Eli mentioned her family. She forced a polite smile onto her face and nodded, not trusting her voice. She knew that she mustn't question Eli's family. The Silver family.
"I apologize, miss." Lara bowed, "I shall leave you to your business." She quickly left the kitchen, closing the door behind her.
Eli's chest rose and fell with each haggard breath she took. She clenched her jaw, her lower lip trembling between her teeth, and squeezed her eyes shut before uttering a soft but heated curse. Her inner self echoed her sentiment as she said, "Goddammit."
She stood up and muttered, "Whatever."
A few minutes later, she walked down the stairs and entered the hallway. She had to go back upstairs, but when she got there, she saw James, her brother, again. He was sitting on the couch, playing a video game and drinking beer.
'Drunken asshole.' her inner self exclaimed.
Eli sighed and walked to her room, but her brother stood up when she closed the door behind her. "Have you finished my laundry?"
Eli stared at him, "What am I? Your maid? Nanny?" The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and her cheeks immediately turned a deep shade of red. She put her hands over her lips, horrified at what she'd just said.
James' face flushed with rage, and his fists clenched as he shot his sister an icy glare. He dropped the bottle to the floor before stomping toward her, the sound of shattering glass echoing in his wake. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him, his steel-blue eyes sharp like blades of ice. His anger was palpable as he snarled, "How dare you talk back to me, useless whore!" James clamped his teeth tightly together.
'Let's kill him. Can I kill him? It would be easy to crush an F-rank mage like him. P-P-P-Pleaaasee!'
"N-No... I-I am sorry." Eli's eyes were wide, and she shook with fear. She was trying to stem the flow of tears but was failing. "P-Please... I'm sorry... I didn't mean it..." she pleaded, trying to explain herself but only managing to stutter.
James looked at her with a menacing expression and unfastened his grip on her wrist. In an eerily quiet voice he said, "Fix this." He grabbed a broken shard of glass and pressed it to Eli's throat, drawing a drop of blood.
"I-I'll do it! I'll do it right now... I'm sorry." Eli apologized and ran out of the room. James watched her leave, his expression raw and brutal, like a feral beast.
'Goddammit. I won't continue being as pathetic as this.' suddenly, Eli thought. She turned back and stared at her brother for a minute, who noticed her gaze.
"What?!"
"Big brother!~" she said in a singsong voice. Behind her back, she created a fireball, and its glow reflected on the wall.
Her brother quickly noticed that she was holding something and yelled. "Show what you have behind your back!"
"Okay!~" she chuckled and threw a fireball at James. "Catch you, overgrown baby!"
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