Chapter 65

"Who was the one who said he needed clothes made by Isabelle?" I heard someone hissed annoyed. I secretly smiled.

Though, I did feel a bit bad for basically ignoring them these past few days since I started sewing the brothers' clothes. Once I finished making two more shirts and pockets for Ethan in blue and auburn, and one more pair of pants, I started with Lucas' clothes since he was the biggest.

The pants were not as slim as Ethan's, so I used more fabric. And, since I had used the black fabric with which I intended to make Felix's pants, I barely was able to make two pair of pants for each of them.

To Lucas, I made one dark red and one blue shirt. They were not the same style as Ethan's, on the contrary, they were simpler: with short sleeves and a V-shaped neckline. To Felix, I made two light green shirts. To his request, one had the same style as Ethan's and the other was the usual style.

The reason for my smile despite my guilt was because the one who just hissed was Joseph. 

The same Joseph I was not planning to make clothes.

The main reason was that I had no fabric. Only little pieces that could be sewn together to make a shirt or some shorts; however, I did not want him to look as if he was wearing rags. The pieces were still saved to make things in the future.

A tiny part of me still wanted to teach him a lesson for making me angry with that matter with that woman.

Still, he was just jealous that everybody but him had new clothes.

At the moment, I was sewing something for me with the Sateen fabric I bought.

My sewing spree also left me tired enough to not get intimate with them as I used to. I always ended up falling asleep during my bath and taken to bed by any brother.

It had also been a few busy days for the brothers. Ethan was returning late into the night from his trial period; he no longer ate dinner with us, just breakfast. Joseph and Lucas' time was taken by the patch: harvesting and preparing the land for more sowing. And Felix had to do most of the chores at home, plus feeding the animals.

At times like these, I truly felt we were walking towards the same future.

"You also want them, but ain't gonna get them!" Felix moodily replied. 

He had been constantly hearing Joseph's complaints about the situation. I was glad Felix had actually grown a bit of a backbone when he denied Joseph from taking one of his shirts. Lucas had felt a bit bad for his younger brother and was planning on giving one of his, yet I stopped him.

"Who says I won't?!" Joseph cried out, indignant. Despite being the older brother, Joseph could be rather childish when he wanted to.

"I say so!" Felix retorted.

"You!" The sounds of a chasing sounded next. I suppressed my laugh as best as I could.

"Don't laugh." Lucas said. He was sitting next to me inside the house. We had come in after lunch; I had wanted to finish my new garments while he had wanted to nap. Instead, he laid down on the bed and stared at the whole sewing process.

"I am not laughing." I told him, a big smile plastered on my face.

He stared. Lucas' presence was very soothing. He was not attentive like Ethan, or sensual like Joseph, or a chatterbox like Felix. He was just there. Silent but present. 

"Are you happy?" The only problem of him not talking was that he tended to change topics out of nowhere. Like, a whole conversation took place in his head and he would only voice out the rather important parts.

It was my turn to remain silent. I made the last stitches on the piece and put it down. He, thankfully, did not mind the silence. That was why I enjoyed his presence; things with him were slow, but well thought out. Very sure.

"I cannot always be happy. There will be times I will be angry, that I will be sad, that I will want to be alone, that I will be frustrated. I will feel many things. I just hope all those things happen when I am with you all." I told him.

He sat up with a solemn expression. I waited. After some time in which I put away all the sewing tools, he hummed and nodded. "I understand. As long as we're together." He concluded. 

I walked towards him, grabbed his chin and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "That is right." I brushed his beard and thought it needed a trim. We stared into each other's eyes for some seconds, getting closer and closer until…

"Lucas!" Felix barged into the house. "Joseph's fighting!" He exclaimed. Only then I noticed the teen was sweating and panting, his expression one of urgency.

"Where?" Lucas stood, put on his shoes and rushed out, followed by Felix, and way behind I also followed.

I had no idea they could walk so fast!

"The patch. Some guys were in it and..." Felix's voice trailed off as they got farther and farther. However, since I knew where they were going, I had no problem following them.

The closer I got to the patch, the better I could see that people were gathered around it. They were talking, watching at something, pointing and there were some women screaming. 

I had to push some people, villagers most likely, to get to the center of the situation. What I saw took my breath away and filled me with great sadness. The whole patch… completely destroyed. And, in the middle of it, Joseph was fighting with a man.

Lucas was standing the screaming verbal abuse of a middle-aged woman. Felix had no idea what to do: if he had to stop Joseph or help Lucas in saying a few words to the woman. My gaze focused on one sole person: that woman.

She definitely noticed my stare and avoided it, looking worriedly in Joseph's direction. That incensed me more. 

"What the hell are you doing, Joseph?!" I screamed as loud as I could. It was quite loud since everyone fell silent. Even the fighting men stopped and looked at me. "Why have you not broken his legs or arms, yet?" I demanded. 

Joseph was stunned for a moment before grinning, he grabbed a stone from the side and rose it towards the quite injured man.

"STOP! You dog!" The middle-aged woman shrieked. There was a crunch and a wail. "You… you..." Pale, the woman shakily pointed at Joseph, who threw the stone aside after breaking the man's hand.

"That is what he gets for breaking into other's property and ruining a family's livelihood." I somberly said, glancing at everybody who gathered and did nothing to stop what he had done.

"You, you whore!" The woman hissed in my direction. I was not having it. Not this time.

"Save that for your daughter, the actual whore in this whole story." I looked in the young woman's direction. "How shameful of you to come beg another man to cover up for your dirty affairs." I spat.

"How dare you!" The middle aged woman fumed and ran towards me with the intent of hitting me, but she was stopped by Lucas. "Release me, you filthy dog!"

"What's going on here?" A new voice boomed. Seeing how everybody cowered at it, I could deduce it was the village Chief. 

"It was Joseph, Chief! We just wanted to help him, and he became crazy, throwing punches and all!" A young man who followed the Chief immediately cried out. "My brother…" He trailed off, paling as he finally noticed the state his brother was in. 

The middle-aged woman started sobbing. "My poor boy!… We search justice, Chief! That villanous woman told Joseph to break my Randy's head with a stone." 

"What?!" The young man ran towards the apparently fainted Randy. "Blood.. There's blood!" 

I coldly watched their whole drama. I turned towards the Chief who had a very gloomy face. "If you believe what they say, I will lose all respect for you, Chief." The people around gasped. The Chief put his sharp gaze on me. "This whole mess started with her." I pointed at the woman who did nothing but curl on herself.

"Stop spouting lies! It's all you!" The middle-aged woman, I really had no desire to recall her name, covered her daughter with her body.

I ignored the screams of the deluded lady and continued: "She had an affair with a servant, resulting in a child. And, just because her husband is cheating on her with a cousin, she wanted to make the child pass as Joseph's." I had no qualms in unveiling the whole matter to all and sunder.

If they wanted to play dirty, then they were not afraid to have no face.

"Lies! How can you tell such lies?!" The screaming lady tried to cover the truth, yet not many spectators seemed to believe her. 

"Whether I am lying or not, you know all too well." I looked at the two women. "I could have put the matter aside if this woman got away from Joseph. Not only she had ruined her own marriage, she wants to ruin another person's relationship. However… For whatever reason, you did this." I pointed at the destroyed patch.

"We only wanted to help!" The young man tried to maintain his statement.

"Yes, you helped a family of five have nothing to eat in the future. Are you going to share your food with us? Are you going to feed us until the next harvest?" I questioned him. He only glanced at the lady, asking for help. "Since you cannot do it, then compensate for the damages."

"Compen… You were the one who hurt my son! You told that dog to break his arms and legs!" The middle-aged lady screeched.

"Either they compensate, or I ruin their patch!" I demanded, unyielding. "We are just dogs. We have nothing to lose." I grinned at the middle-aged lady who pursed her lips.

Even if we did not win the fight, we had to win the battle!