An Unconventional Decision

"Stop running for a second. I need to catch my breath," Lyn huffed.

Aiden turned his head around and let go of her arm. He let out a brief nod, but he seemed uneasy. He constantly darted his eyes around while holding on tight to whatever was in his pocket.

Lyn perked her head. "What's wrong?"

Aiden grabbed her by the sleeve and yanked her into a side alley. He flipped his head sideways before taking out a round, gold-coated watch from his pocket. Lyn stiffened at the very familiar sight of the pocket watch.

"Y-you took it! Why would you do that? You know the consequences of stealing, especially from a noble!" Lyn hissed. "Don't make the same mistake as Peter."

A hint of sadness flickered over Aiden's face before he returned to his usual state.

He shrugged. "We'll be gone by tomorrow, anyway. Besides, it will take at least a day or two for authorities to locate us, considering how shit our soldiers are," Aiden answered indifferently, avoiding his sister's overbearing gaze.

"HUH? Are you stupid? You really think that a wealthy family like them won't be able to track us down?" she exclaimed. "First you wander off and leave me all alone and now this?

Aiden took a peek at the watch before returning it to his pocket. "Lyn, we're late, we better leave or else... or else Mother..." Aiden shuddered.

"Let's talk about this when we get back to the orphanage," Lyn said in a threatening tone.

•———•°•✿•°•———•

Lyn looked up to the dreaded orphanage, which she called 'home'.

It was once a church that people regularly attended, but ever since the downfall of the religious system in the empire, few people remained devout worshipers. As a result, nuns and popes no longer had much power. They were still respected if they were doing charity work, like looking after children.

Lyn knew it was mostly her fault for being late, but she still dreaded the consequences. She looked at her twin brother, who also had the same nervous look. They made their way to the front door.

Lyn hesitantly reached out her hand and let out a loud knock.

Both the twins stood there and waited, their breathing heavy and rapid. 'Just one more day,' Lyn thought. 'Only one more day, and we won't have to deal with her any longer.'

Just before Lyn reached out for another knock, a tall, middle-aged woman opened the door. "What do you want?!" she shouted. She looked around before her eyes wandered downwards to the twins. The woman let out a large, cruel smile. "Look who decided to show up."

The twins lowered their heads and didn't dare to move until she said so. "Get in before I change my mind!" She bellowed.

"Yes, Mother," the twins said before scurrying into the building.

"Sit at the dining table, you have already disturbed our lunch already." She waved them away.

They swiftly walked down the hallway and made a sharp turn to the dining room. The dining room had a large, oval-shaped table. On the front, Mother Agness had a large and overly obnoxious chair which only she was authorized to sit on. The closer a child was to Mother, the more they were favoured.

As Lyn and Aiden entered the room, all heads whipped up from the little food they had on the plates. All the children stared at the twins. None of them dared speak, but their eyes said it all. It was full of fear, fear of what's to become of the twins.

Both of them made their way to the end of the table and Mother Agness joined in shortly after. She sat down and then raised her hands and clapped them.

"Attention children!" She began, "Since today is Aiden and Lyn's last day, I was nice enough to let them go out and have fun on the condition that they are back before lunch." Mother looked towards the twins. "But it seems they can't even follow a simple order."

Lyn trembled. 'Please don't lock us in the room. Please, please, please.'

Mother let out a threatening smile. "It's only fair that they get a punishment, don't you think?"

The children let out a hesitant nod.

"No food for the rest of the day. If I catch you guys giving them any, you and the twins are getting whipped. You understand!"

"Yes, Mother Agness," the children chorused.

Both Lyn and Aiden let out a sigh of relief, happy that Mother Agness was in a good mood.

Mother cut a chunk of her steak (which she only had) and put it in her mouth. "Resume eating, children," she said, after swallowing the large chunk of meat.

The children reluctantly resumed eating their food. Some looked at Aiden and Lyn with pitiful looks, while others simply focused on their plates.

Sitting at a dining table full of food was torture for the twins. The bland food which the twins had tasted a thousand times looked like it had fallen from the heavens. It was at this moment that Lyn regretted not eating breakfast. The only food she had the entire day was the piece of bread the kind baker gave her.

'He was so nice to me and we just stole...'

A pang of guilt went through Lyn. She couldn't believe her stupid brother stole the pocket watch from him and thought he was going to get away with it. It was widely known to the public that police forces assigned to towns were useless at their jobs, but not the Venators. Venators were highly skilled people who could only be hired by the rich. They did various tasks, the most common being locating, capturing and possibly even killing targets. Venators are extremely dangerous and always get the job done.

The town bell rang, signalling that it was one o'clock. The children harmoniously got up from the chairs and went to the kitchen to wash the plates. Aiden and Lyn stood up from their chairs and went straight to the bedroom, as they had nothing to wash.

Today was the twins' turn to clean the bedrooms. There were only two bedrooms that the children slept in. The first one was very large and had a dozen bunk beds in it. All the children slept there except for the twins. They slept in a different room which was the size of two single beds. The room had a small window and only one bed. Because of that, the twins would take turns sleeping on a straw mat and sleeping on the bed.

Although cleaning took a painstakingly long time, the children were always glad to be on cleaning duty, as it was a way to escape Mother's dreadful lessons. Cleaning was especially useful today for the twins because it was a perfect excuse to talk about what happened. Aiden went to the closet and grabbed all the cleaning supplies. Lyn already started removing the bedsheets.

"Hey Lyn..." he started.

"..."

"Look... I'm sorry... I know what I did was stupid..."

"VERY stupid," she added, glaring at Aiden. "We are turning thirteen tomorrow, and we have the chance to leave this wretched place and start a new life elsewhere. But you sabotaged that. Do you honestly think they won't find us? That... that Armin won't have hired a Venator?"

"Armin?" Aiden asked.

Lyn rolled her eyes. "The baker you stole from."

Aiden formed an 'o' shape with his mouth. Lyn glanced at him, she could tell Aiden was overflowing with guilt, it was written all over his face. When it came to lying, Aiden was not the best at it. A simple peep at his face and anyone could tell what he was thinking.

There was a moment of silence. Both the twins were deep in thought as they continued to put new sheets on the beds.

"Why are you getting mad at me when you also took advantage of the baker?" Aiden said, breaking the silence. "We both know that you didn't get lost. You know this town better than all the children in this orphanage, including me," he added.

Lyn furrowed her eyebrows. "I needed a safe space to stay while I waited for you to come back, but I had no intention to steal anything. You shouldn't have left me and you shouldn't have stolen the watch! Are you really askin-"

"Okay okay, I get it. I'm sorry. But quiet down, Mother might hear us," Aiden warned.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Lyn sighed. "Let's just finish cleaning so we can go to bed early. Tomorrow is a big day."