~'°•Past°•'~

Clara laid on her bed staring at the ceiling while Shea was clearing the table

She closed her eyes to get some rest but couldn't help but think about the past, her past

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Clara, first born and supposed to be head of the Duras Duchy

Ever since the day of her social debut at thirteen, society and people were against the idea of her being the head

There were still women who had high authority and were the head of their family but it was an uncommon sight

Clara and Aradia's birth mom died soon after her social debut and after that things changed

Their father, the Duke, Valentino started to ignore them and not care about anything, his children, his people, himself nothing mattered to him anymore

That was until a month after the death of his wife that he started to care again, take better care of himself, his people and his children

Clara knew something was wrong, why would he suddenly change for no reason? Something or someone was behind this change

And she was right, about two months later Valentino told her and Aradia that he had been seeing a woman and wants to marry her but he also wanted to know their opinion

Aradia was only eleven years old at that time and suffering from the shock of their mothers death and now this? She didn't say anything

As for Clara, she was worried, she herself had seen how step-mothers' can be, one part of her was happy and excited to have a mother again but the other part was worried, what if she is evil? What will happen to her and her sister?

With how whipped her father was over this woman there was no way he would stop her, Clara would be able to leave this house and go to Rain Academy within a year when she turns fifteen, it was her mother's wish before passing away, she had studied there and met her father and she knows Valentino will fulfil this wish of her mothers but what about Aradia? What about her little sister?

Aradia is only eleven soon going to be twelve there is still a few years left before she can go to Rain Academy but she can't just leave her behind all alone

And she isn't gifted either, but there was also something else, if she disagreed to this marriage today, Valentino would try to convince her by bribing her and if she still disagreed then he would probably go and marry the woman in secret and tell her before she left for the academy or marry her right in front of everyone and turn a cold shoulder towards her

So in the end Clara really doesn't have a choice, all this was only to appear like a better father

Clara made a final decision, she would agree and see what happens but if this woman turns out to be bad news she would take matters into her own hands, for Aradia ...and herself

Thus the preparation for the wedding began but during that time Clara couldn't care less about all this she was worried about something else

How her sister didn't cry at their mothers funeral, Valentino was crying the whole time, Clara tried to stay strong so Aradia had someone who could comfort her but to Clara's surprise the red head didn't cry, not a single tear was shead

Instead after everyone had left including their father, Aradia went over to the pink haired girl and hugged her, telling her it was okay and she could cry

Clara had tried to hold back tears but Aradia's embrace and words made her give in and cry her heart out, till this day she hates how instead of being there for a child, her sister she was the one being embraced

The night before the wedding Clara and Aradia were having afternoon tea, a family tradition that their mother made, to spend time with family and enjoy tea in the afternoon, as expected Valentino wasn't here

Clara tried to brush off the question of why Aradia hadn't cried, she wasn't the type to hold in her tears and she loved mother so what was the reason? Clara couldn't help it and finally asked the red head, to which she simply replied that it was a promise

A promise to their mother that she would not let anyone make her cry or she herself wouldn't cry no matter what

"Even if it's a promise, it's alright to cry and to let your emotions out... And I'll be always here to comfort you, okay?"

Clara said worried, she was worried that because of what seems like a innocent and sweet promise, her sister will bottle up her emotions and hurt herself

"Don't worry sister, I'm not doing this because of the promise, in fact I cried at night of the funeral but ever since then I have stopped and do not cry"

"Then.. then why? Why don't you cry when you want to if not because of the promise?"

"To not ruin my eyes and I'm strong I will not break"

"What..?"

"I'm the only one with golden eyes in our family right? I don't want to ruin them over some stupid crying"

It was true, out of the two of them, Aradia looked the most like their mom, and their mother loved that at least one of her children had gotten crimson red hair and her family's golden eyes, even if she herself didn't have golden eyes the gens of her family got passed down to Aradia, red hair wasn't uncommon but blood red hair? That was rare

Clara was speechless, not knowing what to say, she also couldn't guess if Aradia was lying to stop her from worrying or telling the truth

And in the end just nodded instead

On the day of the wedding, Clara was sitting at a table not caring about the actual wedding, she wore a light pink puffy dress and let her slightly darker shade of pink hair cascade down her back, she and Aradia wore matching flower crown's

Aradia quietly sat beside her, her crimson red hair in a high ponytail and bangs beautifully framing her face and of course the flower crown, she also wore a light coloured dress

Clara noticed a blonde boy, around the same age as her standing together with a younger boy, even younger than Aradia, probably, around seven or eight maybe?

'that must be them..'

Clara found out from her servants that the woman Valentino was marrying had two children already, two sons, one who was a year younger than her and the other was eight

"Sister, do you know him?"

Aradia questioned in a low voice so no one one would notice

"No.. but we will probably in the future"

"Huh? Wait- are they our new siblings?"

"Hm, wanna go talk to him?"

Aradia thought for a little bit and nodded, the two then got up and went over to where the blonde boy was standing

"What's your name?"

Clara started, she originally wanted to assert dominance, to scare the kid so he wouldn't want to pull any sly tricks but then realised how stupid that thought was and discarded it

"It's Issac.. do I know you?"

"Didn't your mom tell you whom are your new siblings?"

Aradia asked, she stood behind Clara but peeked her head out to talk

"Huh-  oh so you must be Clara and Aradia, right?"

The blonde boy, who introduced himself as Issac, asked

"Yes and what's the name of the youngest?"

Clara asked looking over at the eight year old boy

"His name is Ceil"

"Oh.. I see"

...

No one spoke and it was just quiet and awkward, luckily at that moment the bride came in and the sermony started

Aradia yawned feeling bored and looked over at Clara who seemed just as bored

"Is something worng?"

Clara asked looking at her sister

"No.. I'm bored.."

The red head admitted, Clara thought for a little while, trying to find a solution

"Why don't we go to the garden, what do you say?"

Aradia nodded her head enthusiastically, just as they were about to slip away from the wedding hall the red head pulled on her sister's dress

"Is something wrong?"

"Can we take them with us?"

Aradia pointed at Issac and the his brother, Clara was quiet not knowing what to say but looking at the innocent look on Aradia's face she gave in with a sigh and nodded

And so the four of the them spent the whole day at the garden

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After the wedding Valentino was busy talking to the guests that were congratulating him on his marriage but Bellen, his new wife was worried, where were the children?

She was surprisingly more worried about where Clara and Aradia were, as for own children, Issac and Ceil, of course as their mother she was worried for them as well

Bellen excused herself, and started to look around, she noticed a young Benjamin in his late twenties holding his daughter, Rae, the new Duchess knew he was the children's servant and asked about their where abouts to which he suggested she look for them at the garden

Upon entering the garden Bellen saw Clara sitting on the grass almost about to doze off, Aradia sleeping while resting her head on the pink haired girls lap, Ceil sleeping while hugging his brother and Issac laying on the grass sleeping

She went over to them and sat down beside Clara

"You're going to ruin the wedding dress, you have a dance after dinner, no?"

Clara asked, she had woken up completely, she didn't bother to look at her new "mother"

"It doesn't matter.."

Clara stayed quiet, waiting to see what she wants to say

"I know it's hard on you, to suddenly have a new mother but I'd like to let you know, I truly see you as my own children and love your father dearly, if I were after a title I could've been the head of my house"

Clara scoffed, she had answered all the thoughts Clara had all this time and it was the truth as well

Bellen got up to leave but before going she said one last thing

"Oh and don't think about something like making Issac the house head, that is not happening, you'll be the head"

She said firmly, embracing her role as the Duchess

"Don't you want your own children to be the hire?"

"You all are my children"

She left, Clara chuckled to herself, she had hit a jackpot huh? Maybe this was all just wishful thinking and she would show her true colours later but for now Clara wanted to enjoy this dream

But to her delight it wasn't just wishful thinking, it was reality, Clara couldn't help but feel happy and finally warm up to her family

The Duchess, Bellen was a wonderful mother, caring for all the children, and her husband, she was also a very intelligent person and had a lot in common with Clara and as time passed Clara called her mother, not because she had to but because she wanted to

But then something happened.....

Siblings bounding:

Ceil: what does "take out" mean?

Issac: Food

Clara: Date

Aradia: Murder

Clara: ...

Issac: ...

Aradia: what?

                                           To be continued...

Hii it is I, Yan, how are you all? I'm very proud of myself cause I wrote all this in two days, hats off to me

On a serious note, this might be the last chapter I post cause ✨ exams ✨ but then again I have a week left before said exam so I may be able to post another chapter? I don't know so don't get your hopes up also if I don't post don't expect an update till August because I have exams the whole month of July

Anyway I hope you liked this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing this

Have a good day, afternoon, evening or night

Once again please forgive this lowly author for any grammatical mistakes and I'll see you all in the next chapter

Bye~

This chapter has been updated: 9/7/24

cause the author didn't think their age through, and has now finally used her brain to fix it, ps that doesn't mean I'll post, y'all still gotta wait so yeah

Words: 2,094