《A Side Villain’s Ballad.》053 The Truth(AP)(RTP)
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The sun shown through the paper windows, lighting the room in a warm and soft light. Arrieta rubbed her eyes and mumbled while slowly rising out of her bed wearing a rough cotton nightgown. Her room wasn't much to be seen, just a bed, a desk, and a mortar and pestle. Her clothes were strewn across the ground and various herbs were littered all over the desk. Arrieta stretched her body and walked like the dead into the family bathroom, where she brushed her teeth with a bristle hair toothbrush. Her sister jumped into the room, grabbed her by the armpits and lifted her into the air.
"Tis a goodmornin' Hurry up 'an brush 'an get dressed! we got a visitor!"[Ash] Arrieta spit into the sink, and threw her sister, Ash, a sidelong glare,
"Gimme two minutes before ya start actin crazy would ya?"[Arrieta] Ash had long flowing platinum hair and deep brown eyes. She let out a huge smile as she rushed Arrieta,
"Hurry, Hurry, we found a healer, he said he'd take care of pops!"[Ash] Arrieta's eyes lit up. She jumped out of her sister's grip and rushed into her bedroom, throwing on the first thing she grabbed. She rushed back out and grabbed her sister and in huge hug before rushing her.
"Lets go lets go! What's the price?"[Arrieta] Ash smiled brightly and then frowned for a moment, she said,
"He should be here soon. As for the price, that's something you'll have to decide."[Ash]
Arrieta had always looked up to her father. He taught her how to ride Recklers and had been a hero to her all her life. That's why, when he acquired some unknown disease, Arrieta and the whole family were distraught. No longer preoccupied with childish things, Arrieta tried to learn medical care the best she could. No matter what she did, and no matter who the family turned to, no one could figure out how to heal her father.
Hearing that someone wanted to take a look at her father, and had a method to cure him, how could she not be ecstatic? The two sisters waited together on the front porch. They lived out in the wilderness, surrounded by tree in an old tin house. Despite this, they could see their visitors coming from a long way as the dirt road to their house was rather flat and open. Arrieta thought about what her sister said, deciding the price herself sounded awfully strange. Maybe the medicine man wanted something from her. Arrieta tilted her head in thought, what could she possibly give him? She shook her head. It didn't matter, soon her questions would be answered.
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In the distance, a man steadily down their patchy road. His steps were steady, confident and even, obviously well acquainted with walking on rough terrain. He had deep blue eyes and green shoulder-length hair. Arrieta scratched her head, she had never seen such a strange thing. As he approached, her eyebrows squinted together. His face was feminine, almost making her wonder his gender, he wore a black cloak that covered the rest of his body, but his eyebrows were brown. Did he dye his hair? This man seemed pretty eccentric, well that didin't matter as long as he could help her father. Walking up to the duo, the man gave a refreshing smile like a spring breeze and said in a enchanting voice,
"Miss Ash, Miss Azalea, I have given you some time to think it over. What do you think?"[Raphael]
"Mr. Raphael, actually, I haven't told her yet."[Ash]
"Told me what?"[Arrieta] Raphael looked at Arrieta, that's when she noticed his pupils. They were slits, like a snake, flooded by the ocean of deep blue that was his irises. She was stunned for a moment, but the man spoke up nonetheless.
"I want you to watch a girl called Elizabeth Cerns, and tell me everything you learn from her."[Raphael] he shook his head regretfully and continued, disregarded Arrieta quetioning look,
"Her sister is so hard to get to. I just have to look at the next best thing."[Raphael] Arrieta called back in a questioning tone,
"What the hell kinda spying you want me to do? I don't even know a Cerns. Where would I even go?"[Arrieta] Raphael closed his eyes and asked in a gentle voice,
"Are you not willing?"[Raphael] Arrieta looked away and thought of her father, there wasn't much she wasn't willing to do with his life on the line, she turned to hm and said resolutely,
"No, I'll do it, but I just don't know how."[Arrieta] Raphael gave out a chuckle and consoled,
"Don't worry. She'll be your roommate at Rotham."[Raphael] Arrieta's eyes shot wide open, and her sister looked at her with anticipation. Arrieta had decided not to attend the academy in order to better care for her father, much to his and her mother's chagrin. This man was saying she needed to go there to cure him. Was there such a good thing in the world? Arrieta nodded hurriedly and said,
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"I'll do it!"[Arrieta] Raphael smiled and asked to be invited inside. The girls led him to their father who was a shadow of the man he used to be. Robust muscle turned to skin and bone. Skin kissed by the sun became paler than a ghost's. Arms that could both of his daughters at the same time had become to frail to properly hold a cup. Arrieta bit her lip with tears in her eyes. She always hated to see him this way. In the recent days, she could barely get him to hold down food. Raphael walked up to him and placed a pill in her father's mouth. Once he was sure he swallowed it, he turned around and looked at the girls,
"With this, he should start to recover. This pill was designed to deal with exactly the illness your father has. In a month, he'll be walking around again. Arrieta burst into tears. She had struggled with that menace of a condition for years with no result, could everything really be this simple? Seeing her father's face relax, she felt like it could be. She immediately bowed to the man and thanked him, he simply waved his hand and said,
"Don't worry about it. I think everyone should be able to live for a long time with their loved ones."[Raphael]
***
Neidr nodded after hearing her story, he could only say,
"Thanks for telling me."[Neidr] Arrieta nodded and embraced neidr, holding her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him.
Neidr closed his eyes in thought, in truth, he had already known. He actually knew more than she did about this event. Raphael, for instance, was not from Flirord, or the kingdoms. He was from the Dusts. Neidr frowned, he had not wanted to personally beat the shit out of that antagonist until now. Sure, Neidr had already known what he did, but it never felt so real until now.
Raphael was the main antagonist of the original novel, he had an obsession with securing eternal life for the human race, although until he got to that point it didn't matter how many died in the process. He would travel around looking for people to experiment on. Arrieta's father was one of the experiments he started. That pill was meant to slowly refine the man's body into a golem and allow his soul to operate it. Whether it would work or rend the poor man's soul, Raphael didn't know.
Raphael desired to have an informant and agent inside Rotham, because he deemed that place the most dangerous to himself, thus Arrieta. That's not to say he didn't already have agents there. Neidr frowned. Then he thought of Arrieta's fate, unlike Azalea, Amber, and Elizabeth, she did not become a part of Liam's harem.
Abused, bullied, tormented, and alone. Raphael convinced her to poison the school. In the novel, Arrieta become bitter, silent, and angry. She wanted to kill everyone in the academy, and she tried, but was, in turn, slain by Liam.
Neidr sighed, if Raphael tried to convince his woman of some self-destructive bullshit, he would just have to rip the motherfucker's head off.
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