While Aria’s eyes shimmered with mischievous playfulness, the other girl was expressionless and her eyes peaceful.
Once Aria approached, Nephrite sent her a half-glance, curious but not interested. She did not even try to hide her apathy or the fact that Aria's presence was, to her, insignificant.
“What are you reading, sister," Aria spoke with a sweet tone while moving behind the other girl.
No answer.
Still smiling, Aria took a glimpse of the book the girl was holding, identifying it as something she had also browsed through - A Take on the Political Landscape of the Empire and its Power Dynamics, by Siegfried Leonheart.
‘What a boring book.’
Yawning, Aria twirled on her feet and moved to the other side of the table, sitting down in front of Nephrite. The girl didn’t even give her a second glance.
She was the first daughter of Aria's second stepmother, Theresa. However, because the Tealeaf Family rarely showed up in the game, Aria barely knew anything about the other girl.
‘But knowing from where she comes, guess it’s not strange she is this stiff.’
While she was thinking, Aria leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm. She then spent a few minutes just staring at the black-haired young lady.
“Why don’t you drop that boring book and come play with big sister, huh~”
Still no reaction.
"I can probably teach you far more than that boring book can. About the empire, and about girls too~" Her tone became a bit perverted at the end.
She was just joking around, though. Yet, Nephrite did not even frown at the lascivious undertone of her statement.
“You are no fun.”
Complaining, Aria pushed her feet against the ground, dragging the chair back with a grating, scraping sound.
This time, she clearly saw one of her sister’s browns quiver in annoyance for a moment.
Aria’s smile became even wider as she looked below the table for a moment, before promptly looking up at Nephrite once more.
"He-he, pink really combines with you, you know?" Aria held her chin as if considering something.
“What do y—” Nephrite’s words were cut short as she noticed what Aria was talking about.
The table creaked as the girl clamped her legs shut, hitting her knee against the leg of the table in the process. Her pale white skin also became flushed red as she stared daggers at Aria.
Seeing the girl finally paying attention to her, Aria dragged her chair closer to the table once more.
"What do you want?" Nephrite scowled slightly, but her childish facial features made it look cute rather than intimidating.
"I just want to talk and relax, I am extremely bored right now!"
Aria’s words were immediately met with a placid stare as the younger girl’s face became expressionless once more.
“Wa! What a nice stare you have there! I am so afraid~”
Swiping out with her arm, Aria grabbed the book out of Nephrite's hands, earning a cry of surprise from her sister.
“You should really stop reading this boring stuff.” Aria silently read a passage of the text before rolling her eyes. “This thing teaches you nothing but fallacies.”
“What do you even know?”
“Are you going to accept the words of an unknown professor at face value, just because they are written in a book, then?”
“He is not unknown, Professor Leonheart is a—” Looking at Aria in the eyes, she choked on her words.
Nephrite could see amusement dancing on the blond’s lips, but her eyes twinkled with a strange, evaluating light - as if her words would completely change the dynamic between them.
She didn't really know why, but the odd behavior of her sister made her hesitate and even flinch in her seat.
“So?” Aria urged her.
Clicking her tongue, Nephrite looked away. It was only after a few minutes that she looked back at Aria and, having calmed down, spoke.
“They are not fallacies, nonetheless, I know that the knowledge spread through books is contaminated with the writer’s view of the subject.”
"Oh?" Aria seemed genuinely surprised by her words. "Good girl~" Her praise was playful, but sounded honest.
Nephrite did not really know what to do about that, though. She knew, however, that this was not the Aria she was acquainted with anymore - that girl that would look down and stare at the floor when she passed by people.
“He-he~” Seeing her being stunned by words, Aria found it quite cute.
Leaning forward slightly, she patted the other girl's head a few times, ruffling her hair and messing her black, and smooth locks.
Light shimmered in the room through the enormous window of the place, bathing Nephrite in its splendor. Somehow, Aria thought, it served to make her lemon-colored eyes even more charming.
“Stop with that.”
“Hm? No way~ I feel really good pampering people.”
Aria found the struggle and hesitation in her eyes way too entertaining to just stop.
It was only after a few minutes, namely when the girl's ears were flushed so red that smoke was coming out of them, that Aria stopped and leaned back on her chair.
Maybe, getting entangled with the previous Aria’s soul had softened her quite a bit.
Louise had not been, exactly, a fan of children. That was why she preferred going out with older women instead of her schoolmates.
"Well, since Nephy is behaving so well, let this big sister teach you a few things about the world."
With a smile dancing on her pink lips, Aria yawned slightly before starting her lesson.
— - -
[Jobs: Noble Daughter (1); Swordswoman (9); Student (9); Smooth Talker (9); Debater (2); Tutor (1).]
Seeing the changes in her character sheet, Aria felt a bit satisfied with the results. She had not gained a level in Smooth Talker, but also acquired two other jobs that further pumped her Charisma.
She wasn’t really interested in raising them, though.
For one, she didn’t feel the need for debates. Her brilliant mind could reach the right conclusions on its own; as for the tutoring part, it felt like a waste of time.
As she trudged through the hallways, a nasal and annoying voice suddenly caught her attention.
“To think you are still following that girl around, how funny.”
“….”
“The rope you grabbed is a rotten one, don’t you think it is time to change owners?”
“What does a cross-breed like you know?”
The last voice was familiar and made Aria lift an eyebrow. She knew they were talking about her, she just didn't expect Marian to be involved.
Sneaking alongside the wall, she approached the intersection between the two corridors and listened with perked ears what they were saying.
“You!”
“What about me? As far as I known, a bitch that doesn’t even know how to respect its owner has no right to say anything.”
Aria could almost hear the other person gritting her teeth with so much force that they cracked. Inward, though, she was smiling with extreme delight.
However,
Slap—
A loud clap erased the smile from her face, making her eyes grow cold and sharp instead.
“You are just a dirty rat that sneaked its way in this house, don’t you dare lecture me!”
The shrill-like voice continued to hurl abuses at Marian. Aria could hear the woman panting heavily in anger while everything was going on.
Sneering, she straightened her back and walked out of her cover - properly entering the line of sight of the two women.
No one said anything as Aria stepped closer.
Marian had a surprise and worried look in her eyes, the sort one wore when they were afraid someone dear to them got hurt.
'She is so adorable!' Aria had to remark.
Despite having spent a lot of time together during the past two years, Marian was still so worried about her.
She should have known by now that Aria was no more the same person that would get hurt and depressed because of the words of an irrelevant servant.
Meanwhile, the other maid stared defiantly at Aria, clearly unafraid of her. She probably belonged to one of the two madams or other favored children of the house.
Poor thing.
"Ah!" A sharp scream of surprise escaped the maid's mouth as, in one swift and decisive movement, Aria grabbed her throat.
The past two years of sword training had built Aria's body to be slender and powerful, making her taller than the usual noble ladies of her age.
Thanks to that, she was barely a head smaller than the woman, and her grip was strong and firm.
“A rotten rope, you say?” Aria’s cold face gave in to a devilish smile. “Do you want to see how a rotten rope can be used to strangle someone?”
Her words were met with muffled groans as the woman flailed in her grasp, using her nails to claw at Aria’s hand while trying to break free. But it was of no use.
Taking a better glance at the surroundings, and noticing Marian’s surprised stare, Aria’s eyes became brighter.
The Tealeaf mansion had four floors, and they were currently on the last one - and right now, they were standing right by the side of the stairs in a ‘T’ intersection.
“You think a lowborn like you has the right to disparage nobility? Who gave you the guts to look down on the great me?”
Aria continued to question incessantly, almost enjoying the pleas in the woman’s brown eyes. She wasn’t done, though, and dragging her near the stairs, Aria glanced at her once more.
“I wonder how many bones you would fracture if you accidentally fell down the stairs?"
Seeing Aria rub her chin and speak with an amused and curious tone, the woman shivered and her movements became more frantic - her groans becoming louder as she tried to beg for forgiveness.
“Hmph.”
Narrowing her eyes, Aria threw the woman to the ground while scowling. Even back on Earth, she hated people that were all bark and no bite.
While she was thinking that, the servant started to drag herself up from the ground
“My l—”
Her words were immediately interrupted, though. Sending her a cold glance, Aria stepped on her head and pushed it against the ground, muffling her words and cries.
“I will show you compassion this time, but this will be the last one. Moreover, open your ears and listen-”
Aria stretched her arm and grabbed Marian’s hand, pulling her closer and intertwining their fingers.
"This girl is mine, and whoever dares to mess with what is mine…" Aria did not finish her words, leaving it to her to interpret the silence.
She could see tears streaking down the older woman’s face, however, the blond didn’t care in the least. Instead, letting go of her feet, she looked flirtatiously at Marian.
“Now, I wonder what sort of reward my lovely maid deserves~”
I actually like aria character.... It is good to see a twisted personality in literature every once in a while.....
Yeah. I mean, twisted character that aren't necessarily evil are so cool! '3'
@Allchemic they tend to feel more real than either super nice or exaggeratedly evil characters.
The job level of Debater being higher than Tutor, subtly implying that she spent more time arguing with Nephrite than actually teaching her, is a nice detail. I'd have liked to see a little more of the start of Aria's lesson, but I understand why you changed the scene where you did.
I'm getting a slightly better understanding of Aria's personality, yes. She's probably a little worse than I thought, but most of her actions so far have had some reasonable justification from her perspective; she's not bullying people for personal enjoyment, and she has limits. I think that is at least enough to make her not seem like a completely psychotic monster.
Villainous noble girl still seems like as good a description as any. I wonder if the original game also has a noble villainess character that Aria will end up running into?
Oh, i think Aria would bully people for personal enjoyment but she'd always have a justified reason to start with and the enjoyment would be a side-consequence.
@Sabruness I may have phrased that poorly. I agree with you, she definitely enjoys it, otherwise I doubt she'd do it.
I think I meant, as you said, that gleeful, sadistic enjoyment is a secondary motivation in Aria's bullying (behind cold, calculating self-interest). And I don't think she'd do it without any justification, purely for the joy of making other people miserable; I think she'd just find other outlets for her sadism, like teasing Marian.
Being motivated primarily by self-interest isn't actually a very positive trait, on reflection. I think it's how she directs it and where she draws the line that makes her "kind of a terrible person" and not "a complete monster" -- it shows that although her morals may be lacking, she still has shown something resembling principles in her interactions so far.
Hopefully that makes my original position clearer. Thanks for helping me refine my speculation.
@Crowthorne no problem, no problem. honestly, sometimes i think a morally bent yet principled person can be better than a morally proper person who lacks specific principles to follow (think of the sort of blindly naive black-and-white "JUSTICE" heroes(lol) who are easily swindled by schemers because they lack specific principles despite being very moral and who do it because they want to be seen and worshipped as a hero).
If this was a different sort of novel, i'd be expecting... actually, scratch that. even in villainess/otome game stories i've still seen that sort of blindly naive and self-destructive sort of idiot character type before. Quite often, they turn out to be the heroine with the flowers for brains. Fortunately, judging by the synopsis/description, the heroine is not that type but it seems the spot might be taken by the mentioned savior (who just from the small mention sounds obsessed with the heroine priestess)
Other noble ladies would either slap her or threaten to fire her or something, but she went for the throat, threaten to kill her and flattened her face on the ground.
Personally, I have yet to see any flaws in her character. I would've reacted roughly the same way she did to the people around her.
I mean, c'mon, Aria has been pushed around, ostracized and bullied all her life, even the servants treat her as if she were below them and the father dares to say something along the lines of "Since this household has taken care of you up until now, it's time you pay us back by advertising yourself so I can sell you to some rich punk." and expect her to be grateful for that. The blatant disrespect she showed him was well deserved and well executed, even the threats made perfect sense.
A random maid tries to coerce her personal servant, attacks her and then shows nothing but defiance and disrespect to a lady of the family she serves? She was merely shown the possible consequences her actions will bring her, since in this situation, Aria actually has every right to punish her for her actions and the maid can't complain.
First of all, thanks for the feedback, it helps a lot~
To be honest, I wouldn’t have reacted the same way. I mean, particularly so in the events of this chapter, since as a person I think violence is never the right answer – something Aria finds extremely useful on the other hand, particularly against ordinary people as it makes the fear more… tangible (?) - probably not the right word.
That said, I don’t know if I should feel proud for such a feedback, or find it a pity that I didn’t manage to show Aria’s flaws ‘3’. Well, once again, thanks for the comment, it is always great to receive such comprehensive and constructive feedback!!
this is just a shits and giggles suggestion so no need to take it real seriously but could you imagine the chaos if Aria ended up seducing all of her half-sisters on the sly and then when it came time to pimp them out for influence, they all rebelled and sent the family into chaos because they wanted to be with her instead?
Thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the comment! '3'
i think you did a good job conveying aria's character and her flaws :D
Thanks for the comment.
It's good to know that I didn't fail miserably and terribly at it ().
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the comment, it is really appreciated~
Is her primary weapon going to be a sword? If so, add a tag Sword Wielder.
Thanks for the recommendation~
For now she is using a sword, but honestly? I am not that sure that Aria will continue to wield a sword as her jobs evolve.
@Allchemic How sad. Oh well.