Woes Of A Villainess

16. Sacrifice

Come to think of it, he had attendants for these sorts of things, it wasn't his job. He was just supposed to issue orders and double-check things were running smoothly. She let her mind run back to the last time she had seen the family accountant even enter the manor and couldn't remember.

Perhaps... things weren't as fine as she had initially thought.

Now that she was actually here and not watching from afar, it looked more like he was using work as an excuse to distract himself than actually working towards anything in particular as she had thought initially. Her barely seeing him around in the other timeline, suddenly felt much more morbid too. Arabella's eyebrows furrowed, "...I agree with you, by the way."

Layton looked up, brows knitted in confusion, "...You do?"

"Yeah..." Arabella took note of his reaction and folded her hands in her lap as she stared back at him. "It makes the most logical sense for you to drop out of the academy."

Despite his carefully crafted stoicism, Layton's conflict was evident in the way his hand fidgeted at nothing. He hummed in acknowledgement, "Thank you for seeing that."

"But just because it is the logical choice, doesn't make it the right one," Arabella couldn't even believe the words coming out of her own mouth. But her bad habit of speaking before she could think began to rear its ugly head. She frowned at her brother, almost scoldingly. "You'll regret it. Even if it is what should be done, I know you'll regret it. All of those years of hard work gone to waste." And then a troublesome thought came to the forefront of her mind. Arabella frowned even harder and clenched her fists. "...Don't make sacrifices for me."

Layton's eyes widened in shock, "I'm not sacrificing anything."

"Yes, you are," she had felt something like this in the other timeline, but she had buried the feeling deep down. The feeling that she was being babied by him. "If you saw me as competent you'd be able to leave things to me. But your need to babysit me makes you sacrifice things. I don't want to be responsible for your sacrifices."

"I'm not...!" Layton paused after he had let out an outburst and quickly calmed himself and sighed. "I'm not sacrificing anything because of you, Arabella. This is all because... it is my duty."

What a bold-faced liar. Arabella glared at him, "If it was because of duty, you would have sent the letter by now. " This seemed to finally catch him. She crossed her arms. "We both know it's still there in your drawer. Let me guess, you thought something like 'my family needs me' and used that to justify making yourself miserable."

Layton finally seemed to look the slightest bit guilty and she knew she had hit the nail on the head. Her brother clenched and unclenched his jaw in the silence that had settled between them as he seemed to search for what to say next. At last, he cautiously spoke and avoided eye contact, "...I'm not miserable."

"Could have fooled me..." Arabella uncrossed her arms and felt a heavy guilt weigh her down even though there was something cathartic about finally saying it. She lowered her eyes to her lap as she spoke. "...I know that I've been burdensome in the past. But I've made an effort to change that now. And if you can't see that..."

She paused when she noticed her brother take off his glasses and place them on the table. He clasped his hands together and sent her a firm stare. In that instance, Arabella was suddenly reminded of her father and was taken aback by how much Layton looked like him. Suspecting a scolding, she quickly bit her tongue.

"...Have I ever called you a burden?" Layton's tone was sharp, and even if Arabella felt herself grow nervous, inside she could sense he didn't mean any harm. She struggled to answer, not able to recount any time in which he had done so. At her silence, Layton sighed and rubbed at his temple. "Maybe... your assessment of my reasons was right. But is it wrong for me to sacrifice things for you?" His green eyes fixed on her in a sincere manner. "We're blood. It's my responsibility."