A few days flew by after visiting the town. Aeliana was having her last class of the imperial language with Leon. The clock was ticking loud yet slowly, almost seeming as if it was never going to end.

“...that is all for today. Did you understand everything I’ve said?” Leon’s voice echoed through the quiet library.

Aeliana stared at her notes which had somewhat terrible handwriting and nodded, “Yes, everything was understandable.”

Leon hummed in reply and tapped his finger against the table lightly, “This is the last class so, I will test you one last time before you leave.”

“...Alright..”

‘God I hate tests.’ Aeliana held back the urge to groan and roll her eyes at the memories of school exams that she put her heart and soul into every single time.

Leon handed her the test and began to time her. As she wrote down her answers, her mind wandered off to how her brother was able to make tests out of nowhere and they were always never the same making it harder for her.

She only had an hour before Leon spoke, breaking the silence, “It’s already an hour, stop writing and hand it to me.”

Aeliana shrunk her head in and hesitantly handed him the paper. Leon looked through her answers, his eyes continuously going left and right as he did.

Then he placed the paper down and looked at her. In a toneless voice, he said,

“You got all of it correct but your handwriting needs to improve.”

Aeliana heaved a relieved sigh. She was glad she didn’t mess up big time or else she would have gotten a huge scolding from him.

Leon cleaned up and briefly glanced at her, “This is the last class, is there anything you want to say?”

She tilted her head to the side, she didn’t have anything to say to him but since he asked she thought she might as well give him an answer.

“Thank you for teaching me bro— Leon.”

Aeliana felt cold sweat running down her back when she nearly called him brother.

For some time, he didn’t reply to her. He only stared at her with furrowed brows. 

“…Is there something that I said?” she asked, puzzled.

Leon shook his head and walked past her, leaving her alone in the library.

She shot him a judgemental look and shrugged her shoulders. At least there were no more imperial language classes which meant she could now relax and do anything she wanted!

***

“Eli! I hired an etiquette tutor for you!” Cassian happily announced during their dinner.

Her brothers stopped eating and glanced at her. Aeliana nearly dropped her utensils upon hearing her father’s words. 

Just when she had a whole schedule planned out on how she could laze around!

Cassian pinched her chubby cheeks and laughed, “I thought you might be bored after your language class with Leon was done.”

She looked at her father and shot him a smile, “Y…yayyy.”

“Pft!”

Darius covered Marius’ mouth and sheepishly smiled.

Aeliana glared at Marius who was close to bursting out into laughter. Cassian didn’t seem to realise anything wrong and patted her on the head.

“The tutor will be coming tomorrow, Flora will wake you up so don’t worry about being late.”

“Okay, daddy.”

Dinner continued and ended as normal. Aeliana threw herself onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.

An etiquette tutor. She wondered what kinds of things she would learn at such a young age.

‘It better not be dancing.’

Aeliana shivered at the thought of dancing. She had danced along to some songs with her younger sister and she always looked like a flailing squid.

She was recalling the few dance steps that were still engrained in her head when her door opened.

Darius popped his head inside and made eye contact with her. He smiled and waved at her. She waved back before pushing herself up with her elbows.

“Brother? Is there something you need?” she asked as he walked inside her room.

He shook his head, “No there’s nothing. Can I sit here?” 

Darius pointed at the sofa as he asked her. She nodded, still confused as to why he was suddenly in her room. He muttered a ‘thank you’ and took a seat. He tapped his fingers against his lap before turning to her.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

Aeliana blinked at his words, “Nervous?”

Darius nodded and waited for her to speak. She blankly stared at him before answering half-heartedly,

“...Kinda.”

His pink eyes brighten up by her answer. Aeliana nearly questioned out loud on why was he happy that she was nervous.

“Then shall I sing you a song that will calm you?”

“Oh, so that’s why.” Aeliana’s thoughts slipped out of her mouth once everything clicked.

He bashfully looked down at his lap once he realised he was caught red-handed on his motive. Aeliana called out to him and shifted herself to the other side of the bed before patting the empty bedside.

He dumbfoundedly pointed at himself. She laughed and nodded. Awkwardly, he slipped under the covers and rested his head on the pillow. Aeliana found her brother quite cute and smiled.

“Does brother like singing?” she asked, curling up inside the covers.

Darius scratched the side of his cheek as he responded, “Not really..” 

Aeliana raised an eyebrow at him. Then why does he keep insisting on singing?

Darius must have noticed her stare as he cleared his throat and shyly added, “I only sing for some people.”

Aeliana grinned widely, “Who are they?” 

He shut his mouth and pulled the covers over his head. She laughed happily, tugging on the covers that were held up stubbornly.

“I was just playing around brother,” she said, giggles slipping past her lips.

Darius responded with muffled sounds making her laugh harder. She decided to stop teasing her brother and said,

“Can brother sing a song? I want to hear your voice.” 

“I don’t want to sing now.” he immediately replied.

She knew he was being pouty because of her. She playfully rolled her eyes before poking him on the cheek.

“But I want to hear brother sing.”

Darius didn’t respond for a while before looking at her. He opened his mouth and threw a question over to her,

“Am I your favourite brother?”

Aeliana was thrown off guard by his question causing her to squeak out, “What?”

Darius pouted and pointed at himself, “Am I your favourite brother?”

She swallowed down his words and pondered over them. Favourite brother? She had none since all of them treated her like a speck of dirt. She gave a quick glance at Darius.

Well if she had to pick, Darius was the only one she could choose as her favourite.

“You could be,” she answered slowly before adding on, “but brother only treats me like a guest not as a sister.”

Aeliana could tell Darius wanted to retort back but he had his mouth shut. She then began to wonder if what she said was a good choice or had she just messed up their relationship when suddenly, she felt a hand softly stroking her head. 

“Brother is in the wrong,” he started, “I promise to treat you better than ever. I promise I will always treat you as my little sister.”

She contemplated if she was dreaming as she listened to his sincere words. She gripped on his sleeve tightly and muttered,

“Promise?”

She lifted her pinkie finger up.

Darius giggled and hooked his pinkie around hers, “Promise.”