Erica

×45×

The past few days had been rough on Walter. His emotional state was out of control, and he was barely able to keep himself sane. His mind was troubled, and his thoughts were rageful, regretful and guilt driven. He was frustrated and angry at his family and himself.

He felt so stupid, like the biggest fool in the kingdom. It had been so obvious; everything had been right in front of him, and he had failed to see it. He had doubted himself and thus overlooked the biggest giveaways and answers to his questions.

When Walter thought back to the night he last met with the King, a chilling feeling clutched onto his very soul. Aleric had revealed a very important truth regarding his little sister Erica. He did not say it, but Walter could tell from the shocked look in his eyes.

King Aleric personally knew Erica.

This unspoken response meant everything. Walter was desperate for anything that would link him to his sister, anything that would help him discover the life that she had lived. He wanted to be closer to her even if she was no more. It was an important step that he needed to take in order to move on with his grief and to lessen the weight of the burden that he carried on his shoulders.

It was unfortunate that they were interrupted before he could know everything from his dear friend's perspective, but he knew enough for the time being to point him in the right direction and begin the process of putting all the pieces together. He would finally find out the truth.

Aleric had unfortunately been slightly reluctant to reveal much to his friend at first. It was if he had been worried that what he knew would have consequences, that it would hurt someone- that it would hurt Erica.

King Aleric was greeted with a wave of shock and rage the moment Walter had revealed that Erica was his sister. He did not doubt him for a second as it all suddenly made sense that she was an Alvore but that was not what enraged him.

The girl that Aleric had a strong liking of was resented and then disregarded by her whole family. She was forgotten about by her own brother, her own flesh and blood. If he forgot about her that means that there was a high chance that her own family did as well.

She had been so scared and nervous every time that she had met Aleric and what made it worse was when he had last saw her, her beautiful delicate hands were injured. Aleric's chest tightened and his fists clenched.

He felt the need to punch Walter right between the eyes, there was a reason why Erica was so afraid of her brother...

Was Walter the one who had done that to her?

No. He knew the man sitting next to him. Walter was not that kind of person.

Walter had forgotten about her so there was no way that it could have been him. Furthermore, the young Commander was clearly showing great remorse. His emotions clearly revealed all the regret he shouldered. The man before him had just shown vulnerability, something he never did.

Aleric sympathised with him. He could see that Walter was repenting.

The young King had questions too. Now that he had found out that his closest friend was the older brother to the only girl that had ever occupied his thoughts, he wanted to know everything about her. The good and the bad.

He wanted to see her again.

He allowed Walter to have the chance to question him first but unfortunately, they were interrupted by a servant on an urgent matter that desperately needed to be attended to. All that Aleric had managed to let out before then was that he had he had met with Erica quite a few times and that the last time he had seen her was on the day that his father passed on.