Flashback to Ten Years Ago
The child Lila's routine in the mountains was straightforward.
Pick out herbs for her Sister. Sell the unneeded fruits and veggies for the elders; then, if possible, beg for so sewing and stitches to fix her Sister's bedding.
Simple, monotone, yet a little tiring. Just a little.
Yet even her unchanging routine was sotis interrupted.
However, it was not by a wild and dangerous animal this ti.
Well, unfortunately, it is not in that sense.
"Hey hey!"
Because even the most ferocious predator wouldn't match l's stubbornness.
Lila frowned as she treached through the grassland, her back stinging as she stord away from a grinning pink-head.
"This is our fifth ti eting! Why did you avoid ?!"
"Oh, please, I told you I don't need help!"
Lila sent a disgusted glare behind her, annoyed.
The sun overhead always draped her forehead with sweat, as she shifted back to the child l in her orange, villager robe.
"I also told you, though, this is not helping."
Yet as if unbothered, l's hand held up for a large V-sign.
Her back held the sa straw basket as Lila's.
"I'm courting you as a wife! As well as ensuring my Sister-in-law's health."
"Being all weird like that again..."
The young Lila let out a cute, squeaky sigh. Help for her ca in precious form, yet l's persistence was almost borderline suspicious.
Expensive herbs were on her doorstep, and there were recipes for better dicines, not to ntion requesting her 'sister', Knight Saria's aid, to renew their house.
She should feel gratitude, but Lila couldn't help but be suspicious of l's true goal when help beca overwhelming.
"Aw."
l hugged herself, smiling. "Even a doubting Lila was so cute... heh heh..."
"Shush!"
Lila's cheeks blushed furiously as she yelped. "Sta-state your intention, creep! Who asked for your help in a ti like this?"
"Hm? But I shouted it at our every encounter, though..."
l scratched her chin, as her lips curled to a wry smile. "Sorry. Even I was new to this 'seducing' business, so I chose the cutest one that matched my age first!"
"Hic!"
Embarrassed tears threatened to escape Lila's eyes as she turned around and gripped onto the straw straps of her basket.
"Fi-fine..."
Lila mumbled, her doubts finally chipped away by l's sincerity. "Just don't get in my way?"
"Yay! Thanks, Lila!"
The pink-haired woman threw her arms in celebration as she glanced over her shoulder.
A subtle smile flashed at Lila's lips, yet she quickly retracted them for a stern face.
Over ti, the sun began to set and dye an orange-red, as the duo descended the mountains with filled herbs in their baskets.
Their fingers were, however, chapped with soil as they dug out the herbs with their bare hands, the hard earth unrciful to their thin fingers.
"Hm..."
l shuddered a little as Lila walked and pretended indifference to l's suffering.
Unbeknownst to Lila, they walked together, getting closer with so of l's poor teases and jokes.
"Painful...?" Lila glanced at l's fingers. "It's like that in a while. Don't mind it."
"Hehe... thanks." l's eyes swept over Lila's steady expression. "Makes you seem more impressive, having to scrape out all the plants yourself."
"Of-of course!"
Lila stamred, the childish pride in her urging to brag more. "I love my sister! She's my only family, so I should at least show this much... uh, dedication."
"Yes yes. My Lila was the most impressive sister I've seen yet!"
"Mhm mhm..." Lila nodded approvingly before her face flushed again. "He-hey! Who's your Lila?! Stop labelling as yours when I haven't agreed to anything!"
"Heh heh... my bad."
Then, l's fingers lifted Lila's, soils mingling as they brushed their bruised skins together.
"I heard..." l mumbled. "If we hold each other like this, we can also share in our pain and love."
With a little smirk, l tilted her head to admire Lila's blush. "Would you like to share then? Your pain and your love for your sister?"
Lila's lips paused; l's tender voice slipped into the crack of her vulnerability.
She hung her head, unsure.
"Ah. But of course, there's a price!"
Yet l's eyes bead as she teased. "You'll hug in turn afterward for hearing you out! How about it? It's rare to get a hug from a beauty like , you know?"
"Oh shut it..."
Lila rolled her eyes, yet her fingers stilled obediently within l's grasp.
"Don't..." She uttered. "Don't you let go then. I'll feel even more embarrassed if you do."
"Of course."
Lila only knew later, when she grew up, how kindness was a burden to her shoulders, as if to expose how lonely and petty she truly was.
Yet, as if to be considerate, l would always put perverted jokes afterwards to ease that guilt.
-------------------------
Current
mories drifted in her mind as Lila's cheek leaned onto l's shoulder.
Distant as they were back then, she couldn't have imagined how she would place l as irreplaceable as her Sister.
So, it was only responsible for her to hear l's true thoughts as well.
"How you destroy the World.... hm."
l's lips curled up, her hand patting Lila's back as she sighed.
"Lila. Perhaps you've mistaken, but the World wasn't necessarily... destroyed per se."
"But I must've done things unspeakable... didn't I?"
Lila folded herself more into l's chest. "I wasn't... I know, l. What tragedy you're trying to prevent..."
l's arm wrapped around Lila, her lover trembling slightly.
"I would offer no excuse," Lila muttered. "My Sister was... my World to . And I couldn't bear a second if she was hard in any way."
"I know."
l nodded, her shoulder shifting for her Lila's comfort. "That's why you don't need to-"
"No, I want to."
A determination flashed in Lila's gaze. "I want to know who that senior I just fought was, why Pride waged wars against us, and..."
Lila shut her lips, hesitating before she spoke.
"What my future would've looked like without you, l."
l blinked, her expression lting upon glancing down at Lila's sincere gaze.
Her hand hovered again, hesitating, almost contemplating glossing everything over with a pervy joke as always.
Yet Lila took hers in the air; she reminded l again.
"To share in love and pain..."
With a confident smile, Lila teased. "Co on... we aren't going to... well, fulfill our requests if you continue to stamr like that, you know?"
l raised her brows, her cheeks blushing at Lila's activeness.
She rembered.
"Hic! l?!"
For that, an imasurable happiness blood in l's chest as she hugged Lila and slid them over to the bed.
"Ah, Lila..."
l breathed out. "I love you. I love you. I love you so much that it hurts..."
"Sto-stop it..." Lila whimpered as she sank more into l's embrace. "I'm gonna implode in embarrassnt at this rate..."
"Heh heh... I'm sorry."
A few more heated chuckles slipped from l's lips as she raised herself over Lila's lips.
As Lila narrowed her eyes in a silent submission, l pecked a soft kiss at Lila's lips.
Pulling back, her hands hugged Lila again, her chest staying at Lila's collarbone.
"Then..."
l puffed hot air onto Lila's neck. "I'll tell you most of everything, at least the one I'm sure of."
Aside from her partner's identity, she'll confess all her doubts to Lila.
What she couldn't have done in the past, l'll do so now.
And more importantly... she needed soone other than her maid to confide in.
She pursed her lips, her tender eyes locking with Lila's as she muttered.
"Let's start with the future I know." She grinned. "And the Senior you t back in the forest."
Alongside her theory about Wrath's potential... regression.
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