When the young master caught eye of William, he turned more bitter and shouted, “What are you gawking at!? Leave this place immediately!”. William hated getting yelled at, but he hated even more to get his whole day ruined because of some prick. He didn’t have the time to wait for this insane person to leave the stables, just so he could start doing his job.

Having this in mind, he found his inner courage and said, “Please, my lord… I’m only here to do a serwant’s job… I won’t slander about thish incident… Or I’m sure to get punished!”.

Brice glared at the meek servant girl, “Why are you hiding your mouth behind that piece of cloth? Is it so mutilated that it’ll scorn the eyes? Is that why you can’t speak properly?”. William pursed his covered lips. At first he thought: Sorry if my speech is broken… I’m still working out the kinks!

But as he got more immersed in his own frustrations, he couldn’t help but take Brice’s words to heart. It was true that William couldn’t talk properly yet. It was because this body for some reason had some difficulty when it came to speaking. Something William thought would just get healed by itself…

A certain dejavu ran through William’s head, as he thought back to the day, Harvick made him take learning the skill of walking more seriously… Now it was this dimwit, who made him realise that he couldn’t just keep talking like a unrefined baby anymore… William slapped his inner self and finally admitted, he needed to take some vocal-lessons as well. Hopefully this would be a part of Remony’s forte. Or he would be stuck teaching himself… Argh!

When his fume wore off, William was ready to answer, but Brice didn’t seem interested anymore in the reason why. He wanted to laugh at something that was more miserable than him right now. So he demanded the girl to, “Take off that cloth and let me see just how deformed it is”.

William furrowed his eyebrows thinking: This kid is crazy... Yet there would be no harm in obeying this order. So without further ado he removed it. Seeing what was underneath made Brice disappointed. He had hoped to see something truly entertaining… Brice asked, “Since you’re not deformed, why are you wearing that stupid piece of cloth?”.

“Because those who had this job before me fell ill… So in an attempt to pwevent the same happening to me, I was asked to wear it”. Brice crossed his arms and said, “Boring… Keh! Come along Rex. I’m afraid we’ll have to break the bad news to my father… I hope you’re fond of yelling, cause he’ll try to rip off our ears with his annoying voice! Just like that old Windamere”.

They were about to leave but before they did, Brice came over to William and grabbed him by the collar. His fuming face casted a deep shadow onto William’s, as he threatened, “If you dare speak of this to anyone! And I mean anyone!.. I’ll make sure to deform those lips of yours… Afterwards you can with good reason permanently wear that stupid cloth over your mouth”.

Then Brice released his grip on William. Leaving the poor servant in the dirt. William quickly stood up and dusted his attire. He vented to himself, “What a pwick…”.

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“Indeed!”.

William was shocked by this sudden comment. Luckily it turned out to be Joss who stood behind him. “Wha-, you watched the whole thwing?”. Joss shrugged his shoulders, “No, but I did see how he threatened you… Are you perhaps making trouble again?”.

William gave Joss the evil eye as he snapped back, “What do yuu mean!? Why do you always think that I’m at fault?”. Joss felt a brush of shame rustle his heart, then he said, “Sorry… It’s just… I know how wild you can be sometimes… It’s like you tend to find trouble, so I thought that you somehow provoked the young lord? Why else would he be so mad?”.

A pitchfork found its way into William’s hands as he clarified, “I merely saw somethwing I shouldn’t have… I can’t tell you about it”. Then he put back on the cloth and began to search for a wheelbarrow. Joss wasn’t on a tight schedule like William, so he stayed for a while and watched his sister work. Seeing how serious William was doing his job, made Joss imaging a future where William had become completely docile. It was what many wished of his sister. However Joss didn’t share their opinion.

So to encourage his sister to not entirely let go of her playful side, Joss said, “Mirabelle, I want you to know... that although our parents abhorred your ‘wild’ nature... I kinda liked it… I like that you can be free and do horseplay with me… However, the downside to it is that a proper lady doesn’t act like that and for mother and father who tried to climb the social ladder. It was a cruel sight for them to behold… That’s why they kept scolding you for it… I know of this… Because father often talks about you or mother on our hunts”. William interrupted his brother “He does?.. I thought he despwised me…”.

Joss was thrown a bit off track, so he took a light pause to recollect his thoughts. While doing so he fiddled with a piece of straw, “... It’s true that he didn’t want you… At the time you were born they had no money to raise you… You would bring them no benefit and if you couldn’t be accepted by the castle, they would have to keep you until marriage. Only to gift you away along with a dowry that would suck their economy dry…”. This sentence was utter bullcrap in William’s ears. He didn’t find any justice in the way they sometimes neglected him. Neither in how their father sometimes used him as a punching-bag!

Joss sighed and gave him a weak smile, “I think our new little sister is lucky. Because she was born a twin to a male counterpart. You know… Our twin brother kinda acts like her shield… So yeah... Our family is also more wealthy now… I think we’ll all survive the seasons…”. William clenched the shaft he held in his hands tightly. He lifted a big pile of manure mixed with straws as he said, “I hope he’ll treat her better than he ever tweated me… Along with Jacqueline… Hash she been a good mother to yuu?”.

“I… I don’t know…”. Joss said. William found this odd and dug deeper, “What do you mean, yuu don’t know?”.

Joss threw away the straw and began circling around William like a restless dog, “I just have this strange feeling that she doesn’t like me… Lately it’s like she feeds me less than the others… Something I never thought I would notice… And she rarely helps me with anything… It’s rather odd”. Indeed, William thought. These weren’t good signs.

Maybe she treated Joss like this because she didn’t like him personally. Although it was more likely that it was Joss who mixed his feelings with reality… Nonetheless, William warned his brother, “You bwetter keep an eye on her!.. And be careful when you’re out huntwing with father…”. Joss took the hint and said, “Yeah, I’ll be careful… I gotta go now... See you soon!”.

The young boy ran off towards the drawbridge. Home to his ‘lovely’ family.