New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World-Chapter 183: WAS EVEN GIVEN THE BETTER ONE

[I know who that is.]

Just as she had that thought, she was hit by a cannon ball.

"Aris, you’re here!" Leilani hugged Aristia, her voice brimming with joy.

Aristia gritted out. "I...almost...can’t breathe."

Leilani immediately broke the hug. "Oops, sorry." She smiled sheepishly. This always happened whenever Aristia came to visit and Leilani found out.

"It’s... alright." Aristia shook her head.

[So energetic.]

"You came to see Dahlia?" Leilani asked.

"Mm." Aristia nodded as she and Owen walked down the corridor to the entrance with Leilani beside her. Leilani held her hand and started to swing it as they walked.

Aristia glanced at their entwined hands but didn’t pull away.

"You must have heard, that big building beside ours is for us to live in. Someone was generous enough to build such a large place for us. It’s so pretty." She said excitedly.

Aristia kept silent, only nodding her head. She didn’t feel awkward at all to hear herself praised like that.

They quickly reached the entrance and crossed the door to outside.

"Are you leaving now? I just wish you would stay a little longer." Leilani’s voice lowered a bit. Her slightly lowered head and drooping eyes seemed a little sad to Aristia.

"No. We’re not leaving now." She didn’t know why she said that, but she did.

Seeing Leilani sulking with pouted lips reminded her of a puppy who had been refused a treat by its master. Pitiful and tugging at the heartstrings.

But it wasn’t yet evening anyway so Aristia decided there was no harm in staying.

Hearing Aristia’s words, Leilani perked up. "Really?! That’s great, then. We can still spend some time together before you have to leave." Leilani smiled widely.

She liked Aristia a lot and wanted to be friends with her. Sometimes, it was just like that. There were some people you would meet and develop a sudden liking for them for no apparent reason. There were also some people you would meet and form a dislike for them for no apparent reason.

Aristia looked up at a tree in the yard, seeing a grey bird with the top of its head and the tail having a bluish-silver colour, and beneath the wings contained a streak of silver colour.

Its intelligent purple eyes followed her as she walked and she smiled a little before averting her eyes.

[Millie changed into a bird and followed me all the way from the mansion here. She was perched on top of the carriage the whole time.]

None of the children had noticed it. Millie had chosen a conspicuous spot.

There were children around them, playing and talking, but none of them paid them any attention.

"I have another doll I can share with you. I remember that Mama gave it to me when I was little." Leilani was saying. "I don’t remember my mama much. I was still a little girl."

She looked a little down as she talked about it. Aristia could understand the reason why, as living here meant they could no longer stay with their families. She didn’t know what happened to Leilani’s family, though.

She looked at the downhearted Leilani and thought to cheer her up.

"But you’re still little."

"Huh?" Leilani’s brows knitted in confusion. Then when she realized what Aristia meant, she broke into a grin, forgetting her sadness. "I meant when I was very little, littler than I am now. I am a big girl now."

"Littler’s not a word."

Aristia laughed aloud because she was unable to control herself. Leilani’s puffed up cheeks and offended expression as she tried to defend herself was funny.

She paused a little.

[Wait... Is that how I look when I’m angry, or when I’m trying to look angry?]

Aristia was speechless. She really was as cute as Leilani. It wouldn’t be impossible if she really looked that way.

Leilani herself was stunned. The little girl had never seen her self declared friend laugh so loudly. The most she had seen from her was a smile.

She blushed and pulled out her doll to hide her embarrassment. "Here it is. This is my doll. I have two. I will give you one of it to play with." She held out the doll.

Anyone who knew Leilani would know that she never shared her dolls with anyone. It was her treasured gifts from her mother even though she couldn’t remember her.

She wouldn’t even listen to Leif when he said anything about the doll or give it to him. So, now that she willingly gave the doll to Aristia to play with even if for a little while, it was very clear the extent she liked Aristia.

However, Aristia was not aware of this.

Aristia looked down at the girl smiling at her so cheerfully. Her gaze slowly trailed down to the hand that held a doll out to her.

The doll was old, with a lot of sewn patches and an eye had even been replaced by a button.

Yet the girl in front of her seemed to cherish it deeply. And even then, she still wanted to share it with her.

Her eyes noticed the other doll in Leilani’s hand. It looked to be in worse condition than the one offered to her.

She looked back at the doll in Leilani’s hand meant for her, tutting in her heart. She even gave her the better one among the two.

She felt a bit strange. No one had ever offered her their doll to play with ever since she was a child. Yet, this little girl, with eyes sparkling brightly and genuinely and a wide and happy smile on her face, was eagerly offering to play with her.

She didn’t know what to feel or how she was supposed to feel at the moment.

She hadn’t noticed that she had been staring for a long time, and even Owen had been looking at her, wondering what she would do.

The seconds ticked by.

Leilani’s hand was still outstretched. She soon, however, noticed the condition of her doll and Aristia’s gaze on it.

’My doll’s too dirty. She doesn’t want to play with her. She probably has better dolls.’ The children all knew that Aristia came from a rich family.

Sadness crept up in the little girl’s heart, but just when she was about to withdraw her hand, Aristia’s hand reached out and held the doll gently, looking up at her.

"Thank you, Leilani. Then, let’s play." She said with a small smile.

The sadness in the young girl’s heart disappeared as if it were never there in the first place, and happiness bloomed in its place. Her eyes lit up and her adorable face stretched into a smile.

Aristia couldn’t reaching out.

Leilani’s wide doe eyes were filled with confusion, wondering why Aristia’s hand was stretching towards her face.

The next second, her face was pinched and squeezed.

Her eyes widened even more, watching Aristia knead her cheeks like dough.

[So soft. Is this how people feel when they pinch my cheeks?] She thought back to her family. [If it is, then I don’t blame them. I could do this all day.]

"Ahem!"

A cough brought her back to reality.

Aristia looked sideways in confusion to see Owen shaking his head at her.

She looked back in front of her at her hands still squeezing Leilani’s cheeks.

"Oh!" She quickly withdrew her hand. "Sorry."

Unknown to her, the tip of her ears had turned red.

"N-no," Leilani shook her head.

"Ahem!" Aristia cleared her throat. "Didn’t you say we should play?" She asked, trying to draw her attention away from what happened earlier.

On hearing that, Leilani smiled widely again, dragging Aristia over to a corner to play with the dolls.

’She pinched my cheeks. That means she likes me!’

Leilani was overjoyed.

The little girl who didn’t like people, her friends included, squeezing her cheeks except if it was her brother on rare occasions was actually not against someone she had only met a handful of times doing so.

If Leif heard about it, he would probably give a thousand reasons why her preferential attitude was wrong.

But he would remain blissfully unaware.

"This is a princess, that is a princess. They are both sisters and live in a palace." Leilani said pointing at each other’s doll. "Look the palace is very big, just like the King’s palace." Leilani spread her arms wide to demonstrate.

Aristia nodded. "Okay."

"I came to visit you with a cake, yum." Leilani pretended to eat cake.

"Yum yum," Aristia followed along with her. "Thank you, princess sister. This cake is very delicious."

"Oh no! The cake spilled on my dress and some of it touched yours." Leilani gasped.

The cake in question was a mud cake she had made by mixing in some clay sand and water. It was still a little wet and when it touched the dolls, their bodies became stained with some mud.

Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only