Chapter 9: It’s because you deserved it

What’s this about guests? Well, I don’t care.

I just want to get food.

I got out of my hiding spot, since it didn’t look like they were talking about me, and approached them.

My father was the first to notice me and raised his head.

“Arinya,” he called and I noticed Veyra flinched uncomfortably. I would know because I kept my eyes on her the whole time I approached to notice her response. “You didn’t go out to hunt today?”

“Good morning, father,” I slightly bowed my head and then raised it, smiling gently at him. “Did you sleep well?”

It was an unusual greeting coming from Arinya. A gentle and warm greeting.

“Ah, yes.” He answered, though a bit baffled.

I turned to my siblings and did the same.

“Ashren, Zevak and…” My eyes lingered on Veyra. “Veyra, I hope you enjoyed your rest.”

“Ah, y-yes.” Zevak looked a bit uncomfortable as he answered that but Ashren did not respond, sizing me up with his discontent eyes.

What are you looking at, you beast? You should answer when your sister greets you.

“Good morning, sister Arinya.” Veyra greeted, sounding all soft and annoyingly muchy.

Does she not get tired of that act?

She looked a bit awkward and then my father turned to Ashren.

“You should respond when your sister is greeting,” Rakan said, and Ashren, who was still disgruntled by the idea, clicked his tongue.

“I won’t fall for it.” He suddenly said. “Arinya doesn’t know how to give morning greetings.”

You punk!

“Don’t be like that, brother.” Veyra suddenly grabbed his arm softly. “Sister Arinya gave her sincerest greeting.”

“You’re too kind, Veyra. Even if she wasn’t behind what happened yesterday, it’s still true that she did other things to you.” He said and glared at me. “I won’t stand by and watch the person who hurt you roam around freely.”

“And what about me?” I suddenly asked. “Brother, if I admit that I hit Veyra a few times, will that make you feel better?” I asked and they turned to me, shocked.

Ashren was enraged.

“You… Shameless.”

Yes, I know. Been there, done that.

“You haven’t answered my question, brother,” I said. “Would it make you feel better if I admitted it?”

“Of course not.” He said.

“Good, can you tell me why?”

“It’s because you hurt Veyra. It made me angry. How can you hurt your sister like that?” He asked, looking like he could suddenly slap me for my loose tongue and I nodded, stepping closer to him.

“Then what about me?” I asked, my gaze boring into his. “Why did you not get angry when the females in the tribe called me names and picked on me?”

“What?”

“Why could you bring yourself to hurt me even though I’m your sister?” I asked, still boring my gaze into his and he faltered.

“That… It’s because you deserved it.” Those words escaped his lips and caused my heart to clench. Arinya’s heart.

“Why? Because I went out to hunt and did things that other females didn’t do, I deserved to be picked on?” I asked him, my words heavy and spiked with venom. “I’m your sister but you had no problem hitting me just because Veyra said I did this and that to her. And you say it’s because I deserved it? What if Veyra deserved what I did to her too? Did you think of that? No, because Veyra is your pretty little soft princess and I’m your outcast ugly sister who refused to stay put and wait for a man to bring me meat.”

I breathed out heavily. It was as if I got the words that were clogging my chest out.

“What are you saying? None of that makes sense.” Zevak suddenly said and I shot my gaze to him.

“Well, maybe that’s because you’re too much of a moron to understand it,” I said. “I’ve said my piece but I’m not sure you’re smart enough to understand it. You can figure it out yourself, but I’m sure you’ll still come to the conclusion that I deserve it and that I’m at fault because you don’t like me. Now,”

I turned to my father. “…you aren’t without fault, chief.” My voice was gentle, but the edges were spiked, making it known that I was not okay. “But I’ll start to forgive you if you treat me right. I am your daughter, I do not deserve to be humiliated and treated like a criminal on the behest of one word Veyra speaks,”

I whisked my gaze to Veyra, glared at her, which caused her to flinch, and then back to my father.

“You should listen to me too. Only then can you be a fair ruler. First, take charge of your family without being biased, before you try to take charge of the tribe fairly. How does that sound?”

Rude to the chief, but I don’t think I said anything wrong.

If he was going to be biased just because he favored his beautiful, soft, and kind daughter more than his ugly and rough one, then he was not fit to rule the tribe, and I hoped he’d see that.

Many might wonder where I get this courage from. Well, let’s just say I’m practicing acting in front of an intimidating audience.

And not only that, I was trying to see if a theory I came across is true.

The theory that says, ’You can get even your enemies to admire and like you if you stand by your point without wavering. And if you’re able to sway them from a belief they’ve held on all their life, you can even change whatever situation you find yourself in.’

Now, let’s see.

Will they magically begin to like me and see me in a new light, or will they stand firm on their stupidity and let Veyra use them like disposable cards?

“That’s too harsh, sister Arinya.” Veyra suddenly said, thinking she could make a point and make it seem detestable.

“And what exactly did I say is harsh?”

“Father is an excellent leader.” She claimed. “You’re only saying that because you’ve been punished for doing bad things.”

“Bad things?” I turned to her fully now.

“Y-yes,” she shrank back, intimidated. “You made mistakes and hurt me as well, so Father only punished you because of that. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

I nearly laughed, but I kept it at a low, dark smirk.

She was really living up to her cunning image.

She knew very well that she was behind all of it, but she still dared to say such things to my face. She’s so fearless, I’ll give her that.

But it’s probably because she’s in front of her brothers and father, who always protect her.

“And how many times have you been punished, Veyra?” I asked an unexpected question and she paused.

“What?”

“I asked you, how many times has your father ever punished you?”

She looked into my dead and scary eyes but immediately turned away, scared.

“What do you mean? I.. I’ve never done anything, so why would father punish me?”

“You’re right. You’ve never done anything that they know of so there’s no reason for them to punish you.” I straightened my back and gave a dead laugh. “That’s because you pinned all of it on me. So how would they know what you did?”

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