Heiress' Househusband is a Secret Billionaire-Chapter 320: The Boy In Her Distant Memories

The outside was peaceful, and so did the inside of the cottage. But his heart pounded a little faster while waiting for her story. He willed himself not to shiver out of dread.

The clock continued ticking, signaling the continuous passage of time. The pair remained on the couch, showing no signs of going to bed despite being exhausted from their previous adventures.

"Eddy, I told you that I befriended him for a short time, right? Can you guess why?"

Lariette began the story by asking Ruediger. She kept her gaze on him, watching how his brows furrowed slightly under his messy crimson bangs.

Ruediger didn’t answer Lariette immediately. Curling her hair around his finger, he let her words, albeit simple, echo again in his mind. He pondered for a moment.

"I can only think of one reason."

Ruediger finally parted his lips, his voice low. Lariette thought she heard a faint hint of caution in his tone. Still, she stayed silent as he resumed, curious of his guess.

"Did he just move there? I mean... you lived there since the beginning and knew all the other children in the village. If he had just moved there, it made sense since you said you were friends with him for a short time."

Lariette softened her smile. Nodding once, she said, "You’re right. I think I was five or six, maybe six when he and his parents moved to Amberwood. We rarely got new residents."

Ruediger simply hummed, signaling that he wouldn’t interrupt her until she was done talking. Lariette chuckled, her eyes curving into crescent moons. Lifting one hand, she gently patted his face.

"So, as I’ve said before, I do not remember the details. They’re quite vague. Oh, he’s a few years older than me. Our friendship was quite... unique, I think."

Lariette paused after the short sentence. Ruediger didn’t push her, thinking she might need time to remember what happened far in the early years of her childhood.

Indeed, he was right.

Sometimes, Lariette did think of the boy who suddenly vanished one day. Their friendship was quite peculiar, but she did have some fond memories despite the fragments being vague.

Except for that particular afternoon. She remembered that day better than all the other times she had spent with him.

The day she last saw him, the day she lost him as a friend.

"One day, their family suddenly appeared," Lariette spoke after her brief silence, "They moved into the abandoned house in the forest behind my house. You know, the one I said I went looking for firewood before?"

Nodding once, Ruediger didn’t say anything. He unconsciously tightened his arms around Lariette, causing her to smile before she continued.

"His parents always kept to themselves. Grandma and our neighbors tried to welcome them, but his parents told them off. I think some aunts and uncles complained about them."

Lariette didn’t recall the details, but the adults clearly disliked the man and his wife. They were unnecessarily hostile to the villagers.

"Hmm... The neighbors warned us to stay away from the family. The dad was a drunkard and the mom... I think she was the same. Maybe they were drug addicts too."

Exhaling a sigh, Lariette shook her head in helplessness. Despite not remembering them much and two decades had passed, thinking about the couple made her upset.

Her memories might be vague, but nothing could hide how displeased she was with them.

"About that boy... Well, we rarely saw him because he was always stuck inside the house. He didn’t attend school. I think I started seeing him outside after a few weeks of their moving."

"When I went to the forest, sometimes I saw that boy on a tree. I never talked to him. I was afraid of his parents. They always fought. We could hear them even though they lived quite far from us. Both were so explosive."

"You wanna know when I first talked to him, right? It’s after he saved me from a snake. Well, actually... it wasn’t poisonous but I was a kid, okay? I thought all snakes were dangerous."

As Lariette smiled sheepishly at the memory, Ruediger leaned in and pressed his lips on her cheek. She chuckled, never expecting him to sneak a kiss when she was still telling the story.

"Hehe, that’s when I started talking to him," Lariette said, "You know, he..."

Ruediger’s attention remained on Lariette as she continued the tale. She mentioned how from that day on, she often went to see the boy in secret.

The little Lariette always brought some cookies or candies because the boy was so skinny. He didn’t say anything to her, but she believed his parents didn’t feed him properly, unlike how well her grandmother stuffed her with food.

Sometimes, they could meet. In others, they couldn’t because the boy was locked inside the house. Or to be specific, he was locked inside the dark storage room.

"We didn’t play much. He preferred sitting on the tree. He helped me when I climbed it. He was always quiet so, I was the one who ended up talking a lot. I guess he might have thought I was a chatterbox."

Smiling faintly, Ruediger chimed, "You’re still a chatterbox now."

Lariette narrowed her eyes, glaring at Ruediger. Huffing, she grabbed one of his hands and pretended to bite his fingers. The man simply chuckled watching her antics.

Still holding Ruediger’s hand, Lariette played with his fingers, kneading them randomly. Her face darkened as she resumed, her brows laced with worries. He noticed the shift in her mood.

"Not long after we became friends, I found out he wasn’t just skinny from lack of food. His parents hit him. I didn’t notice it at first."

Lariette paused, seemingly disturbed by the recollection. Ache constricted her heart for no child should ever be subjected to abuse, either physically or mentally.

"They did nothing to his face and head, so he could hide his injuries," Lariette frowned, "I didn’t know what to do. I told him to report it to our village police, but he refused."

Lariette couldn’t remember how exactly she felt back then, but she believed her feelings were a mix of sadness and helplessness.

The boy threatened to end their friendship if she ever told anyone else about the abuse. Afraid of losing him as a friend, and him losing her, his only friend there, she quickly promised. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Until one day, when she was forced to break the promise.

"Eddy..." Lariette whispered, her eyes searching Ruediger’s face, "I told you how he vanished one day, right? And... how his mother died because of his father?"

Ruediger pursed his lips, thinking the story finally come to this point. Exhaling a sigh, he tried to smile but failed.

"...yes, you did," Ruediger replied, a lump caught in his throat, "If... if it’s too heavy for you, you don’t have to tell me."

Lariette lightly shook her head. Still holding Ruediger’s hand, she said, "No. I will tell you. It’s quite disturbing... but I still want to tell you."

This was something she pretended not to remember. Not even her late grandmother was aware of it. The kindhearted old lady assumed she had forgotten.

For how traumatized it was for a small child.