By their eighth year, the twin girls bore an unmistakable resemblance to Cassian. Elise possessed her father's sharp, observant crimson eyes and quick intellect, while Elysia possessed his quiet, stubborn resolve and gentle warmth.
Tristan, meanwhile, grew into a quiet, serious boy who looked up to Lucien with silent reverence, completely unaware of the dark circumstances behind his birth. There was an obvious distance between him and his father, but Lucien never made the boy feel hated; he simply kept a measured distance from him.
Even when he tried to approach the young boy at times, Tristan would shrink away and even faint. Therefore Lucien resolved himself to just maintain the distance until Tristan was bold enough to face his stoic father.
On the other hand, Ruby was exceptionally strict with Tristan, trying to mold him into a perfect son who could eventually win Lucien's acknowledgment. However, her harshness only drove Tristan further away. Compared to his sisters, Tristan grew emotionally detached from his parents because of how much he feared them.
He was a soft, quiet boy forced into a rigid mold.
And strangely enough, his half-sisters were the only ones closest to him, secretly watching over him whenever Ruby was not around.
On the afternoon of their tenth birthday, Lucien found the girls sitting on a stone bench in the private courtyard, practicing basic etiquette lessons.
"Father!"
Elysia called out, dropping her books and running toward him without hesitation.
Lucien knelt on the stone path, catching her easily in one arm while Elise walked over more composedly, though a bright smile lit up her face.
"You are supposed to be practicing your formal posture," Lucien chided gently, though the rare, soft smile on his face betrayed his strict tone.
"Aunt Ruby's lessons are boring," Elise said, sitting down beside him.
"She keeps telling us that we have to prepare for the Court Ball, but we want to hear about the Crimson Vanguard instead."
"And about our other Father," Elysia added softly, leaning her head against Lucien's shoulder.
"Tell us the story about the library in the other world again. Uncle Sora doesn't know as much as you do about father and we will brag to big brother Aurelian about him too."
Lucien's expression softened completely. He reached out, gently patting both of their heads.
"Your father is a man who looked at a realm of ancient magic and saw only numbers and equations, he was truly caltulative and smart and no one could ever fool his eyes."
Lucien murmured, his blue eyes looking up toward the clear blue sky.
"He was brave enough to stand against strong warriors, yet soft enough to cry when he thought I was hurt. He lives in a world without mana, filled with glowing glass rectangles called phones and carriage-less metal beasts called cars."
"Whoa!, And he's really coming back to us?"
Elysia asked, looking into Lucien's eyes.
"Aunt Ruby whispered to the maids that he vanished forever..."
"She lies,"
"She lies all the damn time!"
["Good gods, calm down will you?"]
Lucien sighed calming himself down, his voice ringing with absolute certainty.
"Your father gave me his word. In five more years, when the great star aligns... the sky will open, and he will step back into this world and we will all be together again."
Elise looked up at the tall knight, noticing the quiet longing etched into his face.
"You miss him very much, don't you father?"
Lucien closed his eyes briefly, feeling the steady beat of his heart—a heart that had stayed loyal through battles, politics, and a decade of loneliness.
"At every single second my child," Lucien whispered.
"Every single second."
Tristan quietly listened as well from behind the tree. He had been playing nearby just a moments ago, but the moment their father showed up, he instinctively hid himself from him.
His father was a scary man in his eyes, always had cold icy eyes piercing his small frame everytime he looked at him.
But everytime that very same father spoke of their other father his face would always soften up and that made the little boy wonder. Was it his mother that made his father a scary man?, because she is strict and always yelling?
His question could never be answered.
And after days later.
When Tristan's childish curiosity got the better of him, he approached his mother in her quarters. And Ruby was focused on the painting on her wall, the painting of the patriarch Duke Arden who looked grand even in the painting.
But for Tristan, it was the scariest painting of all, as if it would speak and glare at him like his father usually did. Its eyes seemed to follow even his movements.
"Do you see that Tristan?, that is your father. The horrible man that I love with my whole heart."
"I stay in wait every single day, waiting for him to finally notice me."
Ruby traced her fingers on the painting.
"It has been ten years now but still no change. Even the elf gets more of his attention than I do, how humiliating. A woman of honor like myself, his Duchess treated like a Mistress and mistresses treated like wives. How utterly absurd!"
"Mother,"
Tristan spoke softly and just then Ruby jerked her head sharply to look at him.
"Tristan my son, did you manage to hone your sword today?, and what about mana have you manifested it yet?"
"You need to work hard so that your father can be proud of you. If he acknowledges you as his heir then I be able to stand on his side."
"Mother...who is the other father that Elise and Elysia always speak about?"
Ruby stopped on her tracks instantly.
She turned and glared down at him with pure scorn.
"Do not ever speak that name in front of me again," Ruby hissed, grabbing his arm tightly.
"That man is nothing to you. You are the sole heir of House Arden, and you will not waste your mind on a phantom!"
"And stop listening to everything those girls says they are trying to take everything away from you. Tristan they are your rivals in succession so keep your distance from them and hone your skills. No blood of that man will take over everything of mine! Keep that in mind!"
After all that yelling, she punished him by locking him in his study room for the rest of the evening, ordering him to memorize family lineages until midnight.
Sitting alone in the dim, quiet room with his books, Tristan wiped a tear from his cheek and looked out the window at the stars. He thought about the gentle way his father's face changed whenever he spoke of *the other father*.
'If the other father finally comes back to us....will he be the one to properly love me like his child?'
*****