Since the children of the West Duke had reached their teen years, the Arden Estate had completely changed. Their old nursery had become a proper wing of the estate.
And the small courtyard where the twins once played had been turned into a private garden, filled with white roses, silver lilies, and a large stone fountain that Elysia insisted was too quiet. The girls had grown into beautiful young women. Elise had inherited Cassian's sharp crimson eyes and calculating mind, she was composed, observant, and rarely allowed anyone to see when something bothered her.
But Elysia was different. Although she had the same crimson eyes, her personality remained softer and kind. She laughed easily, she spoke her mind, and had a habit of throwing her arms around people whenever she became excited. Together, the twins were inseparable.
And then there was Tristan, their younger brother. Just at seventeen, he had grown taller and leaner. His silver hair had grown past his ears, and his blue eyes remained strikingly similar to Lucien's. His features were completely and utterly Lucien's replica, as if he had conceived him on his own.
But Tristan was quiet. Too quiet, according to Elias. He rarely complained, rarely asked for anything. And whenever Lucien entered a room, Tristan instinctively straightened his back and became rigid, just as his mother always instructed. The boy had spent eight years trying to understand his father. But he still hadn't succeeded.
The morning for the annual Imperial Academy assessment began like any other. The three children stood in the Castle's courtyard preparing to leave for the Academy while Elias inspected their uniforms. Elise adjusted her gloves, while Elysia was struggling with her collar. Tristan stood perfectly still, his eyes focused forward.
"Loosen up young master and take a look around you," Elias said, looking at the boy.
"Don't you see just how free and spirited your peers are on this beautiful day?... you are so stiff and rigid, even more than a traditional knight."
Tristan only stared at him, hardly making an expression.
Elias sighed, rubbing his neck.
"That was supposed to be a joke you master."
"Oh."
Elias rubbed his forehead for a moment and then shook his head.
"You really are Lord Lucien's son."
Elysia burst out laughing as she wrapped herself around Tristan's arm.
Tristan still looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you take everything seriously, brother!"
"I don't."
"Yes you do."
"I don't."
"You absolutely do."
Elise smiled, also approaching Tristan's side. She wrapped her hands around his other arm as well, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Enough Elysia, brother is charming just the way he is. Or do you want him to be like our cousin Prince Caelen?"
"Euw no! That guy is totally overboard!"
The girls both chuckled, and just then Elise reached over to fix Tristan's collar. "There."
Tristan lowered his eyes.
"Thank you."
On the other side, Elysia leaned even closer.
"You are nervous, aren't you?"
"No."
"You are."
"No."
"You absolutely are, and I am certain that you will faint when you see Father come out of the house."
Tristan's face immediately stiffened, knowing very well that was true.
"I will not!"
Elise covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
"Elysia, I think he is already nervous."
"I am not nervous about Father," Tristan said quickly. "Stop teasing me, we are too old for this!"
Elysia grinned holding back her laughter.
"Then if you are not nervous, why did your face turn red?"
"It did not."
"Yes it did."
"Elysia."
"Yes?"
"Please stop."
She laughed again. And before Tristan could say anything else, the sound of approaching footsteps silenced the courtyard immediately.
All three turned as Lucien stepped out. Even after fifteen years, his presence could still make an entire room fall silent. He was no longer the young knight he had once been. Now his hair had grown even longer, but his blue eyes remained sharp. Just as always.
He looked at the three children.
"Are you all ready?"
Elise bowed. "Yes, Father."
Elysia followed. "Yes!"
Tristan hesitated for a moment, then he bowed deeply. "Yes, Your Grace."
Lucien's eyes lingered on him.
"Tristan."
The boy immediately straightened.
"Yes?"
"You don't need to call me Your Grace when we are at home," Lucien said softly.
"Father will be fine."
Tristan blinked.
"Oh."
Lucien stared at him for a moment and then he nodded.
"Anyway, good luck at the assessment."
"Thank you, Father."
Lucien moved past him and Tristan watched him leave.
Elysia leaned toward him with a smirk.
"You survived."
Tristan frowned.
"Stop making fun of me."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
Elise softly laughed.
"Indeed, it is fun teasing my younger brother."
That afternoon, the Imperial Academy assessment ended. Elise had ranked first. Tristan ranked sixth. And Elysia twentieth, but the girl was truly not bothered. As long as she passed the assessment, that was enough for her.
But for r Tristan, the results should have been enough to make him proud. Instead, Tristan sat alone beneath the courtyard tree. He stared at the parchment in his hands, remembering his mother's reaction when he showed her his results.
Immediately after he did that the parchment had been shoved back into his face, along with curses of how much of a failure he was. During that time Ruby's face had contorted into disappointment.
'Sixth.'
'Not good enough, especially not for an Arden. Not for Father.'
At least, that was what he believed. But just then as he was wallowing into his own failures a massive shadow fell across him.
Tristan immediately stood up. Because Lucien was standing right there.
"You performed well."
Tristan looked down, shame overwhelming him. For a moment, he expected Lucien to react the exact same way his mother did earlier. Even if it was just a cold, degrading gaze from him. That much would have been expected.
"Sixth isn't very good," Tristan mumbled. "I'm sorry for being such an unworthy and failing son."
"According to whom?"
"Everyone... especially Mother."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, letting out a heavy sigh as he walked even closer to stand right across from him.
"Boy, if you what is good for you then you better not listen to what that witch says. Compared to you, she is the unworthy one here and she should rather focus on her adventure guild instead of pestering you with her absurd expectations. You placed sixth among nearly three hundred students. If that isn't an achievement, then what is it?"
Tristan said nothing, but instead listened attentively. After all, it wasn't every day that he got to talk to his father like this and receive compliments or advices directly from him. To be honest, he was really more nervous just by standing this close to him.
"Tristan, you are seventeen."
"I know."
"Then behave like a seventeen-year-old," Lucien said calmly. "You don't need to prove yourself to me. Even I was not as smart as you are when I was young, so why try to impress me? I'm already impressed by your genius, so just live your life as you feel like it. Forget about me, and definitely forget about that witch in that high tower. In fact, when is she leaving anyway? Isn't she tired of the cold treatment after all these years?"
Tristan finally looked up, a soft chuckle escaping his mouth. For the first time, that was the only time he had actually laughed at a joke from his father.
Tristan gathered the remainder of his courage to look Lucien straight in the eyes.
"Then, Father... what do I need to do from now on?"
Lucien was silent. The question had caught him off guard.
Tristan swallowed hard.
"What do I need to do for you to be always this proud of me?"
For the first time in years, Lucien had no immediate answer, and Tristan's eyes lowered again.
"I know you don't really like me, but still, I am your son—"
"Hey, who told you that I don't like you?"
"No one, but I can just see it," Tristan whispered.
"Ever since I was young, you always looked at Elise and Elysia differently compared to when you look at me. You even kept a distance between us. So Father, what exactly was I supposed to think?"
Lucien froze.
Tristan continued quietly, his fingers tightening around the parchment.
"You smile at them and you tell them stories. You touch their heads, but you never do those things with me. It's as if you feel awkward being around your own son."
Silence fell between them.
"Is it because of Mother?"
Lucien had no excuse, completely caught off guard.
Tristan looked away.
["Holy Knight, answer the child,"]
Jerga's voice echoed inside Lucien's mind.
["You neglected him after all because of your foolish little guilt."]
"I don't hate you, Father." The words were barely audible.
"B-but I just wish you would look at me sometimes. Like I am truly your son and that I belong in the Arden family."
Something inside Lucien cracked, just enough for him to finally understand what the years of distance had done to a child who had never asked to be born.
Lucien stepped closer, and Tristan instinctively stiffened. But instead of walking past him, Lucien placed a firm hand on his shoulder and the boy froze. It was the first time Lucien had touched him willingly.
"Tristan, you are my son."
Tristan's eyes widened.
"I know I should have told you that more often, but you kept fainting every time that I approached you," Lucien sighed. "But even that was my own fault. There, I apologize for making you suffer for this long."
Tristan stared at him, unable to speak.
Lucien looked down at him.
"Are you angry with me?"
"No. But I really do want to know... why did you not love me?"
Lucien closed his eyes for a moment.
"I suppose I was afraid."
Tristan frowned.
"Of me?"
"No." Lucien shook his head. "Of myself."
He looked up toward the sky.
"I made mistakes before you were born. Mistakes I still carry with me. But none of those mistakes were your fault, and you should never have been made to carry them. But in the end, I still portrayed my guilt with your mother through you. And again, I'm sorry. After all, you never asked to be born. And now I realize that you are actually a blessing to me. The gods know how much I have always prayed for a son who would take after me. And just look at your sisters—not even a single part of me in them except for their hair! You are the only one, my genius son."
"But that doesn't mean that I love another over the other, you are all my children and I love you all equally. I was foolish to hide that from you."
Tristan's eyes beamed, childishly shy as his cheeks burned bright red.
"Then... can I call you Father?"
Lucien looked at him.
"Silly, didn't you always call me Father?"
"I want to mean it this time," Tristan said softly, wiping his eyes.
"And say it with my whole chest, even in public."
A tear slipped down Tristan's cheek, and he quickly wiped it away. Lucien pretended not to notice. Then, after a moment, he gently patted his head.
Tristan froze again. The touch was awkward, almost unfamiliar, but he smiled just a little.
"Indeed," Lucien murmured gently. "No matter how serious and rigid you always act, you are still a child to the very end."
*****
That evening, the three siblings gathered around the dining table. Elysia immediately noticed something. She stared at Tristan, who had puffy eyes from crying, then at Lucien, and then back at Tristan.
"Tristan, what happened to you?" Elysia asked, leaning across the table. "Did Aunt Ruby scold you for the assessment results?"
Tristan's face turned red.
"No."
"You're lying! I know that she did! How can she do that? You came sixth! If she wanted to scold someone, then she should have scolded me—I became twentieth, you know?"
"Even twentieth is still impressive," Lucien noted, dishing up portions of meat onto their plates.
"Now tone it down and eat your meals."
Elise smiled softly.
"Yes, Father."
Just when they had started to dig in, the massive double doors swung open as Ruby walked inside, carrying a cold air around her. She walked over to settle at the far end of the table, directly facing Lucien.
"You already started without me?"
Silence hovered for a moment, and the children buried their heads in their plates.
"We couldn't wait, the children were starving," Lucien replied calmly and Ruby looked at Lucien for a moment, but the man solely focused on cutting his meat with precision before delivering a portion into his mouth. His face still young just as he was fifteen years ago.
'How charming,'
Ruby thought bitterly. She smiled and then trailed her eyes toward Tristan, who was absentmindedly hunched over the table as he ate his meal because of how at ease he felt around his father now.
"Tristan, sit up straight. Is that a way for you to sit during dinner?"
Tristan startled, immediately sitting up straight.
Lucien looked right at Ruby and then scowled.
"Leave the child. What does it matter when he is only dining with his family?"
"It could become a bad habit," Ruby countered sternly.
"Therefore, it is better to fix a bad habit while it is still early."
"You need to fix your own life," Lucien said without missing a beat. "Leave the child alone."
Tension immediately engulfed the table. Elise slowly put down her cutlery neatly before attempting to excuse herself. "We will retreat to bed earlier today. Today's assessment took quite a toll on us."
"Before that, princess," Lucien spoke up before she could even leave her chair.
"I have something to say, so sit back down for a moment."
Elise slowly sat back down, and then all three children turned to look at Lucien as he refilled his glass of wine.
"As you all know, this is the fifteenth year already, and it is the year for Cassian to return."
Suddenly, the children beamed in anticipation.
"Since he could not return with me back then, there is a high possibility that it could happen again," Lucien explained. "And I'm afraid that even if we all try to visit him, our time will be limited there on Earth and we won't be able to consistently visit him. The difference in time here is also another issue."
"So I had a talk with Sora, your uncle."
Ruby flinched, glaring viciously across the table at Lucien.
"If Cassian doesn't come back by the end of this year, I will open the rift for all of us to go to him instead," Lucien continued. "But I'm afraid that will be the only time until we figure out a way to make a gate between the two worlds. I have already begun my research for six years now, but it might take even more years."
"Seeing him once will be enough," Elise chimed in softly.
"Yes! And besides, I really want to see his exciting world as well," Elysia clapped excitedly.
Lucien sighed, shaking his head gently.
"I would rather we remain hopeful that he crosses over instead. And there is another thing."
Lucien glanced at Ruby once, taking a slow sip of his wine.
"I have prepared an estate for Lady Thompson to move to, and she will live there from now on. Since you have all grown up so well, I doubt that there is anything else she can do in this castle for you all. And besides, if Cassian truly doesn't return by next year as planned, Sora and I have decided to get married."
Everyone gasped—including the nearby servants.
But that was not the last of it. Something in Ruby violently snapped and she snatched her wine decanter from the table and lunged straight at Lucien's face, but Lucien dodged it with ease.
"How dare you, Lucien Arden!?" Ruby screamed.
Lucien sighed and turned to his children. "You guys can go back now. We will talk again tomorrow when Sora and Aurelian visit."
The kids immediately disappeared from the dining table. But as for Lucien, he had to deal with the rampaging Ruby as she threw everything around, crashing into furniture and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Being composed was no longer an option for her. She had long been composed and patient for years, but this was her breaking point now.
"You should have listened to me when I told you to leave this marriage eighteen years ago," Lucien said quietly above the noise, his eyes cold as he watched her rage. "If you had, we wouldn't have reached this point right now."
*****