Maximus:
"She is so dull and foolish," I comnted as I entered the mansion with my brothers. It was raining heavily, so we had inford the maids to prepare soups and other als for us. We planned to spend so quality ti as a family.
"I wonder how everyone feels about our academy giving a chance to a wolf-less creature like her?" I continued, noticing Norman fixing his shirt, which made wonder if he had a plan.
"I have already taken care of it," he shrugged, stepping onto the terrace where a beautiful gazebo awaited us. The weather was pleasant now. It was still raining, but it only added to the beauty of the night.
Emt had been left behind, and I knew what he was doing before arriving here. The three of us sat down, watching the maids serve us delicious food just as Emt showed up.
"I didn’t let anyone know about each candidate from the shelters this year. They are completely in the dark about who is joining and who isn’t. So when she gets rejected, she will be out of our lives, and no one will know our admission criteria dropped so significantly," Norman quickly explained before Emt reached us. He had three bottles of wine in his hands, looking all smiles and cheerful.
"But this happy drinker over here had promised to pay for her admission fee. If he hadn’t been so generous, she would have been out by now," I complained, noticing how Emt didn’t even pay attention to my words as he sat down and focused on the bottles first.
"Hey, not tonight. Enjoy the feast with us first, and then we’ll all drink together," Norman reached for his hand and shook his head, his eyes eting our brother’s gaze, who nodded steadily before leaning back away from the alcohol.
"But—have you guys ever wondered what might be making her so desperate that she wants to beco part of the academy where she will only get bullied for having no wolf?" Kaye’s statent really surprised .
I guess we had promised we wouldn’t even want to focus on her life. Our only goal would be to send her back from where she had co.
And then I rembered how Kaye acted when he returned from sharing his dream. He had been very silent and didn’t comnt much whenever Helanie’s topic was brought up.
"Once she is in the academy?" Norman let out a laugh, his large fra looming over the table as he started on the entrée.
"She will never get to be a part of the academy. Not just because we don’t want her to be, but because she cannot pass these tests. You saw how terribly she perford in the first test, right? I thought she wouldn’t even make it by midnight. And I will tell you what she is thinking. She believes that if she gets into the academy, she will tell everyone she is the stepdaughter of the rogue king and the stepsister of the academy trainers and will be treated differently. But she is mistaken. I will never let her take advantage of our hard work." Norman filled his mouth with cheese tarts, looking very pleased with the taste of the food.
"But she did reach the finish line. And that’s what matters the most. She doesn’t have a wolf, yet she is so determined. I really don’t understand why you brothers are so against the idea of your own stepsister doing well in her life?" I knew Emt would say sothing completely ridiculous.
I just didn’t understand why we had to sit with this drunkard and talk about important issues when he never acted like a family mber or thought like one. If we hated soone, shouldn’t he hate them too?
"Yeah, like we would pay attention to what you say," I grunted under my breath, earning a head shake from Norman.
"I an—," Kaye cleared his throat, his fingers dripping in sauce as he picked up a dumpling, "what if it’s sothing else? She—um—might be dealing with so issues." The brother who never thought twice before speaking his mind was now stuttering.
I raised my eyes and glanced at Norman, who was looking back at . We understood each other very well. We were communicating with our eyes, already grasping what was going on. Whoever spends ti with her starts to feel sothing for her—either sympathy or maybe sothing else. Is she a witch or sothing?
I wanted to argue with Kaye and tell him that everyone is going through sothing in life. The ogas mainly, so why should we give Helanie so much privilege?
"Alright. Let’s talk about our own bigger issues. She shouldn’t be a topic of our important discussions," Norman straightened his back, no longer hunched over the food, and gestured to Emt to pour us all a glass.
"Umm! I will not drink much tonight," Kaye scratched his neck, his eyes squinting slightly as he avoided making eye contact with us. This was not good. I was worried about my brother.
"Why not? Are you going sowhere?" I inquired, and he steadily shook his head.
"I’ll just sleep. I don’t feel like staying awake," he replied. He had been so different ever since he returned. I heard these were signs of stress and worry of returning from the dream prison. That damn girl had really ssed up my brother’s head. But why the heck was she not showing any signs of trauma from the dream prison? It was her dream prison, and she spent ti there; how co she was fine?
"Sure, whatever feels right," Norman said, not even looking at Kaye as he patted his back. After we had one drink, Emt and Kaye left to do their own things. This had never happened before.
When we sat down like this, we talked and cherished these monts for hours, sotis even until dawn. We knew we had fairly busy lives, so whenever we got a chance, we really made the most of it.
"Sothing is up with him," Norman sniffled, staring at the wine glass in his hand. I could tell my brother did not expect Emt and Kaye to leave our eting like that.
"Do you think—maybe—" I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, "Helanie is doing sothing to them?" I didn’t want to say it outright, but I had a very bad gut feeling that she was responsible for how distant our brothers were becoming.
"Hope not," there was a clear warning in Norman’s eyes as he finished his drink.
"We should head back to our rooms too." The disappointnt and sadness in Norman’s gaze really upset . He had done so much for us, so my brothers leaving this family etup really hurt him. He walked over to , bent down, and gave a kiss on the head before parting ways. He had never been just our brother; he always took care of us as if he were our father.
"I am going to confront that cunning girl tonight," and that’s when I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I got up to go grab Helanie out of her shelter and make her answer my questions.
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