Diane went upstairs, and a few minutes later, the twins’ punishment was over.

“Are you really not going?”

Michael, who was reading a book, sighed and asked. Dayban answered curtly.

“Yeah.”

Michael just shrugged his shoulders.

Watching Michael, Dayban rolling on Michael’s bed still had a chubby face.

The scene he saw this dawn wouldn’t leave his head.

‘Dad!’

A girl, casually hugging their father.

‘You’re up early?’

The girl receiving their brother’s affectionate greeting as if it were a given.

There was a lot of talk about the newly appeared sibling while they were absent.

‘According to the rumors, she’s monopolizing Dad and brother’s attention.’

Dayban didn’t intend for the unplanned runaway to last this long.

Because of various rumors, Dayban wanted to come home as soon as possible to meet the girl who played the role of their father’s fake daughter.

Yet, it was inevitable due to his twin brother.

Seeing her first at the auction was purely coincidental.

‘It’s nothing.’

That was Dayban’s conclusion upon seeing the new sibling.

Indeed, the rumors weren’t worth paying attention to.

The child roaming alone without an escort did not seem to be receiving the family’s love.

‘She’s different from us.’

She had almost no inherent magical power. There wasn’t anything else particularly noteworthy about her either.

Realizing that, all the negative feelings towards her disappeared. To be more accurate, all interest waned.

‘Michael, Dayban…’

It was a bit surprising that she recognized them right away, but if she had heard from their father or brother, recognizing them wouldn’t have been too difficult.

Now that he knew the new girl was nothing special, he felt relieved. He thought there was no more need to pay her any mind and planned to leave.

Their attempt to move stealthily was interrupted by a loud noise.

‘Diane!’

Their father and brother appeared, followed by the Knights.

The girl seemed fine to his eyes. Nevertheless, they rushed to her, carefully checking for any injuries.

Everyone was flustered by the sudden nosebleed.

‘It doesn’t look serious.’

Just a nosebleed and all this fuss?

Dayban, who was hiding nearby, was quite shocked by the scene.

Why did Dad bring such a weak child? She’s not suitable for our family. Even if she was either strategically brilliant like our brother, or had strong magical power like us.

‘Is it because of the black hair?’

To deceive as his real daughter, there needed to be at least one similarity.

Then Michael spoke coldly.

“So, how long are you going to be in my room? Leave.”

“Come on, just a little longer.”

Without a movement, a teacup flew towards Dayban’s head.

Dayban dodged the flying teacup effortlessly. Michael watched the teacup he threw fall powerlessly onto the bed.

“Get out.”

“Didn’t you see earlier?”

“What.”

“Dad carrying her.”

“So what? Don’t care.”

Dayban didn’t respond. He just sat there, seemingly lost in deep thought.

Just to clarify, Michael wasn’t curious. He had no interest whatsoever in what his brother, who had invaded his space, was jealous of or worried about.

But if he didn’t ask, this stubborn guy would never leave.

So, with as much disinterest as a cow watching a passing chicken, Michael asked.

“So, what’s the problem now?”

Dayban, who was rolling his eyes along the ceiling pattern, lost in thought, suddenly grinned.

“A rolling stone needs to be removed, doesn’t it?”

‘Why do my ears itch so much?’
Scratching my ears, I checked again to make sure the door was tightly locked.

In the end, only the Duke, Clemens, and I had breakfast together.

‘Was it because of me?’

I tried my best not to show a sullen expression throughout the meal. Yet, it seemed like the Duke and Clemens noticed anyway.

‘Those kids are free spirits; it’s not your fault.’

‘Don’t worry, the twins will have their meal later.’

They reassured me continuously throughout the meal that it wasn’t my fault.

‘Clemens is so different from them.’

From the first time I saw them in the living room, neither gave a good reaction.

Dayban openly antagonized me, and Mikael seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever.

‘It’s a misunderstanding.’

Dayban thought I was the one who revealed that they were at the auction house.

‘Once the misunderstanding is cleared, you can quickly become friends.’

Clemens said Dayban’s favorite snack was squid and Mikael’s was dark chocolate.

I had packaged each snack in wrapping paper I had requested from Delma.

‘I’ll give it to them as a gift when I see them.’

With that thought, I put the gifts in my bag. That’s when I noticed the silver snake that had been resting inside.

‘I’m worried about this one, too.’

It acted very differently compared to its previous restless behavior.

‘It hasn’t woken up since that day.’

When I first discovered the silver snake, I felt relief and anger at the same time.

Where have you been, why were you caught by those evil people, and so on. I had a mound of questions and reproaches that reached my throat.

All those scoldings were for when the silver snake woke up.