It was an earthquake strong enough to shake the entire duke’s mansion.

People in the dining room scrambled to catch falling furniture.

“Young lady, be careful!”

Turning at the shout, I saw a vase falling from the cabinet towards me.

I should have dodged, but it was too late.

As I squeezed my eyes shut, Kashar embraced me.

Crash!

The sound of shattering pottery came from behind his back.

“Kashar, are you alright?!”

“I’m fine. We need to get outside.”

Kashar pulled me towards the entrance.

“Louis, come here!”

I reached out my hand towards Louis.

The child grabbed my hand with anxious eyes.

“Eileen, where’s Evan?”

Evan hadn’t been seen all morning.

It would be better if he was outside, but what if he was inside?

As ominous thoughts consumed my mind,

“He’s not here, so please evacuate first!”

Mihail was casting protective magic above our heads.

“Are you sure?!”

“I’m certain. Now hurry!”

We eventually evacuated outside with the servants.

The tremors continued intermittently, with occasional strong shakes.

Though not enough to collapse the castle, everyone couldn’t hide their shock.

Meanwhile, Mihail was staring at the household magic tower.

“It’s magical tremors. They’re coming from the tower.”

“Is there some problem? And what you said earlier about Evan not being here…”

Mihail’s expression looked serious.

After a moment of silence, he revealed the truth.

“I think Evan is inside there.”

“What?!”

Was the earthquake related to Evan?

Whether true or not, the child was in danger.

The moment I realized this, Kashar moved.

“I’ll go. Mihail, protect these two.”

“Understood.”

Before I could stop him, he was already far away.

“Kashar!”

With my cry, the earthquake intensified again.

At that moment, Louis let go of my hand.

“I’m going too!”

“Louis?!”

Louis suddenly slipped out of the barrier.

I instinctively moved to follow the child.

I heard Mihail’s voice behind me, but I couldn’t just stand by.

It was the moment I set foot in the back garden where the magic tower stood.

‘The earthquake stopped.’

Everything was quiet, as if the shaking of the entire castle had been a dream.

Hurriedly entering the tower, a cold chill struck me.

‘Why is it so cold?’

As I wrapped my arms around myself, I saw Kashar and Louis.

Both were looking up into the air.

Evan was floating there.

‘…Evan?’

Sharp ice shards surrounded the seemingly unconscious Evan.

Kashar leapt into the air. Blocking the ice shards with his body, he embraced Evan and landed on the ground.

As I rushed over, Kashar stopped me.

“Don’t touch. He’s not stable yet.”

As Kashar said, his bare skin that touched Evan was freezing and thawing repeatedly.

Adjusting his hold on the child, Kashar released a red energy.

It was the dragon magic he possessed.

The red magic melted Evan’s frozen body, and further made all the floating ice shards disappear.

“What in the world…”

I couldn’t continue speaking at the strange sight.

“He’s awakened. Much too early.”

Awakening.

My eyes shook busily at his words.

The twins’ awakening was supposed to be about half a year away.

The awakening scene in the original work involved bursting magic, not ice.

Fierce magic erupting from the children and tearing Eileen’s body to shreds was how it began.

It was already 7 years early in the original, but now it was half a year earlier still.

Everything had changed.

Moreover,

‘Why did only Evan awaken?’

Was there a problem with the ice magic he’d recently learned?

I could only look at Evan with confused eyes.

Kashar’s magic was stabilizing Evan. It seemed to be working, as the child’s complexion became much more peaceful.

“He must have instinctively come to the tower. If he wasn’t here, he would have frozen an entire annex solid.”

This was the reason Evan had disappeared.

“His magic has stabilized. But it would be best to stay in the tower for a few days to monitor his condition.”

“Ah… alright.”

A sigh of relief escaped involuntarily.

Soon servants brought a bed and furniture into the tower’s rest area.

Looking at Evan lying in bed, my feelings became complicated.

Like me, Louis couldn’t leave his side either.

“Eileen, will our brother be able to wake up soon?”

He usually called him by name, but at times like this, it was always “brother.”

I hugged the sniffling Louis tightly and whispered.

“Of course. He’ll wake up in no time.”

The magic outburst after the first awakening had calmed, so now we just had to wait for him to regain consciousness.

In the meantime, I was able to hear an explanation about Evan’s magic from Mihail.

“Think of magic as an ocean, but the exit from it is only the size of a coin.”

The sudden awakening was like a massive tidal wave.

The surging magic overflowed, but he lacked the ability to handle it, so he lost consciousness.

“We’ll have to be careful with future lessons. Once they instinctively know they have power, they tend to make dangerous attempts.”

He needed to learn how to handle the vast magic, starting with small spells.

Otherwise, today’s incident would repeat.

“I’m counting on you.”

Uncontrolled magic was always dangerous.

‘In the original, they wielded magic like a sword.’

Even after awakening vast magic, the twins didn’t know how to properly cast spells.

After Elsius was taken to the temple, the twins returned to the imperial palace to gain the power to get her back.

The twins were able to receive magic education, albeit belatedly.

But magic that started off wrong was very violent and always difficult to control.

‘It’s fortunate we can teach magic.’

Though it was an unexpected awakening, I took comfort in the fact that Evan wasn’t hurt.

As I was stroking Evan’s head for a while, his eyelids twitched.

“Evan?”

Evan slowly opened his eyes.

“…Eileen?”

“Are you conscious?”

The child’s heavily hoarse voice was pitiful.

I quickly brought a cup to his lips, and Evan drank the water like a baby bird.

“Sorry.”

The first words the child uttered were an apology.

I was about to say it wasn’t his fault at all.

But before I could open my mouth, Evan’s words made my heart sink.

“I think I ruined the birthday of the person you like. I tried to do something, but it didn’t work out.”

“…What are you saying, really.”

My heart ached, feeling I hadn’t paid enough attention to the child while preparing for Kashar’s birthday.

How mature must one be to say such things?

Seeing the child who had matured as quickly as his early awakening, I felt terribly upset.

As I was biting my lower lip hard, Kashar, who had briefly left, came back inside.

“The little one even worries about such things?”

“…I was worried about Eileen, not you.”

Evan’s eyes looking up at Kashar were prickly. At some point, Evan had started using formal speech with Kashar.

Finding Evan’s attitude amusing, Kashar smiled and pressed down on the child’s head.

“I’ve already received an incredible gift beyond your imagination. And I’ll keep receiving more.”

His gaze stealing glances at me was sensual.

My face instantly turned red.

‘He says anything in front of the kids!’

When I glared at him with triangular eyes, he removed his hand from Evan’s head.

“Stay by his side until he gets better.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Though it was no one’s fault, I felt sorry towards Kashar.

He smiled as if it was nothing to worry about and put his lips to my ear.

“I’ll get it all back. As someone said, I’m very greedy.”

It was what I had said, sobbing and hitting his chest, on the night I spent with Kashar.

“…You!”

While I was blushing bright red, Kashar got up first.

“I’ll have to excuse myself first. The little brother seems to be preparing to cry.”

Where he pointed, Louis was there.

Louis, who had been silent for a while after Evan woke up, burst into tears as soon as he was mentioned.

“Huuu, brother-!”

Louis hugged Evan tightly.

“I won’t call you by name anymore. I’ll always call you brother. So don’t be sick, okay?”

“…You, keep that promise.”

Evan hugged Louis back.

He’d probably deny ever saying such a thing after sleeping one night.

But his concern for Evan was sincere.

‘Ah, right.’

Suddenly I remembered Kashar asking earlier what the soup was called.

I called out to Kashar who was about to leave.

“The food you asked about earlier. It’s seaweed soup. Make sure to eat it since it’s eaten on birthdays!”

I heard the dining room was damaged, but the kitchen was intact.

There should be plenty of food I made left there, so there shouldn’t be a problem eating.

“…Alright.”

After Kashar left, I stayed by the children’s side until nightfall.

Louis and Evan were in deep sleep.

Alone with my eyes open, I thought of Kashar.

‘I wonder if he ate the birthday meal?’

If so, I hoped he enjoyed it.

Eventually fatigue overtook me and I closed my eyes.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, I fell asleep quickly.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the middle of a supermarket.

It was a scene so familiar now it was almost embarrassing to say so.

I looked around for Hayang.

“Hayang?”

Hayang was always here, but the aisle she appeared in varied each time.

After a moment, Hayang bounced up and down in the bakery aisle.

Aww.

I crouched down and called Hayang.

“There you are, come here…”

[You’re a bit late today.]

Just now, did it speak?

‘Am I hearing things?’

It sounded like a young girl’s voice.

After such a hectic day, I might be hallucinating even in my dreams.

‘At times like this, I should dig in my ear.’

As I raised my pinky to clean my ear, Hayang looked disgusted.

[That’s so gross!]

I hadn’t misheard.

Unable to even think of removing my finger, I asked.

“How are you talking?”

[I’ve always been able to talk. You just couldn’t understand me.]

Hayang puffed up her fur, treating me like an ignorant being.

Poof.

Shrinking back down, Hayang said something incomprehensible.

[Is it fun?]

Fun?

A talking Hayang was surprising, certainly.

[Not that, I asked if living here is fun.]

“Ah, if that’s the question.”

I could nod immediately, saying of course it was.

“Of course it’s fun… wait.”

It was a meaningful question.

“You, do you know something?”

[If it’s fun, that’s good!]

With those words, Hayang hopped away.

“Wait!”

I hurriedly chased after her, but the distance kept growing.

As if to make matters worse, she even took the escalator up to the second floor.

“Hayang! Come back down!”

The second floor was the clothing section, but I had never gone up there before. It was because of the invisible barrier blocking me.

The barrier of unknown origin only affected me, not Hayang.

[If you’re happy, that’s okay!]

I heard a giggling laugh.

At that moment, it felt like someone was pushing me.

I closed my eyes and opened them.

“…What?”

I could see Louis and Evan sleeping.

I had woken up from the dream.