/
Apparent in their clear, wide eyes were the suspicion and doubts that it’s happening again.
“Sera must be teasing us again!”
“But I’m telling the truth.”
Sera teased the twins with practiced ease, and in turn, their jewel-like eyes wavered greatly once more.
Smiling broadly, she reached over one hand each on RosĂ© and Ferre’s heads to pat them.
With such beautiful smiles, their lovely eyes as they looked up at Sera seemed as if they contained hearts that would sparkle as well.
“By the way, Sera.”
“Hm?”
Suddenly, the twins went down from their chairs and stared up at her with their round doe eyes.
From time to time, the twins would embrace Sera so tightly that their foreheads would bump into hers.
As if they had planned it, the twins clung to Sera’s arms one after another. They hugged her arms like a lifeline, then they started to shake their little bottoms.
“Seeeraaa.”
“Seeeeeraaaaa.”
Rosé and Ferre called her name with pleading voices. At first glance, the children were obviously trying to ask something of her.
She shouldn’t easily be enchanted and fall into their temptation, so Sera cleared her throat. The members of this family must really know that their good looks are very powerful weapons.
However, she didn’t hate seeing the children’s cuteness, so a smile naturally tugged up on Sera’s lips.
“When weeee.”
Rosé was the first to bring it up.
“Gooo to the Imperial Villaaaa.”
Ferre continued the rest of the sentence.
“Don’t give us homework please!”
Then both Rosé and Ferre shouted together.
“Homework?”
Sera burst out into a peal of laughter. She got a little nervous because she didn’t know what they wanted to ask her, but in the end, it was about homework. It was a very realistic and cute request.
“Of course
”
Sera trailed off, then eventually closed her lips. She was about to say that she wouldn’t give them homework as they said, but

‘The date of their departure for the Imperial Villa
 I heard a while ago that it’s going to be in the fourth week of August
’
In any case, their classes were scheduled to be over already by then. To be exact, their outing to the imperial villa in the south was scheduled to begin one week after their classes had ended.
‘I’m in trouble. Should I
 tell a white lie?’
Sera glanced back at Rosé and Ferre, who were waiting for her answer with looks of anticipation.
She knew that the children would definitely cry if she came clean now and said that their classes with her would already be over by that time.
But if she lied, what then? If she would tell them that they’re still continuing their class, how disappointed would they be when they find out the truth? She felt so sorry towards the children that she didn’t want to do that to them.
She hesitated to answer. She hadn’t made up her mind yet whether she would still continue being their tutor.
“Umm, Your Highnesses.”
With a slightly troubled look on her face, she hugged the children warmly.
The twins were suddenly drawn into Sera’s tight embrace, but they immediately liked it and soon stretched out their short arms over her back as well.
“Sera, what’s wrong now?”
The quick-witted RosĂ© already noticed that there’s something odd, so she looked at Sera and peeped out her head.
“Sera, the homework?”
This was still an important matter to Ferre, who couldn’t read the atmosphere, since he needed to know whether they’d have homework or not.
“There shouldn’t be any homework.”
Sera chose to give them the simpler answer. She knew she needed to give them more time to prepare for when they’d part ways, but she couldn’t only bring herself to reserve the tearful goodbyes on the last day.
She then let go of the twins, bumping her forehead against theirs.
RosĂ© was the only one who noticed the sorrow in Sera’s calm eyes.
‘I think everything’s the same as usual, but Sera looks kinda sad.’
* * *
“RosĂ©, Ferre. You haven’t slept yet?”
As he arrived at the threshold of his younger siblings’ room, Helios found them standing there, looking up at him with wide-open eyes. The two of them were holding a fairytale book each, tight in their arms.
The two books were titled 〈 The Demon King of the Caribbean 〉 and 〈 Kick-King Ralph 〉, though it’s the first time he’s ever heard about them. They seemed to have brought two unique fairytale books that Sera Popo had written.
“I was waiting for Heli Hyung.”
“Me too, I was waiting for Oppa. Please read us a book.”
With bright smiles on their faces, Ferre and Rosé had come to ambush Helios.
Carrying the two of them up easily, he gave them a gentle kiss each on their foreheads. Their bell-like giggles rang in his ears.
“Oppa, Oppa. Heli Oppa.”
“Hyung, Hyung. Heli Hyung.”
“What is it?”
Helios’ voice was soft as he replied. No matter what happened, his younger siblings seemed to be as cheerful as they always were.
“How many nights do we have to sleep more until the trip? I can’t wait, Hyung.”
“Hm
 About twenty-eight more nights.”
“Twenty-eight? That’s still far away.”
Dissatisfied, RosĂ© pouted her lips. Indeed, twenty-eight days would be a large fraction of their lives—about one-hundredth of all the days they had lived thus far.
It was a very long time for these children, so it’s only natural that they’d find it difficult to wait.
“While waiting, you can try thinking of all the things that you want to do when we arrive at the Imperial Villa. If you do that, the days will pass by quickly.”
Looking at them tenderly, he whispered to the children.
“Then will Oppa listen to us if we tell you what we want to do?”
“Of course.”
“Really, Hyung?”
“Absolutely.”
Helios nodded relaxedly, then he set down the children on their bed.
He was about to pull the blanket over them to tuck them in, but Rosé and Ferre shook their heads and scuttled back to the edge of the bed.
“Hyung, sit here while you read to us.”
“Yeah. So Heli Oppa can’t run away.”
Rosé and Ferre both patted the narrow space in between them. Actually, Helios meant to just sit at the bedside, read one book, then go back right away.
‘Though I didn’t expect that I’ll be reading you a book tonight
’
He glanced at his younger siblings with a slightly baffled expression, but the children were already looking back at him with such anticipation.
Of course, their eyes twinkled with confidence that their older brother would lull them to slumber tonight and send them off to dreamland with a pleasant story.