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“Do you know what this is?”
Helios took something out of his pocket and showed it to the twins. It’s a small stone.
It was one of the several small but heavy stones that had bounced off his office window and rolled down.
And, of course, it was one of the stones that Rosé and Ferre had thrown, making a huge crack on that very window.
Seeing the stone that their older brother was showing them, Rosé and Ferre bowed their little heads and bit their lips tightly.
“Hyung.”
“Oppa.”
“You both have some explaining to do.”
“Um
 It’s just
”
“Hyu
 Hyung. We just
”
The hesitating children couldn’t easily give an excuse for their actions, and they both looked up at Helios.
“Y
 You know, Oppa, it’s just
”
“I mean
 We didn’t mean to
 Hyuuung
”
Tears were about to trickle down from their eyes.
Helios tried to show a stern front to the twins, but seeing them like this seemed to weaken his resolve.
They had been so good for quite a while now. He thought back on what they had discussed yesterday, and he had some inkling as to why his younger siblings had done this, but he still needed to scold them.
It was a prank, but it could have led to a bigger accident.
It’s fortunate that there had been a protective spell on the window, but what would have happened if those stones really broke through it?
Jean would have jumped to protect Helios, and so Helios might have been safe nevertheless, but someone still could have been seriously injured.
“Even if you cry, I have no intention of letting your actions slide.”
Helios shook his head briefly. His firm gaze stared down closely at Rosé and Ferre.
Then, suddenly, the children promptly burst into tears.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Hu
 uuu
 uwaaaah!”
What exactly has made them so sad to this extent? Without a moment for those tears to dry, heavy streams poured down their cheeks like waterfalls.
Soon, the moisture became muddy because of the dirt that was still on their faces, and it reached their necks. Their tear-soaked white collars were quickly smeared with gray marks.
“Uwaaaaah! Huuu.”
“Hiiiiing. Hu-unng. Hnk. Uwahh!”
Their tears showed no signs of stopping, and seeing this, Helios momentarily panicked and bring one hand to his forehead.
He had to press down heavily because he couldn’t decide whether to scold them first or comfort them.
After hesitating for a while, in the end, he could only let out a sigh.
‘What should I do, RosĂ©, Ferre?’
Eventually, he decided that he should comfort them first. He placed one big hand each over to caress their cheeks, half resigned.
And it was at that moment— they heard a familiar voice nearby.
“Your Majesty! Your Highness RosĂ©! Your Highness Ferre!”
The clear, bell-like voice was Sera’s.
“What in the world has happened!”
With the maids and the knights behind her, Sera ran to them, but the moment she saw the children’s faces, she was so surprised that she halted where she was.
Her bewildered blue eyes turned towards Helios.
“Ah, Miss Popo.”
Helios, who failed to scold the children, gave a weak chuckle.
“Uwaaaaaah! Seeeeraaaaaa! Hug meee!”
“Seeeeera! Me toooo, uwaaaah! Hug me toooo!”
Meanwhile, the children had noticed that the tension surrounding Helios had marginally eased up. The very instance they heard Sera’s name being called, they rushed to her to avoid Helios’ scolding.
Even as their faces were smudged with muddled tears and runny noses, they looked so adorable running to her with their arms wide open for an embrace.
Their sparkling appearances just earlier had disappeared, and what’s left was the messy appearance of children who didn’t look like they’re members of the imperial family. Perhaps you could say that anyone could achieve the same look if they don’t wash their face for one week straight?
What on earth happened in such a short time though.
Sera was at a loss for words. She couldn’t imagine what exactly happened.
“Hyung scolded uuus.”
“Oppa got sooo scary.”
The children rubbed their messy faces on Sera. And their hands, just like their faces, had been dirtied because they picked up all those stones, and their hair and faces got further messy because they touched them.
Baffled, Sera turned towards Helios.
He carefully showed the small stone in his hand and moved slightly to the side. Soon after, the sight that was being covered by his body was revealed—it was the disastrous state of his office window.
“Ah.”
Just one look at this allowed Sera to understand the entire situation. She gently pushed back the children clinging to her.
“Your Highnesses deserved to be scolded.”
“Huh?”
“Huuuh? Sera. What did you say?”
“Even after His Majesty had already scolded you, you also deserve to be scolded even more.”
They thought she’d take their side. But seeing the way Sera was acting now—just like their older brother—RosĂ© and Ferre looked alternately between her and Helios. They looked like they were on the verge of tears again.
“Why aren’t you patting us like this, pat pat. Huh, Sera?”
“Sera. Pat, pat. You’re not gonna?”
“Your Highnesses should have done something good first before you get your pats. Now, please hurry up and apologize. You have to realize your mistakes. Then, that’s the only time I’ll give you pats.”
Sera grabbed the children’s shoulders and turned them around. Then, she straightened their postures and gently pushed them forward.
As the twins had to step forward by force, they stopped crying because they didn’t know what to do.
“Please apologize! And if you’re forgiven, please reflect on your actions and promise that you won’t do it again!”
Sera encouraged the children from behind them. Helios, on the other hand, noticed her intentions, and so he played along to her rhythm.
He went down on one knee so that he was on eye level with his younger siblings, and he loosened his stern expression as much as he could.
“Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
His voice was once again the usual—low, gentle.
Sniffling and trying their hardest not to burst into sobs once more, RosĂ© and Ferre held each other’s hands and spoke.
“I’m sorry. It was wrong that I threw those rocks, Oppa.”
“Me too, I’m sorry. I almost hurt you, Hyung, I’m sorry.”
“I won’t do it again, Oppa.”
“Hyung, me too. I won’t do it again either.”
And so, with a broad smile now, Helios quickly embraced the two children.
“Still
”
“Uwaah— I don’t want Sera to leave. I hate it. I hate Hyung, too. And Sera. I wanna be with Sera forever. Hyung is bad.”
“Yeah. Sera is bad, too. Why can’t you just stay with us forever.”
“Sera will stay if we keep doing pranks. If Sera leaves, then we don’t want to be good kids.”
“Yeah! I’m not going to be good. So we’ll be with Sera forever and ever! Oppa doesn’t even know Sera’s feelings! I’m gonna be with Sera for my whole entire life.”
As much as the cicadas cried in the middle of that summer day, the endless sobbing of the children was truly very loud at that moment.