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Sera had let the twins finish their dinner first then have them brush their teeth before she brought them to the garden. Rosé and Ferre were so excited now to meet Helios again after they greeted each other earlier this morning.
“Sera, Heli Oppa said he’ll come early today!”
“Sera, do you want to meet Hyung?”
“Sera, aren’t you excited to see Heli Oppa soon?”
“When he comes, I wish Sera and Hyung can read a book together again!”
As the twins constantly called Sera and said all these things, they both expressed their excitement in seeing Helios again. They were so thrilled like this even after having studied hard all day.
She tried calming them down a few times, but because they’d been bouncing their butts on their seats all day with how excited they were, Sera decided to bring them to meet Helios.
“Sera, too, do you also want to meet Oppa?”
“Huh?”
“After that small play, I think you and Oppa got along better, right? Last time you were both as stiff as a piece of wood, but these days you’re back to normal again.”
“Yeah. I really thought Sera and Hyung had a fight.”
“What do you mean, fight? No, nothing like that happened.”
‘Was I that obvious?’
Coughing a few times to clear her throat, Sera felt that Rosé’s intuition was unusually sharp. Well, her hunch was the opposite though, and they never had a fight. Though because of her misunderstanding, Sera got to hear such dream-like lines from Helios.
Grinning, Sera held out one hand each to Rosé and Ferre. Their hands, the size of half a maple leaf, clasped her hands happily. As their hands swung to and fro, delighted smiles reminiscent of blooming flowers were pasted on their lips.
The imperial palace was so wide that their path towards the central palace was so long. It’s been months since Sera started teaching RosĂ© and Ferre, and now the cool spring air was gone. Even though it was already evening, a warm breeze blew past them.
“Your Highnesses, is it too hot for you?”
Sera’s voice was tinged with concern, feeling that the hands she was holding had become damp with sweat.
“It’s hot.”
“It’s hot for me, too, Sera.”
With their cheeks flushed, the twins whined to her. Crouching down to their height, Sera took out a handkerchief and patted the twins’ foreheads to wipe off the beads of sweat.
“Then shall we go in now? I think it’s better if we wait inside. Won’t His Majesty come soon anyway?”
“Nooo. Don’t wanna. Sera, you gotta meet Hyung right away.”
“Huuh?”
What was he talking about? She wondered what kind of wrong idea they had this time around, but Sera’s chance to ask disappeared forever as RosĂ© shouted.
“There! Heli Oppa!”
Rosé pointed towards that side with one forefinger raised. At this, Sera flinched and stood up straight again. As she turned around, just as Rosé said, there Helios was.
Against the backdrop of a rosy horizon, the reddish hue of the setting sun colored his hair’s silvery glean. The wind blew forward, and the lush green leaves fluttered behind him just as his hair did, scattering like fine threads. He was so beautiful that he was like a painting brought to life.
Sera might have stood there for a long, long time—had Saruvia, who had the same colors as the sunset, not walked in between them.
Every step Sera took, she got closer to Saruvia until they came face to face with each other. Their shoes clacked against the hard floor, and as these sounds echoed louder, she remembered the duke clinging onto Helios’ arm during the twins’ birthday party.
At last, when they were very close to each other, Sera bowed her head carefully and curtsied. Because the woman in front of her was a duke, Sera couldn’t just pass by without greeting her.
A smile anyone would be charmed by was given to her in return to her curtsy. The duke was tall enough that Sera felt her surroundings darken for a moment.
They made eye contact for a second, but they soon walked in opposite directions. Sera wondered if the duke had come from a walk with Helios, but she never looked behind her again.
“Hyuuuuung!”
“Heli Oppaaaa!”
The moment RosĂ© and Ferre found the person they’d been ecstatic to meet all this time, they shot forward right away.
They must have forgotten about the discomfort they felt just now because of the heat. With a lighthearted smile, Sera walked right after them.
“Their Highnesses kept telling me that they wanted to see Your Majesty right away and came to greet you like this, but I never thought that we’d be able to meet you so fast.”
Sera walked towards where Helios was as he was hugging the twins. As soon as she came close, the twins immediately rushed back into her embrace as well.
“No, I’ve just finished my work. I was also about to go to the lateral palace.”
Helios looked at his younger siblings, who were holding tight onto Sera’s hands. It still made him feel a little strange that his siblings would go towards Sera instead of him. Back then, they wouldn’t have let go of him no matter what.
Watching Sera, with her round blue eyes and as she took care of his siblings, Helios smiled towards her. She smiled back as well, even as his younger siblings clung to her so tightly despite the hot weather making them all sticky.
Out of the twins, Helios took Ferre away and brought him to his side. As he did, Ferre whined and said, “Noooo, Hyung, whyyyy.” Still, Helios held Ferre’s hand with practiced ease.
Ferre tried to shake off his older brother’s hand and go back to Sera, but the bigger hand wouldn’t let go. Little Ferre’s strength wasn’t enough to overpower him. With an incredulous tone, Ferre started asking Sera for help.
“Sera! Help me!”
As she watched the cute bickering of these two who looked practically the same except for their hair colors, she didn’t want to get in between the two brothers.
“Hmm. How about we walk like this?”
“Sera, Sera, me too! Hold my hand too!”
With all of four of them linked hand in hand, they swung their arms as they walked forward together. At the same time, Sera, Rosé and Helios burst into laughter. Ferre joined as well, and they all walked back into the palace with wide, bright smiles on their faces.