CH 155

With a dull sound, the large window behind Helios cracked.

“Your Majesty, are you hurt?”

As he leaped forward to cover Helios, Jean asked urgently. However, Helios could only groan back at first because Jean’s huge physique squashed him down on his desk. He held one hand up.

“Uugh, I was fine… at first.”

“That’s a relief. Still though, just in case, stay like this for a while longer.”

Jean told Helios to hold his place there, face first on the desk. Then, Jean himself slowly raised his head to look around. His eyes were sharp as he regarded their surroundings, serious now, unlike his usual carefree appearance.

He slowly approached the window and peered out. The large window itself had a spiderweb-like crack right there.

In between, bright light was splitting into dozens of branches and some went directly towards his eyes.

Grimacing as he squinted, he then carefully touched the cracked window with his fingers.

The window briefly shook because of this light contact. The glass looked like it was going to break at any given moment, but fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the protective spell that had been cast over it.

“Jean? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Helios asked worriedly when Jean’s search turned out to be longer than he was expecting.

“Yes, I’m alright.”

Jean hadn’t been able to see properly because it happened too quickly, but the object that had been thrown was definitely round.

He took a step towards one side of the window and took in a brief inhale. Then, with one finger, he pushed the window open and, creeeak, it opened.

He carefully stuck his head through the gap. He was worried that another one would come flying again, or that there was going to be something else rushing in to attack Helios.

“Jean, you don’t have to go so far. Isn’t what you’re doing worrying as well?

Helios was following what he had been told, but he fidgeted where he was, worried about the other man in this room.

“Please wait a moment.”

On high alert, Jean once again looked out the window with an exceedingly cautious attitude. There were about five or six small, jagged stones underneath the window.

He carefully reached one arm down and grabbed one of the stones that dared to attack His Majesty the Emperor. But then he found out that they were merely ordinary stones that were particularly jagged.

“Where in the world did these come from?”

Then, as he looked around…

“Huh?”

The people he least expected were right there, standing some distance away. Noses dusty and dirtied, clothes ruined, socks absolutely tarnished.

The very criminals themselves, the Twin Highnesses, were holding small stones in their hands, about the size of their own fists.

“Jean?”

“Your Highnesses?”

The moment Rosé and Ferre’s eyes locked with Jean’s, the stones in their hands fell straight down to the ground.

* * *

The tray Sera was holding now was heavy with plates of strawberry and melon cake slices—Rosé and Ferre’s favorites—and glasses of cold peach tea, clinking with cute heart-shaped ice cubes.

The image of the twins’ anxious faces continued to linger on the forefront of Sera’s mind, so she rushed the handmaids of the Star Palace to prepare these snacks for them.

And right after the snacks and drinks had been prepared, she ran out immediately. She didn’t want the children to wait. Of course, she made sure that none of the refreshments would topple over.

Even so, when she got there, all Sera found were two small black ants—beneath a dark green leaf atop the bench.

‘Their Highnesses Rosé and Ferre couldn’t have turned into ants… Where did they go?’

Using the back of her hand, Sera wiped away the drops of sweat that had formed on her forehead as she rushed here in a hurry. She looked here and there urgently.

“Your Highnesses!”

She shouted, calling for the twins. And she was expecting two cheerful voices replying with, ‘Yes!”

However, in that quiet place, only cicadas answered her, crying loudly from their perch on a nearby tree branch.

‘Just where did they go? They shouldn’t have gone that far since it hadn’t been long… I’m sure they’re still inside the palace.’

In the end, Sera had to set down the tray she had carried here down on the bench.

She craned her head and looked around the fountain, behind it, everywhere in the immediate vicinity. And yet, just like how it had been during their first class day together, she could see neither hide nor hair of the children.

It was at that moment.

“Miss Popo!”

“Lady Sera!”

In the distance, several people rushed in, crying out her name.

“There’s big trouble!”

“What?”

“You must go to the Central Palace immediately!”

“It’s an emergency!”

“You must hurry, Lady Popo!”

The knights and the handmaids of the central palace came rushing in, each one of their faces ashen. They didn’t even pause to take a breath after running this far.

“What on earth is going on?”

And why aren’t Their Highnesses on the bench where they’re supposed to be right now?

An ominous feeling suddenly surged within Sera, who had unconsciously brought her hands over her lips in her horror.

Sure enough.

“Their Highnesses the Prince and Princess have caused an incident.”

“Ah…”

Sera immediately raised one hand and touched the back of her stiff neck.

“They are both in His Majesty’s office.”

One of the handmaids looked at Sera with anxious eyes.

Sera then became scared of what the handmaid would say next because she took such a long pause between words.

“They threw stones.”

Good grief.

Sera buried her face in her hands.

* * *

“Roseline. Ferreritan.”

At the height of noon, beneath the hot sun where not a shadow could be seen, Helios stood imposingly in front of the children.

As he was in his full dress, Helios’ attire looked immensely stuffy compared to the thin, flowing clothes that his younger siblings were wearing. Still, his demeanor was as cold as ever.

Rosé and Ferre could only look down at the ground until then, but they soon glanced up at Helios.

“He…li Oppa.”

“Heeeli… Hyung…”

The twins hesitated as they answered to their older brother. They both bowed their heads again as soon as they saw that Helios’ usual smile was nowhere to be seen. Only coldness remained.

They rarely ever saw a complex, displeased look in Helios eyes directed at them, and it was enough to make the children sweat profusely.

“You’ve made me terribly angry.”

It was only after a long silence that Helios spoke again, his voice perfectly calm and leveled.

“Uu…uuhh. He… Heli… Oppa.”

“Hyuuung…”

The children murmured with such small voices that even the little chirps of newly hatched chicks would be louder.

“Do you understand what you did wrong?”

Still, it was a very different voice from the soft, gentle tone they were used to.

The twins remained still without being able to answer. Helios was too different. He was cold, unfamiliar, unsmiling. They both squirmed, wringing the hem of their clothes as they gulped heavily.

“Roseline Adelio. Ferreritan Adelio.”

Helios once again called the attention of his younger siblings. This time, it was through their rarely called full names, and the twins couldn’t help but clamp their little mouths shut the moment they heard this.

Of course, Helios noticed that his younger siblings were starting to fear him slightly.

Even so, he couldn’t let go of it this time. So, he took in one stifled breath, then he continued speaking.