Before she could fumble out an explanation, Apollo let out a soft chuckle, the tension easing from his expression. He poured a glass of hibiscus rose tea and handed it to her. "Here, drink some," he said gently, his voice warm as his hand came up to lightly pat her back.

The simple gesture made Ashley feel oddly like a child being comforted by her older brother, yet instead of embarrassment, a quiet warmth spread through her chest.

For the first time in a long while, she realized that this feeling, being cared for, being fussed over, wasn’t so bad after all.

After talking everything out, the atmosphere between Apollo and Ashley gradually became lighter, and the distance between them slowly fading away. Even Aunt Lavinia, who remained nearby, occasionally joined the conversation, smiling as she shared stories from the brothers’ childhood.

One tale after another unraveled before Ashley, who among them had been the naughtiest, who got caught causing trouble the most, and which brother had been the sneakiest whenever they wanted to escape their lessons and run wild around the mountain.

At first, Ashley only laughed softly, still a little restrained, but as she relaxed and grew more comfortable with them, her laughter became brighter and louder, filling the balcony with warmth.

To her utter disbelief, the brother who had apparently been spanked the most as a child was none other than the second brother, Daemon. She simply couldn’t reconcile the image of the composed and intimidating man she knew now with the mischievous little terror they described.

And when Aunt Lavinia vividly explained how their father used to drag Daemon over his lap, stomach down, legs kicking while his backside faced upward as he was scolded and disciplined, Ashley completely lost it, laughing so hard her stomach hurt because she just couldn’t picture it at all.

Then there was Archivalt. Quiet, sleepy-looking, and catlike in demeanor now, he had apparently been the exact opposite as a child.

According to Apollo, Archivalt had been the one who snuck out the most, unable to stay in one place for long, constantly wandering from one corner of the estate to another like a spinning top.

He had even gone through a phase where he passionately declared he would become the Pirate King someday, a ridiculous dream born entirely from binge-watching too much anime as a child.

The more stories Ashley heard, the more the brothers stopped feeling like distant strangers and started feeling like real family.

"Oh? What’s got you all so happy?"

The voice came just as the door to Ashley’s room opened, and Ace stepped in with a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Earlier, he had been buried in his textbooks, losing track of time until the world outside his window had quietly slipped into night. When he finally rose to take a break, he wandered toward the glass doors, and the moment he opened them, a bright, bell-like laughter drifted up from the room above his.

It was Ashley’s. Soft and light, carried by the evening air, it caught him off guard and drew a smile from him before he even realized it. Without thinking much further, he made his way upstairs, following the sound.

Along the way, he crossed paths with Archivalt, who seemed to be prowling the halls like the nocturnal creature he resembled, clearly heading in the same direction. As they moved up from the lower floors, they ran into Gage, fresh from a shower after his martial arts training, and Daemon, who looked like he had just escaped the suffocating pile of case files he’d been dealing with.

None of them said it outright, but the intent was obvious; they were all heading to the same place, drawn by the same reason.

And so, one after another, they arrived, just in time to hear Ashley’s laughter spilling into the room, warm and unguarded, as if it had always belonged there.

No invitation was needed.

After a brief glance into Ashley’s room, more than satisfied with the care and thought put into its design, the rest of the brothers made their way straight to the balcony, slipping in as naturally as if they had always belonged there.

Before long, they were all gathered around, taking seats beside Apollo and Ashley, their presence filling the space with easy familiarity. Their voices overlapped, stories grew louder, laughter richer, until the quiet evening turned lively and warm with the kind of chaos only a close-knit family could create.

Not far away, Ophelia was anything but unaware.

Staying on the same floor as Ashley, she had already noticed the shift, the movement of her brothers, the subtle stir in the hallway, and the way everyone seemed to gravitate toward Ashley’s room.

She had arrived only a little later than Apollo did, and at first, she wasn’t bothered. In fact, she had expected something entirely different.

Earlier, after arriving, she had made no effort to hide her sour mood, letting even the household staff see her displeasure. She had even crossed paths with Aunt Lavinia when the older woman went downstairs to fetch some refreshments, and in Ophelia’s mind, that should have been enough.

Surely, Aunt Lavinia would mention it. Surely, her brothers would come to coax her out of her sulking, just as they always had.

So she waited.

Minutes stretched longer than they should have, her patience thinning with each passing second. No one came. Not a knock, not a word, not even a glance in her direction.

The faint commotion from the hallway reached her ears despite the soundproofing of the rooms, just enough to let her know where they all were.

When Ace’s voice carried faintly through the corridor, she had even moved closer to the door, anticipation sparking in her chest as she thought, ’finally, they were coming.’

But they didn’t.

They passed by without hesitation, without even sparing her door a second look.

And just like that, the flicker of expectation twisted into something darker, hotter, until Ophelia stood there, fists clenched at her sides, seething in silence.

While Ashley spent the evening surrounded by warmth and laughter in the Gildenvale estate, slowly growing closer to her brothers, an entirely different storm raged elsewhere.

In his own territory, Nathan was losing control. The sharp crash of shattered objects echoed through his room as he destroyed anything within reach, his temper spiraling far beyond reason.

No one even dared to step inside anymore; his fits of rage had grown so violent that even those closest to him knew better than to intervene.

Outside his door, Maddison stood helplessly, her knuckles reddening as she knocked again and again, her voice laced with urgency and desperation. She pleaded for him to come out, to talk to her, to release whatever was festering inside him before it consumed him completely. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But the only answer she received was the relentless sound of breaking glass and splintering wood, each crash a reminder of just how close he was to losing himself entirely.

"Shut up! I don’t need anyone telling me what to do!" Nathan’s roar tore through the room, raw and unrestrained.

Inside, his chest heaved violently with each breath, as if he were barely holding himself together. His eyes burned a furious red, the veins in the whites so inflamed they looked ready to bleed, giving him a terrifying, almost feral appearance.