15 Chapter 15

"So... you're officially one of us now?" Matthew scratched his head and shyly asked.

Just a few minutes ago, their carriage arrived home with a lot of maids waiting outside greeting her as soon as she got down the carriage. Some of them looked so happy that Celestina felt it as well, they even disregarded their manners and handed her some gifts to congratulate her. When she entered the mansion, Matthew and Mellisa were waiting inside.

"Yeps! I can call you brother now." She said swinging his other hand in happiness.

"W-who wants to be your brother! Don't call me that." Matthew suddenly flushed and shouted.

"Well, if he doesn't want 'brother' then just call him by his name, instead call me 'sister'. Come on," Mellisa said with a teasing tone.

"Alright sister, I won't call him brother." Celestina decided to follow along and Matthew flustered at that, he hmphed loudly and said "Whatever you want, I only have one sister."

"Who's your sister? I don't see any." Mellisa pretended to look around and asked Celestina with a very mischievous face.

"Mellisa!" Matthew stomped his leg in frustration and nearly went to his room if it weren't for Francisco entering.

"Why are all of you here? Let's go have lunch," He handed his coat to a maid and walked over to the kids. Mellisa and Matthew looked at each other before nodding and following behind him, of course, Mellisa didn't forget to hold Celestina's hand.

Looking at the sight of the harmonious family, the maids watching them all almost cry in happiness. The duke might be cold but he's kind to them and he's super generous, the twins are cute and always so lively but rarely spoke if the duke is around. Hell! They were rarely together, but with the addition of the cute miss, they looked super harmonious and they who have watched the twins grew up, all felt like proud mothers.

"The three of you are going to Atkinsons? When is that?"

"It's two months from now, they asked us to go earlier to take the entrance test and prepare some stuff, I'm not sure what it is." Mellisa drank her favorite lemon tea and answered her father honestly.

"Hmm, then is there anything you need to prepare beforehand?" Matthew thought his father looked concern in that second but he quickly dispelled his thought as it was impossible.

"Everything is already prepared but I'm not sure if we'll need to take any additional stuff."

"Make sure to bring your stones there, don't leave it even when you're alone. Atkinsons may be full of scholars but it was also a dangerous place as it's surrounded with mist, no one know what can happen." Francisco spoke again, he remembered his last visit to Atkinsons and he faced some serious dangers there, now his children are going without him, how could he not feel concerned? What if they also encountered dangerous situation?

"Make sure to bring the knights with you, the more the better."

———

Ambrose walked around his room, he got a single room by himself in the house. It wasn't comfortable at first as he used to sleep with the others but after some time, he had got used to it.

"Don't you have a lesson with Dr. Henry?" George opened his door and walked in nonchalantly while holding his strawberry candy.

"Urghh, I hate him." At the mention of the handsome doctor, Ambrose's face turned sour.

"Why?" George sucked on his candy and asked his friend.

"He's... annoying." Ambrose wasn't sure why he didn't like the man, the man never did anything bad to him yet he felt his temper rose whenever he see the doctor.

"I think he's very kind, he gave me and Helia lots of candies and chocolate whenever we are sick."

"Why would he give you candies and chocolates when you're sick?" This doctor seriously got something wrong in his brain.

"Dunno, you should go now." George held his hand pulled him out of his room, he obviously didn't have the strength to pull the older kid.

"Come on..." George pulled him even harder and managed to get the older boy to move.

"Fine, let's go. You have a lesson as well, go now." Ambrose finally walked and went on different direction from George as they have different classes.

He never thought this kind of day would come. He remembered his days in the orphanage when he used to look outside his window and saw kids his age running around and playing, some walked with their parents and enjoying whatever their parents bought them.

He longed for that, he longed for the knowledge he never had when he saw kids carrying books, he longed for toys he never held, he longed for the freedom.

"Good morning, Dr. Henry." And this guy was the annoying person who helped him achieved his first goal, knowledge.

He would get as many knowledge as possible from this 'genius' doctor and he would use that knowledge to gain his freedom.

"What have you prepare?" Dr. Henry took out a thick book from his cabinet and showed it to him.

"I am going to teach you about the skill of life. This is something I didn't get to learn and I regret it every moment, but now since you're just starting, let's start from this. I will see how well you do. Sit down." Ambrose sat down and opened the book. Yellowed pages filled with text filled his eyes, he unknowingly swallowed back his saliva.

"What? Giving up?" Henry clearly saw the hesitation and quickly question the young boy.

"Don't joke, there's no way I give up." Ambrose pushed his hesitation and smirked to the doctor.

"Well, read the first twenty pages, those are some I don't need to explain, although if you have any questions you may ask me." Henry sat at his own chair and took out a stack of paper, he focused on his papers while the young boy focused on his new book.

"Right, in two months, the kids are going to Atkinsons for their study. You wanna join them?" Henry suddenly remembered the letter he got from Francisco a few days ago, the duke asked him to teach this young boy properly and get him ready for The Atkinson Academy

"Which kids?" Ambrose have no idea what he was talking about.

"The girl that was with you, what's her name again?... Celestina, there's also the duke's twin, Mellisa and Matthew."

"What's Atkinsons?" Ambrose's face lit up at the mention of Celestina. He missed his friend who have gone away for 2 months, although they kept their contact, he missed seeing her face.

"Atkinsons is the territory of the Atkinsons... that didn't make sense, did it? Well just read the book and you'll know." Henry gave up explaining, he could never explain something as good as how he could show them. He

"Okay..." Ambrose focused back on his book and continued reading until the sun set and Dr. Henry asked him to go back.

"And... I want to go to the Atkinson Academy."

"I understand, you have a lot to catch up, come back again tomorrow." Henry nodded his head and sat back down after Ambrose closed his door. His face showed a happy smile. 'He's so cute acting like an adult.'