11 Foreboding

In a dark room, a man is standing in front of a giant window while staring outside with a determined look. Both of his arms are behind his waist. Then shortly, another man came in. Chael. He bowed his head.

"You called my Lord?"

The man with long black hair turned his head around, smirking.

"His birthday will be celebrated in a week,"

"Yes," Chael nodded, still confused by where his Lord is going with his statement.

"After two failed attempts, I'm guessing Rothe doubled- no, tripled the security. Such cheap tricks won't work anymore,"

"What are you suggesting, my Lord?"

"... Who's Rothe's most trusted servant in the house?"

Chael blinked. He tried to think.

"Perhaps, his wife's maid?"

"Hm,"

The man hummed and thinking for a while—a dangerous smirk formed on his face.

"Bring her to me,"

⊱

⊱

⊱

Finally!

It's been a year. An eventful year, most of them are boring because I couldn't do anything. But now it's different. I'm going to see new things; I'm going to explore!

Baby Ezra is now can walk! I can finally walk and talk two or three sentences. It's still hard to speak yes, But I'm practising. I can't run yet, but at least I can walk.

I can f*cking walk.

"Ezra! Be careful!"

Edgar squealed in horror when he saw me trying to go down the stairs. I pouted irritated when he managed to catch me before I take a step down a stair.

He lifted me and carried me in his arms.

After a year of practicing he managed to carry me properly.

"Gotcha!" He exclaimed happily.

I sighed.

I guess I'm not entirely free since my brothers are supervising me. Except for Raphael and Christopher. The two of them attending boarding school. Thirteen-year-old noble children are compulsory to attend school for three years. Raphael is a bit late because of the incidents that happened a couple of months back, but the school understood the situation and let it go. Raphael left a couple of days after the situation where my brothers got caught by father in my room. And Christopher followed two days after his birthday in April.

It's a bummer, I will really miss them.

And as for the others? They're improving quite well.

Sylvester finished his studies about psychology. Still quiet and shy, but he understands people quite easily now. Better than Edgar. Now he's focusing on preparing for school since he'll be attending next year.

Edgar is still a mystery for me. I never see him showing off his abilities, but like before, my father trusted him to look after me while my two other brothers are in boarding school.

Father trust Edgar more than Sylvester or Juno. I'm so confused.

Juno is still training very hard. Even though his skills are already impressive, he's going to be OP if he kept training. (𝘈/𝘕 : 𝘖𝘗 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥). I'm not sure if he'll be attending school. I barely see him touch a book.

He's just busy being his ninja self.

Lastly the twins. They're still crazy. They turned seven three months ago, and their sword skills are improving a lot.

"You wanted to visit mother?" Edgar asked me.

"Mama," I nodded my head.

And mother... her health isn't improving. She kept getting sick; she can't attend parties, she's just staying in her room. Edgar told me mother's health worsen since the incident where I didn't wake up for two weeks. Her bad habit of overthinking things caused damage to her.

And I keep visiting her so she wouldn't worry about me.

Edgar carefully carried me from the third floor to the second floor. We walked past my old room, another hallway, being greeted by a couple of servants and guards, then we reach two giant doors by the end of the hall.

Edgar knocked on the door twice.

(𝘈/𝘕: 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘮𝘢𝘯?)

"Mother, It's Edgar and Ezra,"

After waiting for a couple of seconds, the door opened. It was Rosemary that's opening the door. She bowed her head and let us in.

"Mama!" I exclaimed happily.

Edgar put me down to the floor, and I scurried over to my mother. Oh, my poor mother. She looked so weak and light. She's just laying in bed helplessly. But her sapphire eyes still twinkle every time we met.

"My baby. You've grown so much," Mother said. I tried jumping to the bed. Edgar snickered and helped me up, then put me beside mother.

"Mama okay?" I asked while frowning.

Mother nodded her head. "I'm okay baby. Did you missed me already?"

"Yup!" I nodded.

"You visited me two hours ago," Mother chuckled gently.

Her chuckles turned into a cough. Edgar and I only stared at her with a sad look. Rosemary walked to the both of us, smiling sympathetically.

"Maybe it's the best to let Duchess Cynthia rest,"

"I agree. Thanks for taking care of her, Rosemary," Edgar said.

"My pleasure," Rosemary bowed her head.

Edgar then carried me. He leaned over to mother to let me kiss mother's cheek. She smiled at Edgar and me.

"Ezra, happy birthday," Mother said.

"Hehe," I gave her my biggest grin in response.

The two of us then left the room. I took a glance back before the door was closed. Rosemary, she's acting strange. I saw her quickly closed the door for some reason. I know mother has to rest, but Rosemary is acting odd.

I can't get rid of this uneasy feeling.