You are picking me up?

"Did you just try to make an advance on me, or am I hearing things?"

Avian asked, absolutely weirded out by Zenith's 'straightforwardness'. Even though she was able to mess around with a few men, that was after she made the first move. 

After all, Avian was always in a male guise. It was nothing normal for a male to suddenly be like this—not impossible, but quite rare. They mostly were attracted to her feminine features. 

"Advance?" The scoffing Zenith pulled her back to reality: "It was merely an offer out of pity and appreciating your beauty. It should never be considered an advance, ha!"

Before Avian could speak, Zenith hastily added. 

"So it's not an advance. Not a 'move' with you. But I'd like to bed you if it was possible."

Cough-

Ha-

The guards coughed, choked, and forced themselves to calm down after hearing their new master so openly offering to take their previous master to the bedroom. 

Feeling everyone's gaze on them due to that, Avian was enraged. "In your freaking dreams," she growled. "I'm going to my parents, and they will deal–"

However, Zenith cut her off while laughing, "Would they?" 

That laughter made Avian's stomach churn. 

"Duke, my dear father, how will you deal with me?"

"Are you trying to scare me by pretending my father is here?" as much as she wished that was the case, but the next thing she heard made her feel despaired. 

"But I am definitely here, Avi?"

"Father–?"

Before she knew it, Avian's father, the Duke, was actually right behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. 

"I know it should be shocking; I really do know. However, we can't hide the truth, can we?"

The Duke, who appeared from nowhere, managed to turn Avian as white as her hair. She clutched her shirt above her heart and bit her lower lip, unable to speak. 

'Why is everything going astray?'

Asking herself that, she finally pointed her finger toward Zenith. Hesitation was filling her, and an overwhelming nausea engulfed her, but she forced herself to ask. 

"Dad. He's saying he's the real heir or whatnot; I feel like I don't get it. Is what he's saying the truth?"

Blinking for a moment, the Duke then smiled helplessly. 

"Ah, he told you already?"

'Already?'

"That's correct," the Duke calmly announced. "Zenith is our real child. Just recently we've discovered that, and we want to have him back. Of course, that means we'll move everything to his name."

Every word that came out of the Duke's mouth made Avian feel more broken; something inside her was cracking with everything. She could not believe how easily she was about to be replaced. 

Perhaps the Duke had not noticed her shakiness because he continued to 'assure' her: 

"But you don't have to worry; I think we have two options. We can send you to the outskirts; there you wouldn't need to hide anymore. Ah! And if that was not to your liking, we can always take you as our adopted child."

"Such a life would be numerous times more comfortable, don't you agree?" 

Zenith did not hesitate to chim in, making Avian finally lose it. 

"Agree? You are kidding me, aren't you?"

"Hmm?"

"Duke Maximilian…" Turning around, her pink eyes were filled with rage and resentment. "After I sacrificed my whole life to go according to your plans, you are now discarding that all without an ounce of shame?"

"Avi–"

However, Avian was no longer listening. "Don't even call my name. Do you think you have the slightest right to call me?"

She was enraged and in pain. Her heart was squeezing with each word as disbelief and doubts sprouted in her chest. Even if by some chance she was not their real child, the Duke should not have treated her this way. 

"I've spent my entire life just doing whatever you wanted, and this is how you treat me?"

The way the Duke treated her made her feel as if she was nothing but an abandoned, thrown puppy. Avian felt as if the whole world was abandoning her. 

Her future plans, her dreams, and everything she was planning to have in the future were slowly crumbling before her. 

At that moment, she was nothing but a pathetic, abandoned little pup. And just for the sake of appearance, they did not abandon her completely and just pushed her away. 

"I don't accept this. I absolutely don't."

"But it's only right this way."

That was the last straw. Avian could no longer take it; she threw the Duke's hand off her shoulder and glared at him. 

"You know what? Screw it! My life was screwed thanks to you, and now you think you can fix it all by bringing a weird rando here?"

She sighed, feeling all of her power drained out of her. 

"I'm leaving, and you better not reach for me again."

"Avian!"

"Don't call my name, Duke Maximilian." With the remaining energy she had, she gave him a hard, hateful glare. 

Whether he was her father or not, Avian would never forget how he abandoned her easily and replaced her. 

'If I was a man. My fate would have been way different,' sighing internally, she left the mansion. No one dared to stop her. 

Feeling lost, Avian walked aimlessly down the town. The people immediately noticed her and greeted her, to which she could only smile bitterly and greet them back. 

They called her their young master, Avian Maximilian; however, Avian knew that she was no longer that person. For her father, she had sacrificed her youth, her gender, and even her personality.

Yet he easily replaced her by the new 'true' heir. Although he did not outright say it, she could hear the implication. She was now the fake heir that, if discovered, would be scorned and tormented. 

'My life suddenly took a sharp turn to the worst.'

Somehow, Avian ended up in one of the rare dark alleys in the town in her attempt to escape the crowd. She kneeled down and hugged her knees to her chest. 

"I don't know what I should be doing now."

Everything was too sudden to the point she could not think about anything anymore. The only feelings she could have at that moment were fatigue and helplessness. 

Her old habit flared up; she started biting her nail and chewing on it. But then she paused. A long, large shadow loomed over her, and as she looked up, she could not see the face due to the setting sun. 

"Huh…?"

"Avian Maximilian? You don't look as stunning as the rumors say, perhaps due to your current position. Why are you hiding in this place? Come."

"What…? Wait, I don't get it—"

"Come. I'll pick you up," the looming shadow casually informed her.