Controlling Fain like a perfectly tuned puppet, Fainyx guided the invisible golem out of the bedroom and down the grand staircase.
The estate was in a flurry of movement, the servants were rushing back and forth preparing for the arrival of the main family members.
Fainyx slipped the golem past them, moving seamlessly through the front doors and out toward the massive iron gates of the courtyard.
Standing in formation near the entrance were his father, the Duke, alongside Adam and Liam. They all are both stoic but he sees that his brothers are a bit tense.
A sleek, luxurious black carriage pulled to a halt, and the carriage doors opened. Fainyx, watching through the golem's eyes, finally saw the two strangers.
*Clack clack
They stepped out, instantly exuding the exact same suffocating, stoic aura as the Duke. They both possessed the striking hallmarks of the Nocte bloodline, the brilliant white hair and piercing blue crystal eyes.
Dressed in elegant, adult-like black formalwear, they appeared to be in their late teens.
As they greeted the Duke gracefully, Fainyx realized just how much they looked like his father, well it made perfect sense.
According to the history of the Nocte family, Duke Arthur von Nocte was the eldest, and these two were his younger twin siblings, born nine years after him.
They were currently in their second year at the Royal Academy, the exact same academy that Orion and the other main characters would eventually attend.
'They are absolute monsters in the academy's history...' Fainyx recalled, analyzing them.
'Alexander von Nocte is Ranked one and he excels in magic and holds the top scores in all theoretical exams.
The girl his twin sister, Hestia von Nocte is Ranked two. She is a swordmaster prodigy who holds the top physical examination scores, having already defeated a Great Swordsman. She is brilliant, but always scores exactly ten points behind her brother in theory test.'
Fainyx frowned slightly. With such overwhelming talent, how come he had never heard of them in his past knowledge of this world's history inside the game?
Before Fainyx could ponder it any further, the twins finished greeting their older brother and turned their piercing blue eyes toward Adam and Liam.
Fainyx braced himself, wondering what kind of cold, ruthless personalities these two geniuses possessed.
Then, he finally saw it.
The terrifying, icy facade shattered entirely.
"LIAM~!"
"ADAM~!"
Both twins screamed in perfect, delighted sync lunged forward, completely abandoning their aristocratic grace, and tackled their two nephews into a massive, suffocating hug.
"We missed our precious little nephews so much!" Hestia squealed, aggressively rubbing her cheek against a highly uncomfortable Adam. "Aw~ look at you! You aren't making any funny faces anymore! Is Auntie Hestia not fun anymore~? You're starting to look more and more like our boring older brother!"
She began pinching Adam's cheeks mercilessly.
"Cute," Alexander muttered. He had dropped to one knee to be at Liam's height. While his face remained slightly more stoic than his sister's, his blue crystal eyes were practically sparkling with overwhelming emotion as he rapidly petted Liam's curly hair.
Adam and Liam looked absolutely devastated, they tried to squirm away, but the strength of the two Academy prodigies was far too overwhelming, they were completely trapped.
"..."
Fainyx, watching through the invisible golem, was in absolute shock. Despite their terrifying reputations, the moment they saw his brothers, they turned into aggressively doting parents!
"Cough..."
The Duke let out a loud, heavy cough into his fist, looking incredibly tired. It was obvious he was already entirely used to his siblings' ridiculous behavior.
Realizing they were still standing in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by knights and servants, Alexander and Hestia immediately stood up. Within a fraction of a second, their cold, terrifying auras snapped back into place.
However, completely ruining their intimidating image, they both refused to let go of their nephews, effortlessly scooping Adam and Liam up into their arms and carrying them like toddlers.
Adam and Liam looked entirely miserable, having lost all means of escape.
The Duke sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Put the boys down... you two."
Alexander and Hestia reluctantly set their nephews on the ground.
"We will go inside and have a proper family dinner tonight," the Duke instructed.
"Tomorrow afternoon, we will set off for the Capital for the King's invitation."
The twins nodded, bowing elegantly, looking nothing like the chaotic mess they had been five seconds ago.
As the family turned to head inside, Fainyx immediately pulled the invisible golem back, navigating it safely up the stairs and into his bedroom.
Once the door was locked, Fainyx cut the connection, sinking back into his armchair with a massive sigh of relief.
'Thank God my father and brothers forbade me from meeting them. If they are that aggressive with Adam and Liam, my frail body would literally snap in half from one of their hugs.'
He thought as he was holding his shoulders, he was clearly shaken by their eccentric personalities.
'I hope I don't meet them...'
****
"Aw... they are both so cute, isn't that right, Brother?"
"I completely agree..."
The twin siblings walked down the grand corridors of the Nocte estate, maintaining their perfect, cold posture for the servants while quietly whispering to each other.
In truth, they absolutely adored kids, growing up...
Alexander and Hestia had excelled at everything. They both had wealth, talent, and power and knowledge that every people call them both a genius like their Big Brother.
But they had always felt like they were missing something... Something that they always wanted but didn't get... A younger sibling.
They desperately wanted younger siblings to dote on and to love conditionally.
They had even brought it up to their parents once, but unfortunately... their parents passed away shortly after.
The loss had devastated the family, Arthur their Older Brother has forced himself to take over the Dukedom at a young age, as he became cold and ruthless. The twins, losing both their parents and the warmth of their older brother, began to close their own hearts off to the world.
Until... she arrived.
Their cold and ruthless terrifying older brother... suddenly began showing emotions again, all because of a woman from another noble family.
'Celestyne'
She was incredibly sweet. She brought the twins homemade desserts, read with them, also bother them and invite them both in tea parties all by themselves by the flower garden she fixed herself,
and finally melted the ice surrounding their family.
When Arthur and Celestyne got married, the twins were overjoyed. And when Celestyne gave birth to Adam, it was the happiest day of their lives.
They finally had a nephew.
They showered baby Adam with so many expensive gifts that Arthur became immensely annoyed and officially banned them from buying presents.
Celestyne, however, secretly negotiated a treaty with them, they were allowed to give one gift a week.
'She was the best sister-in-law in the world! ' they both thought.
Then another year later... Liam was born, and the cycle of aggressive doting repeated.
They both love this girl who had brought Joy and laughter in this cold mansion. They thought that maybe they could finally be at peace.
....
...But those golden days were far shorter than they thought.
Six years ago... the twins had been participating in the grand Imperial Youth Combat Tournament in the Capital. They had fought brilliantly.
Eleven-year-old Hestia had won the sword division, and Alexander had dominated the magic division.
They had stood in the arena corridors, clutching their heavy golden trophies, their young faces flushed with triumph and joy.
"Celestyne promised to bake us a strawberry cake if we won!" Hestia had cheered, hugging her trophy tightly.
"I can't wait to show this to Adam and Liam! And the new baby!"
"We should leave immediately,"
Alexander had agreed, a rare, bright smile on his face.
But before they could even step out of the arena, a knight bearing the Nocte crest sprinted toward them.
The man's armor was covered in dust from riding without rest, and his face was pale with absolute dread as he collapsed to his knees before the two young prodigies.
"My Lord... My Lady..."
The knight choked out, tears spilling down his scarred face. "A message from the Duke... The Duchess... she suffered severe complications during the birth. She... she didn't make it."
*Clang!
The heavy golden trophies slipped from their hands, crashing onto the cold stone floor.
"W-what...?" Hestia's voice broke into a fragile, high-pitched whisper. Her vision instantly blurred with tears.
"No... no, that's a lie! She promised us a cake! No... No no no!"
Alexander fell to his knees, his hands trembling so violently he couldn't even pick up his fallen trophy. His breath hitched as a suffocating, agonizing pain ripped through his chest.
They abandoned their awards and rushed back to the estate.
It was raining heavly, they can feel a sense of dread coming towards the mansion.
When they arrived, the atmosphere was entirely dead. They finally arrived at the entrance and they saw their older brother outside.
"..."
Their Brother... Arthur looked scarier than he ever had, his eyes completely devoid of warmth, reverting back to the cold, ruthless monster of the North or rather his face was more scarier than that.
"Waaa!! Mama!!!"
"Hic! Where's Mama!! Waaa!!"
Adam and Liam were crying endlessly in the halls, their eyes was red and puffy from crying too much.
The twins had run to their older brother, tears streaming down their faces.
"Brother!"
Hestia sobbed, clutching Arthur's sleeve.
"Please, tell us it's not true! Where is she? Where is the new baby? Let us see the baby and Sister!"
Arthur didn't even look at her. He stared blankly at the wall, his voice utterly hollow.
"The Duchess is dead she's already buried. I have work to do."
He pulled his arm away and locked himself in his office, leaving his eleven-year-old siblings and two sons sobbing in the hallway.
While they took care of their grieving nephews, the same agonizing question burned in both of their minds
'What about the third child? Did the baby die with Sister?'
But Arthur never spoke of it and whenever they tried to ask, he gave them cold excuses about estate work and shut them out completely.
As the years passed, the twins enrolled in the Royal Academy.
They mourned the loss of their sister-in-law, and they mourned the loss of their brother.
They locked their shattered hearts away, earning the infamous titles of the
"Cold Prince and Princess of the North" during their first years at the Academy.
But recently, rumors had begun to spread through high society. Rumors of a third Nocte child, a frail sickly boy hidden away in the estate.
When the twins finally received an invitation from Arthur to visit, they were ecstatic.
They had silently agreed, before they returned to their second year at the Academy, they had to meet him.
"Do you think we will get to meet him at dinner time?" Hestia whispered as they walked away from the courtyard in the present day.
"It's possible," Alexander murmured back. "But... we didn't see the third child at the entrance. Do you think the rumors regarding him being severely sick are true?"
"Yeah," Hestia sighed, her eyes darkening with genuine worry. "It seems we need to find another way to see him."
Just then, Arthur approached them in the hallway. "I have matters to attend to regarding the diamond mines," Arthur said coldly. "We will meet at dinner."
The Duke turned and walked away. Immediately after, Adam and Liam, sensing the danger of being hugged again, quickly excused themselves, claiming they had to "study," and practically sprinted down the hall.
Alexander and Hestia were left entirely alone in the empty corridor.
They looked at each other. For the first time in six years, the cold masks they wore melted away, replaced by identical faces of pure mischief.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Brother~?" Hestia asked, a wicked smirk pulling at the corners of her lips, her long lustrous silver hair tied with a ponytail was now fluttering against a sudden wind.
"We are twins," Alexander replied, his voice still monotone but his face mirroring her exact smirk. "I always know what you are thinking, Sister~."
Back in the safety of his bedroom, Fainyx had just severed his connection to the golem when a sudden, violently cold shiver ran down his spine.
He rubbed his arms, looking around the empty, locked room.
'I really hope that isn't a bad omen...'
Fainyx thought, completely unaware that the two most formidable geniuses of the Royal Academy were currently plotting a stealth infiltration of his bedroom.