Amelia emerged from the car, with Damian by her side. Her expression was blank, but the light makeup slightly concealed her puffy eyes. Although she intended to snitch on Asher to their parents, she decided to conceal it for now, as there was a guest in the mansion.
Asher signaled for both of them to follow him and turned towards the living room area of the mansion. They passed through many servants who greeted Asher and the two people behind him. Although Amelia had been away for two years, most of the servants recognized her face. It was rare for the Greville family to hire new servants.
To lower the chances of having a spy in the mansion, the Greville family usually allowed the families of their employees to live in their own accommodation on their huge estate, which was half a kilometer in size.
They arrived at the living room and saw two small 10-year-olds with their parents. Nathan was absent this time, as he was busy with his regular training routine. They were surprised to see the two kids, but what shocked both of them was their eye color and hair.
"What? Who are these kids?" Amelia had multiple thoughts crossing her mind. Damian, on the other hand, was waiting for someone to explain the situation to him.
"It's a long story, but they are the kids of your uncle Ivar, and Asher found them," Arthur decided to clarify before his daughter came to some strange conclusion. Sylvie just chuckled, seeing Arthur.
"What? Uncle Ivar had kids?" Damian shouted.
"Yeah, let me explain," Sylvie decided to explain the whole story to them. Damian's presence was not really a bother to them. Damian's full name was Damian Seymour, and his family, although not elite, was still a powerful family. The Seymours were close friends with the Grevilles, as Arthur and the Seymour's Head were classmates and best friends when they were young.
Damian would frequently visit and play with Amelia and Asher. Although Asher ignored him most of the time, he found a balance where Asher was not irritated by his presence, and he could still spend some time with him. Due to Damian's lack of nosiness, Asher eventually accepted him as a friend.
During Sylvie's explanation, the twins also judged Amelia and Damian. They had already been informed of who these two were, and Lucas and Livia wanted to make a good impression on them as well. Asher, on the other hand, was on his phone the entire time, checking information for his new company, Aztech, and other complicated matters.
"Oh! They must have suffered so much," Amelia said, her eyes watering as she listened to the story of the twins. Despite her persona of being indifferent, which she copied from Asher, deep down she was a very emotional girl. Damian knew that she intentionally hid her true self and always wore a fake mask, but he decided not to question her about it.
Livia was excited to meet Amelia, but Lucas felt somewhat uncomfortable around her. This was not the case with Damian or anyone else in the room. He couldn't think of a reason why he felt this way, but the discomfort was small enough that he could ignore it.
Damian was sitting between Asher and Amelia. He saw Amelia get up and move towards the twins to hug them. Amelia didn't remember much about her Uncle Ivar, but she decided in that moment, upon hearing their story, that she would treat them like her own siblings. Deep down, she wanted another sibling to converse with, as Asher was obviously not an option for her. This situation was ideal for her.
Asher also knew that this way, Amelia was least likely to follow the previous path, and he would not have to kill her, as Damian would most likely resent him for doing so.
"As long as she doesn't interfere with my path, she will live, but the moment she comes in my path, forgive me, old friend, but she would have to die," Asher thought in his mind while glancing at Damian and Amelia and remembering his past. His killing intent was about to break out, but he reeled it in quickly.
These days, Asher was having a hard time killing people. His inner madness was driving him down a path of slaughter.
"These symptoms have begun again!" Asher said to himself. But he knew the cure for his unstable emotions going haywire and he would have to wait at least until he joined the academy.
"We need to introduce their existence to the world carefully," Arthur said with a serious face.
Amelia now knew why Asher had refused to bring her friends here. The chances of information being leaked were too high, and considering others' outlooks on illegitimate children, the twins' lives could experience many troubles in the future. She still didn't forgive him, but her anger was gone.
"We can introduce them at my birthday party," Asher spoke as he put down his phone.
"Yes, and they should also go through their awakening as early as possible," Damian spoke after thinking for a while. Although Damian was 14 years old, just like Asher who would soon turn 14, his thought process was more advanced than that of his age group. This was one of the reasons he was able to maintain a friendship with Asher.
"I was also thinking about this for Lucas, but I want to ask Livia about her thoughts on awakening as well," Sylvie spoke as she patted Livia, who was sitting beside Amelia.
"I also want to become strong and help Lucas!" Livia shouted, clenching her fist. She finally had the chance to support Lucas and didn't want to waste it. Seeing her determination, Lucas decided not to stop her, as getting stronger would help her avoid troubles as well.
"But you still need to rest at least for a week and get clearance from the doctor before going through awakening. Okay?" Sylvie pinched Livia's nose while telling her.
"Umm," Livia nodded at Sylvie's request.
"Good girl," Sylvie patted her head.
"But Amelia, did something happen? Your eyes were red when you came in?" Sylvie lifted her head towards Amelia and asked her.
Asher was not bothered about whether Amelia would lie or not. He didn't care how others, or even his own family, perceived him. They could think of him as a demon and he would still be fine with it.
"Oh, it was nothing. Just some minor problems. Leave that aside, we should go shopping with Livia and Lucas." Amelia clapped her hands and decided to change the topic. Although Arthur and Sylvie could guess what might have happened, they decided not to interfere right now. They were also troubled by Amelia and Asher's sour relationship.
"Yes, but you must be tired today. Get some rest and let Damian get some as well." Sylvie decided to go along with Amelia for now, but she would definitely question her later for the truth. Although being a doting mother, she knew frequent scolding was also required in good parenting.
Damian also decided not to speak against Asher and not mention the part about him openly making enemies with three elite families' children.
"Yeah, although I also want to chat with you all and I need to leave to meet my family as well," Damian decided to leave Amelia and Asher.
"And don't worry, nobody will know about their existence until Asher's birthday party." Although he knew they trusted him, he still decided to assure them nevertheless.
"Don't worry, you are like family to us as well, and we trust you enough to send you with Amelia," Arthur spoke while teasing him a little. Damian's ears were red, and he wanted to leave anytime now.
"Don't tease him! And Damian, say our greetings to your parents as well," Sylvie spoke while elbowing Arthur, leaving the twins confused by this conversation, but they did not voice it.
Damian said his goodbye to them and signaled Asher to follow him outside.
"Asher, do you have a moment?" he asked.
Asher nodded and decided to follow him outside.
"I know your reasons for today's action, but you acted a bit strange. You wouldn't make enemies with them like that normally." He was already noticing something different with Asher.
"Don't worry about it. It's just that their faces annoyed me," Asher decided to make a random excuse to him. Damian knew he wanted to dodge this topic.
"Okay, you must have your reasons, but try to be more lenient with Amelia." Damian spoke.
"And I think you should find another girl, unlike that uncultured fool you've been chasing for years," Asher told him with his indifferent face.
"Amelia is not uncultured!!" Damian shouted but stopped immediately and looked around him to see if anyone saw him.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about all this. I know what I'm doing," Asher told him and left him.
Damian also felt like he couldn't be more pushy with Asher for now, so he decided to leave in the car prepared for him.
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Author's Note- I want to mention that in the first volume, there might be more focus on side characters than necessary. However, this will change in the academy arc of volume 2, where Asher's point of view will be the main focus.
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