A/N: (Five-month time-skip)
Aiden stepped out of the main doors of the mansion while wearing a very thick black hoodie, black pants and dark-brown winter boots.
He had let the hoodie itself down and his black hair was in full view as they spilled across the sides of his face in smooth waves.
He then rubbed his hands together in an effort to generate a bit of warmth while blowing air into his palms from the cold.
"Even mana has nothing on a freezing weather huh…" Aiden muttered to himself.
He then looked around the surroundings of the ridiculously large compound and every nook and cranny of it was filled to brim with thick layers of pristine snow.
Everywhere seemed to be completely blanketed in white by the snowy landscape, from the canopy in the corner protecting the cars, to the beautiful and expansive garden and its tall trees, to the crevices of the windows and the small ledges surrounding them which now had small icicles hanging from them and finally, the paved pathway which led to the mansion's entrance.
Traces of the now brown-colored grass could still be seen occasionally sticking out of the snow though.
Ivelia and Ivar could also be seen in the middle of this blanket of white, just a few meters away from Aiden while staring at the snow-covered scenery around them.
Aiden let out a puff of air and watched the vapor from his breath gradually disappear into the air, his gaze travelling to the sky as he watched the delicate snowflakes drop.
"This reminds me of back then…"
As Aiden muttered to himself, he began to reminisce about his previous life, specifically a scene similar to this, where he had gone to take extra classes on a weekend at a nearby cram school for college that was tutoring for free.
He remembered spending a much longer time than he had originally planned and after leaving the gates of the cram school, looked up at the sky just like this before he then hurried along to a nearby convenience store to buy a few groceries with which he could use to cook a meal for Ken.
On getting home, he found two steaming hot bowls of soup which had already been prepared by Ken.
He was really surprised that day and he really wasn't sure what he should've been more amazed by… that his younger brother could even cook or that he had done it all while dragging himself around the room without a wheelchair.
Ken had casually responded that he had learned how to cook by watching him cook and that although it was a hassle to have been dragging himself around the room with his hands alone, their room was fairly small so getting from one point to the other wasn't really a problem.
"The least I could've done was prepare soup since you were running late. I didn't want you coming home only to start immediately cooking again"
Those were his younger brother's exact words.
The black-haired youth smiled after remembering this and continued to do so while thinking about other few happy moments he had with his younger brother.
Suddenly, Aiden began to squiggle like a worm as he felt something cold pouring into his back. He then turned around after stopping and saw Flynn trying to hold back his laughter.
"What was that for man?!"
"Well you were spaced out and you didn't even notice me coming out of the door. I even tried calling you a few times but it seemed like you were on another planet…" Flynn said as he continued.
"So I did the next best thing. Filling your hoodie with snow!" Flynn concluded, barely trying to suppress his laughter while doing so.
"Haha! Very funny!" Aiden replied sarcastically.
"In any case, it's really been two years huh…" Aiden spoke again after responding to Flynn.
"It has. I'd have never expected you to be at A-rank at the start of the story. Doesn't that make you OP?"
"Low-tier A-rank remember?" Aiden replied to Flynn before continuing.
"Also, you speak as if you don't know what machinations I'm going to be facing from now on, especially at the Academy"
"This time however, I'll be there to make your life easier" Flynn said while placing his hands on his brother's shoulders and patting it lightly, after which he then continued.
"And it all begins with tomorrow's royal banquet"
"Yes it does. Thanks Flynn" Aiden said with a smile.
"You're welcome" Flynn responded while moving away from Aiden and towards the twins but he stopped just a few inches from him with his back now facing him and spoke again.
"Remember bro. I've always got your back"
After Flynn said this, he walked in long but casual strides towards the twins and began to speak to them. Aiden just shook his head at his brother's last words and smiled.
The smile on Aiden's face then began to change from a warm one to a devilish one as he scooped up a bunch of snow from the ground and threw it with just enough force directly at Flynn's head.
Flynn who was talking to Ivar and Ivelia immediately staggered from the unexpected snowball that hit him and fell on Ivelia.
Normally, he would have immediately gone after Aiden for what he did but right now, he had another chance to tease Ivelia who was pinned below him and he was going to take it.
"Um Flynn? I know it wasn't on purpose that you fell on me but can you move aside?" Ivelia pleadingly asked.
She had seen the usual glint of amusement in this handsome devil's eye and she knew what was coming.
"And if I don't?" Flynn said while inching his face closer to her.
His hair which was parted on one side was now tickling her ear and from the way she was squirming around like a worm, Flynn knew he was playing on one of Ivelia's weakness.
"Your hair's tickling me!" Ivelia said meekly, her cheeks and ears gradually reddening as she tried to move her face away from Flynn's face which was closely inching towards hers.
'Doesn't this guy know how dangerous his face is up close! No lady can survive seeing such a handsome face like this up-close and personal' Ivelia thought to herself, her heart racing as she did so.
She had expected to have gotten used to seeing his face over the past year and a few months but moments like this really made her rethink that. He was always finding an opportunity to tease her and apparently when she asked him why, he said he liked her reactions.
"But you love stroking my hair, don't you?" Flynn continued with a teasing smile without even moving his face away.
He just kept moving it closer towards Ivelia's.
Ivelia's face was completely red like a tomato and her brain had almost short-circuited at this point, causing her to close her eyes shut in anticipation from what Flynn would do and she didn't have to wait long as she suddenly felt air blow into her ear. This caused her to let out a cute yelp.
"Uwah!"
"Your ears are too ticklish Ivelia…" Flynn said with a very contented smile while finally getting up from where he pinned her down.
He then stretched out his hands to her and pulled her up while still smiling contentedly, bits of snow dropping from the back of her coat as he did.
Ivar and Aiden had watched the entire thing happen without even planning to help Ivelia out. They just shook their heads and enjoyed the show.
Ivar however, wondered whether Aiden kept a popcorn in his spatial ring at all times as he watched him return the one he was currently munching on back into his spatial ring.
"You're always doing this Flynn" Ivelia said after recovering from what Flynn had done to her.
She seemed like a mother who wanted to scold her son as she placed her hands on her waist and glared at Flynn fiercely from below. Flynn just kept his amused smile while staring at her from above as she began to reprimand him.
This was now their usual thing. Flynn would initiate the teasing and Ivelia would reprimand him after the teasing was done.
'I think my sis enjoys it too…' Ivar thought to himself with a smug smile.
"And you two! You couldn't even help me out. Wait! Is that popcorn on your hoodie Aiden?!" Ivelia asked in confusion while glaring at her brother and Aiden.
"What? No! This is just a snowflake that's about to dissolve. See!" Aiden said as he flicked the popcorn away from his hoodie into the snow.
"Pfft! She caught you red-handed man! Hahaha!" Ivar began to laugh.
"Ivelia. There's an easy way to make them pay" Flynn suddenly said, his hands placing three snowballs he had made in Ivelia's hand while she was reprimanding the other boys.
"And that's a snowball fight!" Flynn immediately concluded and both he and Ivelia began to pelt Aiden with snowballs in rapid successions.
"Wait! Ivar's right there. Target him first!" Aiden shouted in disbelief while trying to dodge all the snowballs heading his way.
Although he could do it easily, it would have been no fun so instead, he tried to evade it and make his own snowballs to throw back at them like a normal human being.
"Hahahaha…" Ivar was still laughing when a snowball hit him directly in his mouth, some of it entering his mouth and effectively shutting him up.
This caused Aiden to burst into a hearty laughter. His throw had been so accurate!
"Bull's eye baby! Hahaha!" Aiden declared with another burst of his hearty laughter.
"Oh it's on like donkey-kong!!!" Ivar shouted and began to throw snowballs at Aiden too.
Everyone had finally ganged up on him and they began to laugh as they kept watching him struggle to evade all the balls that kept coming his way.
"They seem to having so much fun" Anna who had been watching them for a while from the window in her room said with a motherly smile on her face.
"We made the right choice to have Ivelia and Ivar stay with us, didn't we honey?" Anna spoke once again, this time to Leopold who was standing beside her.
"Yes dear. We really did" he responded to his wife with a warm smile of his own.
-Knock knock!
"Come on in Frank" Leopold responded to the knock on the door.
"Good morning sire. Good morning Ma'am" Frank bowed slightly while greeting the Duke and Duchess before he continued.
"An invitation letter has arrived from the Royal Family to the Belmont's to request for your attendance at the annual royal banquet"