Butler Frank went out to inform the Aiden, Flynn, Ivelia and Ivar that the duke and duchess requested for their presence in the living room.
Aiden and Flynn already knew exactly why they had been called. Along with the twins, they gathered in the living room after dusting off the snow which had gathered on their hair and other parts of their clothes.
"An invitation from the Adencia Royal Family has arrived requesting all of us to attend the compulsory annual banquet" Leopold started.
"Well, it's not totally compulsory for us but it'll leave a bad taste if we don't attend" Leopold continued.
The Adencia royal banquet is an annual event hosted by the royal family towards the end of every year.
It is a compulsory banquet where every and all noble family is required to attend and even though some families were given special permissions for exemption, it was still an event every noble family tried their absolute best not to miss.
The purpose of these banquets were for noble families to familiarize themselves with one another and make connections just like any other social event, with the exception that this was obligatory.
Originally, this wasn't something that Leopold and Anna required to call the entire family for. Most noble families already knew that they had to go and a lot of them were usually really excited for it.
Asides from it being an obligatory banquet they all had to attend, it was after all, a chance to be able to socialize with other families, gain connections and favors and even possibly, meet a prospective partner. It was something both small and big noble families looked forward too.
The reason why Leopold and Anna requested for this was because even though Dukedoms could decide not to attend it and would be excused without any consequences, it would still paint a bad image for their family if they didn't.
Coupled with that fact, was the events that had happened over the past years to their sons and their eventual retreat from attending every social event that they had been invited to for the past three years.
Anna and Leopold looked at their sons and were relieved to see that they were smiling even after hearing the news.
Leopold then turned over to Ivar and Ivelia while asking them if they would attend.
"Now although you're both disowned nobles, you can still decide to attend or reject going to the banquet if you want to, especially considering that the Steelblade family aren't interested in your whereabouts ever since your father died"
"It's okay. Besides, we wouldn't want to stick out like a sore thumb" Ivelia responded.
"Very well then" Leopold said while nodding his head gently with an understanding look.
"Now. The real reason why we're calling this meeting is because of you two sweethearts" Anna finally spoke.
"You worry too much mum" Flynn replied casually.
"Yeah. Flynn's right you know. We're totally alright" Aiden added.
"You both said the exact same thing three years ago before you completely shut yourself out from any and all events unless it was compulsory, just like this one…" Anna said with a bit of sadness in her voice.
Although she was happy that her sons were faring far better than she could ever have hoped, the scars of the past still brought back sad and painful memories for her.
Aiden and Flynn's face contorted into a similarly sad expression as they watched their mum's lively face change into one of sadness.
A small silence passed through the room and the atmosphere became heavy.
Ivar who couldn't hold back his curiosity, cautiously asked what had happened, hoping that he wouldn't step on a possible minefield. Ivelia was also curious but she had held herself back from also asking.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened three years ago?" Ivar asked with a lot of care and caution in his voice.
The Belmont's looked at Ivar for a minute or two, making Ivar even more worried if he had really stepped on a minefield with his question but luckily for him, Flynn came to his rescue by giving a long sigh that broke the heavy silence.
"Haaaaaa… We were eventually going to need to tell both of you at some point or the other…"
"Where should I even start from…" Flynn continued, his voice carrying a bit of solemnity.
He then began to explain all that had transpired in as much detail as he possibly could.
He started from the very beginning, explaining how their family had always been the center of attention at almost every social event and how things drastically changed after the day of his and Aiden's awakening.
Flynn also detailed his gradual descent into fear and cowardice, mostly due to the bullying and insults he and Aiden had to tolerate, to how his relationship with with his brother and his parents had taken a turn for the worst and finally, his breaking point, where he had attempted to commit suicide.
Ivar and Ivelia had their expressions go through many variations, ranging from one of interest, to confusion, doubt, anger, shock and sadness.
By the time Flynn was done, Ivar had a very somber look on his face while Ivelia had tears forming on her eyelids which were threatening to spill out.
"That's all I guess…" Flynn concluded.
"It's… it's not fair" Ivelia began to speak, the tears on her eyelids now spilling out and running down her cheeks.
"It… it wasn't your fault… How is your talent even a way to determine your worth!... It's just not fair!" she continued, this time with a little more fierceness to her voice.
Flynn who was sitting right beside her just placed his palms on her head and with gentle taps, he spoke.
"It's alright Ivelia. It really is. Now I don't really know if what has happened was fair or not, but I've come to accept that it was just an unfortunate phase in our lives…" Flynn started.
"But we're all here now, aren't we? That means we're way past that phase… so, you shouldn't be so sad over something that's happened in the past"
"Besides, crying doesn't suit that beautiful face of yours. Weren't you just blushing like a tomato some few minutes ago, hmm?" Flynn concluded with a slight tease, the corner of his lips curling into a little smile.
"Flynn… you shouldn't be joking around at a time like this you know?" Ivelia responded while wiping her tears with the sleeves of her white jacket.
"Well apparently I can" he responded calmly, his hands which were patting her head, finally retracting after consoling her.
"Awww you two… That's so sweet!" Anna finally spoke again, her lively face now completely restored.
"Ivelia! What do you think about marrying Flynn!" Anna immediately followed up, her eyes thinning into slits with a gentle smile on her face.
"I know right. We can even have the wedding dress bought!" Aiden responded, his eyes taking the exact same look as his mum, albeit with a very mischievous one instead of a gentle smile.
Ivar on the other hand just nodded his head in a thoughtful yet approving manner, like he was totally onboard with the sudden proposition from the Duchess and Aiden.
Ivelia's face went completely red by that sudden request from Anna and she was flailing her arms, unsure of how to even respond to the sudden proposal.
Flynn however just burst into laughter at the obvious teasing from both Anna and Aiden.
"Come on now. Let's all stop teasing Ivelia. Her brain will short-circuit any minute from now if you guys continue doing that" Flynn eventually came to Ivelia's rescue.
"Teasing??" Anna asked while slightly tilting her head.
"But I really meant it though…" Anna continued with a confused look.
"Huh?!" Flynn, Aiden and Ivar all replied in unison with similarly confused faces.
-Ahem!
Leopold finally called all their attention back to him and thankfully, Anna didn't push the topic any further.
"So it's decided then" Leopold spoke again.
"Ivar and Ivelia will stay at home while the rest of us will go to the banquet"
"Flynn, Aiden, are you really sure that you still want to go?" Leopold asked his sons one more time.
"Positive!" both brothers responded in unison.
"Very well"
After Leopold concluded the meeting, Aiden sat still for a minute as everyone left the living room for the dining room to have their morning meal. He was pondering over something.
The first major event of the novel was the Adencia Royal Banquet Massacre. An event which led to the demise of the sons and daughters of many noble families both big and small.
This sparked a bloodbath between many noble families and further caused a divide between most of them, thereby causing the strongest of humanity's bastion of power, the nation of Arcadia to fall along with the rest of the world even though they eventually came to have so many SSS-rankers.
This was also the reason why Obelisk had been silent for the past one year. They had been the one who instigated the event by impersonating some individuals from fairly small noble families which were related to the bigger ones and this wasn't revealed until much later in the story.
'However, this isn't a world in the pages of a book!' Aiden inwardly said to himself, his fingers interlocked and his chin placed on it while also having a very serious expression on his face.
'If I'm being completely honest with myself, this whole MC thing will probably be far more of a burden than I'll ever be able to handle.... I might not even be able to save as many people as I've hoped...'
'But…'
"This is a world where all the people I've come to love and care for are inhabiting. As a result, I cannot afford to lose anyone… not again…" Aiden muttered under his breath with a burning resolution in his eyes.
Aiden then felt someone's hands on his shoulder and turned around to see Flynn standing beside him as he spoke.
"And this is a world where I will ensure that both you, me and everyone else in this family will survive until the very end" Flynn reassured his brother.
"No matter what!" Flynn concluded with an unwavering spirit.
"Yeah. Whatever it takes" Aiden responded similarly.
Maybe other people who had been reborn or quite possibly had similar scenarios happen to them would try to maintain the storyline and use it to their advantage but Aiden and Flynn didn't really care about preserving the original events.
If turning the story upside down from the beginning meant that they could save so many people's lives and actually give humanity a fighting chance against their inevitable future, then that is what they decided that they would do.
Whatever butterfly effect pops up due to their interference was something they decided they would deal with as they went on.