At the gentle suggestion, the child immediately stated what he wanted. When Koi smiled and nodded, Grayson stepped forward as if he had been waiting for it.
"Can I go with him? That’s fine, right, Bliss?"
Before Ashley could say anything after seeing his son’s bright smile, Koi answered first.
"Yes, go together. You see it over there, right?"
The children nodded readily in the direction Daddy pointed. Holding Bliss’s hand, Grayson led him to the ice cream counter, received the strawberry ice cream Bliss wanted, and handed it to him.
"Here."
"Thanks. Thank you."
Bliss spoke more calmly now that his emotions had settled, even thanking the servant who handed over the ice cream. The servant smiled and nodded with satisfaction.
Seeing his favorite ice cream, Bliss quickly cheered up. He opened his mouth wide to take a bite of the soft cream, but—
"Ow…."
His swollen eye throbbed, and he let out a pained sound. Frowning, he pressed his eye with one hand, when above him came the sound of Grayson clicking his tongue.
"That’s why you don’t hurt yourself, idiot."
At those words, the anger Bliss had barely calmed flared up again.
"I told you! That bastard made fun of me for not having purple eyes!"
While Bliss glared with wide eyes, insisting on his justification, Grayson remained completely composed.
"I’m asking why you hurt yourself."
Repeating the same words, Grayson added leisurely,
"If you get hurt, you’re the only one who loses. Why would you go out of your way to make your eyes purple just because of what he said?"
At the unexpected remark, Bliss paused.
Huh… now that he thought about it, that was kind of true…?
"Then… what do I do?"
Hesitating, he asked quietly. Grayson smiled brightly at him.
"You just make it so he can’t say things like that."
Hearing something he had never considered, Bliss couldn’t process it right away.
"...Huh?"
"Make it so he can’t say things like purple or not purple at all."
Seeing that his younger brother still didn’t understand, Grayson explained again. Then, looking down at Bliss with narrowed eyes, he gave a faint smile.
"Want me to teach you how?"
"Yeah!"
Unable to hold back his impatience, Bliss nodded vigorously.
"Tell me, hurry and tell me, Grayson! What do I do? Tell me quickly!"
Watching his younger brother stomp his feet in urgency, Grayson replied with a satisfied expression.
"Shoot his mouth with a gun. Then no one will ever be able to say things like that to you again."
At the unimaginable answer, Bliss’s eyes widened in shock.
"A gun?"
A gun? Papa had told him many times that such things should never be used. There was a gun at home, but it was locked in a safe, so he only knew it existed and had never even seen it.
And yet Grayson was saying it so casually—could he really do that?
Without realizing it, Bliss glanced back. Papa and Daddy, who had been watching them the whole time, came into view. Daddy waved at him with a smile. Looking away, Bliss lowered his voice as if afraid someone might hear.
"How do you even shoot a gun… something like that…"
"Well, if you don’t have one like earlier, then it can’t be helped."
Bliss, who had been about to say "That’s not allowed," was cut off by Grayson’s next words and fell silent again.
That’s not what I meant.
As he blinked, speechless, Grayson offered an alternative with a cheerful smile.
"Then just grab anything nearby and smash his mouth. Knock out a few teeth, and he won’t be able to say things like that again. If his tongue gets cut and he can’t talk for the rest of his life, even better. Then he’ll never say anything like that again, right? The others will learn their lesson from it too."
"Uh…."
There was nothing wrong with what Grayson said.
Except for the uneasy feeling lingering in one corner of his heart.
Bliss blinked blankly, then nodded slowly.
Seeing that reaction, Grayson lifted his chin arrogantly and said,
"If you have any problems, tell me. Like today, I’ll give you a solution."
"O-Okay."
Bliss nodded again, still tilting his head in confusion, but he expressed his thanks.
"Thank you, Grayson."
"It’s nothing."
Smiling, Grayson took his own vanilla ice cream from the servant and added,
"Helping others is always my greatest joy."
What on earth were they talking about?
Watching his two children whispering in front of the ice cream counter, Ashley Miller furrowed his brow slightly.
Surely Grayson wasn’t feeding Bliss nonsense.
As unease crept in, Koi suddenly muttered beside him,
"I only looked away for a moment, and something like that happened."
Glancing sideways, Ashley saw that he too was watching the children as he continued,
"I didn’t know Bliss would care about something like that. I thought he was still too young to understand traits…."
Everyone in the family except Koi and Bliss shared the same trait.
Purple eyes were one of the defining characteristics of an extreme alpha. Once manifested, the original eye color would turn purple.
Ashley himself had once had bright blue eyes before his manifestation, but now his eyes were the same deep purple as the rest of his children.
Only Koi and Bliss had blue eyes.
Koi was an extreme omega, and Bliss had not yet manifested because he was only six years old.
If Bliss also manifested as an extreme alpha, then Koi would be the only one in the family with different eyes.
That is, if the child became an extreme alpha.
The thought suddenly crossed Ashley’s mind, and his feelings grew complicated.
The fact that five out of the six children born between him and Koi were extreme alphas was already difficult to accept.
If even Bliss, the youngest who resembled Koi, manifested as an extreme alpha, he would truly begin to deny the existence of God.
Not that he had ever believed in one to begin with.
"Um."
Koi’s cautious voice brought Ashley back to reality.
Ashley turned his gaze to him silently, and Koi continued,
"Should we teach Bliss about traits?"
"No."
Ashley shook his head without hesitation.
"He wouldn’t understand properly yet, and no one knows what trait he’ll end up with."
"That’s true."
Koi nodded reluctantly.
If he learned about traits in detail, he would naturally begin to expect things. And if he ended up with a different trait from the rest of the family, he would be deeply disappointed.
So perhaps it was better to let him remain unaware.
Of course, Ash would never want that outcome.
"Bliss wouldn’t understand anyway. He’s not very smart."
The voice that suddenly cut in belonged to Stacy, Grayson’s twin.
Seeing the child’s blunt expression, Koi was momentarily taken aback.
"Stacy, you shouldn’t say things like that to your younger brother— no… never mind."
He tried to correct him but eventually gave up.
He had already repeated himself several times today. A sense of exhaustion washed over him.
Ashley spoke to him.
"Let’s talk about this later… Shall we head back? It seems we’re done here."
As if that was a signal, Nasaniel turned first and began walking toward the entrance.
The other children followed behind him. After confirming that, Ashley remained standing with Koi, waiting for Grayson and Bliss to return.
Let’s think about the rest later. That should be everything—
Or so he thought, but an unexpected situation occurred.
Suddenly, Bliss ran off somewhere, and only Grayson returned to them alone.
Ashley immediately frowned and asked,
"What happened? Why did you leave your brother and come back alone?"
At the obvious question, Grayson answered calmly.
"He went to the bathroom."
A sigh escaped Ashley’s lips.
Without realizing it, he pressed a hand to his forehead, then spoke in his usual low voice.