New chapter!
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“Master Aurelian, are you ready?”
Early that morning, Catherine stood outside the bathroom door in Aurelian’s room and called inside with some helplessness.
After waiting for a while, she received no answer.
“Master Aurelian?
Master Aurelian!”
Still no reply came from the bathroom.
“Master Aurelian, are you all right?”
Anxiety overtook her.
Catherine pushed the bathroom door open with force, only to see a sight that left her nearly speechless.
Aurelian was leaning over the sink, his mouth opening and closing slightly.
Catherine could even see a thin strand of drool slipping from his lips.
“Master…
Aurelian!”
Catherine roared beside his ear through gritted teeth.
Aurelian, who had been sleeping soundly, was so startled that he fell backward and landed on the floor.
“Ca-Catherine?
What happened?
Is something wrong?”
Startled awake, Aurelian had not yet realized that Catherine’s eyes were burning with fury.
“Master Aurelian, what do you think happened?”
Catherine’s voice was sweet enough to be dangerous.
Aurelian shuddered involuntarily and finally woke fully, noticing the state she was in.
“Catherine, let me explain.”
He scrambled to his feet, trying to explain, but his foot slipped and he lurched straight toward her.
Caught off guard, Catherine was knocked beneath him, and their mouths met.
The sudden accident left Catherine stunned, her face turning red in an instant.
“Ah…
Catherine, listen.
This was a misunderstanding.”
Aurelian hurriedly climbed off her, cold sweat breaking out as he tried to explain.
Catherine only rose slowly after he got up, her cheeks bright red as she stood there in a daze without speaking.
“Catherine?
Catherine?”
Seeing her blank stare and silence, Aurelian called her name twice more.
When she still did not respond, he tried to slip away quietly.
Just as he reached the bathroom door, however, a voice that made his hair stand on end sounded behind him.
“Master Aurelian, where do you think you are going?”
“Ahaha.
I called you for a while and you did not answer, so I was worried.
I thought I should get someone to check on you.”
Catherine stood there, face dark, her eyes seeming to glow with danger.
“Catherine, listen to me.
It really was an accident.”
Aurelian’s heart skipped.
Every survival instinct he had told him danger was approaching.
He immediately tried to explain, but Catherine suddenly began walking toward him, swaying slightly.
“Do not…
do not come any closer.
Catherine, I was wrong.”
Aurelian backed away from her dangerous smile, trying to escape.
But just as he turned and stepped toward the door, a hand grabbed the back of his clothes.
A tremendous force dragged him straight back into the bathroom.
“Catherine, no!
Have mercy!”
Aurelian’s miserable cry rang from the bathroom and echoed through House Pendragon’s castle.
“Aurelian and Catherine really do have a good relationship.”
Hearing his scream, Elaine smiled at Miles.
Miles nodded in complete agreement.
…
“Hiss…
Catherine, you really did not hold back.”
As Aurelian changed clothes, he looked at his red face in the mirror.
The lightest touch sent a faint pain through it, and he winced despite himself.
After Catherine dragged him back into the bathroom, she had forcibly helped him wash.
She had put all her strength into scrubbing his face and left him looking like this.
“That is your own fault, Master Aurelian.”
Catherine straightened his clothes while still puffed up with anger.
When she thought of what had happened, she grew angry again, though a faint blush still lingered on her cheeks.
“Yesterday, when the Hogwarts letters arrived, we agreed to go to Diagon Alley today to buy school supplies.
Then you stayed up doing potion experiments until after three in the morning.”
One year had passed since Dumbledore’s visit to House Pendragon.
Aurelian and Catherine were now eleven, the age to begin school.
Their Hogwarts letters had arrived the previous day, and Aurelian had decided to take Catherine to buy what they needed.
But he had stayed up working on potions until after three in the morning.
When Catherine woke him, he had still been groggy, and he had fallen asleep again while washing.
That was what led to everything that followed.
“Fine.
That one was my fault.”
Aurelian went blank for a moment after hearing her, then answered weakly.
“It was absolutely your fault.”
Catherine slapped him hard on the back.
Aurelian cried out at the sudden hit and began to complain, but when he saw her dangerous expression, he wisely shut his mouth.
“All right, Master Aurelian.
Let us go downstairs.”
Seeing that he had stopped talking, Catherine nodded in satisfaction and followed him out of the room.
…
“Father.
Mother.”
“Aurelian, Catherine, you are finally down.”
Elaine smiled teasingly as they sat at the breakfast table.
Catherine’s newly calmed cheeks turned red again, while Aurelian glared at Elaine in irritation.
“Aurelian, are you certain you do not want Bercas to buy everything for you?”
Miles flipped through the newspaper in his hands, glanced up at Aurelian, and asked.
“No.
School is about to start, and I need to replenish some potion ingredients myself.”
Aurelian shook his head and refused.
“Mother, you did not empty my vault today, did you?”
Then he remembered what had happened three years earlier and narrowed his eyes at Elaine.
“Aurelian, how can you look at your mother like that?
Am I that sort of person?
How heartbreaking.”
Elaine covered her face with both hands and began to sob.
“Stop pretending.
You know exactly what sort of person you are.
Did the money in my vault vanish on its own three years ago?”
Aurelian raised an eyebrow.
He knew she was acting and remained completely unmoved.
Elaine lowered her hands and laughed awkwardly.
“Enough.
Do not worry, Aurelian,” Miles said, not knowing whether to laugh or sigh.
“Your mother has not left the castle lately.
Besides, she would not joke with you about that today.”
“I would not be so sure.
It is not as if you two have set me up only once or twice.”
Miles’s words reassured Aurelian somewhat, but he still muttered under his breath.
Then he saw Elaine’s narrowed eyes, and his cheek twitched.
He pulled Catherine to her feet.
“We are done eating.
We are leaving.”
With that, he and Catherine used Floo powder and headed to Diagon Alley.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.