In the capital, the royal office remained crowded with unfinished reports and political matters, yet the atmosphere had long shifted away from work.
Lucas stood near the tall window overlooking the palace grounds, one hand resting loosely behind his back, his posture calm in the effortless way nobles admired.
Across from him, King Nol leaned against the desk, watching him with open amusement.
“Your brother already arrived at your estate,” Nol said casually.
Lucas barely reacted.
“I know.”
Flat.
Disinterested.
As though Peter’s sudden visit meant nothing.
Nol studied him carefully before scoffing softly.
“You always know everything before anyone tells you.”
Lucas said nothing.
Then the king added casually—
“But tell me something.
Does it truly not bother you?”
Lucas finally glanced toward him.
“Leaving your wife alone while another man walks freely through your home,” Nol continued.
“Your own brother, no less.”
A faint irritation crossed Lucas’s expression.
“You’re overthinking it.”
“Am I?”
Lucas looked away again.
“She’s predictable,” he said calmly.
“Olivia revolves around me.
That hasn’t changed.”
The words came smoothly.
Confidently.
But there was a slight pause before them.
Small.
Almost invisible.
Still—
Nol noticed.
Because Lucas rarely hesitated.
“People change,” the king said quietly.
Lucas didn’t respond this time.
The silence stretched briefly before Nol straightened, signaling the end of the discussion.
“The capital matters are mostly settled,” he said casually.
“Return tomorrow if you want.”
Then he left.
Leaving Lucas alone in the quiet office.
For several moments, Lucas remained still near the window, his thoughts slower now.
The reports coming from the estate felt… strange.
Olivia bringing Max back herself.
Taking in another child.
Ignoring letters longer than usual.
Even Peter’s sudden interest.
None of it fit the version of her Lucas had always known.
“She doesn’t change,” he muttered quietly to himself.
The sentence sounded more like reassurance than belief.
“She waits.”
Because Olivia had always waited for him before.
Always chased.
Always endured.
Always remained exactly where he left her.
And yet—
For the first time in years, uncertainty slipped quietly into his thoughts.
Something feels different. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Far from the capital, the atmosphere inside the estate shifted the moment a sealed letter arrived.
Nur handed it silently to Olivia during the afternoon.
The moment Olivia saw the crest, her fingers stiffened slightly.
Lucas.
Her expression remained composed as she opened it, though her eyes slowed near the final lines.
He was returning.
Soon.
Too soon.
In her previous life, Lucas had stayed away for years, leaving her alone in this estate while she wasted herself waiting for scraps of affection that never came.
But now—
Everything was changing too quickly.
Olivia lowered the letter slowly.
Why now?
Her gaze drifted toward the courtyard outside the window where Max and Mike were sitting together beneath the tree.
Max was speaking animatedly about something.
Mike looked unimpressed.
Though the corner of his mouth still twitched upward slightly anyway.
The sight eased something tense inside her chest.
“It doesn’t concern me,” Olivia said quietly.
The words sounded calm.
Controlled.
As though she truly believed them.
“I won’t return to that life.”
Still—
Her fingers remained tightened around Lucas’s letter a little longer than necessary.
Because whether she wanted it or not—
His return would change things.
Again.
Dinner that evening felt unusually lively.
Voices overlapped constantly.
Max spoke more than usual, trying very obviously to keep Olivia’s attention entirely on himself.
Mike pretended not to care.
Which only made it more obvious whenever his eyes drifted toward Olivia to check whether she was still listening to him too.
Peter sat quietly at the opposite side of the table, watching everything unfold with growing discomfort he couldn’t quite explain.
Every small interaction unsettled him.
Olivia adjusting Max’s sleeve absentmindedly while listening to him speak.
Placing Mike’s favorite dish closer without being asked.
Noticing immediately whenever either child went quiet.
It was natural.
Effortless.
And strangely warm.
Peter hated how unfamiliar it felt.
Because none of it resembled the household he grew up in.
Affection in noble families was usually formal.
Measured.
Conditional.
This wasn’t.
Max suddenly went quiet halfway through dinner.
His fingers slowly tightened around Olivia’s sleeve.
“…When Father comes back,” he asked quietly, “will things go back to before?”
The table fell silent.
Max lowered his gaze.
“Will you stop looking at me again?”
Peter’s chest tightened unexpectedly at the question.
Because beneath the words sat something painfully familiar.
Olivia reacted immediately.
Too quickly to be calculated.
She pulled Max against her without hesitation, one hand holding the back of his head firmly against her shoulder.
“No,” she said instantly.
Then again, quieter this time—
“No.”
Max clutched her tightly.
“You won’t send me away again?” he whispered.
Olivia’s arms tightened slightly around him.
“I won’t.”
Her voice remained low.
Steady.
But Peter noticed the tension hidden beneath it anyway.
“Nothing will return to how it was before,” Olivia continued quietly.
“So stop thinking about useless things.”
The words sounded cold.
But the way she held Max completely ruined the effect.
Slowly, Max relaxed against her, his breathing evening out little by little.
Across the table, Mike remained silent.
But Peter noticed the change in his expression immediately.
That brief shadow crossing his face.
That instinctive expectation of being forgotten once attention shifted elsewhere.
Then Olivia looked toward him.
Just briefly.
“Mike.”
He looked up immediately.
Olivia nudged a plate slightly toward him.
The sweet pastries he quietly preferred.
“You barely touched your food.”
Simple words.
Nothing overly affectionate.
Yet Mike visibly relaxed anyway.
Peter stared silently at the scene.
Because Olivia hadn’t pulled away from Max while doing it.
Hadn’t broken one child’s comfort to reassure the other.
She simply… made room for both.
And somehow that confused him more than anything else.
Because it felt real.
Not forced.
Not selective.
Just natural.
Later, after dinner ended, Olivia looked strangely hesitant for the first time that evening.
Her fingers tapped lightly once against the table before she finally spoke.
“…Would you two like to sleep in my room tonight?”
She sounded almost awkward asking it.
As though already expecting rejection.
Instead—
Both boys lit up instantly.
“Really?!”
“At your room?”
Their voices overlapped completely.
Excitement appeared so openly on their faces that Olivia blinked slightly in surprise.
Peter watched silently from across the table.
And something uncomfortable settled deeper inside his chest.
Because the boys reacted like she had given them something precious.
Something they secretly wanted badly enough not to ask for themselves.
And Olivia—
Olivia looked equally startled by how much that realization affected her too.