Chapter 2

“Go receive education.”

Airia and Asiel stared at their father in confusion. They were not confused on what to reply, they were confused about why he would even bother to tell them to do this, knowing full well what their personalities are like.

---

They had this same conversation when they were 14.

Before, the twins went to the ‘new room’ to request the trending horror-romance novel at that time, however, without even being given the chance to say one word, their father told them to go to school. Obviously, they rejected the offer without a second thought. One, because they’re not of age to enter. Two, education is useless for a bunch of slackers like them.

The twins decided to be useless and become human parasites that leech off the poor man.

And that didn’t end well.

...but that’s for another time to discuss.

Airia clicked her tongue, attempting to control her facial expressions. She is a patient person, patient enough to hear Asiel’s grumbling for hours, listening to every detail while being annoyed. But somehow, whenever she looked at this man in his 40s who looked exactly like her, she could groan immediately at just the sight of him.

The twins disliked him, but not to the extent of hate.

Unlike her brother, she is extremely vocal about everything she gets irritated about in her life, she’d say it right away. However, aside from her way of expressing irritation, she is very good at hiding her feelings and keeping secrets.

Her irritation is really apparent at this moment.

“So,” Ian crossed his arms, “You two are attending the academy.”

‘Called it’

“...”

Airia rolled her eyes, reactions not differing very much from their first life. The Academy. It is known as a place where people obtain new knowledge. It is where people can pursue their dreams. It is a place where only diligent students can survive. People of the Rioca Empire viewed the academy as an amazing place.

But the students of the academy thought differently, everyone had the same answer when asked how they would describe the academy. Hell.

Ah, putting that aside, the most well-known fact about this particular academy is, only people who have reached the age of 16 can attend it.

‘...We’re only 14.’

“It’s named Kingston Oak Academy, a place where people from different countries learn together. They have produced a lot of talents and heirs who contributed greatly to the empire, including the Duke of Calais, Ian Krefur Calais.”

“I hated that place.”

“What a surprise master, I did not know that.”

The voice came from the duke’s accountant who is technically the duke’s favorite person, pushing back his glasses while sitting on the other side of the room calculating this month’s expenses leisurely. Westin, who felt like he was being stared at by two pairs of eyes, shifted his vision from the accounting book towards the twins.

“Is there an issue, young master?”

“How long have you been there?”

“I have always been here,” Westin smiled while tapping numbers on the mana paper.

“Can you explain more, Westin?”, Airia crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.

“As you wish, young miss. Let me start off with the name.”

“You already said that though,” Asiel responded in a monotonic way.

“...It’s named Kingston Oak Academy, an academy with hundreds of years of history, aside from our great duke right here. The emperor, the previous emperor, duke of Vanroche of the neighboring country, the previous emperor of Handac, the current emperor of Handac, the current crown prince of our lovely empire, the-”

“Stop stop stop stop stop, enough. ENOUGH.” Ian couldn’t take it anymore and decided to cut him off.

“Pardon, was that too many words?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.” The three of them answered in unison, Ian looked at the twins in confusion while the twins just gave him a ‘what-are-you-looking-at’ face.

“Oh, my sincerest apologies. Basically, it’s an elite school with lots of talents. If the young master and miss decide to apply, I will be overjoyed.”

“Yes, this would be the breakthrough of you two’s uselessness, all you guys do is sleep, play, sleep, eat, sleep, waste my money on weird titled books and… figurines?“

Airia smiled and turned to Westin and asked him, “Westin, what is the age requirement to be able to enter the academy?”

“It’s 16, young miss, the best time for learning.”

“I agree, 16 is the best age for learning, so we should wait for two more years,” Asiel clapped his hands while speaking in a joyous tone.

“...”

“Why?” Ian and Westin both looked confused as they questioned the twins.

‘...are you kidding me! Are you f*cking kidding me! No wonder you never brought it up again after we rejected it before.’

“How old are we?”

Ian and Westin looked at each other.

“...”

“Ah! I was so busy I forgot!”

‘Exactly how could you-’

Westin exclaimed from the sudden realization of his mistake while Ian on the other hand still wore the same indifferent expression.

“What’s the problem?” Ian looked at Westin in confusion.

Westin hesitated then coughed a few times and answered his question, “If I must say master, they are only 14 this year, so they will not be able to enter yet.”

“Oh.”

“Oh, I knew that-”

“No you didn’t-” Airia interrupted him.

“-Anyways, look at this pen I bought which is made out of gold,” Only to be forcefully cut off by Ian, who quickly and swiftly switched the subject.

“Lovely, master. It looks lovely,” Westin looked over whatever his master just did, then skillfully answered him, continuing the flow of the conversation.

“...Aside from that Father, we would like to offer a proposal,” Asiel ignored the sudden ridiculous turn of the conversation. The so-called Father and his accountant looked his way, confused once again.

“Young Master, you’re acting really weird today, not only did you not scream at the furniture, you’re acting quite composed.”

Asiel gritted his teeth then shouted, “I’M ALWAYS COMPOSED.”

“Ah, that’s more like it.”

Westin heaved a sigh of relief, while Airia let out a ‘pfft’ sound on the side and Ian still had that indifferent look on his face. Asiel rolled his eyes in response to their reactions.

“Anyway,” Asiel sighed, “We don’t mind going to the academy in the future.”

“Wait, what?”

“We don’t mind,” Asiel paused before continuing, “However, we do have conditions.”

“Oh, my,” Westin placed his hand over his mouth, taken by surprise. Not only Westin but also Ian himself was taken aback by the words coming out of Asiel’s mouth, if it was the normal Asiel, then he would have immediately rejected the order, now he’s not only agreeing but even negotiating, it was truly an odd sight.

Because of that, Ian decided to listen to what he has to say, “Hm, interesting. Tell me then, what are they?”

Airia glanced at Asiel, wondering whether he’s lost his brain or not ‘What is he thinking? We’re gonna run away, right?”

Asiel smirked in confidence while crossing his arms and started stating his conditions, “Well, in the future, when we finally arrive at that damned place, we have three in total. First of all, the both of us have to be together 24/7.”

“Siscon as always, my son.”

“That’s not the point here,” Asiel clenched his fist and knitted his brows holding back his anger, while Airia just stared blankly.

“Second, we will have the authority on our registration and attendance. With you not interfering, that includes not admitting that we’re Calais.”

“Hm, why’s that?” Ian questioned them. Calais is a name to be feared of, even though the current head does not have a great reputation, but the Calais name itself is of prestige; everyone bearing that name has a talent blessed by the heavens.

“That’s because we’re ashamed of you,” Airia finally got the gist, going with the flow by answering him.

“HM?”

“She means we are not good enough to be related to you because of your neverending excellence…and talents…” The older twin pondered, “because uh, they’re...too...amazing…?”

“Ah, why didn’t you say so? If it’s because of that then I’ll happily comply.” A spark appeared beside his eye.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Everyone was speechless for a moment, wondering how this man can be so shameless.

“Oh, anyway, next condition, you will provide us with 250 gold every month and we will spend it however we want to.”

“Impossible, declined, don’t even mention that to me.”

“Oh c’mon, just go fasting for 3 or 4 days.”

“Decline. Declined, don’t even think about it.” A visible scowl is apparent on the man, brows knitted together.

‘Amazing, how emotional of him.’ Asiel unnerves from the thought.

“Sire, I’m afraid that regular costs for the master and lady are also around that number.”

“Who gave them so much???”

“Think about it as investment, both require the same amount of money, but the academy would benefit you, won’t it?”

“...Hm,” Ian pondered for a while and continued, “And what if I don’t allow it?” It indeed did not sound too bad, but he still did not fully support the idea of providing them with that amount of money each month.

“Then we’ll continue to be useless leeches chipping away your money, your choice.”

“...”

“How rare is it for us to have the motivation to do something, the next time this sudden motivation would come is when you take your last breath.”

“Hm… Alright, fine. But could it be 200 gold instead-”

“250.”

“...fine, but you brats better be useful in return.”

With that, they ended the conversation between the twins and their father.

---

After Asiel and Airia both left, Westin approached Ian and questioned him with an unreadable expression.

“Your grace...can you remind me why we are even doing this? Now the young master and young miss think that I don’t remember their birthdays.”

Ian got up from his seat and stared out the window, “Westin, do you know what characteristics all the Calais have?”

Westin thought for a moment and answered the question, “They are all… exceptionally good-looking?”

Ian chuckled hearing that, he replied to Westin with a smile, “Yes, you’re right. That’s definitely one of them. But another one is that we are all exceptionally smart, especially me.”

“...” Westin had nothing to say. Even though he knew that the man in front of him was being serious, he still couldn’t get used to this abnormal shamelessness.

“And that also applies to those brats that just left, but how odd, they...are not acting as usual. The sudden arrival of ambition is truly suspicious.”

“Maybe they’ve read an action fantasy book about… doing something?”

“You’ve paused, if that can’t convince you, needless to say, I don’t believe it.”

“Your grace…”

“Investigate.”

“Understood.”