"Theo!" Ellen exclaimed, running through the Lawrence residence.
The young maid, with brown hair and round glasses, clutched her white dress with green details as she hurried through the house.
"Theo!"
Ellen leaned toward a glass window that overlooked the front garden of the residence, thinking the Young Master might be helping Lady Camille with the plants.
But the duchess was alone.
Taking advantage of the maid being distracted and with her back turned, Young Master Lawrence slipped out from beneath a wooden piece of furniture and crawled toward the outer corridors.
Upon reaching the terrace, Theo ran clumsily through the cloister while staring at the lawn to the right.
His beautiful amber-colored eyes shone at the divinity emanating before him.
Sitting cross-legged on the grass, completely relaxing his body and mind, Ethan Augustus Caesar—or Ethan Augustus De Lawrence—meditated with an ethereal vibration.
The third son of Colonel Leon Caesar, the second brother of the Emperor of Romerian, possessed an unparalleled presence.
The self-disinherited successor of the Caesar family, now bearing the title of Duke Lawrence, radiated an aura of flaming energy that affected the very climate.
Wings of fire formed along the ground as his consciousness found ways to leave burn marks on the walls of the house.
Ethan's white hair floated under the pressure of the atmosphere.
Standing between the pillars and admiring his father from afar, Young Master Theo stared in awe, unable to blink.
Unable to process the situation, Theo thought it was beautiful…
But the reality was different.
It was a sensation of pure oppression. No one should approach Ethan in that state due to the Duke's overwhelming presence, as well as the fiery properties of his core.
Anyone who got too close risked being burned alive—or at least suffering severe burns.
The training wing of the Lawrence residence was sealed on all sides, and whenever the Duke decided to meditate, all windows and doors of the house were locked to prevent a fire.
But the head butler had made a mistake that day.
A single door had been left open, and young Theo, only two years and ten months old, found the passage.
On the second floor, seated at the base of the glass window and watching his brother meditate, Edward De Lawrence was left speechless, mouth agape.
"It's beautiful…" Edward murmured.
The head butler, Etrian, was arranging a desk while observing alongside Edward.
"A year away, yet it's impossible to forget this sensation… Even protected by these walls."
"Weren't you with Elijah and Leon Caesar over the past few months?" Etrian asked.
"Uh-huh…"
"And none of them made you feel anything like this?"
Edward shook his head.
"Are you kidding? Elijah doesn't even come close. Dad may be a colonel… but it's unfair to compare him to Ethan. I don't think anyone I know comes close to him."
Etrian frowned.
"I don't know much about power levels or energy and chakra systems, so I can't really comment. But indeed… the sensation Lord Ethan emits is pure and divine."
Edward's white hair was blown into his dark brown eyes by the wind that entered through the door of Ethan's office.
"The Phoenix bird is easily overshadowed by your brother's brilliance… It doesn't even seem like it's his source of power."
Edward chuckled softly.
"The Phoenix is just a method to channel Ethan's power…"
He fell silent for a moment, sinking deeper into admiration for his brother.
Until, suddenly, his mind sparked with a reminder.
"Oh! Please grab the letter in my bag… It's from Sir Amiah to Ethan."
"Sir Amiah? The Chaotic Serpent?"
"Yes. He couldn't come to Te's birth, so he gave me a letter to deliver to Ethan when I saw him…"
Etrian quickly understood.
Rummaging through the backpack Edward had brought, he searched for the letter.
"Theo!" Ellen shouted again through the residence.
The scream was loud enough to reach the second floor.
Edward was startled and listened carefully.
"Young Master! Where are you?!"
His tension broke, and he burst into laughter.
"Is Te causing that much trouble?" he asked Etrian.
"Children… Always getting into mischief. Ellen doesn't want to restrain him, unlike Marta… so she's always spoiling him."
"What a mistake…"
"Indeed."
They laughed a bit more until they noticed Ellen's increasingly frequent cries. She sounded more desperate than usual…
Edward began to wonder if everything was alright, but his eyes never left his older brother. Sitting on the left side at the base of the window, he watched Ethan—tense now, concerned by the sudden silence of the maid.
Then, from that angle, he managed to see Theo in the cloister, between the pillars, right at the edge of the lawn.
He abruptly jumped back.
"Te!" Edward exclaimed nervously.
By instinct, Edward opened the window and shouted Theo's name again.
Due to the sudden aggression, Ethan's aura spilled out and climbed the walls of the house, reaching the second floor where the perceived threat was.
Reflexively, Edward punched the air, and before the flames could strike him, the pressure of the blow forced the Duke's aura back.
A punch far too strong for a twelve-year-old human.
"Ethan!" Edward shouted.
Awakening from his meditative state, the blue eyes of Duke Lawrence locked directly onto those of his youngest son—paralyzed, not by fear, but by admiration for such beauty.
With an extreme and blindingly fast movement, Ethan became nothing more than a blur to Edward and Etrian.
Like a flash of light, Ethan appeared embracing his small son, shielding him from the uncontrollable flames; his aura always protected what it deemed important from threats.
While Ethan was meditating, nearly unconscious of the physical world, anything that moved was a threat to the Duke.
Using his body as a shield, Duke Lawrence protected his son while deflecting the flames with his right arm.
He displaced his own aura from his consciousness for a brief instant.
Desperate, Ethan grabbed Theo by the head and brushed his son's blond hair aside, trying to see his eyes…
But the child was simply stunned with joy.
"Te…" Ethan murmured, but was cut off by his own son.
"That's so cool!" Theo said, his speech clumsy.
Ethan's eyes widened.
His son was emanating the same sensation as a Deviant: a layer of pure energy was wrapping around him.
'A core… He awakened a core without drawbacks, at this age?'
Ethan quickly reasoned what had happened.
'The Phoenix synchronized with you…'
"Young Master!" Ellen shouted breathlessly, rushing out through the door. "How did he even get here…"
"Son!" Camille followed right behind Ellen, holding her dress dirtied by plant fertilizer.
Even as a duchess who could hire a thousand gardeners, Camille loved tending to her own plants. She had been in the garden when she saw Ellen running after Theo, and decided to help.
She felt relieved—though still worried—when she saw Theo with Ethan. Knowing what her husband had been doing at that moment, her concern over burns was evident.
"Te…"
Ethan lifted Theo into his arms.
"Lord Ethan… Forgive my mistake…" Ellen said, holding back tears.
"No. I was the one who let an open door go unnoticed…" Etrian appeared with Edward as they ran down the stairs.
Both searched for reasons to take the blame, but Duke Lawrence refused.
"Relax. Everything's fine now," Ethan said, resting Theo on his shoulder. "Ellen, if I'm right… today is Theo's first day of class, correct?"
Ellen straightened her posture to answer.
"Yes!" she said, stuttering. "That's why I was desperately chasing after him… He's going to be late…"
"Is he still troublesome when it comes to bathing?" Ethan asked as he walked back into the residence.
"Uh-huh. No offense, but this little one is a pig!"
Theo, lying on his father's shoulder, looked at Ellen following them. Narrowing his eyes, he stuck his tongue out at his nanny.
Camille jolted backward when she saw it.
"Hey, hey! Where did you learn that?!" his mother scolded him.
"Learn what?" Ethan asked, unable to see.
Theo pretended innocence, looking up and rolling his eyes… but Camille already had the answer.
"Edward, wasn't it?!" Camille complained to her brother-in-law.
Edward pointed at his own chest in protest.
"Me?! I only got back today and haven't even seen him… How would I teach him something like that?!"
"And who guarantees you didn't see him?!"
"And how can you say that when you didn't even see me arrive?! Huh?!"
"You—"
Camille huffed and sighed deeply, bending forward to glare at Edward up close, reducing the height difference between them—Camille was considered a very tall woman, even by noble standards.
They narrowed their eyes and stared into each other's souls.
"Can you two stop that? Come on, Camille. Te's going to be late…"
Edward couldn't hold back his laughter and burst out laughing. While they were still staring each other down, he stuck his tongue out at the duchess.
"I knew it!"
Ethan's younger brother ran over to the Duke's side, standing next to Theo.
"Oh, Ethan… Sir Amiah sent you this letter," Edward said, handing it to his brother.
"Really? Master Amiah? You saw him?"
"Uh-huh. He was exhausted after returning from the southern frontier…"
After handing over the letter, Edward looked at his nephew and ruffled his hair.
Uncle and nephew looked at each other and smiled in return.
From afar, Etrian watched them enter the Lawrence residence.
'They have no manners at all…' he commented to himself, watching the behavior of one of the Empire's most influential noble families. 'Well, this is what a real family looks like. Respect doesn't die, even in moments like these.'