"Theo!" exclaimed Ellen, running through the Lawrence residence.
The young maid, with brown hair and round glasses, grabbed her white dress with green details to run through the house.
"Theo!"
Ellen leaned out of a glass window that offered a view of the front garden of the residence, thinking that the Young Master might be helping Lady Camille with the plants.
But the Duchess was alone.
Taking advantage of the fact that her maid was distracted and turned away, the Young Master Lawrence sneaked under a wooden piece of furniture and crawled toward the outer hallways.
Upon reaching the terrace, Theo clumsily ran through the cloister while glancing at the lawn to the right.
His beautiful amber eyes shone with the divinity emanating before him.
Sitting cross-legged on the lawn, 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, had an unparalleled presence.
The self-disinherited heir of the Caesar family, now holding the title of Duke Lawrence, exuded a flaming energy aura that affected the very weather.
Wings of fire formed on the ground as his consciousness found ways to leave burn marks on the walls of the house.
Ethan's white hair levitated with the atmospheric pressure.
Standing between the pillars and admiring his father from afar, the Young Master Theo stood gaping, unable to blink.
Unable to process the situation, Theo found it beautiful...
But the reality was different.
It was a feeling of pure oppression. No one should approach Ethan in that state due to the Duke's Imposing Aura, as well as the flame properties of his core.
Anyone who got too close would risk being cremated alive or suffering severe burns.
The training wing of the Lawrence residence is locked on all sides, and when the Duke decides to meditate, all windows and doors of the house are sealed to prevent a fire.
But the head butler had made a mistake that day.
A single door was left open, and Young Theo, only two years and ten months old, found the passage.
On the second floor, sitting by the window and watching his brother meditate, Edward De Lawrence was speechless.
"It's beautiful..." murmured Edward.
The head butler, Etrian, was arranging a desk while keeping Edward company.
"A year away, but it's impossible to forget this feeling... Even protected by these walls."
"Weren't you with Elijah and Leon Caesar these past few months?" inquired Etrian.
"Yeah..."
"And neither of them made you feel anything like this?"
Edward shook his head.
"Are you kidding? Elijah doesn't even come close to this level. 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 and the energy and chakra system, so I can't really comment. But indeed... The aura Lord Ethan emits is pure and divine."
The strands of Edward's white hair caught his dark brown eyes as the wind entered through the door of Ethan's office.
"The Phoenix is easily overshadowed by your brother's brilliance... It doesn't even seem like she's his source of power."
Edward chuckled softly.
"The Phoenix is just a method for Ethan to channel his power..."
He fell silent for a moment, sinking deeper into admiration for his brother.
Until, in an instant, his mind clicked with a reminder.
"Ah! Grab a letter from my bag, please... It's from Sir Amiah to Ethan."
"Sir Amiah? The Chaotic Serpent?"
"Yes. He couldn't come for Theo's birth, so he gave me a letter to deliver to Ethan when I saw him..."
Etrian quickly understood what it was about.
Rummaging through a backpack Edward had brought, he searched for the letter.
"Theo!" Ellen shouted through the residence again.
That shout was loud enough to reach the second floor.
Edward was startled by the scream and listened carefully.
"Young Master! Where are you?!"
His tension broke, and he burst into laughter.
"Is Theo giving you a hard time?" he asked Etrian.
"Kids... They're always up to something. Ellen doesn't want to scold him, unlike Marta... So she's always spoiling him."
"What a mistake..."
"Indeed."
The two laughed a bit until they noticed Ellen's frequent screams. She seemed more desperate than usual...
Edward even wondered if everything was okay, but he couldn't take his eyes off his older brother. Sitting on the left side of the window sill, he watched his brother... though tense and worried about the maid's sudden silence.
Until, from that angle, he spotted Theo in the cloister, between the pillars and at the edge of the lawn.
He suddenly jumped back.
"Theo!" he exclaimed nervously.
Instinctively, Edward opened the window and shouted for Theo again.
Due to the sudden aggression, Ethan's aura spilled and climbed the walls of the house until it reached the second floor, where the potential threat was.
Reflexively, Edward punched the air, and before the flames could attack him, the pressure of the blow pushed back the Duke's aura.
A punch too strong for a twelve-year-old human.
"Ethan!" Edward shouted.
Awakening from his meditative state, the blue eyes of Duke Lawrence met those of his youngest son; paralyzed, not by fear, but by admiration for the beauty.
With an extreme and swift movement, Ethan became a blur to Edward and Etrian's eyes.
Like a flash of light, Ethan appeared, hugging his little son and shielding him from the uncontrollable flames; Ethan's aura always protected him from what he considered a threat.
While Ethan was meditating and, practically, 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 momentarily displaced his own aura from his consciousness.
Desperate, Ethan grabbed Theo by the head and brushed the blond hair of his son back, trying to see his eyes...
But the child was simply stunned with joy.
"Theo..." murmured Ethan, but was cut off by his son.
"That was so cool!" he said, utterly failing to contain his excitement.
Ethan's eyes widened.
His son was emanating the same feeling as a deviant: a layer of pure energy was embracing him.
"A core... He awakened a core without drawbacks, and at this age?"
Ethan quickly reasoned what had happened.
"The Phoenix synchronized with you..."
"Young Master!" Ellen gasped, rushing out the door. "How did he end up here..."
"Son!" Camille came right after Ellen, holding her dress stained with plant fertilizer.
Even though she was a Duchess who could hire a thousand gardeners, Camille loved tending to her own plants. She was caring for the garden when she found Ellen chasing Theo, so she decided to help.
She felt relieved, though worried, when she saw Theo with Ethan. Knowing what her husband was doing at that hour, her concern for burns on the child was evident.
"Theo..."
Ethan picked Theo up in his arms.
"Lord Ethan... I apologize for my mistake..." said Ellen, holding back tears.
"No. I was the one who let a door go unnoticed..." Etrian appeared, accompanied by Edward, who had run down the stairs.
The two sought reasons to take the blame, but Duke Lawrence wouldn't accept it.
"Relax. Everything's fine now," said Ethan, letting Theo rest on his shoulder. "Ellen, if I'm right... Theo has his first day of school today, right?"
Ellen straightened her posture to answer the Duke.
"Yes!" she stammered. "That's why I was running around desperately looking for him... He was going to be late..."
"Does he still give you trouble during bath time?" Ethan asked as he walked back into the residence.
"Yeah. No offense, but this little one is a pig!"
Theo, resting on his father's shoulder, looked at Ellen, who was following him. Squinting at the maid, Theo stuck out his tongue at his nanny.
Camille jerked her shoulders back when she saw it.
"Hey, hey! Who taught you that?!" his mother scolded.
"Taught him what?" Ethan asked, unable to see.
Theo pretended not to understand, looking up and rolling his eyes... But Camille had the answer ready.
"Edward, wasn't it?!" Camille complained to her brother-in-law.
Edward, in turn, pointed to his own chest and protested.
"Me?! I just got back today and haven't even seen him... How could I have taught him something like that?!"
"Who's to say you didn't see him?!"
"And how can you claim that, when you didn't even see me arrive?! Huh?!"
"You..."
Camille huffed and sighed heavily, bending her back to face Edward closely, reducing the height difference between them—Camille was considered a very tall woman, even by noble standards.
The two squinted and stared into each other's souls.
"Can you two stop that? Come on, Camille. Theo's going to be late..."
Edward couldn't hold back his laughter as he faced his sister-in-law and burst out laughing. While they were still staring at each other, he stuck out his tongue at the Duchess.
"I knew it!"
Ethan's younger brother ran to the Duke's side, standing next to Theo.
"Ah, Ethan... Sir Amiah sent you this letter," said Edward, handing the letter to his brother.
"Really? Master Amiah? You saw him?"
"Yeah. He was exhausted after returning from the southern border..."
After handing over the letter, Edward looked at his nephew and ruffled his hair.
As nephew and uncle locked eyes, they smiled at each other.
From afar, Etrian watched them enter the Lawrence residence.
"They don't have the slightest manners..." he commented to himself, observing the behavior of one of the most influential noble families in the Empire. "Well, that's what a real family is like. Respect doesn't die, even in moments like these."