itbomm

chapter 5: a lovely family outing

"Lilian York," their sperm donor spoke, seated upon his golden throne. He seemed relatively bored, going through the formalities of it all. In fact, he looked as though he would rather be doing something else instead.

'God, what a big fucking mood,' Athan absentmindedly thought, staring at Claude as he stood beside Lily, his sister standing on Lily's right. 'It's sooner than it was in the novel or in Toska, that's for sure, but this scene was definitely written in Toska, only the twins were too scared and nervous to do much of anything, causing Claude to be even more annoyed,' he glances around the throne room, taking in the sights of the architecture.

Simple white marble with gold accents — the red carpet in the throne room seemed pretty cliché, but honestly? That was fine, he was more interested in the design, more interested in the smooth marble surface.

He wonders if Athy would kill him if he hugged one of the pillars in the throne room right now.

'Athan, I swear to god,' Athy's voice piped up.

'I was only thinking about it,' he smiled, looking up noticing Claude's stare.

"However, from now on, I will be looking into the Princess and Prince's well-being. There will be no need to worry," Claude stated, smiling with what seemed to be amusement.

'What?' Athy thought, freezing as she makes eye contact with their father. 'Did you smile? Did you just smile at me?'

'He certainly is,' Athan mused, simply smiling back. 'Kinda strange, to be honest. I never thought he was even capable of smiling, but low and behold here he is. Smiling. That's fucking wild.'

'Pay me no mind!' Athanasia practically screeched at Claude. 'Thank you for ignoring me my whole life this far!' Athan ignored her as she continued her mental pleas to be ignored.

'Hmm... I guess the next major thing is gonna happen after we turn six, maybe.'

"Starting today, Prince Athanasios and Princess Athanasia will be treated as a proper prince and princess."

'...wait, he never said that in Toska.'

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In the novel, he admits that he's never considered either of the twins to be his children.

In Toska, his meeting with them is merely formalities, a statement that he will regularly visit the children. The reason behind this was because there were no other known heirs to the throne, and that was that.

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It's... a bit strange, but nothing really changes apart for the occasional tea time with Claude.

While it was clear that Claude only made time for the twins once a month in Toska, he was actually... putting in more effort to spend time with them? As strange as it was to consider, this was their third meeting with Claude since they met him five days ago.

Was it because they weren't acting like scared children? It would make sense. Whenever Athy seemed almost scared or acted a bit too formal with him, the more displeased he was.

And, well, Athan's learned his lesson in eating in moderation, especially with Athy there reminding him of what happened the first time he decided to let loose. Throughout their time together, his sister began to be braver in her words and interactions with their sperm donor, too. While he remained to be simple and always smiling, Athanasia was more blatant and bold in her mannerisms.