BRING IT ON! (WMMAP x OC)

Three

Motherhood

Penelope Judith started living in the Alpheus residence in secret as per the duke's command.

Not many servants knew of her existence, and she stayed in her room, barely getting out of it.

But obviously, that wouldn't stop the youngest Alpheus from trying to meet her, and dragging along his older brother in the process.

"Lwen stop... Mama will be angwy..." Ijekiel said. His speech was very good for his age, and it was something a lot of noblemen praised him for, but he still struggled with some words and letters.

"No! Wanna see auntie Penny!" Loen puffed his cheeks. Despite him not having difficulty pronouncing words, his grammar was very lacking, or so he pretended, making his talking harder to understand. Despite that, Ijekiel always understood him perfectly.

"Why?" Ijekiel asked. "Is she pwetty?"

Loen paused. It was mentioned in Lovely Princess that Penelope was one of the most beautiful noble women at that time, but he hadn't seen her for himself, so he didn't want to rush and tell his brother something he wasn't sure of. "Not know. Going find out!"

"Going to find out what?" A voice from behind the twins asked, sending shivers down their spine.

"Mama..." the two mumbled, looking at their mother's angry gaze. They both knew that they were doing something wrong, but one of them didn't have a hint of guilt on his face.

The younger stood firmly in front of his mother and locked his fierce golden eyes with her green ones. "Wanna see auntie Penny!"

"No." She firmly denied his request. In normal circumstances, she wouldn't mind introducing the twins to their second aunt. But she and her husband wanted to keep Penelope's pregnancy a secret, and the two were still too young to understand that some stuff should be hidden. And as smart as her children are, She couldn't risk them finding out and telling the entire mansion.

"But wanna!" Loen whined. In all honesty, the only reason he wanted to see Penelope was curiosity. He really wanted to know how the emperor's first love looked like. And the fact that the author had posted drawn portraits of some character, yet she wasn't one of them further contributed to his curiosity.

"No means no, Loen." Annalise shook her haid in frustration. "Ugh. This is all your father's fault! He spoiles you too much!" she sighed. "Why do you want to see her this much, anyway?"

Before Loen could answer, Ijekiel spoke with an innocent smile on his face. "Because she's pwetty!"

The woman stared at her two children for a moment before she burst into laughter. "Ahahaha! G-Gosh... You two... Pfft-" after she calmed down, she continued speaking. "Yes, auntie Penny is pretty. But you can't see her."

"Why?" the two asked in unison.

"Because she doesn't want anyone to disturb her."

Loen fell silent. He couldn't do anything if Penelope herself didn't want them to see her. He should at least respect her wishes.

Seeing her child's disappointment face, Annalise got an idea. "You can't see her face to face, so how about a portrait of her?"

The twins' faces lightened up and they nodded furiously. This was more than enough to satisfy their curiosity.

Annalise giggled and took her childrens' hands, and led them to the library.

Inside, she showed them a picture book that contained pictures of the Alpheus family tree.