Chapter 483: Partial
"Do you think... she’ll want to move away?" Arkai asked.
Dinner had passed, a quiet affair without Cecilia’s laughter to fill the spaces between bites, and the three brothers had eaten until they were full, though none of them could have said what the food tasted like.
Oathran lay stretched across the length of the sofa, his mist-grey eyes fixed on the ceiling, tracing the familiar patterns of paint and plaster he had memorized over years of living here. "It’s her right if she wants to move away. She... has her own family now. Crazy that it all happened, but still."
"Even if she moves away, nothing will change between us, so I’m kinda fine with it..." Eastiel sat on the rug, his back against the long sofa, his lion tail curled around his own ankle. He said the words like he was trying to convince himself.
"I just got used to seeing her every day." Arkai sighed, leaning back until his wolf ears pressed flat against the cushion. "It’s better than just seeing two men’s faces for years already."
"What’s wrong with my face?!" Eastiel snapped, his tail puffing.
"We are the fathers of her child." Oathran said steadily, that deep voice that had talked both his brothers down from countless ledges. "Even if she doesn’t need us, like our influence or our strength, because it’s been revealed that she already has both... she won’t leave us."
"It’s easy for you to say because that’s technically your egg..." Arkai side-eyed him, his wolf ears swiveling, accusing.
Eastiel nodded, his earlier defensiveness fading. "Yeah... the two of us are basically... just her hookup boyfriends. You thought we didn’t notice, Brother, but Cecilia treats you differently, you know?" He shrugged, his lion tail drooping. "I don’t know how to explain it. Compared to us, you..."
Silence.
Oathran didn’t move. His expression didn’t change. But his chest rose and fell with a breath that was deeper than the others.
"You know that being jealous now is pointless, right?" His voice was low. Controlled. "We plowed that field together. Whose seed grew doesn’t fucking matter. Or are you saying you won’t treat that egg as your own kid later?"
"Brother, that’s not the point." Arkai leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his black eyes serious. "The point is, towards you, Cecilia is... different."
Eastiel said softly, a bit reluctant, "It feels like... she loves you the most." He paused, his ears flattening. "It kinda hurts."
Oathran frowned. The ceiling blurred above him. He had noticed it too, of course he had. The way her eyes lingered on him with a hint of... something. The way she whispered his name in her sleep, not the others’. He had noticed, and he had tried his best to bury it deep within, to pretend it wasn’t there, to never let his brothers see that he knew.
He didn’t know why. He didn’t know what the reason was. The three of them literally loved her the same way and met her at around the same time.
And most importantly, Cecilia wasn’t the kind of person who would compare or be partial to one more than the other. She was kind. The kindest. She had accepted all three of them when she could have just chosen one.
She...
"I don’t know why she treats me that way, alright?" Oathran said. "Not gonna lie, I was strangely glad about it. Who isn’t happy being quote-unquote loved the most? But..." His voice faltered. "It scares me too. Why am I treated differently? What’s the problem with me?"
Arkai snorted, and the tension in the room cracked just slightly. "Maybe because you’re a dragon, as always."
"Yeah, having two cocks might get you loved more," Eastiel sneered.
Oathran grabbed the nearest throw pillow and hurled it at Eastiel’s head. Both younger brothers burst into laughter, the sound breaking through the heaviness like sunlight through clouds.
"Brat." Oathran snarled, but there was no real anger in it. "I’m fucking serious."
"Yeah, we’re serious too." Eastiel caught the pillow and hugged it to his chest. "But it doesn’t mean we’re hating you for it, though."
Arkai shrugged, his wolf ears finally lifting from their flattened position. "We still love you, brother. Just... fucking unfair."
"Damnit." Oathran rubbed his face with one hand. "You want me to talk to her or something?"
"Naaaaaaah." Both younger brothers answered in unison.
"That’s kinda too much."
"What the fuck do you want me to do then?"
"Let us fuck her together while you just watch." Arkai said it with the straight face. "You sit on the cuck chair."
"Nu’uh, the opposite." Eastiel shook his head vigorously, his lion ears flapping. "You fuck her alone, we watch and record."
"Why... do we always have... the opposite interest in kink...?" Arkai reached over and clamped his hand on Eastiel’s head, squeezing and ruffling his hair exasperatedly.
"YOU’RE JUST UNCULTURED!" Eastiel roared, his voice muffled by the onslaught.
"I’m telling on you. Cece deserves to kno—"
Oathran snorted. His brothers. Always like this.
They could agree on one thing, their love for Cecilia, their loyalty to each other, and then completely disagree on everything else. About aesthetic taste. About food. About... a woman.
"You two..." Oathran’s voice cut through the bickering. "Decide on the baby’s name. I won’t take part in it."
Arkai froze. His hand stopped mid-ruffle on Eastiel’s head. Eastiel’s protests died in his throat. Both of them turned to look at their eldest brother with wide, disbelieving eyes. The pillow slipped from Eastiel’s grip and thumped softly onto the rug.
"You’re telling us..." Arkai’s voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.
"...to name a dragon...?" Eastiel finished, his golden eyes shining.
Oathran sighed. "It’s a big deal, so think about it seriously."
"That goes without saying!" Eastiel was already on his feet, his lion tail lashing with manic energy. "Wait, wait, I’ll fetch my laptop. We’re going on full research today!"
He dashed toward his room.
Oathran watched him go, then turned his attention back to Arkai.
Arkai hadn’t moved. His jaw was still on the floor, his wolf ears were frozen mid-swivel. He stared at Oathran unblinkingly, his brain encountering a concept too large to process and had simply... stopped.
Oathran narrowed his eyes. His fingers itched for another throw pillow. "What are you doing?"
"We are... naming a dragon...?" Arkai’s voice was distant.
"That’s your kid."
"Woah." Arkai’s wolf ears slowly lifted. A grin spread across his face, slow at first, then wider, then absolutely feral. "That’s baller as fuck—"
"Yeah?"
Arkai stood up. There was a glint in his eye that Oathran recognized far too late.
"ARKAI DAWNORO WHAT ARE—"
"MEGA KNIGHT—"
Arkai launched himself onto the sofa where his brother was still on it—
"FUU—"
.
.
.
.
.
----------------------
This is bonus Chapter 1! Yes, I’ll post a total of 4 Chapters today. So stay tuned!
Also, I will address the review from FieldArc here too, so everyone who reads this story anywhere can see. They reviewed that this story had been pirated everywhere, and thus the dipping of the view count.
But honestly, there’s nothing we can do about it. Webnovel’s story, although protected by the law, is not always protected from pirates. Many authors had fought this battle before, and people who want to steal and make money from it will always find a way. Webnovel as a company itself is always slow about handling such things, even though we had reported those stolen stories.
What about me? What do I think about this?
I, like many other authors, am of course heartbroken. This career could be said to be my one and only source of enjoyment in life, after all. But do the pirates ruin it?
Honestly, no.
A wise game developer (HakitaDev) once tweeted, "You should support indies if you can, but culture shouldn’t exist only for those who can afford it. ULTRAKILL wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t had easy access to movies, music and games growing up."
And they closed their statement by saying, "If you don’t have money, you can support via word of mouth."
Growing up dirt poor (and I’m still hella poor now, with all my part time jobs), I looooove this statement a lot. After all, it’s never about greed for me, even though there’s nothing wrong about fighting for your story and having it be represented financially properly. I wouldn’t start an expensive comic project that had taken almost all of the income of this novel if I were greedy.
Everything is for the love of the game for me. God and my parents took care of me well, and all I think of is bringing joy and comfort to everyone who comes across my humble stories.
So, since this statement will go up to the pirate websites too, I just have one thing to say. You can read for free because our paying readers supported me well, so thank them by coming by and saying hi. Give this book reviews, comments, and power stones. After all, you can also open one or two Chapters free with Free Passes and by watching ads once a day. You can also share this story with your community and discuss it around. Without money, these are all the methods you can do to support creativity.
The paying readers are carrying us on their backs! So don’t forget to express our gratefulness to these gods and goddesses who have descended upon our poor dry earth!!!
No matter what, once again, I love, love, love you all. Now I’ll get back to writing!