By Zephyria 
As expected, the surroundings were utterly quiet, with not a single trace of any presence felt.
Perfect.
Soon, he escaped the room and began running busily. Straight toward the snack bar where the treats were prepared.
Chocolate chip cookies, caramel, jelly, candy, ice cream, pudding…. All sorts of snacks flew through his mind. I’ll eat them all!
Just as he was excitedly crossing the hallway, a door suddenly swung open and Ashley walked out.
“Bliss, there you are.”
Seeing Bliss charging toward him, he immediately bent down and lifted the child with one hand.
“Uh…!”
To the bewildered Bliss, caught off guard by the unexpected situation, Ashley continued.
“I thought it best to be prepared, in case you also need to greet them.”
Whaaat?
Bliss was stunned, but it was already too late.
“Ah, no, don’t.”
He struggled and resisted, but it was futile. His footsteps, which had been racing toward the snacks, were caught by Papa and dragged straight back into the room.
\ \ *
“Thank you for inviting us.”
At Duke Strickland’s words, Ashley politely responded.
“The honor is ours. This is my partner, Conor Niles.”
Following Ashley’s introduction, Koi naturally introduced himself.
“Hello. I still use my maiden name. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
After shaking hands with the Duke and Duchess in turn and naturally facing their son standing last, Koi momentarily paused.
…Didn’t they say he was a Beta?
Most people with outstanding appearances are trait bearers, meaning Alphas or Omegas. Of course, there are rare cases even among Betas, but since it’s extremely uncommon, if he hadn’t heard about it from Ashley beforehand, he would have assumed this man was an Alpha too.
And for good reason. He was as tall as the eldest son, Nathaniel, and the long, slender eyes visible behind his glasses somehow made one feel tense. Overall, he gave the impression of being tall and lean, but his angular jawline and straight shoulders reminded one of a formidable wall somewhere.
He seems incredibly stubborn…!
Just as he thought that, Cassian extended a hand and greeted Koi.
“Hello, I’m Cashian Strickland. Thank you for inviting us.”
Nevertheless, his gesture of shaking hands and the tone of his greeting were so calm and elegant that Koi felt embarrassed by his earlier thoughts and realized for the first time, ‘So this is what a noble is like.’
“Koi.”
“Ah, yes.”
Snapping back to attention at the low voice, he saw Ashley looking down at him. A smile played on his lips, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all. Koi hurriedly gathered his wits and frantically searched for something to say.
“Ah, um. You’re attending university?”
As he uttered the first fact that came to mind, the young man corrected him with a calm smile.
“I’ve only received my acceptance letter. I haven’t officially enrolled yet.”
“He’s still a high school student.”
The Duchess added with a light laugh, and Koi nodded.
“Ahh… I see.”
So roughly seventeen? Eighteen? Koi roughly calculated in his head, comparing the children’s ages with his. Younger than Nathaniel, but older than Grayson or Stacy.
Just as he thought that far, the Duchess, her face beaming with a smile, spoke up.
“My child is a bit different from the average Beta, isn’t he? He often gets misunderstood.”
Hoho, her continuously smiling face was filled with pride and admiration for her child. Koi smiled back while inwardly sighing in relief, thinking, ‘She doesn’t seem to mind.’ Some people get upset when their trait is misunderstood, so it was fortunate that Duchess Strickland wasn’t that type.
“Please, have a seat here.”
After the brief greetings, they sat in the drawing room, drinking tea and exchanging casual conversation. Before getting into serious talk, Ashley brought up various peripheral topics first.
“How much longer will you be staying in the US? It’s been about two weeks since you arrived, right?”
When Ashley asked, the Duke answered with a relaxed smile.
“Yes, actually, we plan to return the day after tomorrow. I’m glad we could visit like this before then. Thanks to Mr. Miller….”
While trivial, meaningless conversation flowed back and forth, the Duke and Duchess’s only son, Cashian Strickland, sat silently drinking his tea. Koi stole a glance at him, who brought the teacup to his lips with controlled movements, not a hint of disarray.
His first impression wasn’t wrong. Cashian Strickland sat upright, shoulders and back straight, drinking his tea. Clearly, he must be bored, yet he showed no sign of it. Nor did he show excessive interest or exaggerated behavior. Seeing him sitting there calmly, as if present yet not, evoked a strange feeling. That kind of thing must all be trained from childhood, right? As expected of a noble family….
In contrast, my children.
Just as he recalled his youngest son, whose eye was bruised purple from being punched the day before, and let out a sigh.
“Your son is very calm and well-mannered.”
Suddenly, at Ashley’s words, Koi snapped back to attention. Looking up, he saw the Duchess blushing with a bright, smiling face.
“Yes, thankfully, he grew up well.”
Seeing that, Koi half-sincerely chimed in with Ashley’s remark.
“He probably wasn’t too mischievous as a child either. He must have been a very obedient child, right?”
“Yes, thankfully.”
The Duchess repeated the same phrase and soon added.
“I wish we could have had more children. Of course, Cassian grew up wonderfully. The Miller family has six children, right? Ah, come to think of it, the youngest is still very young, isn’t he? I don’t see him.”
At the Duchess’s show of interest, Koi glanced furtively at Ashley. As if asking, ‘What should we do?’ Then, Ashley spoke first.
“He’s still very young and doesn’t know proper etiquette yet. I told him to stay in his room in case he might make a mistake.”
“Oh my, children naturally grow by making mistakes.”
The Duchess said with a benevolent smile.
“But that’s all part of the process. If it’s alright with you, could you perhaps introduce him? I’d like to greet your child.”
Unconsciously, Koi looked at Ashley again. Though the situation was bewildering, the Duchess’s words didn’t feel insincere at all. Sensing she genuinely wanted to meet Bliss, he hesitated briefly when the Duke spoke up this time.
“Since we only have one child, we sometimes feel envious and find it heartwarming to see families with many children. Actually, rumors abound that the Miller family’s youngest is very cute and adorable, so my wife was very much looking forward to it.”
“Bliss?”
Koi’s face immediately lit up, his eyes sparkling. Anyone would be happy to hear their child is adorable. Koi thought he wasn’t peculiar at all. He almost twitched his ears but stopped at the last moment.
However, he had to suppress the urge to immediately bring Bliss out and shout, “Look at our adorable youngest!”
“Um, well… actually, there was a bit of an accident yesterday.”
Carefully choosing his words, Koi tried to phrase it so as not to startle the Duke and Duchess.
“He overexerted himself a bit at the party yesterday… um, he injured his eye a little.”
“His eye? How?”
The surprised Duchess asked, her eyes wide open. While thinking it was a natural reaction, Koi couldn’t help feeling awkward as he answered.
“Ah, well… it seems he had a bit of a fight with the kids yesterday. As you know, all our children share the same trait, but Bliss hasn’t manifested yet, so his eye color is different. Perhaps because of that, he was teased…”
After a brief pause, he awkwardly added.
“It seems Bliss punched his own eye.”
At those words, the Duke and Duchess’s son, who was drinking tea, momentarily paused. But it was such a subtle movement that no one noticed, and the conversation continued.