The twins did not receive a scolding, at least, not yet.

With so many people present, Earl Castermere restrained himself, though his expression alone was enough to make Leonard and Nicolas shrink. He issued a sharp, final order for them to return to the mansion immediately, his tone brooking no argument.

The twins nodded obediently.

That was when the problem arose.

Their horse was gone, and there was no easy way for them to return unless someone rode with them.

Leonard and Nicolas exchanged a glance, and then acted in perfect, synchronized agreement.

"We’ll go with Big Brother Drac!" They shouted, clinging to his abdomen without warning.

Earl Castermere let out a long, exhausted sigh. "That can’t happen. Mr. Rayburn must remain by His Highness’s side."

"No!" The twins cried together, tightening their grip.

Before the situation could spiral further, Eric stepped in, smiling faintly as though this were merely an inconvenience rather than a disruption.

"It’s fine," he said easily. "I can manage. Drac can take them back."

He turned to Drac. "You don’t mind, right?"

Drac met his gaze for a brief moment before answering calmly, "If Your Highness has no objection, then neither do I."

Eric beamed, clearly pleased, and turned back to the group. "Then it’s settled. Drac will escort them home while we continue ahead."

With the panels in agreement and Thaddeus too weary to argue further, the decision was made.

Not long after, Drac was riding back through the forest with the twins seated in front of him.

"...And then it went bam and whoosh," Leonard said animatedly, waving his hands as though reenacting the event. "That’s how we ended up on the tree!"

"We told those people to get help," Nicolas added indignantly, "but they just laughed at us!"

"We’d have been in real trouble if you hadn’t come, Big Brother."

Drac listened without interrupting, his gaze fixed ahead as the forest slowly began to thin. Beyond the trees, fields came into view, along with a narrow dirt path winding between them.

"And we’re glad it was you who found us," Leonard added with a grin. "If our sister had, all hell would’ve broken loose!"

"Yes!" Nicolas agreed fervently.

Drac glanced down at them. "Where were you heading from that route?"

The twins shifted slightly.

"We asked some people in town where His Highness was going," Nicolas said. "They said Hillford."

"So we took the horse," Leonard continued. "But then it suddenly went wild and threw us off."

Drac hummed softly in acknowledgment.

"We wanted to stop His Highness," Leonard said. "You shouldn’t have let him go there alone."

"His Highness is not alone," Drac replied evenly. "Why?"

The twins hesitated.

"Hillford people are-"

They never finished.

"Whoa, whoa," a young man’s voice cut in, amused and sharp. "Look who’s here."

Drac looked up to see five young men approaching from the dirt path.

The twins stiffened immediately, scooting closer until their backs pressed against Drac’s chest. Without quite realizing when he did it, Drac slid one arm around them both, his hand resting firm and steady at their shoulders.

"What are the two Young Masters doing all the way out here near Hillford’s edge?" The stout one asked, his tone falsely curious.

"Out playing, maybe?" The lanky one added with a grin. "Last time’s game was quite for them, I guess."

The group laughed.

Leonard’s fingers tightened in the fabric of Drac’s shirt. Nicolas scowled, his small hands clenched into fists.

"You’re just a bunch of turds who are mean!" Nicolas shouted.

The laughter cut off abruptly.

The tallest among them broad-shouldered, with a lazy, predatory confidence stepped forward until he was uncomfortably close to Angus.

"Well, well," he drawled. "Isn’t this your sister’s horse?"

His gaze traveled upward, settling on Drac.

"And who’re you?" he asked. "Did the Earl finally hire a knight?" His lips curled. "Or did he get a new nanny to keep his unruly brats in line?"

Another snorted. "That horse is wild. Only she can handle it. How’d you manage that?"

All eyes shifted to Drac.

He patted the twins’ backs once, slow and reassuring, before meeting their gazes evenly.

"You are being extremely rude right now," Drac said.

His voice was calm, almost flat.

"By your tone and dress, you appear to be commoners," he continued, eyes steady on the group. "These are the children of the Earl. You must treat them with respect."

A beat.

Then one of the youths barked out a laugh.

"Listen to him," the stout one sneered. "You must treat them with respect, he says."

The others laughed along, louder this time.

"They won’t listen," Leonard muttered, his voice tight.

Nicolas glared openly, his small fists clenched.

The lanky youth tilted his head, eyes roaming over Drac with open appraisal. "You don’t look like you’re from around here," he said. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"This is our Big Brother," Nicolas announced sharply.

For a brief moment, the group fell silent.

Then they exchanged looks and grins crept back, slow and ugly.

"Oh?" the tallest one drawled. "So your sister’s engaged now?"

He smirked. "Or did the Earl finally marry her off quietly?"

"Wow," another added, mockingly impressed. "And here I thought that wild, tomboyish sister of yours would never get married."

Their laughter burst out again.

Leonard’s face flushed red. "You have no right to talk about our sister!" he shouted, his voice cracking despite himself. "You’re the ones who did bad things!"

"Yes!" Nicolas added. "Just wait until our sister hears this!"

The leader snorted. "And what will she do?" he asked lazily. "Hide behind her new husband?"

He leaned forward slightly. "And what about you two? Going to lecture us again about respect?"

Someone else laughed. "The wild horse of Castermere finally got herself a man!"

"Horse?" another scoffed. "She’s not even a woman."

A sharp grin. "Remember when she used to sneak into town to play with us?"

"Yeah," another chimed in. "Always pretending she was strong."

"Strong?" the leader laughed. "She’s weak. Always was."

The laughter rang out again—crude, careless, practiced.

Drac felt it then.

Not a spark.

A surge.

White hot and controlled, flooding his veins like fire behind iron gates. His grip tightened imperceptibly around the twins’ shoulders, not in warning, but in restraint.

"I am not engaged to Miss Lysanne Castermere."

The words fell cold and sharp, stripped of any emotion but still held the promise of the stillness before the storm.

The group continued laughing for a heartbeat longer, unaware that the tone had changed.

Drac reached back and placed the reins of Angus into Nicolas’s hands. The boy gripped them tightly, eyes wide, while Leonard shifted closer to his brother.

Then Drac dismounted.

His boots met the ground without a sound.

"You lot," he said evenly, "seem more like an unruly pack of bullies—people who mistake noise for strength and cruelty for superiority."

As he spoke, he began undoing the cuffs of his sleeves, movements unhurried, deliberate.

One of the youths frowned. "What are you doing?"

Another scoffed. "You think you can take us on? Alone?"

Laughter rippled through the group again, though this time it sounded thinner.

"He can!" Leonard shouted suddenly.

"He’s His Highness Eric’s personal guard!" Nicolas added, his small voice sharp with conviction.

The men froze for a moment.

A few exchanged uneasy glances, but pride kept their feet rooted.

"So what?" the leader said after a beat, forcing a grin. "That doesn’t make what we said wrong."

Drac’s eyes grew rigid, for a moment he thought of Ocean and then about Lysanne who was working hard to grow stronger.

He had learned from Ocean that there’s no stereotypes when it came to wielding strength, and he never thought of women to be weak, not after seeing his own Master who was running the whole shadow empire on his own and having thousands of people relying on him.

"You are wrong," Drac said.

The group looked at him, unimpressed. One of them rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

"Hey," the stout one scoffed, folding his arms, "you might be some guard from the capital, but picking a fight with us is a bad idea."

"I am not picking a fight," Drac replied calmly.

He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, the veins along his forearms standing out starkly against his tanned skin.

"If my Master were here, you would already be on your knees, begging for your lives."

That earned a burst of laughter.

"And who’s your Master supposed to be?" The lanky one jeered.

"Someone far above the likes of you," Drac answered without hesitation. "And he taught me something you lot will never understand."

He took a step forward, his gaze unwavering.

"A woman is far stronger than any man the moment she stops caring about what the world or men like you think of her."

The laughter returned, sharper this time.

"Big words," the leader said. "Can you do anything besides talk?"

Drac moved.

Then he stopped.

The ground trembled.

A sudden thunder of hooves tore through the air, loud and unmistakable. Drac turned his head just as a grey blur burst from the treeline.

A horse leapt out of the woods, powerful and sure-footed, landing hard before Angus. Dust scattered beneath its hooves.

Long purple hair streamed behind its rider like a banner caught in the wind.

Lysanne reined the horse in sharply, her posture straight, her grip firm. Her gaze swept over the scene in a heartbeat—first the twins, unharmed, clinging to Angus... then the group of young men.

Her eyes sharpened.

The grey horse snorted, stamping the ground once.

The laughter was replaced by mocking smirks.

"Here comes the Lady of Castermere," one of them sniggered.

Lysanne merely narrowed her eyes. She looked first at Drac, who stood rigid, clearly holding himself back, then at her brothers.

"Are you two all right?" she asked.

Both boys nodded quickly.

"Good," she said calmly. "You won’t be, soon."

They stiffened at the promise in her tone.

Lysanne turned to Drac. "Mr Rayburn, let’s return."

"Hey, hey now," the leader drawled, stepping forward a half pace. "Won’t you greet your childhood friends?"

"I don’t have friends here," Lysanne replied flatly.

"That’s rude, Young Miss of Castermere," he mocked. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Drac shifted, taking a step forward, but Lysanne dismounted before he could speak.

"Mr Rayburn," she said coolly, not looking back, "please step aside. This is between us."

The group whooped.

"The wild horse is charging!"

"Careful now!"

Their laughter rang hollow, but loud.

The leader, Reggie smirked, his gaze lingering on her.

"Reggie," Lysanne said evenly, "take your belongings and leave. You don’t want to do this in front of a guest."

"Your guest," he corrected.

"We can settle this later," she replied. "Go. Now."

"You’re on our turf."

She met his eyes without blinking.

"My father is the Earl. That makes it my father’s turf."

Reggie scoffed, glancing briefly at Drac before looking back at her.

"Tch. Fine," he said at last. "We’ll talk again, Miss Lysanne."

He waved his hand. "Come on."

The group backed off, laughing under their breath, throwing looks over their shoulders as they went.

Drac watched them disappear down the path. The air felt lighter but only on the surface.

Lysanne turned to him. She smiled, polite and practiced, but the tension in her shoulders hadn’t eased.

"I’m sorry you had to see that, Mr Rayburn," she said. "Let’s head back."

As she mounted her horse, Drac noticed her hands, clenched tight at her sides for a moment longer than necessary, before she took the reins.

He glanced once at Angus, then followed.

Whatever lay between Lowmere and Hillford, it wasn’t just about something minor.

And it hadn’t started today.