"I understand now," Nicholas finally nodded and he smiled again, albeit bitterly. He patted Luciel's shoulder and praised him. "You are really smart."
Luciel shrugged. "It's not that hard to guess. We know our father's name. It's the same as yours. Plus, we do look so much alike. I'd be dumb if I can't make that connection."
Nicholas was in awe when he heard Luciel explain his conclusion. He didn't expect the boy to be this smart.
"Aren't you six? How come you are so smart?" he commented.
"Six years and five months," Luciel corrected him. "I am a big boy now."
Nicholas wanted to laugh out loud at his son's adorable behavior, but instead, tears were filling the corners of his eyes and making his vision blurry. Oh, how he wished he could hug Luciel and Jan and cried right there.
"Well then, since you already know who I am, I wouldn't pretend to be someone else." Nicholas took a seat across from Luciel and Jan and made himself comfortable. "How are you guys doing? Do you like staying here?"
"Yes, it's really nice," Luciel gushed. "We lived here when we were small. It's bigger than our manor in Livstad and we will also start going to school. We will have many new friends."
"That sounds nice. You will have a lot of friends to play with," Nicholas said.
"Oh, that's fine," Luciel shrugged. "We can play with each other. We also have Anne and Jack to play with."
"Anne... and Jack?" Nicholas thought the names were familiar.
Jan explained, "They are our baby siblings. Anne and Jack are so adorable."
Nicholas coughed when he heard Jan's words. Ah, he remembered Leland's children with Sophie. She must have given birth to them already. So, they named the babies after Sophie's parents...
Deep inside, Nicholas suspected the babies were one of the reasons why Leland softened up to him. Now that Leland had his biological children, he could put himself in Nicholas' shoes and understand his plight.
"Yeah. This time the babies made it," Luciel added. "The last ones died stillborn."
Luciel was very smart for his age and he picked up on conversations from the adults around him. He overheard Duncan and Max talk about how they had never seen their Alpha look as happy as he was recently, especially after the last time, when tragedy struck and he lost his unborn babies.
The boy didn't immediately understand what it meant. So, he talked to his teacher, Miss Katherine, about what happened, and Katherine explained it to him.
Nicholas was silent when he heard Luciel's explanation. He realized Leland and Sophie must have suffered a lot together. To lose his own children and still raise another man's kids lovingly, Leland must have a heart of gold, Nicholas thought to himself.
Slowly, all his hatred and competition that he kept for the other man vanished without a trace.
He was still jealous but, at this point, he realized Leland deserved all the happiness he had with Sophie. Nicholas didn't know if he could ever do the same thing if their roles were reversed.
He would try to do his best, of course, but he was not sure his best was enough. Now, looking at his two very intelligent and very healthy sons, Nicholas couldn't help but feel thankful to Leland and Sophie for taking care of them despite everything.
He didn't know how he could pay them back except maybe by slowly and silently stepping back and leaving them alone. Even though he still only loved Sophie, he would stop making any efforts to try and get her back.
Not only did it seem futile, but now he also respected Leland too much to try and offend him.
In this unfortunate situation, Nicholas realized he should be grateful that he was still allowed to have a relationship with his sons. He would just admire Sophie from afar and keep his feelings to himself.
***
Leland didn't come out to see Nicholas because he didn't know what to say to him. He also thought it would be awkward for both men to meet and talk about... what? Their love for the same woman? The children they adored as their own?
They were not friends and didn't have anything to do with each other. It was hard to suddenly become friends and pretended they didn't initially hate each other. It's just too weird.
However, he watched them from afar, to make sure that the meeting between Nicholas and the boys go well. After a while and he found them to be talking pleasantly, Leland decided to stop watching and went to see Sophie.
"Hey," Sophie's face beamed when she saw her mate come to the terrace where she was playing with her babies. Anne immediately ran with her chubby legs and jumped into her father's feet when she smelled his scent. Jack followed suit.
Leland smiled and picked them up, one in each hand. He jokingly commented, "You must have eaten so much. You're getting so heavy."
Sophie was happy to see her mate in a good mood. She assumed the meeting between Nicholas and their sons was going well. She didn't ask him how it went. Instead, she focused on their babies.
"They look so sleepy. Perhaps they want to take a nap," she said. "Wanna go in and put them to bed?"
Leland nodded. Sophie got up from her chair and turned to Katherine who was busying herself with the small trinkets from her chest.
She patted Katherine's shoulder. "Katherine, thanks for showing me all these. They have interesting stories. I need to get the babies to bed."
Katherine smiled and nodded. "Yes, sure."
She got up and watched Sophie receive one pup from Leland and together they walked toward their bedroom, holding hands.
Katherine stood in her spot for a while, unblinking. Her lips slowly pursed and her eyes glint dangerously. After a while, she took a deep breath and turned to her wooden chest. She closed the lid and took the chest back to her room.
"I will take back everything that's mine," she muttered to herself once she closed the door behind her. "I just need to kill Elias first."
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