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Chapter 95
“Why don’t you come to my house too?”
After inviting Jaeyllin, Stefan extended the same invitation to Adrian.
“Why should I?”
“What are you going to do, sitting all alone in an empty academy? It’ll be nicer if we stay together at my place.”
“No thanks.”
“If you keep acting like that, I’ll spend all the money we made during the festival however I want.”
Adrian raised a threatening eyebrow. Stefan was the type who could blow through even a fortune in a single day.
“And what would you spend it on?”
“I don’t know yet. But I heard Daoor just released a new jacket. That money should be enough to buy exactly one.”
“Are you insane? Blowing all that money on just one piece of clothing? What kind of financial sense do you even have?”
“My financial sense is perfectly normal. Daoor’s new jacket isn’t just clothing—it’s art. And of course, you invest real money into art.”
“You lunatic.”
In the end, Adrian reluctantly boarded the carriage with Jaeyllin to head to Stefan’s mansion.
The carriage ran alongside a long wall for some time before finally passing through enormous iron gates that towered high into the sky.
Even after passing through the gates, the carriage kept going.
“Th-this is all Stefan’s house?”
Jaeyllin’s eyes widened as she gazed out the window at the endless rows of trees and the carefully tended gardens.
“Yep! All mine.”
“W-wow, Stefan, your house is huge!”
The duke’s estate in Eduardo’s territory was also vast, but that was a castle.
It housed not just the family but retainers managing the estate, attendants serving the duke, servants, and knights.
But a single family’s residence being this large—Jaeyllin had never heard of such a thing. Even now, the carriage still hadn’t cleared the gardens.
“Ahem, I told you we’re well-off. I’m totally rich.”
“Your parents are rich. You’re not.”
“Same difference.”
Stefan pouted at Adrian’s jab.
The carriage rolled past a grand fountain and finally stopped before the mansion. Adrian hopped down first and helped Jaeyllin alight.
As soon as Stefan stepped down, a massive door adorned with ornate carvings swung open, and the Panteago family’s butler came rushing out.
“Young master, you’ve finally arrived!”
“Yep, I’m here.”
Behind the butler, a swarm of servants poured out and began unloading the luggage from the carriage.
They even took Jaeyllin’s small bag.
She tried to refuse, but it was no use. Smiling brightly, they simply whisked it away.
As Stefan walked in with the butler, he whispered quietly into his ear.
“No one’s home, right?”
The butler lowered his voice as well.
“Of course not, young master.”
“Why not? Everyone should be out at this time.”
Stefan forgot to keep his voice down and raised it instead.
“Once word got out you’d be arriving today, everyone switched to working from home.”
The butler had barely finished when a woman practically flew down the stairs and swept Stefan into her arms.
Her silver hair shimmered, identical to Stefan’s.
“Oh, Titi! You’re here!”
“Y-yeah… I’m here.”
Stefan replied weakly, still in her embrace.
Why does he sound so lifeless, meeting his family after so long? Jaeyllin wondered.
“Come now, don’t you have a greeting for me?”
The woman, who looked exactly like Stefan, tilted her cheek toward him.
Stefan grimaced and tried to lean back, but it was useless. She pushed her cheek closer until it brushed his.
“Please, my friends are watching.”
“That may be, but you still need to greet me. Go on.”
In the end, Stefan gave up, letting her steal a kiss on the cheek. Beaming, she turned to Jaeyllin and Adrian.
“These must be Titi’s friends?”
“Y-yes. Hello, I’m Jaeyllin.”
“Adrian.”
“Welcome. I’m Stefan’s mother.”
“Wh-what? Y-you’re his mother? I thought you were his sister.”
“Oh my, really?”
At Jaeyllin’s words, Stefan’s mother let out a girlish laugh. But Adrian’s blunt comment quickly soured her expression.
“Peanut, what’s wrong with your eyes? Anyone can see she’s his mother.”
Stefan’s mother glared at Adrian.
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
Baffled, Adrian asked again, but she said nothing—only fixed him with a stare before suddenly shouting at the top of her lungs.
“The youngest is home, everyone come out!”
The mansion erupted with noise as faces identical to Stefan’s popped out one after another.
“The youngest? He’s home?”
“Little brother!”
“Titi!”
“What? Our baby’s back?”
A crowd of silver-haired, violet-eyed people—each dressed as extravagantly as Stefan—came pouring out.
Jaeyllin whispered nervously to Adrian.
“Th-there are… five more Stefans.”
“Yeah…” Adrian answered hollowly.
As Stefan’s siblings greeted him one by one, Adrian leaned toward Jaeyllin.
“Did I do something wrong to his mother?”
“Y-yeah… you did.”
“What? What did I do wrong?”
“Not having any tact. That’s what.”
“Me? No tact?”
“Mhm.”
Meanwhile, Stefan’s siblings turned their attention to the guests.
“And who are these people?”
The butler answered for them.
“The young master brought his friends.”
“Friends?”
“Our Titi has friends?”
“Thank you so much for being friends with our baby!”
They crowded around, shaking Jaeyllin and Adrian’s hands in gratitude.
“Ugh! Cut it out, you’re embarrassing me!”
Stefan pried their hands off and dragged Jaeyllin and Adrian out of the mansion.
“Hurry, let’s go. If they catch us, we’ll be stuck all day.”
As the three slipped out, voices called after them.
“Titi, you have to join us for dinner!”
“See you later, little brother!!”
Finally escaping the main house, the three trudged toward the annex where Stefan’s quarters were.
Looking drained from the brief encounter, Stefan shuffled along weakly.
“T…Titi?”
Walking quietly behind, Jaeyllin repeated the nickname his family had used.
Stefan’s face flushed scarlet as he snapped at her.
“Never! Never call me that, got it?”
“Wh-why not?”
“It’s humiliating!”
“But it’s… cute.”
“I don’t care! I hate cute things.”
“O-okay.”
Seeing how much Stefan loathed it, Jaeyllin decided never to bring it up again.
At the annex, the servants who had taken their luggage earlier guided them to the guest rooms.
The room Jaeyllin received was far too luxurious for her. Bigger and cleaner than her academy boarding house, it had bright sunlight streaming through the windows and a feather-soft bed that smelled warm and inviting.
She unpacked her few belongings quickly—just uniforms, a couple of shabby outfits, some books, and supplies.
But the carriage ride had left her tired, and she sank onto the bed. The bedding was so soft it felt like she was melting into it.
Such a beautiful room left unused—it was no wonder Stefan said nobody would notice even if they stayed here. The annex was far from the main mansion.
Enjoying the comfort of the blankets, Jaeyllin drifted off to sleep.
When she woke, the room was bathed in orange light. It was time to get up for dinner with Stefan’s family.
That was when she noticed her communication stone blinking. A message from Lionel.
[Lionel] Hi, Jaeyllin.
What do I do? Why is senior contacting me?
Lionel had no reason to reach out anymore. Hesitantly, she typed back.
[Jaeyllin] Hello.
Almost immediately, his reply came.
[Lionel] Where are you? You’ll be staying at the academy over break, right?
[Jaeyllin] Ah… no. I’m staying at Stefan’s house for the break.
[Lionel] Stefan’s house? Why?
[Jaeyllin] He invited me.
[Lionel] I see… then how long will you be there?
[Jaeyllin] Probably the whole break.
This time, there was a pause. After a moment, the conversation resumed.
[Lionel] Hmm… you haven’t left yet, have you? Should we meet before you go?
[Jaeyllin] Ah… no, sorry. I’m already at Stefan’s place.
Again, silence. Then at last, his final reply.
[Lionel] I was too late then. What a shame. Enjoy your break—we’ll meet again.
[Jaeyllin] Yes. You too, have a good break.
She ended the exchange.
In the past, she would’ve regretted missing the chance to see him, flustered and full of longing. She might have thought she should’ve stayed at the academy just a bit longer.
But now, she was relieved. If she were still at the academy, she would’ve had no excuse to turn him down.
Even though she still felt guilty imposing on Stefan’s family, she realized coming with him had been the right choice.
