Daemon, Ace, Gage, and even Archivalt were quick to catch on. It didn’t take much to realize that Ashley had been unsettled by the way they had hovered around the other girl, and the moment they saw their eldest brother break into a hurried stride, something in them snapped to attention.

Without a word, they followed, their earlier ease replaced by a quiet, growing unease. Behind them, Aunt Lavinia merely smiled, a knowing, almost chastising curve of her lips that seemed to say, ’see what you’ve done’, before she, too, picked up her pace.

Duty compelled her forward as much as concern did; she had personally instructed the kitchen to prepare every dish she knew Ashley favored, and she intended to see the girl eat properly.

Left behind due to their urgency, the girl who had only moments ago been flaunting her closeness to the brothers found herself frozen in place. The confidence she had worn so brazenly slipped, her face paling as the reality of the situation settled in.

She had expected resistance, perhaps even confrontation, but not this, not being so thoroughly overlooked. Trapped in her pink pump heels, she could neither keep up with their pace nor abandon her composure entirely.

For a fleeting moment, her expression twisted with raw frustration, the mask of innocence cracking just enough to reveal something far less pleasant beneath. But she caught herself quickly.

There were still household staff nearby, eyes that might notice, tongues that might carry stories back to her brother or Aunt Lavinia. That simply wouldn’t do. Forcing her features back into something gentle and composed, she swallowed her irritation and hurried after them as best she could, each step tight with restrained anger.

By the time the girl finally reached the dining hall, she was already too late. Apollo had seated Ashley at his side, claiming the head of the table for himself with quiet authority. To his right sat Daemon, followed by Archivalt, while on Ashley’s other side were Gage and Ace, their arrangement forming an unspoken barrier around her.

Aunt Lavinia, though offered a seat, had gracefully declined; she preferred to serve them personally. Now she stood just behind Apollo, composed and attentive, issuing subtle instructions as the household staff began their work.

Rather than laying everything out at once, the meal was served in carefully timed courses to preserve its quality. Aunt Lavinia had no intention of letting the dishes grow cold or lose their texture, so each plate was brought out only when the previous one had been finished.

It required precise coordination with the kitchen, timing each dish so it left the stove at the exact moment it would be needed in the dining hall, still hot and perfectly prepared upon arrival.

Fortunately, this was a rhythm she had long mastered. With nothing more than a glance or the slightest shift in posture, the staff behind the siblings understood her cues and moved seamlessly, while another waited discreetly by the door, ready to relay her signals back to the kitchen. The entire process unfolded like a well-rehearsed performance, smooth and nearly invisible, yet utterly deliberate.

"My lady, have a little more of the soup," Aunt Lavinia urged gently, her tone both warm and insistent as she motioned for the staff to refill Ashley’s bowl. "Your injuries are healing well, and this ginseng chicken will aid your recovery."

"I made certain the chefs removed any trace of the usual fishy scent, so it won’t irritate your wounds or make them itch." She watched Ashley with careful attention, clearly invested in every sip she took.

Beside her, Apollo’s gaze lingered just as intently, though for different reasons. As the one who had personally selected and hired the head chef who are renowned for their supposedly world-class skills, he couldn’t help but anticipate Ashley’s reaction.

Whether she approved or not mattered more than he cared to admit, and so he waited, silent but expectant, as though her response alone would pass judgment on the entire kitchen.

"Mm... thank you, Aunt Lavinia. It’s really delicious," Ashley said with a faint, careful smile. She wasn’t fond of pretending, least of all forcing warmth she didn’t fully feel, but Aunt Lavinia had never given her a reason for resentment.

If anything, the older woman had been nothing but attentive, tending to her needs tirelessly during her stay at the hospital. In fact, Ashley had originally been meant to be sent to the biggest hospital here for further recovery, but with her return to her brothers’ territory, Aunt Lavinia had intervened.

She had argued, quite reasonably, that a hospital, filled with patients carrying all manner of illnesses, was hardly the ideal place for someone with a weakened immune system. The risk of infection alone was enough to compromise Ashley’s healing.

So instead, Aunt Lavinia had taken matters into her own hands, arranging for Ashley to recover in comfort and isolation. She had nearly assembled an entire private medical team, some of the best doctors and nurses she could find, to be stationed within the palace itself.

Ashley had only managed to stop her in time, brushing it off then as an exaggeration, a joke even, after all, back then, she thought that her brothers weren’t really wealthy but were just keeping up appearances.

But now, watching the meticulous care Aunt Lavinia continued to pour into even something as simple as a bowl of soup, Ashley realized that it hadn’t been a joke at all. If she hadn’t intervened back then, there would very likely be a full medical staff living under this roof solely for her sake.

As the moments passed, the tension in Ashley’s expression gradually softened, and the smile she offered Aunt Lavinia grew warmer and more genuine, no longer something she forced out of courtesy alone.

It felt only right to return the sincerity that had been given to her so freely. Aunt Lavinia’s care had never wavered, and Ashley, for all her guardedness, wasn’t blind to it.

But when it came to her brothers, the conflict within her remained unresolved, tangled, and difficult to ignore.

To an outsider, her reaction might seem excessive, petty even. After all, what was so wrong about them taking in a girl her age and treating her like a sister? Some would argue there was nothing inappropriate in it, that it was only natural for them to pour their longing for a lost sibling into someone who could fill that role. From that perspective, Ashley might easily be painted as narrow-minded, unwilling to share a place that had never fully been hers to begin with.

And yet... was she truly being unreasonable?

For the first time, she found herself understanding Maddison, understanding, at least, the root of her feelings. The bitter realization of someone else living a life that should have belonged to you was not something that could be dismissed lightly.

Ashley knew she would never descend into the same cruelty or manipulation Maddison did, but the sting of it, the quiet resentment, and the sense of displacement, she could no longer deny. It was unpleasant in a way that lingered beneath the surface, difficult to name yet impossible to ignore.

What made it worse was that she cared. Despite having spent only a handful of days with them, the bond of blood had drawn her closer to her brothers with unsettling speed.