"Hold onto ," Julian instructed.
All three placed their hands on his shoulders or arms, their expressions a mixture of excitent and nervousness.
Julian closed his eyes and reached out with his power, feeling the connection to Easvil castle. Reality twisted and folded around them, and in an instant they appeared in front of a magnificent castle.
Seraphine, Lyanna and Cassandra gasped simultaneously, their eyes widening as they took in the sight before them.
It was smaller than the castles in the Throne of Gods but it had sothing those didn't possess.
History.
Age.
"It's beautiful," Cassandra whispered, her eyes moving over the grand architecture
Seraphine was studying the defensive positions, the angles of the walls and guard towers. "Well fortified. Whoever designed this understood warfare."
anwhile, Lyanna was simply staring, completely absorbed by the vast garden around them.
Julian felt a surge of emotion seeing his family ho again. Three weeks for them, but centuries for him. The castle looked exactly as he rembered it.
"Welco to the Castle Easvil," he said, his voice carrying both pride and nostalgia. "Before I died, I was the Archduke of this place. This was my family's seat of power for generations."
Just then, a movent caught Julian's attention.
A woman was running toward them from the castle entrance. She was dressed in a heavy gown of deep burgundy, the kind of formal attire worn by high nobility. Her curly red hair bounced with each step, and her face was heavily streaked with tears.
She was shouting sothing, though the distance made the words unclear at first.
As she drew closer, Julian's heart clenched.
He knew that face. That hair. That bearing.
"Eva," he said quietly. "My elder sister."
The three daughters looked at the approaching woman with intense curiosity. This was their father's sister—family they had never known existed.
Eva reached them, her expensive gown hiked up inelegantly so she could run faster. Her carefully styled hair was a disaster now and tears were all over her face.
She stopped a few feet away from Julian, her hands reaching out toward him as if afraid he might be an illusion that would disappear if she touched him.
"Julian?" she whispered, her voice breaking slightly. "Is it... is it really you?"
Julian smiled warmly. "It's really , Eva. I've co ho."
Eva's face crumpled, and she closed the remaining distance between them in a rush, throwing her arms around him.
"We thought you were dead!" she cried, her words muffled against him. "Three months with no word, no sign, nothing! Father sent search parties, hired trackers, contacted every ally we have! But there was no trace of you!"
Her hands gripped his shoulders fiercely.
"Where were you? What happened? How are you here? How are you alive?"
Her voice rose with each question.
"And Mother!" she continued, her voice cracking now. "Grandmother! Eleanor! They've all disappeared as well! All of them, Julian! They vanished the sa night you went missing! What is happening to our family?!"
Julian held her tightly, forcing himself to suppress a smile. He had totally forgotten that he had taken all those won with him when he died. Of course his family would have noticed their disappearance.
"They're fine, sister," Julian said gently. "Mother sent a ssage before leaving. They're all safe, just... elsewhere. Dealing with family matters that required them to leave suddenly."
It was a terrible lie, transparent and full of holes, but Eva was too emotional to imdiately question it.
She pulled back slightly, wiping her eyes again, trying to regain so composure. But then her gaze fell on the three beautiful won standing behind Julian, and her confusion deepened dramatically.
"Who are they?" she asked, her voice carrying suspicion and curiosity in equal asure.
Julian smiled—that charming, slightly mischievous smile Eva imdiately recognized.
"These are all my wives," he said casually, as if announcing he had acquired three new horses rather than three new partners.
Seraphine smiled, completely comfortable with the introduction. Lyanna and Cassandra, however, looked confused and slightly flushed.
Eva stared at them, then at Julian, then back at them. Then she burst out laughing.
"You and your habit of fancying won!" she smiled, swatting Julian's shoulder. "Can't you keep it in your pants for even three weeks? You disappear, we think you're dead, and you co back with THREE wives?!"
Julian laughed along with her. "What can I do? I cannot control myself when I see beautiful won."
As he spoke, his hands which had been resting on Eva's waist during their hug, slowly lowered to her ass, squeezing gently through the heavy fabric of her gown.
Eva chuckled, not pulling away but rolling her eyes. "See? You're already starting. Your hands are exactly where they shouldn't be, as always."
Both Lyanna and Cassandra's faces turned bright red, their eyes widening at how openly their father was flirting with his own sister. Seraphine, in contrast, looked amused and unsurprised, as if this behavior was exactly what she had expected.
"Let's go in," Eva said, finally stepping back from Julian's embrace, though she kept hold of his hand. "Father and Grandfather are present as well. They are both in the study, probably drowning in worry and paperwork."
Her expression beca more sympathetic as they began walking toward the castle entrance.
"Poor Father—he was about to embark on a world tour. Had everything planned. And then you caused this trouble by disappearing." She shook her head. "He cancelled everything, of course. Refused to leave until you were found."
Julian felt another pang of guilt. His father had put his entire life on hold because of Julian's death and disappearance.
As they walked through the castle entrance, servants and guards imdiately stopped what they were doing. Their faces showed shock and joy at seeing their young master returning and whispers spread rapidly through the halls.
"The young master!"
"Lord Julian has returned!"
"He's alive!"
Eva led them through familiar corridors—Julian recognized every painting, every posters, every detail. This had been his ho for the first decades of his life.
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