Maximilian soon beca completely occupied with Joshua.
What had started as one simple match turned into another... and another. Joshua kept bringing out different gas, each one more complicated than the last, each with leveling systems, skill trees, raids, and battles. At so point he even called his elder brother.
Caleb arrived with the confidence of soone who clearly ruled this territory.
They eventually loaded one of those sprawling open-world historical RPGs where you road dieval lands, raided villages, and fought increasingly brutal enemies.
Caleb folded his arms proudly.
"Gold dals on all Mastery Trials," he said. "Never even touched the difficulty settings."
Maximilian’s interest sharpened imdiately.
Within minutes he had learned the controls. The movent. The attacks.
Raiding camps? Piece of cake.
Caleb’s confidence began to crack.
"Bro... that’s... that’s not normal beginner stuff," he muttered, glaring at Joshua.
Joshua raised both hands defensively. "I swear he’s heard of this ga and saw a joystick only today."
By now, the commotion had spread through the house. One by one, the other boys drifted into the room, drawn by the news that their aunt’s boyfriend was apparently obliterating Josh and Caleb in their own gas.
Maximilian leaned back slightly in the chair, lips curving into a faint, satisfied smirk.
Showing off with an actual sword would have been far more entertaining... But this was close enough.
Then his eyes landed on sothing interesting in the nu.
A boss fight.
Not just any boss. One of the late-ga enemies players usually avoided until they were far stronger.
Maximilian selected it.
"Don’t!" Caleb blurted imdiately. "You’re going to rage-quit. She’s insane at low level."
Maximilian waved him off casually.
The fight began.
The enemy moved like lightning—fast, brutal, almost unfair. Her attacks chained together in relentless patterns that left almost no room for mistakes.
Maximilian died within thirty seconds.
Joshua groaned loudly. "Told you."
Maximilian restarted the fight.
He died again.
But there was no frustration in his expression. No annoyance.
Each death was simply... information.
He noticed the rhythm of her attacks. The tiny delay before certain strikes. The small openings that appeared only for a fraction of a second.
On the third attempt, sothing shifted.
His dodges landed perfectly within those narrow slow-motion windows. His counterattacks struck only when it was safe. His movents beca almost surgical.
And when the Daughter finally collapsed on the screen—defeated far earlier than any beginner should manage—Maximilian didn’t celebrate.
He simply paused the ga, set the controller down, and calmly took a sip of water.
The room exploded.
"What the hell— Max, you’re a monster!"
"No way—no way you just did that!"
Joshua grabbed his head in disbelief.
Maximilian rely shrugged. "Told you," he said mildly. "I’m figuring it out."
The boys crowded around him imdiately, looking at him with open admiration.
"You could be a professional gar, man!" Joshua said excitedly. "You’re too good!"
Maximilian chuckled under his breath.
"But I already have a job."
He leaned back slightly in the chair, watching the boys argue and replay the fight in awe. For a brief mont, he allowed himself a quiet sense of pride. It felt strangely similar to standing victorious among his soldiers after a battle.
Then... The door slamd open.
Catherine stood in the doorway. One hand rested firmly on her hip, her head shaking slowly as she took in the chaos in front of her.
"Don’t you boys have anything better to do?" she said sharply. "Go have dinner and start preparing for your sester exams!"
The boys froze.
Her eyes shifted to Maximilian. "And you, Professor Moosemilian," she added coolly, "shouldn’t you be helping them study? Instead, you’re here playing gas with them."
"Moosemilian?" one of the boys snorted.
Another burst out laughing.
Joshua clutched his stomach. "Professor Moosemilian is what our buzz-kill aunt calls her boyfriend!"
Maximilian stared at her, visibly offended. "That nickna is entirely unnecessary," he said with quiet dignity.
Catherine curled her lips and walked forward. She then clapped her hands sharply. "Out. All of you."
Groans filled the room.
"Aunt Catherine—"
"Five minutes!"
"Three!" she corrected imdiately, pointing toward the door.
The boys scattered in chaotic protest, grabbing controllers and snacks as they fled the room one by one. Joshua lingered just long enough to whisper dramatically to Maximilian.
"You’re still a legend."
Then he ran.
Within monts, the room fell silent again. Maximilian slowly turned toward Catherine. "You cannot ruin my reputation as their hero, no matter what you do," he said solemnly.
Catherine crossed her arms, trying, and failing, to suppress a smile.
"Oh please," she said. "Five more minutes and they would’ve built you a shrine."
She gestured toward the door.
"Now co on, Professor Moosemilian. Dinner."
-----
In the hospital room, William adjusted the controls on the bed after Jas finished his dinner. The machine humd softly as the backrest lifted, and William carefully helped his father lean into a comfortable position before pulling a chair closer and sitting beside him.
"The kids are all at my place," Bobby said, leaning back with his arms folded. "And apparently they all like Catherine’s boyfriend."
"Is that so?" Jas’s face softened with a pleased smile. The thought clearly delighted him.
William rested his forearms on his knees.
"I’m thinking of taking him hunting," he said calmly.
Getting into the good books of the kids was easy. Boys admired anyone who could win a few gas and make them laugh. But if you truly wanted to know a man—his patience, his instincts, the way he handled pressure—you watched him hunt.
It was a Preston family tradition. Every man who entered the family had been tested that way.
Jas nodded slowly. "Do it." There was quiet approval in his voice.
Bobby rubbed his hands together with obvious excitent. "Isn’t he a vegan?" he said, grinning. "This is going to be fun. I hope he doesn’t run away crying."
He chuckled.
"Bobby...This is the first boy Catherine has ever brought ho," Jas said gently, still smiling. "Go easy on him."
At that mont, the door opened, and Jonathan stepped into the room, a phone still in his hand.
William glanced over. "We’re going hunting with Max tomorrow," he said. "You free?"
"Hunting?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged. "Why not. Tomorrow’s Sunday anyway."
But he scratched the back of his head afterward, his expression turning thoughtful.
Jas noticed imdiately. "What is it?" he asked.
Jonathan pulled over a stool and sat down.
"It’s... sothing strange," he admitted. "I was thinking of gifting a lab for Catherine so she could work from ho. You know... after everything."
He hesitated.
"But before I even started the process, soone’s already blocking the permits."
Jas frowned slightly.
"That is odd," Bobby muttered.
"I only decided this today," Jonathan added. "Yet sohow the application pipeline is already locked."
William’s brows lifted slowly. "Soone anticipated you’d do this?" he asked.
Jonathan nodded. "That’s what it feels like."
A silence settled over the room.
Bobby leaned forward, his expression sharpening.
"Well then," he said, cracking his knuckles lightly. "Let’s find out who that is."
Jas watched his sons discussing it seriously and his lips curved to a pleased smile. The only worry these days for him was about Catherine and how she would fare in his absence.
But his sons always proved to him why he had the best kids. Even if sothing happened to him, his sons would take care of his daughter.
With that smile lingering on his face, he fell asleep.
-----
anwhile, far across the city, inside the top floor of BioQuant Tower, Dorian Blackwood’s phone slid across a massive solid oak desk after he threw it down in irritation.
The screen flickered before going dark.
He leaned back slowly in his chair, the faintest smile touching his lips.
"They dare keep her from ..." he murmured.
The smile sharpened.
"Let them try... She will have to return to eventually."
His gaze drifted toward the towering glass windows overlooking the city below.
As if he would ever allow anyone to block his access to his Queen.
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