Chapter Text
Tai woke up groggily. He sat up with his shoulders slouched, blinked a few times, and then threw himself back to sleep, pulling his thick, comfortable duvet over his head. Slowly, he allowed his consciousness to drift off for what was probably the third time that morning.
A few minutes later, there came a few consecutive knocks on his door, almost banging. Tai, having already succumbed to slumber, didn't notice a figure enter his room.
"Tai."
Underneath the cover, Tai's brows twitched. The figure approached and stared blankly at the sleeping man. He let out a sigh as he gripped the edge of the blanket and pulled, hard. A groan escaped Tai's lips as he yanked the blanket back over himself without even bothering to open his eyes.
"Get your ass up, or I'll drag you out of your room myself."
The words were uttered calmly, though the barely hidden menace behind them conveyed something entirely different.
In an instant, Tai's entire body jolted awake, involuntarily sober. He scowled and glared at the man before him. "Dear brother, aren't you way too busy to be waking me up?" The words left his mouth before his brain could even adjust to being conscious, his voice teetering on the border between politeness and flippancy.
Though they both knew it was mostly the latter.
"And aren't you too irresponsible to still be lying in bed in the middle of the fucking day like a dead bat?"
"You're getting more and more vulgar each day; did you know that?" Tai snapped, annoyed. He adjusted his position begrudgingly and stood up.
"I'm your older brother." The man's impassiveness couldn't have been more obvious. He turned his back on Tai. "Get dressed. I'm sending you out after lunch." He added before walking out, almost slamming the door as he left.
Tai stared at where his brother once stood.
"…"
Not even a minute after the other left, Tai had already managed to shove his face deeper into the soft silk pillow and considered the merits of simply never leaving his bed again.
He turned over and glanced at the clock ticking idly on the wall. It was already past eleven; a few more minutes and it would be lunchtime. He knew he needed to get up. He also knew that his body and mind wouldn't want that.
He really, really, really didn't want to get up and do anything else aside from staying glued to his cushions. He'd rather stay in his bed and rot until an unlucky servant visited his room and anxiously informed his father about his son's poor fate. But he also knew that wasn't entirely plausible. Mugm would've snapped his head off before he could even rot in his bed.
For the second time that day, he dragged himself up and blinked like a deer in headlights before finally, finally, dressing himself.
The East Ducal Manor was absurd. Each pillar, each piece of furniture, even the walls, had gold imbued within them, a testament to its wealth. Hallways stretched far beyond, ceilings reached impossibly high, and a chandelier hung like a manifesto straight out of a fancy daydream.
Yet, for such a structure, there was barely anyone walking through it. Throughout his stroll to the main building, he had only passed three servants, who instinctively flinched and intuitively bowed. Tai hardly acknowledged them, rolling his eyes at their stiff and still postures.
He was famous for all the infamous reasons. It was a well-known fact throughout the entire empire how rotten and spoiled a child he was. His entire public persona was built on stupidity and recklessness, held together only by sheer, atrocious amounts of wealth.
Rumors, be they baseless or not, had been circulating and manifesting wherever he went, often ranging from deleterious acts to scandalous affairs.
His father, Minute, the Duke of the East, was a sympathetic, responsible man who cared deeply about his territory and his three sons. He was by no means a feeble ruler. Inheriting the title from his late father, Minute had managed to further expand his territory while also allowing his people to prosper under him. A large number of people, even those afar and those who opposed him, couldn't deny his abilities.
And for a noble Duke to be related to such a son—people, be they of nobility or common ancestry, couldn't help but question how he could possibly tolerate Tai's attitudes and brush them aside like nothing.
Instead of heading to the dining hall for lunch, Tai took a detour and went straight to the garden.
He found Mugm already seated at the table in the middle, a piece of paper in hand. He didn't look up when Tai deliberately made his steps louder for the other to hear. Didn't bother to acknowledge him at all even when Tai had already taken a seat in the chair opposite him.
Tai let out an annoyed 'tsk' as the other continued to ignore him like he wasn't even there.
In hindsight, reaching out and grabbing the paper from Mugm's hand without saying anything was a stupid idea. Dumb, idiotic, reckless. It all happened in the blink of an eye, really. One moment he was reaching out, the next he was already weeping pathetically.
"H-hey!"
He struggled to get up, his face colliding with the table. A loud, pained groan escaped him as Mugm's hand found its way to the back of his head, keeping him in place.
"What. The. Fuck. Are you doing?" Mugm's voice was steady, eerily so.
"I was just trying to get—fuck!" He exclaimed as his brother's grip tightened. "I was just trying to get your attention."
"…"
"There! I told you, you fucker, get your hand off me," he scowled as Mugm lifted his hold. "Fuck, just say you wanna kill me, will ya?" He quipped, irritated.
"And if I were to say I do, what will you do?"
Tai immediately swallowed the complaint that was ready to leave his mouth the moment those words were uttered. Fucker could joke about killing anyone and everyone would take him seriously!
It was then that Spoke appeared in front of him, the smile on his face gradually disappearing as he took in their commotion.
"You look like shit." An amused smile instantly overtook his face.
Feeling the statement pointed at him, Tai scoffed. "I also feel like shit, thank you very much," he said, which earned him a raised brow in return.
"Mugm threatened me, if it isn't obvious enough."
"I didn't threaten you. I asked you."
"There's a difference?" Spoke couldn't help but snort at his brother's words.
Mugm ignored his siblings and instead plopped himself back down into his seat, resuming his reading of the paper Tai had tried to grab from him.
Tai and Spoke quietly settled themselves beside each other.
The three of them, peacefully existing within each other's space. It was quite a sight—one not many noble families could claim. Though 'peacefully existing' might be an overstatement. Nothing was ever peaceful whenever it involved the three.
Mugm, the oldest among them, excelled in combat, be it with weapons or hand-to-hand; Mugm had proven himself capable in more than one situation. He had his mother's silver eyes—in fact, all of them had inherited their late mother's eyes. Growing up, he had continuously honed his skills and offered his father his shoulder whenever he deemed it necessary. Albeit Minute had also continuously declined, insisting that he was a child who needed to be a child.
To the public, he was a cold, impassive, calculating son. Always carrying himself with dignity while also carrying an air of serendipity. He didn't talk much, preferring to keep his thoughts to himself. And when he did? It was usually followed by something breaking and someone screaming. 'A lawful citizen' wouldn't fit his description.
Yet, for such a reputation engraved in shadows, he was a figure almost every person from their territory couldn't help but admire, even from afar. Despite his coldness, he was someone who carried a sensitive heart, one that ached and bled for his people. Despite the impassive demeanor he seemed to pride himself on, he was someone who cared deeply. And although he was calculating, oftentimes, it wasn't for selfish reasons.
It was certainly one of the reasons why their people couldn't question his legitimacy for his position as the Duke's heir—aside from him being the oldest, of course.
Tai, on the other hand, was the middle child. Growing up, he was… an eccentric child, to say the least. The Duchy was wealthy, and he wasted no time nor did he bother being humble with it. He did whatever he wanted; he bought whatever caught his eye. He didn't bother with pleasantries in front of other houses, though his siblings weren't any better, and he paid no mind to his drowning reputation.
He didn't excel in swordsmanship like Mugm, nor did he possess exceptional talent like Spoke when it came to wielding magic. He was just an extraordinarily boring human being. Well, he wasn't, not really. But anyway, he was, against all odds, fine with it; happy, even. He had no plans to get involved with politics, and he also absolutely had no desire to sacrifice himself and die in battle. Honorable or not, Tai didn't want it.
What was the use of wealth if he were to die anyway?
Mugm was hard on the surface, sure, but he’s surprisingly soft. Poke the right holes and you’re in. Tai could probably leech off his brother until his last breath, and Mugm would still entertain him, albeit with a scowling face and a mouth that never got tired of scolding.
Then there was Spoke. The youngest and most headache-inducing of them all. His entire personality was almost similar to Tai's, or much, much worse. While Tai had used their family's influence to indulge himself, Spoke used his family's influence and talent to indulge himself and to torment others. Everyone in their household had already become accustomed to him sneaking out.
No, to all of them sneaking out, be it in the middle of the day or the middle of the night. They spared no time climbing and teleporting themselves to all sorts of places under their territory. Sometimes they would go out together, sometimes just the two of them, or sometimes by themselves. Case in point: the siblings tended to disguise themselves as whatever and escape the Ducal castle. And their father seemed to have also given up trying to contain them.
Though, as far as the servants knew, Spoke was the one who carried the longest streak out of the three of them. And he was, by far, the one who caused the most incidents without being pointed to as the culprit. As a mage, he was supposed to be responsible, and yet, his actions screamed otherwise.
He would occasionally try to break into a noble's house, either concealing his body through an invisibility spell or disguising himself as one of their servants. It shouldn't be an easy feat; nonetheless, he made it seem like one.
Oftentimes, he would only mess with their meals, steal jewelry, cast light illusion spells, and perform other harmless pranks. Though there were still some exceptions—like that one time he had created a bomb only he could dispel because he was pissed off at them, and sent out an anonymous tip about it. After some time, the news spread, and Minute had to physically drag him there, subsequently revealing Spoke as the culprit.