Wordlessly asking for his permission, Sera gave Helios an imploring look. She wasn’t sure if it would be alright for her to play the role of an imperial princess while His Majesty the Emperor himself would play a mere mage.
As though he thought there weren’t any problems at all, he reached for the book that the twins brought.
Rosé and Ferre’s eyes widened at once, exchanging glances between themselves and nodding together. The twins returned to their bed and lay down, their heads close together on the pillow. They also hugged the stuffed animals they had on the bed.
“Sera and Hyung! Hurry and read to us!”
“I’m super excited!”
Sera and Helios brought two chairs together and sat side by side, sharing the book between them. After setting the book to face the twins so that they’d be able to see the pictures, Sera carefully took a short breath and read the title.
Rosé and Ferre’s gem-like eyes widened as they cuddled together.
“The Sleeping Princess of the Garden.”
As her clear voice rang out, Helios flipped over a page just at the right moment. With them sitting so close together, enough that they could feel each other’s breathing, they leaned towards each other in a slightly awkward position while reading the story book’s lines. First, Sera would read one line, then Helios would read the next.
They worked well together, as though they had already read books like this together several times before. They never gave each other instructions, but they naturally shared the lines of the side characters as well. Sera adjusted her voice as she took on the roles of the fairy godmothers, while Helios imitated the growling of the large dragon.
“My gift to Her Highness is beauty!”
As she spoke the lines of the fairy godmothers with a charming voice, she gently tapped Rosé and Ferre’s foreheads as if she was blessing them. At this, the twins giggled.
“The curse that has befallen the empire can only be solved by the power of true love. Just who is this special mage who can give true love’s kiss to the princess?”
Helios lowered his voice significantly to read this line, trying to don an evil look on his face, though he didn’t look crooked at all. He crept towards the legs of Rosé and Ferre to spook them, and the two shrieked playfully at this. They struggled to get away from Helios as if he really was a demon.
Forgetting their purpose of reconciling Sera and Helios, who they thought were on bad terms, the twins immediately got immersed into the vivid story.
“Grrrrrr!”
As the story gradually reached the climax, the growling demon turned into a dragon and blew out fire. Helios brought his hands near his mouth and blew fiercely, then small red fireworks sparkled out from his fingertips as if fire was truly blowing out.
“Wooow!”
“Fire! It’s fire!”
Rosé and Ferre exclaimed together, covering their own mouths in their excitement. Sera, seeing magic unfold so close beside her for the first time, watched with equally curious eyes.
As the mage defeated the demon with his powerful magic, all that was left was for him to rescue the princess who was in deep slumber in the garden.
A sweet kiss! A confession of love!
Rosé and Ferre gulped as they anticipated this very important scene. It was finally the moment of truth for the plan they had hatched together after choosing this book very carefully and meticulously.
Ferre whispered quietly to Rosé, feeling a bit nervous.
“Shh. This is the important part.”
Rosé covered Ferre’s lips very firmly.
She was closely observing her Oppa and Sera, and she could already see that the atmosphere between them had turned strange. Not only was Sera being awkward, but even Heli Oppa was stiff.
‘What’s the problem? What kind of fight did Oppa and Sera have that they’re still so awkward like that! We even let them read a fairy tale together to help them get along as fast as possible!’
“What would wake up the sleeping princess is a mage’s true love. Aurora, here is my true love’s ki…”
Flustered, Helios couldn’t finish the line he was reading at that moment.
Rosé and Ferre were already leaning forward with their cheeks together, looking as though they might fall over any second now. They craned their necks like cute turtles, staring at Sera and their older brother with large doe eyes. Those gazes were very burdensome.
“Hyung… Sera…”
Ferre muttered as he looked at Sera and Helios with anticipation.
“If you come any closer, you’ll fall over, Your Highnesses.”
Just before he could fall down, Sera hugged the twins again and tucked them back into bed. As Sera sat back down on her seat, she was about to skip over the line that Helios couldn’t finish. But then,
“Wait a sec.”
Rosé spoke up.
“Why are you skipping the most important part?”
Hesitating as though they were caught doing something wrong, both Helios and Sera smiled awkwardly.
“You were so great acting like the fairy aunties and the demon and the dragon, but why are you skipping the most important part?”
To support his sister, Ferre nodded enthusiastically.
“The most important part is here! The kiss!”
Thump, thump! Rosé hit the bed with her small fist out of frustration. Actively sympathizing with his twin, Ferre also hit the bed with his small hand as they both chanted in unison,