Gareth Drakethorne
Ethan took his seat beside Mia, his immediate elder sibling and the only female in the family. She flashed him a sly smile the moment he sat down.
"Look who finally decided to join us," she teased, a beautiful smile on her face, leaning slightly toward him. Her amber eyes sparkled with amusement, and her playful tone carried a hint of something more possessive.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Some of us like to think before eating."
Mia chuckled, unfazed. "And here I thought you were just brooding in your room."
Across the table, Darius, Ethan's immediate elder brother, smirked. "He's probably worried about the Rite of Awakening. Little brother doesn't want to let the family down."
Ethan shot him a look but kept his tone light, saying a scene the previous Ethan found extremely funny and ludicrous
"You're projecting, Darius. Weren't you the one who almost burned the family banner during your first talent demonstration?"
Laughter rippled through the room.
"That was years ago!" Darius said, feigning indignation. "And at least I awakened something impressive."
From the far end of the table, the eldest sibling, Kaelen, chimed in with a dry remark. "Impressive for someone who thought 'Dragon Fire' meant he could use it to cook."
Darius groaned, but the teasing continued, the camaraderie lightening the otherwise formal setting.
---
Mia reached over to one of the platters, carefully selecting a piece of roasted meat. She held it up with her chopsticks, turning to Ethan with a mischievous smile.
"Here, Ethan. Say 'ah.'"
Ethan frowned, leaning back slightly. "I'm good, thanks. I can feed myself."
Mia pouted dramatically, her voice softening in a way that felt far too intimate. "Come on, little brother. Don't be shy. Let me take care of you."
Before he could protest further, their mother, seated near the end of the table, chuckled warmly. "Let her, Ethan. Mia just wants to spoil you a little."
Ethan sighed, his resistance crumbling under his mother's encouraging gaze. Reluctantly, he leaned forward, opening his mouth slightly as Mia grinned triumphantly and gently fed him the bite of meat.
"See?" she said, her tone teasing but laced with satisfaction. "Doesn't that taste better when I feed you?"
Darius snorted, trying to hold back laughter. "Careful, Mia. You're going to scare him off before the Rite."
The other two brothers exchanged knowing glances, each offering their own dry jokes about Ethan's situation.
Ethan, despite the teasing and Mia's intensity, found himself relaxing slightly in their company. For all their quirks, this was his family now.
He was an avid reader of webnovels back at earth too, it was one of the few things he loves to do when not at work, but ever since he got transmigrated a little while ago he hasn't gotten the time to check out his system...
He still had many thing going on in his mind, with the exception of his recent memories of the original owner of this body, Claire's well-being was giving him a great deal of tension even though he acts cool on the outside.
He's yet to know whether when her soul trajectory was reversed she would be in earth, or for some unknown reasonin this world, Though it was all guess from what he knew so far, there should be a high chance that she's back on earth...
He didn't know how to feel as he was completely unsure of the end result of everything, if she was brought back to life by the system reversing her soul trajectory, there's still the apocalypse occuring in their world, with it taking everyone so suddenly, everyone unprepared when it happened, there's a high chance that majority of the inhabitants back at earth won't make it past the apocalypse, and she may or may not be part of the survivors, this uncertainty put him at unease, but even if she was somehow able to escape death by apocalypse, there's still Loki the God of mischief...
Ethan tried putting this at the back of his mind but each and every time it keeps resurfacing
---
Suddenly, sharp clearing of a throat silenced the room.
Everyone instinctively straightened in their chairs, the atmosphere shifting from lighthearted to serious in an instant.
Kaelen, the eldest, had been the one to signal the change. He leaned back in his chair, his gaze steady and pointed as he glanced toward the door.
From the hallway, the faint sound of footsteps echoed. They were deliberate, measured, and impossibly quiet for a man of his stature.
When Lord Gareth Drakethorne entered, the room felt colder.
He was a man who carried authority like a second skin. His presence alone was enough to command silence and respect. Dressed in a unique dark-blue coat lined with silver embroidery, he exuded both elegance and dominance. His sharp features were accentuated by a neatly trimmed beard, and his deep-set eyes glimmered with an intensity that bordered on intimidating.
Two male servants followed closely behind. One stepped forward, removing Gareth's heavy cape with practiced ease, while the other knelt, his hands outstretched. Gareth unhooked the Greatsword from his back—a weapon as imposing as the man himself—and placed it in the servant's hands with deliberate care.
"I didn't expect the dungeon raid to take so long," Gareth muttered, more to himself than to anyone in the room. His voice was deep and gravelly, filled with an innate charisma that demanded attention.
As he moved to the custom-made chair at the center of the table, the weight of his presence pressed down on everyone. Even Ethan, who was no stranger to authority in his past life, felt a chill run down his spine.
No one spoke. No one moved. The entire room seemed to hold its breath until Gareth sat down, his gaze sweeping across the table.
---
Ethan, feeling the full force of the patriarch's aura, thought to himself, It's no wonder this man became a legend.