A Father's Duty

"Tritan..."

Tritan smiled as Elyna frowned, clearly not wanting to let him go. Elyna tried to hold him back by holding the edge of his clothes. Although his relationship with Elyna was not perfect, the bond between them seemed to make Elyna aware that there was danger approaching Tritan.

In a normal situation, Tritan would never ignore Elyna's wishes. But this time was different. There was something Tritan needed to do, and he couldn't put it off any longer.

"I have to go back, Elyna. I'll come often, I promise."

Tritan rubbed Elyna's head fondly. He smiled in satisfaction when Elyna seemed to enjoy his touch while closing her eyes. Her pink lips were still slightly pursed. But at least she was no longer frowning like before.

"Please tell Father that I don't want to see him again if he punishes you. What happened between us was my fault. I-" Elyna took a breath. He stopped talking when Val and Tritan looked at him as if they were sad to see Elyna blaming herself for the complicated relationship between them.

"This is our destiny. He should know that there is nothing we can do with destiny."

Tritan smiled again when Elyna tried her best to fix her way of thinking. The man ruffled his sister's hair once again. If one looked closely, there was a trace of sadness when he saw how Elyna felt comfortable when she felt his touch.

"That's right. Don't worry, Elyna. You know that Father loves both of us. He will understand. You trust me, right?" Tritan asked. Elyna looked at Tritan's red pupil. After seeing that Tritan was sure of his words, she finally let go of the man.

Tritan smiled a little. He hoped that he could engrave Elyna's smile forever in his memory.

"Take care of her. I'll come back later," Tritan said to Val.

Val nodded. "You can come anytime in the future," he said seriously.

Hearing Val's words made him smile a little. No one expected that those who had been competing with each other a few weeks ago would get along that day. But Tritan had calmed down. After talking to Val, he knew he hadn't made the wrong decision.

Tritan took a deep breath. After smiling at Elyna, he finally disappeared, swallowed by his own shadow.

***

BAM!

Tritan was sure that if Elyna had come back with him, she would have cried when she saw him being hit several meters away by his father when he arrived at the castle. Tritan vomited a mouthful of blood because of the blow. But he was a noble vampire. Although he felt his ribs were cracked because of his father's strong blow, his body immediately recovered as soon as he got up from his fallen position.

"Where did you take your sister, Tritan?!"

Georgio kept shouting the same thing. Tritan smiled. Because he knew Georgio had never seriously hurt him, he was trying to provoke his father.

"I don't know? I think I just left her in a place that made her happy."

BAM!

Tritan was sent flying again from his father's punch. The right wing of the castle had been destroyed by Georgio's anger. Since Tritan saw the same mess outside the castle, he could guess that while he and Elyna were gone, Georgio had tried to track him down with his powers.

Unfortunately, Tritan had sacrificed a lot of his powers to prevent any vampires from leaving their dimension at that time. Tritan even managed to restrain Georgio's movements, who should have been the original owner of the artificial dimension they were in.

"You should have seen her, Father. Elyna finally smiled sincerely at me at that moment. She even called me Brother, something she never said sincerely when she was here."

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO MARK HER! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! SHE WILL BE BOUND TO THAT WEREWOLF FOREVER NOW!"

"BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT TO DO!" Tritan shouted back. Since Ramosa -Tritan's mother- left, that was the first time they had a big fight again. Tritan didn't even mind when Georgio was with a werewolf and even had a child with her. He always respected his father's decision. But this time, he could no longer keep quiet when Georgio had let him be hated by Elyna.

"Because it was the right thing for me to do. You made me hated by Elyna, Father. We weren't by her side when she needed us the most. Worse, I even marked her without her consent."

Tritan began to speak softly when Georgio no longer hit him. Georgio was still panting, but he remained silent as his eldest son told his story.

"Even after we connected, I kept feeling that Elyna could leave me for that werewolf. It hurt so much, Father. I didn't want her to leave, so I tried to let her be happy with her choice," Tritan explained again. Georgio fell silent. His power was slowly withdrawn. Then, with Georgio's power stabilizing, their castle, which had been destroyed, began to repair itself quickly.

"However, your seed and the werewolf seed are now planted in her stomach. What will you do now? Dividing your bond will only burden Elyna's health. She could die from having to bear the burden of being the mate of a werewolf and a vampire," Georgio whispered sadly. His hand reached out to help Tritan get back up. His gaze looked very hurt when he looked at Tritan.

"I already knew she was different since Tia gave birth to her. No matter if she becomes a full vampire or a full werewolf, Elyna can only bear one of her mate's seeds. She is destined to have only one mate, and I do not want her to choose that werewolf over you."

"Father-"

"Go to sleep, Tritan. You two are my children. When a child makes a mistake, it is the parent's job to fix it."

Tritan flinched as his body was sealed when he was caught off guard. Georgio looked at him calmly. The man patted Tritan's shoulder, who was trying hard to resist Georgio's absolute command.

"If none of you want to kill him, that's fine. Let me do it. Let me save you. That's my duty as a father."

Tritan fell into Georgio's arms when he couldn't go against his orders anymore. Georgio took his son to rest in his room. Then, he looked at the vampires, who were bowing without daring to look at him directly.

"Take care of him for me. I'm going to go get my daughter."

After saying that, Georgio used his power to go to the place where Elyna was.