The Wolf Servant

Chapter 4: If You Keep Being Stubborn, He'll Be Taken Away

With his gentle demeanor and perfect smile, this was probably why Lancelot General's adopted son had such an excellent reputation.

—However, this was exactly what Arthur hated to see most: that fake smile and those deep, unfathomable eyes that never revealed true emotions... Being under that gaze always gave him the chilling sensation that he might be devoured alive the next second.

...And he was just a beta.

Arthur's brows furrowed severely as he turned his head away, his voice stiff and cold: "Stop smiling at me so disgustingly, Gavin. Turn your head back around."

The youth's voice sounded flawlessly cold, causing Gavin's smile to falter slightly, his blue eyes darkening. The smile then disappeared as he nodded and said "Alright," before sitting up straight, facing forward, no longer attempting to initiate conversation with Arthur.

Silence.

On the way home, Arthur kept his gaze fixed outside the window.

Thirty minutes later, when the aircraft landed at the Lancelot family's landing pad, those black-gloved hands reached over, a faint tobacco scent wafting through the air as Gavin naturally unbuckled Arthur's safety belt.

Freed from the restraint, Arthur stood up from his seat. Before stepping off the aircraft, he suddenly seemed to remember something and pulled back his foot. Holding onto the aircraft's doorframe, he turned back to look at the man behind him: "Hey."

The man who had just unbuckled his own safety belt looked up: "Yes, young master?"

Arthur smiled, speaking with feigned innocence: "What would Father think if he knew his dear perfect son Gavin had picked up smoking outside?"

Rule Seven, Section One of the Imperial Knights Academy regulations clearly stated that to maintain optimal mental clarity for decisive judgment in any situation, students were prohibited from engaging with potentially addictive substances, such as nicotine.

Gavin was slightly taken aback, apparently not expecting that despite his careful efforts to eliminate the scent, the youth had still caught it with his keen sense of smell. His gaze inadvertently fell on the boy's fair, upturned nose tip... Ah, truly an remarkable little puppy nose.

He'd been caught.

Sitting in place, showing none of the expected panic, the man simply raised his hand, pressing his index and middle fingers between his brows as if troubled, then gave the youth standing at the aircraft door a wry smile: "I was feeling drowsy during morning inspection and needed something to stay alert... Would the young master be kind enough to keep this secret for me?"

Arthur: "..."

He hadn't expected such a quick admission.

While Arthur stood stunned, the man had already stood up, walked past him to jump down from the aircraft, then turned around to extend his hand palm-up toward the youth still frozen at the doorway—

Arthur shot him a fierce glare and ignored his offered hand, cleanly jumping down from the aircraft himself. After landing, he straightened his school uniform: "Don't provoke me, and I'll consider not telling anyone... Also, switch to a different brand of tobacco, this one's too strong. I can smell it from miles away."

He had so easily given up his first chance to tear away that hypocritical facade.

After all, rushing to tattle about something like this would be too childish. Father would at most scold Gavin, while his brothers and sisters might mock him for a month—

Calling him petty, a tattletale, a little milk-pup making a fuss over tobacco and such.

That would definitely be annoying.

Head held high with his chin slightly raised, the young master of the Lancelot family, having made his calculations, strode toward the mansion's main entrance without a sideways glance.

Left standing in place, the man who was slightly taller than him watched that proudly straight back for a moment... Gavin smiled and responded in a voice Arthur could hear, with the same gentle warmth he used to acknowledge any of Arthur's requests or commands: "Yes, young master."

...

After leaving the aircraft, Arthur quickened his pace toward the mansion's entrance. According to the notification he'd received an hour ago, his seven siblings were already waiting inside—

Eldest brother Fars Lancelot, Major General of the Military Strategic Command, might become the youngest Lieutenant General in military history at his twenty-seventh birthday this year's end.

Second sister Lilith Lancelot, Commander of the Military Remote Territory Surveillance Division, an unmarriageable madwoman with the rank of Major General.

Third brother Sicily Lancelot, Secretary-General of the Interstellar Trade Association.

Fourth brother Lucifer Lancelot, graduated from the Imperial Knights Academy as a sophomore, then became a street mecha mechanic, vulgar term "hoodlum," a dangerous character capable of sending Father's blood pressure soaring with a single sentence.

Fifth sister Evans Lancelot, a bespectacled iron maiden, Military Mecha R&D Department researcher, involved in developing the core system of the military "Snow Leopard" series, ranked Colonel.

Sixth brother City Lancelot, amusingly, a superstar beloved by countless women.

Little brother Bodhi Lancelot, City's twin, graduated from military academy last year and joined the military, currently interning under Second Sister, whose main task was delivering things called [Deputy Assistant Invitation] but actually [Love Letters] to the Rhein family's beta boy for Second Sister, showing signs of going insane.

That's all.

It didn't matter if one couldn't remember their names. Arthur, who suffered from mild prosopagnosia, didn't match his siblings' names to their faces until he started school at age seven, showing a tendency to take a year to memorize each person's appearance in order, causing such concern that people worried their youngest brother might have cognitive issues...

These people were usually scattered across the military, battlefields, and street performances (...), but today was their little brother's enrollment day, a big occasion for the Lancelot family, so everyone had unusually returned home before dinner—

However, when Arthur walked into the house, there weren't many people in the living room.

Arthur immediately saw eldest brother Fars and second sister Lilith chatting on the sofa. Hearing Arthur's footsteps, they stopped their conversation and looked up. Fars set aside his military authority, his amber eyes identical to Father's rippling with a hint of warmth: "Look who's back, our young master. Arthur, how was your first day at school?"

Lilith, her eyelashes long and curled from countless layers of mascara, lazily lifted her eyes to glance at her brother in his white uniform, lighting a cigarette with a "click": "Big brother, I'm surprised you can be so gentle. I don't believe you don't know he caused trouble."

Arthur walked over to Lilith, snatched away the cigarette she'd just brought to her red lips for a drag and extinguished it, then sat down on the sofa opposite her: "I didn't cause trouble."

"Oh?" Lilith glanced at the stubborn youth from the corner of her eye, "Then why did I hear someone stole Gavin's hat and got him deducted conduct points?"

"..." Arthur immediately raised his eyebrows, saying dissatisfied, "Are you monitoring me?"

Lilith instantly burst out laughing as if she'd heard a joke: "Friend, when you stole his hat, ten thousand pairs of eyes in the whole school were watching. Why would I need to monitor you?!"

Arthur: "..."

Fars also curved his lips in a smile: "Lilith, say less. You're about to upset our little one."

Though his words seemed peacekeeping, his tone was purely stirring up trouble.

At this moment there was no one else in the living room. Arthur sat on the sofa looking at his big brother and second sister who were completely "siding with outsiders," and he was indeed getting angry. Those originally relaxed black eyes now contracted slightly, emitting dangerous signals—if he were in wolf form now, his fur would probably be bristling.

"You could say something nice," Arthur warned with a nasal tone, "instead of criticizing me for being harsh to an outsider the first time you see me."

The sound of a door closing came from behind.

Probably Gavin who had been walking behind had returned.

However, Arthur didn't lower his volume—

The word "outsider" was loud and clear; Gavin couldn't have missed it.

Glancing at the expressionless Gavin, Lilith's expression also became somewhat serious, her voice carrying the rare authority of an elder sister after dropping the joking tone: "I completely understand your rebellious thoughts as a child, little one. I just want to remind you, no matter how many times we've said it in the past you wouldn't listen, today you've seen for yourself just how sought after Gavin is—and not just at the military academy. This guy is graduating in a year, and knowing he hasn't committed to a wolf pack yet, even some big shots in the military are getting restless..."

Arthur had heard more than enough of this topic today.

Now having Lilith bring it up again in such a serious tone...

He felt his adrenaline surging—

So annoying.

So damn annoying!

"What's that got to do with me?" He bared his teeth rebelliously, "He can go wherever he wants!"

Lilith slightly closed her eyes and shook her head: "You know we can't allow such an excellent deputy to join another wolf pack, even Father wouldn't agree—I also don't believe you really don't understand why he hasn't accepted any other alpha's invitation until now. My dear brother, if you continue being so childish, you're undoubtedly pushing Gavin away..."

Lilith's gentle voice continued, though her tone was unyielding: "This won't happen, Arthur. If you really do this, my wolf pack will use any means necessary to take Gavin from your side—"

"Enough!"

Arthur's face turned ashen as he stood up directly from the sofa—

The relaxed mood from returning home had completely vanished.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the Lancelot family mansion's living room was extremely tense. The alpha pheromone scent became increasingly strong, typically symbolizing that an alpha was emitting warning signals indicating their anger had reached its limit!

For instance, Arthur now, his pupils concentrated into tiny black dots, wrinkled his nose fiercely, unabashedly letting his aura cover every corner of the living room!

The servants who had originally been in the living room were all beta wolves, and by now they had scattered as if terrified...The living room was frighteningly quiet.

Unfortunately.

This had no effect on Fars and Lilith.

These pheromones, sufficient to make ordinary betas tremble and omegas run hundreds of miles away, were as insignificant as a puppy showing its fangs before two adult and sufficiently powerful alphas—

Arthur immediately noticed this point.

After meeting his brother and sister's calm gazes, realizing he had somewhat lost his composure, he faltered, and after quickly pulling back from his state of fury he immediately realized his emotions had been easily provoked on certain issues...

A fire burned in his chest, yet he wasn't clear who it was directed at.

At this time, his other siblings and father who were on the second or third floor had all come out due to smelling the explosive pheromone scent from the first floor—

"What happened?" Old General Lancelot came out from his study, leaning one hand on the railing, teasing, "Arthur, your puppy smell has wafted up to the study."

Laughter rang out from various corners of the house, and at this moment, a house full of alphas seemed truly annoying.

A tinge of embarrassed anger flushed his fair cheeks. After shooting a fierce glare at Lilith and Fars, the youth spat out "He can go wherever he wants, you can take him now" before slamming the door and returning to his room.

The living room fell into momentary silence.

Lilith pursed her red lips and whistled carelessly—

Her gaze met with that of the only beta gentleman who hadn't fled in panic, still standing motionless by the door. The beautiful female alpha's amber eyes tinged with playfulness: "Did you hear that? He said you can come with me."

By now Arthur's scent had faded from the room.

Gavin, who had been standing in the corner all along, faced Lilith's teasing with silence, then rubbed his nose tip and smiled helplessly: "Why must the young lady provoke his anger? Tomorrow when he finds excuses to settle accounts, I'll be the one suffering."

Lilith was slightly stunned.

Then she bent over laughing.

The entire living room was filled with her triumphant prankster's laughter.

Author's Note: Big brother and sister: If you keep acting up, your future lover will run off with someone else! Be sensible!

Arthur (not being sensible): Bullshit! I don't believe it!