Chapter 503 - Revenge 504: Fair Judgment

"Young Master, Young Mistress, your parents have come back home and they are calling for you along with your two friends."

The maid spoke in a shaky tone, and it's not hard for the twins to know why she is like that. It is most likely their mother's fault.

"Can I pretend that I have a stomachache and can't stand up?" Ophius asked. He is desperate not to go and meet the twins' parents.

"That's not going to work, Ophius. Do you really think that I would want to see my mother when she's upset? If I know that kind of excuse will work, I would have done it by now." Aaron said. He tried the same excuse a long time ago, but it didn't end well for him and his mother strictly told him to not do that ever again.

"What do you want me to do? Accept a punishment that I don't deserve?" 

Ever time Ophius' opens his mouth, Anna is starting to get annoyed by him. He keeps on complaining, then blame everything to Lucia, and repeats the same cycle again.

The first time she met Ophius, she thought that Ophius is like Lucia. Wild and free. But obviously her opinion about him is entirely wrong. He is the total opposite of Lucia. He likes to go have fun, but he limits himself and would always stick to the rules.

"Shut it, Ophius. You came and this is the result, so suck it up and get a move on!" Anna shouted at him. Other than her friends, this is the first time that she yelled at someone. But what can she do? She is tired of hearing all of Ophius whims.

"Better listen to her, Ophius. It's not good to make her angry. After all, she is like Mary Coleman when she's angry." Lucia whispered to Ophius. Of course, what she said is not exactly correct, but in order to make Ophius shut his mouth, it's better to put fear on him.

Meanwhile, while waiting for the children to come down, Mary and Arion are leisurely sitting on the couch. Both of them are silent since the beginning, even Arion is having sweats because of the silence.

He is upset about what happened with the children, but at the same time, he is worried about what is going to happen to them.

"Take it easy on them, Mary. It's not like they got themselves injured. Their mission ended perfectly." What Arion is really upset about is that the twins and their friends didn't go through a proper protocol.

Their organization doesn't follow rules that much, but going through a proper protocol for taking a mission is a must.

"Take it easy? You've gotta be kidding, right? Since when did I go easy on people who don't follow the rules? Whether it's our kids or not, rules are the rules. If we make an exemption for them, then the way other people look at us will change." Mary didn't want to do this either, but sometimes, she got to do what she has to do.

"But..." Arion wanted to lessen Mary's anger, but it seems that it's way too late to do that now.

"Arion, you're too soft on them. You're supposed to be hard on them. You've finally reunited with the twins and I get that you don't want them to be so distant towards you, but sometimes, in these kinds of situations, you have so made an exception and be hard on them."

If makes Mary so happy with the thought that Arion thinks so much about their children, but in cases like these, he shouldn't be showing his soft side towards their twins. As much as possible, Mary doesn't want Arion to spoil their twins way too much.

"Mistress, the children are here." The maid who was told to fetch the children came back. Behind the maid, Mary and Arion saw the nervousness Anna and the others are showing. The confidence that they always see in these four are now all gone.

For Mary, it's quite fascinating that everywhere they go and whatever they do, they are always complimented. But now, because of one mistake that one of them did, they are in such a situation that they could have never fathomed.

"Mom, Dad..." Arion tried his best to show his poker face, but his eyes betrayed him. He is way too nervous to face his mother right now.

His mother just came back from her mission, and most likely, his mother didn't get enough sleep. From what he heard, people who lack sleep can be so moody, and right now, his mother is exactly from he heard.

Mary is about to say a word, but Lucia suddenly stepped forward and said, "I was me!" She shouted, and that startled Ophius. "I didn't go through the protocol and have forced the twins and Ophius to come along with me. As the leader of this mission, I am willing to take all of the punishment by myself."

This sudden confession from Lucia is not what everyone in the room expected to happen. Lucia is never the type of person to take all the punishment. As a matter of fact, she would rather want to take someone with her if she's going to face punishment.

This person in front of Ophius is not the person that he has known for years. And there is a part of him that doesn't accept this side of Lucia.

"Whether or not you're the main reason why all of you are in this situation, all must be punished equally," Mary said in a firm tone. She likes Lucia's sense of responsibility and she would like to grant Lucia's wish, but the protocol is not the only reason she is mad.

The four of them stayed at their victim's mansion when they knew that Johan was there. In her view, the four of them should have left the place the moment they saw Johan was there. Who knows what could have happened if Johan didn't let them off.

"Mom, if it's about the man named Johan, then it's my fault. I wanted to stay longer because I wanted to know what kind of plan he's brewing that with that man." Anna and Aaron have been told plenty of times that whenever they sense that Johan is around, it better not to engage in a fight and better leave the place quickly.

Anna at that time was pushing her luck. She knows that there is a risk of staying and finding out Johan's motives, but she wanted to help her parents. Despite that she is going to face punishment soon, Anna has no regret in pushing her luck at that time.

"Yeah, I heard. You got what you wanted, but was the information really worth it?" Arion asked. From what Arion heard from his father, the target was a man who is doing human trafficking, but what kind of important information does a man like that have for Johan?

The only reason that Arion can think of why Johan is working with that man is that Johan needed to raise his money and that's it.

He doesn't understand why the twins are confident that they acquired very fragile information against Johan. For all they know, that information that they got is not even that important.

"Yes. It is worth it, Dad." Anna said. Whether or not they believe her, Anna believes that the information that she got on that man's computer is very vital. "If you want to see it, Grandfather took a copy of it. You can discuss is together with him."

"Nevertheless, Anna, do you expect us to reconsider the punishment for the four of you just because you said that?" Mary asked.

The way her mother is staring at her puts Anna in an uncomfortable situation, but Anna is not gonna let her mother put her down with just a stare.

"No. I don't expect such a thing. What I'm trying to point out is that before you make a decision of what kind of punishment you want us to face, I want you and Dad to see what we got on that mission." In Anna's point of view, it would be unfair if her parents suddenly decided a punishment for them right away without knowing if they deserve that punishment or not.

Ophius heard everything and every word that comes out of Anna's mouth, he felt like the years of him living in this world are decreasing.

'I hate this. I don't care anymore.'

"Heh." Mary scoffed. Anna's words are provoking her, but it's not in a bad way. It's more like, the excitement inside of her is rising up. "Your daughter's tongue is quite something, don't you think so, Arion?"

"Well, she did got that from me," Arion smirked. Even he is impressed by Anna's reasoning. She is not running away from their punishment. She is willing to face it, but with a fair judgment.