The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1231: Family Tribunal

Well, what do you know?

Luca was just about to find out.

Much to his awe and disbelief, once judgment was finally handed down in the suddenly convened Mylor family tribunal, one Luca Kyros somehow ended up being treated like an honorary Mylor and sentenced right alongside the rest of them.

Which was how he found himself still kneeling on the floor beside Ollie Mylor, whose pout looked about a yard long, and Owen Mylor, who’d simply raised both hands in surrender while displaying what he hoped was an appropriate amount of repentance.

Off to the side, however, one extremely passionate father was having a much harder time accepting this outcome.

Duke Leander had already attempted to take a step forward for the third time, only to be stopped once again by his own wife and, oddly enough, his wolfish son-in-law.

He really couldn’t understand what those two were thinking!

His precious boy was out there being reprimanded when Luca hadn’t even done anything deserving of punishment in the first place. Even Osmond and Julienne clearly didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, considering they’d wisely removed themselves from what was obviously a squabble between siblings.

So why exactly was his child still kneeling on the cold floor, and why were these two, of all people, stopping him from going over there and rescuing his boy?!

Well, the increasingly distressed Duke never got the chance to demand an explanation, because Marquise Julienne ended up asking the question for him.

"Xavier, why do you think it’s best to let them continue?"

"!"

Leander’s eyes widened.

But before the Duke could challenge the entire situation himself, that son-in-law of his actually spoke up. Xavier kept his voice low enough that only those around him could hear, all while his eyes remained fixed on his little wife.

"Because he seems to like it a lot."

"!!!"

The words practically struck Duke Leander like lightning.

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head at such a preposterous claim when his child had practically been begging for forgiveness earlier!

Only when he looked again, this time really, looking, did the Duke finally notice something strange.

For some reason, his precious son’s golden eyes were practically sparkling.

Luca was still in the same position between the two Mylor brothers, but there was far less trace of the earlier panic that’d nearly sent him spiraling. Instead, he seemed thoroughly concentrated on everything being said, nodding along with Ollie and Owen before earnestly answering each reprimand with an enthusiastic, "Yes, Big Sis!"

The surprised Papa blinked.

Then did it again, this time slower.

Was he seeing things?

His wife, who’d apparently noticed the same thing much earlier, finally spoke up beside him.

"Right now, he’s being treated exactly like family."

"What?"

"Look closely, Leander."

The restrained father turned his attention back toward the strange little tribunal.

Quite a distance away stood three towering Mylor siblings, while three others, including his own son, remained on the floor receiving the exact same lecture. Sure enough, if Luca hadn’t possessed jet-black hair that stood out so starkly among all those blondes, anyone walking in without context might’ve assumed he was simply another Mylor sibling who’d gotten dragged into trouble with the rest of them.

Duchess Amelia’s expression softened as she watched their son, whose golden eyes remained thoroughly engaged and almost adorably excited despite the fact that he was technically being reprimanded.

"That’s our kid enjoying what it’s like to be included just like a sibling," Amelia explained softly. "He gets to share in the accountability and the punishment, but at the same time, there’s this unconditional backing underneath all of it simply because they’ve already decided he’s one of their own."

Then, seeing that her husband still looked as though he was struggling to understand how being made to kneel on the floor could possibly make their precious child happy, Amelia couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Listen to them."

Leander frowned slightly before finally forcing himself to stop staring solely at Luca and actually pay attention to what the young Mylors were saying.

__

Ozren, the eldest of the siblings, was the one speaking now, addressing all the youngsters with the steady, mature tone of someone who’d clearly gone through some version of this conversation far too many times before.

"You all realize we’ve long accepted that someone would eventually need to prepare contingency plans and bail money, right?" he asked calmly. "We’ve even calculated the probability of Otis becoming a doctor specifically because someone in this family might decide they prefer living on the edge. So yes, we already know what to expect."

The three people on the floor visibly sagged on their knees as the eldest Mylor laid it all out for them.

But apparently deciding that these guys still needed an even greater wake-up call, Olivia sacrificed even more of her precious energy and raised her voice.

"Now, again! For anything that may or may not require a lawyer in the past, present, or future, what do you do?!"

The response was immediate.

"Tell you!" Ollie, Luca, and Owen chanted in perfect unison.

"That’s right!" Olivia snapped. "And if it’s something that requires money, then what do you do?!"

"Call Big Brother Ozzie!"

"Yes! You little shits! So you actually understand!"

The three of them shrank just a little more.

"Then what’s with all of this, and why are we only hearing about your marriage this late?!" Olivia demanded, immediately directing the full force of her glare at Ollie. "If no one had reminded you, would we have found out after your first child was born?!"

"I was wrong, Big Sis!" Ollie screeched without even attempting to defend himself.

Olivia immediately whipped around toward Owen, who flinched before she’d even opened her mouth.

"And you! You knew something ahead of time and still said nothing?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"I’m in the wrong, Big Sis!"

Then Olivia’s fiery gaze landed on the last member of the kneeling trio.

Luca gasped.

"And What was all that about not wanting to involve everyone?!" Olivia demanded. "You’re practically glued to this brat like the two of you shared a womb, so how could you say something like that?! Or do you think of us as outsiders and don’t want the rest of us involved in your life?!"

"!!!"

Luca’s golden eyes widened in immediate panic as if forgetting that he actually hadn’t had a lot of interactions with Ollie’s other siblings save for Owen. But even so, in that moment, how could he even think about that?

"N-no! I don’t think of you as outsiders!" he hurriedly denied, looking genuinely horrified that she’d interpreted his words that way. "I-I made a mistake, Big Sis!"

"Yes! You all did!"

Olivia huffed before crossing her arms, looking thoroughly exasperated with the three troublemakers lined up before her.

"If you’d just told us earlier, we could’ve acted better so the whole thing would’ve been more believable! Did you see the dumb looks on our faces when you announced it?! How were we supposed to convince anyone that we’d known all along when we looked like we’d just been struck by lightning?! How much easier would all of this have been if you’d just given us a warning?!"

The only son of House Kyros still wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to deal with any of this, but strangely enough, the longer the lecture continued, the more something inside him seemed to settle.

All those little worries he’d carried about whether he was overstepping by treating Ollie like a real brother, especially when the blonde already had actual siblings of his own, gradually began disappearing.

Because apparently, Ollie’s siblings didn’t seem to care about that distinction at all.

In fact, the more they scolded him right alongside Ollie and Owen, the easier it became for Luca to relax enough to actually meet the eyes of the Mylors he hadn’t gotten the chance to know very well yet.

No one verbally told him,

It wasn’t anything like what he’d heard at the orphanage when he’d first arrived, back when no one had known about his condition just yet.

Yet strangely enough, Luca felt far more welcomed now.

Every time he recited his repentance alongside the two brothers beside him, every time Olivia included him in another reprimand, and every time Ozren spoke as though Luca naturally belonged among the troublemakers they were collectively responsible for, it somehow felt like they were telling him exactly that without ever having to say the words.

At some point, Luca couldn’t help but glance toward his good brother.

Ollie was still pouting indignantly, and even that opinionated little hair antenna of his seemed to be expressing its own dissatisfaction with the injustice being inflicted upon him. Yet looking at him now, Luca suddenly wondered if this was part of the reason his good brother had grown into the person he was.

Maybe part of why Ollie really was such a unique soul was because standing behind him were all these giants who genuinely had his back.

Now, while that was true in a sense, one guardian mecha also wanted to cautiously point out that their particular brand of support entailed preparing bail money, contingency plans, medical professionals, and whatever else might become necessary should one of the siblings decide to do something catastrophically stupid.

Unfortunately, one thoroughly enamored little Master currently had no functioning ears to hear such a claim, for all Luca could think about was just how fearless someone could become with such a robust support system behind them!

Even more mind-boggling was how those same people had somehow found enough room among them to welcome an outsider like Luca with open arms.

It was such an odd, heartwarming sensation that Luca didn’t even mind the hard floor beneath his knees anymore.