Chapter 1 Coming Home

The lavish celebration of Lawrence Beaumont's coming of age was still underway when I returned home.

News outlets from around the world had been invited to cover the Beaumont family's youngest son's 18th-birthday celebration.

But the moment I appeared on camera, all the praise stopped.

My tattered clothes and filthy appearance were completely out of place amid the lavish festivities.

Upon spotting me, the woman standing beside Lawrence froze.

I opened my mouth to speak. She was my biological sister, Celine Beaumont.

For a moment, I thought she'd finally remembered she had a younger brother still stranded in a foreign country.

Instead, she frowned and shoved me somewhere the cameras couldn't see me.

"Who told you to come back? Look at yourself! Did you come here just to ruin Lawrence's 18th-birthday celebration?"

Lawrence approached with a smile.

"It's fine. Calvin's back, after all…" He suddenly wrinkled his nose. "Wait, Calvin, where have you been? Why do you smell so bad?"

He covered his nose, and Celine immediately pulled him behind her, glaring at me in disgust.

"We just wanted to toughen you up a little. Why do you have to make things so difficult for Lawrence?"

My parents came over, looking equally displeased.

"Today is Lawrence's 18th-birthday celebration. Do you have any idea how long he's been looking forward to this?"

I said nothing.

They must have forgotten that Lawrence and I had been given each other's identities. We shared the same birthday, after all.

I spent the entire journey home crammed into a shipping container with a bunch of other people, and my clothes reeked of sweat.

I simply bowed without answering and headed into the estate.

Perhaps my indifference threw them off. Celine, who was used to me doing whatever she asked, grabbed my arm.

"Hey, we're talking to you. What's with the attitude? Do you think we don't know what's going on? That country might look unstable, but there's no chance of a war actually breaking out. You could've stayed another year and been perfectly fine!"

Suddenly, I could feel the pain of the bullet that had pierced my heart in my previous life all over again.

I instinctively clutched my chest.

My parents frowned. "Enough! Stop pretending! What's with all the drama?"

"You're right." I nodded.

They stared at me in surprise. I turned to face them and bowed again.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have come back from a war zone and interrupted Lawrence's 18th-birthday celebration. I shouldn't have shown up looking so shabby after such a rough journey. It's all my fault. I'll go and change."

I'd never backed down like this before.

In the past, whenever they accused me of something like this, I'd cry and insist on defending myself.

As I walked away, I heard my father snap behind me.

"What was that supposed to mean? Is he giving us attitude now?"

"Forget it, Austin. Lawrence's celebration comes first. I'll have someone keep an eye on him so he doesn't come out and ruin the party."

I stopped halfway up the stairs. My fingers tightened around the banister, but I kept climbing.

After showering, I opened Pembroke University's website and looked through it.

：My application had already been accepted, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Before, I hesitated because I didn't know how I'd stay close to my family if I got accepted.

Now, I had no reason to hesitate anymore.

There was just one major problem I still needed to figure out.