[BL]Hunted by the God of Destruction-Chapter 281: Not a second name

One Month Later

The mansion had always been large enough to qualify as a diplomatic hazard, but the last month had reshaped its atmosphere entirely. It wasn’t silent, too many people worked here for that, but the noise had softened. Doors were closed more carefully. Conversations dropped in volume. Even the air vents seemed to hum quieter, as if they were afraid of disturbing the baby.

Elias stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the upstairs lounge, their daughter resting against his shoulder in a soft cream onesie, one tiny fist curled against his collarbone. Morning sunlight slid over the hardwood floors, warm and unhurried, catching the dark strands of her hair.

Victor sat on the couch behind him, legs stretched out, barefoot in black joggers and an unbuttoned linen shirt he hadn’t bothered to fix after the last feeding. He looked expensive in the way only Victor could, effortless and vaguely unfair. He was absently holding a plush star the baby liked, pretending it wasn’t because she had once stared directly at it for three seconds and Victor considered that a bond.

"She’s been asleep... how long?" he asked.

Elias checked the baby’s breathing again, brushing a thumb along her tiny spine. "Twelve minutes."

Victor huffed. "Unacceptable. I wasn’t emotionally prepared for her to fall asleep on you again."

"You’re never prepared," Elias said.

Victor didn’t deny it.

The baby made a small sound, a soft squeak, and Victor immediately sat up straighter.

"She made a noise."

"She’s dreaming," Elias said.

"About what?"

"She’s one month old. Probably about eating."

Victor looked deeply offended by the mundanity of this answer.

Before Elias could tease him further, footsteps sounded from downstairs, followed immediately by Adam the butler’s pained voice:

"Please announce yourselves first...!"

Too late.

Someone rang the doorbell five times in rapid succession, each press aggressive enough to be considered a threat.

Victor sighed. "Wonderful. They’ve arrived."

A moment later, Adam appeared in the doorway, shoulders stiff with the resigned calm of a man who had lived through worse but not by much.

"Sir... they insisted."

Behind him entered the chaos.

Ego came in first, wearing a sharp navy suit and the expression of a CEO who had elbowed three ministers out of the hallway to get here faster. He stopped dead the second he saw the baby.

"I want to hold her," Ego announced.

Victor stood up instantly and blocked the path with his entire body. "Absolutely not."

Elias snorted softly.

Ruo followed in a sleek grey blazer and jeans, her hair tied back in a low braid. She took one look at the baby and her entire face softened in a way that made the room feel warmer.

"She’s tiny," Ruo murmured. "And quieter than expected."

Victor scoffed. "She’s perfect."

"She’s quieter than you ever were," Ruo added.

Victor glared at her. "I was a serene infant."

Ruo laughed while taking the nearest place to her only niece.

Elias didn’t even bother holding his in.

Connor swept in next wearing a forest-green bomber jacket and sunglasses, which he did not bother removing despite being indoors. He carried himself like the world was paparazzi and the mansion was a set.

"Let me see the heir," Connor said, already reaching to peek around Victor.

"She is not the heir," Victor snapped.

"Metaphorically," Connor amended, rolling his wrist. "She’s definitely the moral heir."

Victor actually paused. "...Explain."

Connor nodded at Elias. "She looks at him the same way you do, like she’s evaluating everyone else’s IQ."

Elias blinked. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

Ruo laughed while Ego scoffed with a glass of wine in his hands.

Connor grinned. "Absolutely."

Uno entered quietly behind him, dressed in a light sweater and tailored black pants, his expression calm, his eyes tracing the baby with something soft and steady.

Victor eyed him suspiciously. "Don’t even think about touching her."

Uno raised an eyebrow. "I haven’t moved."

"That’s why I’m reminding you preemptively," Victor said.

Connor nudged Uno. "He’s threatened by your aura."

Uno sighed. "Everyone is threatened by my aura."

The baby shifted again, her face scrunching briefly before relaxing against Elias’s shoulder. The entire room instinctively held still, as if one wrong movement might trigger a catastrophic chain reaction.

Elias adjusted her gently, rocking her with a small movement he’d perfected over the last month.

Ruo leaned forward slightly. "She really is calm."

"That’s because Elias is holding her," Victor said, as if it were an obvious mathematical truth. "She respects hierarchy."

Connor tossed his sunglasses onto the nearest armchair. "She respects competence. Which is why she likes Elias more than the rest of you."

Victor turned his head slowly. "Try repeating that."

Connor raised his hands. "I’m unarmed. And not suicidal."

Uno glanced at Ruo with quiet amusement. She patted his arm as if silently agreeing.

Ego took a sip of wine like a man preparing himself for a business negotiation.

"Well," Ego said, "since we’re all here... it’s time to discuss the actual issue."

Victor stiffened. "If you say ’her name’ again, I will unplug the house Wi-Fi."

"Her name," Ego repeated, undeterred, "is long overdue."

Elias exhaled. "We said we’d share it soon. We’re still finalizing..."

"What’s there to finalize?" Ego demanded. "You give her one good name, and then the second one honors her family. End of discussion."

Victor stared at him like he had said something illegal. "She doesn’t need two names."

"All Numen heirs have two."

"She is not an heir."

"She is my granddaughter," Ego said sharply.

Victor narrowed his eyes. "And?"

Ego glared. "And therefore she gets two names."

Connor whistled under his breath. "You’re losing this argument, Victor."

"Plus," Victor added with an air of righteous logic, "the argument is invalid. I have only one name."

Ego almost choked on his wine.

Ruo lifted one eyebrow. "Victor, you have six middle names. They’re just hidden because your ego didn’t want to share the spotlight."

Victor turned slowly toward her, his crimson eyes full of provocation for her to talk more. "That is a lie."

Uno spoke smoothly. "It’s on your birth certificate."

Victor’s mouth opened, then closed again.

Connor grinned. "You could have fifteen names and everyone would still just call you Victor because everything else sounds like a lawsuit."

Elias finally let out a quiet laugh, adjusting Aria’s blanket with one hand. The baby murmured, then settled again against his shoulder, tiny fingers curling lightly into the fabric of his shirt.

Ego pointed at her. "Look at her! She’s dignified. She deserves two names."

"She deserves peace," Elias replied. "Which she will not have if the four of you keep arguing directly over her body."

Victor nodded as if Elias had just delivered a verifiable scientific fact. "He’s right. Lower your voices. She can hear your idiocy."

Connor scoffed. "You’re talking to me, correct?"

"I’m talking to all of you," Victor said.

Ruo folded her arms. "Fine. Then tell us the name. The real one."

Victor sighed dramatically, then looked at Elias for permission, because despite everything, that was who he deferred to.

Elias raised a brow. "Do you want to say it?"

Victor paused. "Yes, actually."

Of course he did.

Elias gestured. "Then go ahead."

Victor straightened his spine like he was about to make a royal proclamation, then turned slightly so that every person in the room had to look directly at him.

"Her name," Victor declared, "is Aria."

There was a collective reaction: soft, immediate, and warm.

Ruo’s expression bloomed into genuine delight. "That’s beautiful."

Uno nodded. "Strong. Balanced. Good choice." He had become bearable now that his Creator aura and powers were restricted by Connor’s dating terms.

Connor clutched at his own chest dramatically. "Ugh. You sentimental monsters."

Ego inhaled sharply through his nose like a man who had come to fight and instead encountered an ambush of feelings. "Aria," he repeated, tasting it. "Hn. Acceptable."

"Acceptable?" Victor echoed, looking personally offended. "It is perfect."

"It needs a second name," Ego added instantly.

Victor rounded on him. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Elias didn’t even bother looking up from Aria. "Ego, we’re not adding a second name."

"You should," Ego insisted. "It’s tradition. It’s respectable. It looks serious on documents."

Connor waved a hand, his rings shining in the morning light. "She’s a baby, not a board of directors."

"She will one day be in front of directors," Ego corrected as he was already preparing a spot for the girl.

"She will one day be in front of a playmat," Elias corrected. "And then a high chair. And maybe a pencil. One problem at a time."

Ruo laughed softly. "You’re losing this one, father."

Ego sniffed. "We’ll see."

Victor leaned closer to Elias, lowering his voice so only he could hear. "We are not giving her a second name." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I know," Elias whispered back. "Let him argue. It keeps him busy."

Victor nearly smiled.

Then Aria shifted, rolling her tiny head against Elias’s collarbone and letting out a faint sigh.