TGRBE 02

Beloved Child of the Spirits Arc

Chapter 2. The Bond That Is Inherited

I went with Mother to the salon and asked the butler to tell my brother that, if my sister-in-law was calm enough, I wanted them to come as well. It would be better to talk sooner and put their minds at ease.
Wio had asked to have our luggage carried to our detached room, so right now he had gone to fetch the documents he’d received in Turebol about the Child of Fire.
Mother looked a little tired. I climbed up onto the backrest of the sofa, carefully so I wouldn’t brush against her dress, and snuggled close. She gently stroked my neck, so I let a little healing power flow into her without her noticing.

“Luje-chan, I’m sorry to trouble you the moment you’ve come home.”
『It’s all right.』
“Luje, forgive my wife for earlier.”
『Don’t worry about it. How is the Child of Fire doing?』
“We’ve asked someone who can use water magic to look after him.”

Just then, my brother entered the room, and while I was asking about the Child of Fire’s condition, Wio returned.

“Luje, Wioras, welcome back—even if belatedly. I’m sorry for all this.”
“No, Sister-in-law must be worried as well. In the country of Turebol, those whose eyes also show their elemental color are called God’s Children, and they are gathered and raised. I was told the points of caution for raising them, so I brought these notes. I was also told that if it becomes too much to handle, they can take him in.”

He handed over the documents he had written down from Turebol. My brother skimmed through them, then gave a weary smile. “I’ll try to hang on a little longer.”
He really seemed exhausted. I should reassure him quickly.

『To cut to the conclusion, Sister-in-law’s wound will heal, so you don’t need to worry.』
“Even though not even you could heal it, it will still heal?”

It’s not that I couldn’t—I simply didn’t.
For children, unless it’s a life-threatening wound, it’s better not to heal them. Otherwise, their bodies may decide they don’t need their natural healing ability anymore. Once the body has made that judgment, recovering that lost self-healing is difficult—since you can’t just deliberately injure yourself to train it again.

“So with adults, since their bodies are already fully formed, it doesn’t matter? What about potions?”
『It’s the same.』
“Luje-chan, I already gave that child a lot of potions—will it be all right?”
『It’s fine, since the potions didn’t work on him. But from now on, don’t give him so many. Now they’ll work.』
“…Did you do something?”

Wounds caused by the power of spirits heal poorly; neither potions nor healing magic works on them. That’s because the lingering spirit power in the wound blocks both the body’s healing and external remedies. But I had already erased that interfering power. Now, it was just an ordinary burn.
I explained about the relation between spirit power and wounds.

『The scars will remain for a while, but they’ll gradually fade.』
“Luje, thank you. Truly, thank you.”
『Don’t thank me. I would have done the same even if Sister-in-law wasn’t family.』

One day, the Child of Fire will learn that he was the one who caused the wound. I don’t want him to suffer too deeply because of it. The Child of Fire will already bear hardships greater than Wio’s.
Honestly, I don’t even know if it’s right to leave him here in this house, or if it would be better to take him to Turebol.

『Can I go see the Child of Fire?』
“Of course. Please do. The child himself bears no blame.”

Together with Wio, I went to the room prepared for the Child of Fire, a bit removed from where my brother and sister-in-law were.
As we approached the door, his younger brother—though he was actually older, five years old—rushed out and spread his arms to block us.

“Ruka isn’t bad! Don’t be mad at Ruka!”

He must have thought we had come to scold the Child of Fire. Desperately, he tried to keep us out.
He must be sensitive to the tense atmosphere in the mansion right now. Even in this difficult moment, he was so earnest—and so cute.
A maid came chasing after him, calling for him to return to his own room, but he refused and resisted.

“Come along. With me here, you won’t get hurt. Step back now.”

Wio took the boy’s hand and went together with him into the Child of Fire’s room.
The Child of Fire was a three-year-old boy with red hair and red eyes. When he noticed his brother, he ran toward him. But toward Wio and the maids who followed after, he shot a sharp glare. You could see at once that he had not been treated kindly by adults until now. It was heartbreaking.
He also seemed small for his age—though, honestly, my only comparison was his brother two years ago.

“When I was a child, my elder brother protected me the same way. Truly, he is my brother’s son.”

Watching the two children happily talking together, Wio murmured to no one in particular.
At those words, the maids—who hadn’t even bothered to hide their wish to get the boy out of the room before his brother could get hurt—sucked in a sharp breath.
Perhaps Wio was seeing his own younger self in the Child of Fire.