Sister, Father, Mother, and Me

The first six months were tough. My body couldn’t move properly, and I couldn’t speak, so I had to rely on others for everything. There were some unpleasant memories that I’d rather skip over. Most of the time, I slept or stared blankly at the ceiling. It was boring, but not painful because I looked forward to the future. As I grew older, I knew I would be able to do more things, and eventually, I would learn about magic. Oh, how exciting that would be! I was so thrilled that I wet myself. In my mind, I apologized to my mother, Emma.

“Aww, Theon dear. You wet yourself. Let’s change your diaper, okay?”

Emma is a beautiful woman with a gentle smile. She’s my mother. My name is Theon, though it sounds a bit feminine, I’m a boy. I wasn’t sure what to call her in my head, but I decided to call her Mom or Emma.

She changed my diaper with a smile. It wasn’t very thick, but it could get stuffy. After changing my diaper, Emma picked me up.

“Hmm, you’re a quiet child, aren’t you? So different from Marie.”

Emma looked down at me with a slightly worried expression. It’s true that I was quiet. I didn’t cry much or laugh much either. Even if someone made a silly face and said “baah,” I couldn’t laugh. My sense of humor wasn’t that low, but I didn’t want to force myself to laugh.

Emma shook me gently and said, “there, there.” The pleasant swaying made me drowsy, but a loud noise interrupted it.

“Mommy!”

The one who opened the door was my older sister, Marianne, but she goes by Marie. She’s three years old and quite mischievous. Her red-orange hair, which reached her shoulders, was curly, perhaps because of her strong personality. She tried to keep herself relatively neat, but her movements and gestures ruined everything.

She came running to us, stomping on the floor.

“Oh my, what’s wrong, Marie?”

“Mom, I wanna hold him too!” Marie exclaimed, tugging on her mother’s skirt.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t. You’ll definitely drop him,” her mother replied, concerned about the safety of the baby. Even falling from a little height can be dangerous for a baby, she added, trying to dissuade Marie.

Internally, I watched with worry as Marie continued to insist. “Hey hey! Please!” she begged.

“It’s still too difficult for you,” her mother explained, hoping to convince her daughter.

“That’s not true! Marie can do it! Children can do anything, after all!” Marie countered, determined to hold her little sibling. But I knew that it’s not true, and it made me anxious. “No! Stop it, seriously!” I thought to myself.

After all, dying from being dropped by my sister in this other world would be the worst possible outcome, and I absolutely don’t want that! I don’t want to die before I could use magic!

“Um, yeah, I’m sorry,” Emma said.

But Marie wasn’t giving up. “No, no, I want a piggyback ride! Marie wants a piggyback ride!!” she demanded, starting to cry and pull on her mother’s skirt with all her might.

“Stop it! You’re going to make him fall!” Her mother warned, worried about the baby’s safety.

Once a child starts crying, it’s hard to make them stop. Children are selfish, after all.

“Marie dear, as the big sister, you can’t be selfish,” Emma gently chided. But despite Emma’s reasoning, Marie continued to insist on a piggyback ride. Emma showed remarkable patience and kept talking to her daughter, finally calming her down after several minutes.

“Dear, you want to play with Theon, right?” Emma asked.

Marie nodded eagerly.

“Theon will be able to talk and move little by little soon. Can you wait until then? We need to protect the baby, you know. We all have to work together as a family,” Emma explained.

Marie seemed to understand and wiped away her tears. “I understand! Marie will be patient! Because I’m the big sister!” she declared with a smile.

Emma praised her and Marie approached the bed, poking Theon’s cheek with a grin. “Hurry up and grow up, Theon,” she whispered.

With a mix of excitement and nervousness, Theon reached out his hand, and Marie gently grabbed it. Emma watched with a smile on her face as the siblings shared a heartwarming moment. However, Theon was aware that he still had to be careful around his energetic and mischievous big sister.

●○●○

After two years, I had made significant progress. At first, communication was a challenge due to my poor articulation, but I gradually learned simple words and began to speak. As I grew, I also learned how to crawl and walk on my legs. My first word was “rice.” I remember desperately craving it as my diet was mainly limited to bread. By the time I turned three, the house I lived in had become my castle. It’s a spacious two-story home with eight rooms, some of which were seldom used. The kitchen was adequately furnished and seemed quite affluent for this world.

Although I knew my family must have been of good standing, I was unaware of their social status. The house was located in a rural area with no other houses nearby, so I had only interacted with my family thus far. The house was made of wood, and while there were window glasses, the quality was low. The dishes were mainly made of pottery or wood, and there were only a few pieces of silverware.

I wore clothes that resembled medieval European garments, with blazing red hair that contrasted with my sisters’ orange and golden locks. My facial features were entirely different from theirs, and although they were well-proportioned, my eyes may have appeared unkind. A slight change in my facial expressions might have made me appear impudent.

One day, I sat on the stairs, observing my sister running around the courtyard. I couldn’t fathom why kids run so much. She ran towards me and asked:

“Theon! Let’s run together!”

“…Run?”

“Yes! Running!”

Although I preferred staying indoors and was not a fan of sports, my sister’s infectious smile made it hard to refuse. So, I stood up, and we lined up together. She’s five and had an insatiable love for running. “Let’s go!” she said, and we both ran together.

We started running at the same time – three-year-old me and five-year-old Marie. Our physiques were vastly different, and her strength was far superior to mine. It was clear that there was no way I could win, and the distance between us grew quickly. Nevertheless, children have extraordinary stamina. Even though adults would tire out immediately, children could quickly recover their energy. But they also get sleepy fast. I chased after Marie’s back as we ran around the courtyard until she stopped.

“I won! Theon, you’re slow!” Marie declared.

“You’re so fast,” I said.

“Really? Well, I’m your big sister after all!” Marie boasted with a proud smile.

I couldn’t help but find her adorable with that expression on her face. Marie would jump up and down when she was happy and quickly show her displeasure if something bothered her. She had an easy-to-understand personality, which was even more evident as a child. Suddenly, she turned her head toward the main gate.

“Dad’s here!” she exclaimed.

Marie ran towards the gate, and I reluctantly followed her. The sound of hooves and metal scraping filled the air as the gate opened. A carriage appeared, passing through the courtyard and stopping in front of the entrance. It was a covered wagon, with nothing loaded on it. A dandy man with a beard rode down from the driver’s seat, and Marie jumped onto him.

“Welcome back, Dad!” she cheered.

“Hahaha, I’m back, Marie. You’re still as energetic as ever,” Father replied.

“Yeah! They say I’m like the sun because I’m so energetic, just like my hair color!” Marie responded.

“I see, I see. Hahaha!” Father laughed happily as he stroked Marie’s head. Her eyes narrowed with joy, making her look like a cat. Meanwhile, I just stood nearby, watching the two of them. It would have been awkward for me to join in the embrace, especially since I was over thirty and couldn’t do something like that.

Father approached me, carrying Marie in his arms.

“Welcome back, Father,” I greeted.

“I’m home, Theon. And you’re still as reliable as ever,” Father praised.

“That’s not true. Marie is more reliable than I am,” I replied.

Father smiled at me. “Anyway, I’m going to fix the carriage now, so you two go inside.”

“Yes, father,” I answered.

“Alright!” Marie chimed in.

He got on the carriage and moved to the stable at the edge of the garden.

Gawain is my father, and although I don’t know exactly what he does for a living, I’m curious to find out more. I have some freedom to move around and have become more comfortable talking with him. I’ve even succeeded in giving the impression that I’m quite mature for my age. This should help me get away with acting a bit more grown-up, even though I’m only three years old. There are still limits, of course.

It may have been a bit early for me to be investigating magic or learning about this world, but I’m starting to reach my limit of patience. I’ve been quiet about it because I thought people would find it strange if a newborn suddenly started talking about magic. But now, little by little, I would try to ask my father about it.

“Hey! Theon, let’s go inside!” Marie called me, and we entered the house.