The memories of those wrinkled Caria Times pages blurred in my mind, the specific text slipping through my fingers like sand. I shook my head slightly to clear the fog, my gaze drifting over to where Elicia was now carefully weaving Charm's messy brown hair into a neat, delicate braid.
Seeing the two of them under the warm lamplight made the math click in my head, and the realization hit me like a physical blow.
Charm was five years old. Elias was currently twenty-six. Elias had left our family estate when I was just ten years old, and we didn't reunite until eight years later. If Charm was five, that meant Elias had gotten married and fathered a child at the age of twenty-one… right in the middle of his intense, high-stakes duties as a Luminous Knight. He had hidden an entire family in this remote northern village while serving the crown, keeping them completely safe from the cutthroat politics of the nobility.
"All done, little one," Elicia whispered sweetly, patting Charm's shoulder as she tied off the end of the braid.
Charm grinned ear to ear, shaking her head to feel the swing of her new hairstyle. Then, her face lit up with excitement. She reached into the small pocket of her pinafore dress and pulled out a small, worn object.
"Look at this! Papa gave this to me before he had to leave," Charm said proudly, holding it up for Elicia to see.
My breath caught in my throat. I leaned forward, my dual-colored eyes locking onto the object in her tiny hands. It was an old, enchanted family photograph, its edges faded and creased from years of being handled.
I stared at the image, a profound, aching nostalgia gripping my chest. It was the three of us from our childhood. There I was, sitting right in the center… a tiny, innocent child looking up at the camera with those distinct, mismatched heterochromic eyes, completely unaware of the dark future awaiting me. To my left stood Elicia, already possessing her elegant, protective stature, and to my right was Elias, sporting the goofy, confident grin of a young noble boy.
But it was the figure standing directly behind us that made my heart violently squeeze.
Our mother stood in the center of the frame, her hands resting gently over her heavily rounded stomach. She was glowing with a maternal warmth that seemed to radiate right through the old paper. Looking at her pregnant form, I realized that a tiny Evelyn was likely growing inside that womb at the very moment the picture was taken. It was a snapshot of a time when our family was whole, happy, and entirely unbroken.
A heavy silence settled over the room as I stared at the photo, the memory of our father flashing through my mind. He had died just two months after my mother gave birth to me, the first domino to fall in the long, tragic collapse of the Rynd name.
Elicia's fingers trembled as she gently touched the edge of the photograph, her silver eyes shimmering with unshed tears as she looked from the picture of our past to the little girl sitting on the sofa… the living, breathing proof that our fractured family's bloodline was still fighting to survive.
The click of the front door's heavy iron latch echoed through the cozy room as Lilith finally secured the shop shutters from the outside, sealing us into the warm, dimly lit sanctuary of the Rynd cottage. She walked into the living area, wiping her hands on her apron, the savory, mouth-watering aroma of stewed meat and root vegetables billowing out from the kitchen behind her as the hearth fire crackled lazily.
"My shop is officially closed for the evening, and dinner is still simmering on the hearth, We have plenty of time to chat before the food is ready." Lilith said, offering a soft, weary smile that carried the unique warmth of a countryside mother.
She crossed the room and sat down on the wooden rocking chair positioned directly across from our patched fabric sofa. She extended an arm toward the couch, snapping her fingers gently.
"Charm, come here, sweetie. Let your aunties rest for a bit."
The little girl scrambled off the sofa cushion, her new braid bouncing against her collar, and trot across the rug to clamber directly into Lilith's lap. Once settled against her mother's chest, Lilith looked up at us, her gaze shifting deliberately between Elicia's striking silver hair and the mismatched jade and crimson eyes peeking out from beneath the shadow of my vanguard hood.
"You two must be Elias's sisters, am I right?" Lilith asked, her voice dropping into a gentle, confirming register.
Elicia and I exchanged a brief, silent glance before nodding in unison.
"Yes, I am Elicia, and this is our younger sister, Ren."
Charm immediately hoisted the faded, enchanted family photograph high into the air, holding it up at arm's length to align the image directly with our faces. She squinted her bright green eyes, pointing her tiny finger back and forth between the frozen children in the picture and the fully grown women sitting on her couch.
"Look at them, Mama! Look at them! They're exactly the same as the people in the photo! They just grew up so big!" Charm chirped, her face lighting up with absolute, unbridled glee.
Lilith let out a soft, melodic chuckle, wrapping her arms securely around her daughter's waist and pressing a kiss to the crown of her brown head.
"Charm looks at that photograph every single day the moment she finishes her lessons, My little girl was blessed with an innate Appraisal skill from birth. Because of that, she has been studying incredibly hard to understand the world around her, reading every book we can get our hands on. That's the real reason she was able to bypass your cloaks and recognize both of you instantly the moment you walked up to our stall. Her skill registered the unique mana signatures matching the bloodline traits Elias always described." Lilith explained, her eyes shimmering with a blend of maternal pride and lingering anxiety.
Lilith's smile faded slightly, replaced by a more solemn, protective expression as she leaned back in her chair, holding her daughter close. She looked directly into Elicia's eyes, wanting us to truly understand the heavy secrecy that governed their quiet life.
"Elias knew the dangers of the capital better than anyone, When we married, he made the executive choice to completely conceal our existence from the high-ranking officials and the Luminous Order. He didn't want his wife or his daughter to ever become targets for political leverage or caught up in the violent, corrupt chaos that constantly tears through the heart of Caria. He gave us the name Rynd, bought this small plot of land at the edge of the northern wilds, and hid us here so Charm could grow up with a completely normal, peaceful life far away from the shadows of the aristocracy. To the rest of the world, he is a solitary knight. But to us... he's just a father trying to keep his world safe." Lilith murmured, her voice carrying the weight of the years they had spent in hiding.
Hearing Lilith speak our brother's name with such fierce, protective reverence brought a sudden, stinging warmth to my chest. Elias, the stubborn, loud-mouthed knight who always acted like he had everything under control, had been playing the ultimate high-stakes game. He was keeping a pristine oasis of peace tucked away in the dangerous northern wilds, entirely insulated from the bloodletting of the capital.
Elicia let out a soft, trembling breath, her shoulders dropping as the final walls of her rigid academic persona completely melted away. She reached out across the small space between the sofa and the chair, her fingers gently brushing against Charm's tiny hand, which was still clutching the old family photo.
"He always was a terrible liar, Whenever he visited the Academy, he would look at the students and get this distant, longing look in his eyes. I thought he was just exhausted from the Luminous Order's politics. I never realized... I never knew he was longing to come home to a daughter."
"He wanted to tell you, Every time he came back from a deployment, he would sit right where you are sitting now, holding Charm until she fell asleep, and tell me how much he missed his sisters. But the Bureau's eyes are everywhere, especially around the Rynd estate and the Sisiphon spires. He knew that the moment a single connection was made, the peace we built here would evaporate." Lilith said softly, her green eyes reflecting the flickering amber light of the hearth fire.
Lilith then shifted her gaze directly to me. Her eyes dipped slightly toward the heavy folds of my dark dress, where my hands were subconsiously resting over my abdomen. With a mother's intuition… and perhaps a little help from Charm's silent Appraisal skill… her expression softened into an understanding, deeply empathetic look.
"And now, the world is hunting you, Eirene, But inside this house, you are not an S-rank bounty or a political target. You are family. You're a sister, an aunt... and a mother-to-be." Lilith said, her voice dropping into a fierce, protective register that reminded me entirely of Elias.
Charm blinked, looking up at her mother and then back at me, her sharp little mind clearly processing the words.
"Auntie Ren is going to have a baby too? Like me?"
I couldn't help but let out a small, genuine huff of laughter… the first real, relaxed sound to leave my throat in weeks. The crushing weight of the 18-million-gold bounty, the phantom chains of the Callus Manor, and the fear of the unknown future all seemed to shrink in the presence of this tiny, brave little girl.
"Yes, Charm, A little cousin for you to boss around later. But for now, it's a secret. Can you keep a secret for your Auntie?" I said, my voice dropping into its natural, smooth octave as I leaned forward.
Charm immediately slapped a tiny hand over her mouth, nodding vigorously with her green eyes shining. "Mph-mm! Secret!"
"Good girl,"
Lilith chuckled, standing up from the rocking chair as the rich, savory aroma from the kitchen finally reached its peak. The bubbling of the stew grew louder, signaling that dinner was finally ready.
"Now, let's get some real food into you two. If I let Elias find out I let his pregnant sister and brilliant older sister starve under my roof, he'd never let me hear the end of it."