We stood up from the living area and moved over to the small, sturdy wooden dining table tucked near the hearth. Lilith set down a large, steaming ceramic pot right in the center, alongside a basket of freshly baked rustic bread. As she ladled the rich, dark broth and tender chunks of meat into our bowls, Elicia suddenly went completely rigid.
She leaned over her bowl, her silver hair spilling forward as she took a deep, disbelieving sniff of the aroma.
"This... this scent, the specific blend of star anise, crushed bay leaves, and the caramelized root vegetables... Lilith, this is exactly like my personal recipe. The one I used to make back at our family household!" Elicia stammered, her eyes wide as she looked up at Lilith.
Lilith blinked in surprise, a sheepish but warm smile spreading across her face as she sat down with Charm beside her.
"Oh, really? Elias always craved this specific stew whenever he came back from the capital. He practically begged me to learn it, and he wrote down the exact measurements from memory, telling me he 'borrowed it from his sister.' He always spoke so highly of her cooking, but he never actually mentioned which sister it was!"
Elicia's eyes shimmered with a profound, quiet emotion, a soft laugh escaping her lips.
"That boy... he always did steal my recipes."
I picked up my wooden spoon, dipping it into the rich, steaming broth. I lifted it to my lips and took a cautious sip.
The moment the savory, complex flavors burst across my palate, a literal shockwave went through my system. Tears instantly pricked the corners of my dual-colored eyes. Ever since my tongue had been brutally severed by my captors weeks ago, I had lived in a muted, agonizing world of sensory deprivation. But now, because Elicia had flawlessly restored my severed tongue with her high-tier magic back at the inn, I was tasting real, home-cooked food for the very first time since my rescue. The banana from earlier had been a quick, desperate cure for my cravings, but this stew… this was an explosion of life, warmth, and humanity returning to my body.
As I savored the healing warmth of the meal, I shifted my gaze across the table to study Lilith more closely in the clear light of the dining area. Now that her apron was off and she was relaxed, I noticed the finer details of her features. She possessed a lovely mane of rich brown hair, paired with deep, striking blue eyes.
The genetic puzzle finally clicked perfectly in my head. Charm had inherited her father Elias's bright green eyes, but she had gotten her untamed brown hair directly from her mother.
I swallowed my bite of tender beef, setting my spoon down as my curiosity finally got the better of me. I looked directly at our sister-in-law.
"Lilith, How exactly did you and my brother meet? A Luminous Knight and a girl in the northern wilds... it's quite a distance."
Elicia immediately leaned forward, her silver eyes locking onto Lilith as she eagerly echoed the question.
"Yes, please tell us! Elias was always so tight-lipped about his personal life. How did a boy from our household end up falling for you?"
Lilith's cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink, and she let out a soft, nostalgic sigh, her eyes drifting toward the crackling fire as she prepared to tell us the truth about their past.
"Well, we were just simple commoners. My family didn't have titles or wealth; we just ran a small trading outpost near the edge of the forest. And back then, Elias wasn't the decorated, stoic Luminous Knight he is today…"
Lilith's eyes softened, a fond, nostalgic smile gracing her lips as she looked back on those chaotic, beautiful years.
"Elias had just been officially knighted at twenty-one, He was full of noble ideals, but he was also incredibly reckless, trying to prove himself to the Luminous Order. To get real-world experience, he took on high-risk monster suppression missions out here in the northern wilds, and he needed a local party who knew the terrain. That's how we met. I was actually a party member of his." Lilith began, her voice carrying the gentle rhythm of a storyteller.
Elicia's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You were an adventurer, Lilith?"
"A very basic one, I was the party's healer. I only possessed standard, low-to-mid-tier healing magic. It certainly wasn't anything flashy, and it was nowhere near the god-tier, flawless Divine Regeneration that you can command, Elicia. I could barely patch up a sword gash without running out of mana. But back then, Elias made me feel like I was holding the world together."
She glanced down at Charm, who was happily eating a potato from her stew, completely listening to the story of how her parents met.
"He was always throwing himself in front of danger to shield the rest of the party, Every single time he got hurt, he'd stumble back to me with that goofy, stubborn grin, bleeding out but laughing it off. I spent so much time stitching him back together, scolding him for being an idiot, and pumping what little mana I had into his wounds... that I just completely fell for him. And to my surprise, the dense boy actually felt the same way." Lilith continued, her blue eyes shining under the warm lamplight.
Lilith let out a soft, breathless laugh, reaching across the table to gently squeeze Charm's small hand.
"When the campaign in the north ended, he refused to let me go. We knew a noble knight marrying a commoner healer would cause a massive scandal in the capital, so we made a choice. We got married in secret right here, bought this little cottage, and a year later, we had this little miracle, He left us with the name Rynd to protect us, and he's been fighting to keep the chaos of Caria away from our doorstep ever since." she said, tapping Charm's nose, making the little girl giggle.
Elicia leaned back against her chair, a deeply moved, emotional look on her face.
"He found a healer to mend his heart... I couldn't have asked for a better life for him, Lilith. Thank you for loving my brother."
I took another quiet spoonful of the savory stew, the rich flavors warming my chest. Hearing how a simple commoner healer and a reckless knight had built this hidden sanctuary of love made the world feel just a little bit brighter. In a life filled with blood, curses, and betrayal, my brother had managed to save something pure. And sitting here at their table, tasting the perfectly recreated recipe of my family's past, I felt a spark of hope that maybe… just maybe… I could protect the new life growing inside of me, too.
Charm paused, her wooden spoon hovering just above her bowl of beef stew. She tilted her head, her bright green eyes shifting away from her mother to lock directly onto my silver-haired sister.
"Aunt Elicia, Do you have a family? Like Papa has us, and Auntie Ren has her baby?" Charm piped up, her voice innocent and curious.
The question hung in the warm air of the dining room, suddenly casting a poignant, complex light over the three siblings of our household.
Sitting there, savoring the rich broth on my newly restored tongue, the sheer contrast of our lives hit me like a wave of cold water. Elias and I were the only ones who had brought new life into the world, but our paths couldn't have been more polar opposites. Elias had a beautiful, domestic fairy tale… a loving commoner wife, a precious five-year-old daughter, and a hidden sanctuary of peace in the countryside.
And me? My reality was a dark, twisted mirror. The father of the child growing inside my womb wasn't a loving partner. He was a monster. He was the corrupt, immoral knight commander… the very same man I had brutally hunted down and slain to fulfill a lethal bounty contract. My child was conceived in the shadows of violence and blood, born from the remnants of a life as a feared Phase 5 demon.
That left Elicia as the true odd one out. She had no husband, no hidden family, and no children of her own. She had dedicated her entire youth to ascending the ranks of the magical elite, carrying the crushing responsibility of presiding over Sisiphon Academy and protecting what remained of our broken bloodline from afar.
Before the silence could turn awkward or heavy, Elicia blinked, a soft, beautifully mature laugh escaping her lips as she gracefully deflected the question.
"Oh, little Charm, I don't have a husband or a little daughter of my own, no. But looking at you, I think I have the grandest family in all of Caria. Your father might have his knightly duties, and your Auntie Ren has a very long, important road ahead of her, but I have the absolute privilege of being the aunt to the smartest, most talented little girl in the north." Elicia said, her silver eyes crinkling with deep, genuine affection as she leaned across the table.
She reached out, gently tapping the tip of Charm's nose with a playful finger.
"Besides, look at how beautifully your mother cooks, and look at how hard you study your Appraisal skills. You are growing up to be so brilliant and strong, just like your father. I may spend my days surrounded by thousands of students at the academy, but none of them could ever match the absolute joy of sitting at this table with you tonight. You and your mother are Elias's greatest achievements, and that makes you my greatest pride, too."
Lilith smiled warmly, her blue eyes shimmering at Elicia's beautiful compliments, while Charm beamed proudly, sitting up a little straighter in her chair and kicking her small legs beneath the table. The heavy shadows of my own dark past seemed to retreat into the corners of the room, entirely washed away by Elicia's fierce, protective grace.
"You speak so beautifully, Elicia, Elias always said you had a way of commanding a room, but I see now it's just because your heart is so big. It means the world to know you accept us." Lilith said softly, a deep sense of relief washing over her features as she watched the interaction.
I took another slow sip of the stew, letting the warmth settle the heavy, complicated emotions swirling in my chest. Lilith didn't know about the Phase 5 demon core humming beneath my ribs, nor did she know the horrific details of the contract that had left me pregnant. To her, I was just Elias's younger sister… hunted by the Bureau for political reasons, carrying a child in the midst of a terrible crisis, but still human. Still family. I preferred to keep it that way. The fewer people who knew about the crimson wings compressed against my spine, the safer this little household would remain.
"We should eat before it gets cold, And someone needs to finish her vegetables if she wants to grow up big and strong like her father."
Charm let out a dramatic gasp and immediately began shoveling a piece of carrot into her mouth, making Elicia let out another elegant chuckle.
For the next hour, the heavy reality of the outside world completely ceased to exist. We ate until our bowls were scraped clean, the rich beef stew filling my stomach and giving me a sense of physical groundedness I hadn't felt in months. Lilith shared stories of Elias's absolute clumsiness around the house whenever he visited, painting a picture of a doting, slightly pathetic father that stood in stark contrast to the rigid Luminous Knight the rest of the continent feared. Elicia, in turn, shared embarrassing stories from their childhood, making Lilith laugh so hard she had to wipe away tears.
By the time the dinner plates were cleared, the fire in the hearth had burned down to a deep, mesmerizing amber glow.
Charm's eyelids were growing heavy, her little head nodding as she leaned heavily against her mother's side. The sheer exhaustion of a five-year-old who had spent her day studying and running a market stall was finally catching up to her.
Lilith gently scooped her daughter up into her arms, smoothing down the braid Elicia had woven earlier.
"It's time for bed, little bird. Say goodnight to your aunties."
"Goodnight, Auntie Elicia... Goodnight, Auntie Ren," Charm mumbled sleepily, her small hand waving half-heartedly before she buried her face into Lilith's shoulder.
"Goodnight, princess," Elicia whispered, her silver eyes following them with infinite tenderness as Lilith carried the sleeping child down the short hallway toward the bedrooms.
As the door clicked shut, the cozy dining room fell into a quiet, heavy stillness. The domestic illusion faded just a fraction, and the sharp, calculating instinct of the bounty hunter naturally settled back into my shoulders. I looked across the table at Elicia, the dim firelight catching the dual-colored glint of my jade and crimson eyes.
"We can't stay here long, sister, If the Bureau tracks my mana signature anywhere near Karama Village, they will tear this house apart looking for me. I won't let Elias's family pay the price for my curse."