Another year had passed.The children had grown bigger and now road freely throughout the mansion.Their footsteps echoed loudly through the halls.
Thump— Thump—Pop— Pop— Pop—
When they were crawling, the children tried venturing beyond the garden. Now that they could walk, their range of activities expanded even further.Even though their mothers, Sifnoi and Tywin were present, they couldn’t watch the children around the clock, so they had them wear shoes that made distinct noises while walking.
Pop— Pop— Pop—Among the children, Naru was by far the most active.After learning to walk, Naru wouldn’t rest until she had opened every drawer she could find and climbed every high surface in sight.
“Gyaruru!”
“Naru! Get down from there! You could hurt yourself if you fall!”
Pat—Naru delighted in jumping from high places.When Naru would leap, Brigitte would usually catch her frantically, though sotis she would miss.In those monts, a black ball of fur would spring up from the floor to catch Naru with its body.
━ow.
It was Molumolu.Molumolu had stayed close to the children since their birth.Like a friend and reliable guardian, Molumolu remained with the children day and night, and they adored him deeply.
“Mruru.”
When Naru made that soft sound, Brigitte perked up.She turned to as I observed the scene.
“Judas! Didn’t Naru just say Molumolu? I think she’s finally starting to speak properly!”
Naru and the children had been babbling for so ti.I had hoped they might be prodigies who would imdiately say “Mom, nice to et you!” but that wasn’t the case.Their babbling remained completely incomprehensible.
“The other day she said amma-amma to ! She must have been trying to say mama!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t demon?”
Crunch—Brigitte’s face creased into a deep frown.The pinch she gave my side was more painful than I expected.
# # #
“How are you little ones? Did you miss your auntie? I brought presents for you. Ta-da─. Baby dragon aprons! See the sunflowers on them? Look how much they love them. Oh, they’re so precious. Mom, look at the children!”
Ha Rumi had co to visit the mansion with our parents.I had given our parents dolls imbued with my wall-jumping power so they could freely visit the mansion, and Ha Rumi ca to see the kids almost daily.
“Tywin, I got sothing for you too. That scientific calculator you wanted. Though I can’t imagine what you’ll use it for!”
“…Thank you.”
Swoosh—Tywin accepted the scientific calculator from her young aunt with a graceful bow.It was an elegantly polite gesture.
The children adored their grandmother, grandfather, and aunt.When the children, now quite steady on their feet, ran up to hug their legs, my mother bead with joy.
“My goodness, look how much they’ve grown. Are they talking now too? When Taeho was their age, he would chatter endlessly all day long, I could barely sleep. Though I couldn’t understand a word he said.”
“……”
Was I really like that?I hadn’t known such secrets about my past still existed.
Swoosh—My parents lifted the children into their arms.Brigitte, Salo, and Cariote, who had been entertaining the kids all day, finally got their break and collapsed in exhaustion.
“I can finally catch my breath.”
“This is my first ti sitting down in 5 hours.”
“These children have boundless energy.”
As Cariote noted, the children possessed remarkable stamina and wouldn’t sleep until completely worn out, making our joints ache from keeping up.Especially Sifnoi, who carried the children and sang to them daily, was groaning from exhaustion.
“This Sifnoi… has never encountered such lively and energetic Kores before! No nymph nanny works as diligently as this Sifnoi…!”
Nevertheless.Mom and Dad were wonderful with the kids.After playing with the children for a while, Mom remarked.
“I used to play with you just like this when you were 6. I wonder if you rember? What do you think? Do you recall when grandma would carry you?”
Swoosh—As my mother gazed into Naru’s eyes, we all exchanged uncertain glances.None of us knew if the children retained mories from their past lives.
While I hoped they would rember, even if they didn’t, that could be its own kind of blessing.Looking back, these children had endured more hardship than most.They likely carried many frightening and difficult mories, so perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if they couldn’t rember and could fill their childhood with new, joyful experiences instead.
With that thought in mind, the children toddled around the mansion daily, babbling their incomprehensible sounds.Whether due to being girls or simply being young children, they chattered constantly, ensuring the mansion was never quiet.My younger sister Ha Rumi would squeal with delight at the sight of them.
“They’re just too adorable! Maybe I should skip getting a job and just get married and have kids? Dad, couldn’t I just skip working and get married instead? Don’t you know any good n at your workplace?”
“I already showed them your photo but they all declined.”
“Ah, why would you show them before I even asked!!!”
Ha Rumi protested loudly.Mom quickly narrowed her eyes and gave Ha Rumi a firm smack on the back.
“How dare you raise your voice at your father? This is exactly why raising daughters is such a thankless task!”
Watching my sister get scolded made wonder what Naru, Hina and Cecily would be like when they grew up.Would they shout at too when they reached Ha Rumi’s age?
It felt too distant to imagine clearly.Even picturing them chattering about their day at elentary school over dinner seed like both a far-off mory and a distant future.
Just as I was thinking how I hoped that day would co soon, my father spoke without looking up from his chess ga with Tywin.
“Every age has its own special joys. Ti that passes rarely returns, so make sure to take plenty of photos.”
Photos, huh.Co to think of it, I believed I had quite a few childhood photos myself. Back then, phones didn’t have good caras so everyone used actual caras.I wondered where all those photos had gone─when mom pulled sothing from her bag.
“Here are your childhood photos. Want to see? Look. Pictures of Taeho from age 1 to 7. After 8 you refused to take any more photos─.”
An album from my childhood.It was sothing unexpected.
“This is when you wet yourself and wore a hat to ask the neighbor for salt! And here you are at 4, running around without pants─.”
Just a collection of my dark history.Looking at the photos, the yellow floor mat particularly caught my attention.
It was from when my younger sister was just born.mories of all of us living in that single room ca flooding back.A truly ancient mory.Perhaps my very earliest one.
“Those were difficult tis. People would harass your father at every job he found. We had a second child but barely enough rice to eat. Everyone struggled in that tiny house.”
My mother’s words brought back mories of my childhood.The ti when we all shared that small room.I actually found it quite enjoyable.Before bed we would listen to mom and dad’s stories or play dice gas.Later when we moved to a bigger house and got separate rooms, I was happy to have my own space, but sohow that cozy feeling diminished slightly.
“Those were challenging tis.”
Swoosh—As father cleared the chess board, I quietly approached and said.
“I had fun in my own way.”
“Is that so.”
That concluded our father-son exchange.Even though I now had children of my own, communication between father and son remained sowhat awkward.
# # #
The children grew as rapidly as bamboo shoots.Their incomprehensible babbling had evolved into simple sentences.
“Naru… wants hug!”
Naru loved being held by adults.We had to pick her up several tis throughout the day. When happy, Naru would race around the mansion breaking pottery and flowerpots.
Crash—
“Hehe!”
Naru seed to find joy in the sound of breaking pottery.We ended up deliberately buying nurous pieces each week for her to break.It was becoming quite expensive, so when Brigitte declared “I’ll make the pottery myself,” it helped reduce our household expenses.
While Naru actively pursued destructive activities, 4-year-old Hina preferred quieter pastis.She would venture into the garden with a small trowel to collect pretty pebbles.She would present the most beautiful stones as gifts to , her dad, or her moms, and when we praised her she would giggle “He-he” with pure delight.Because of this, our rooms had beco filled with Hina’s collected stones.We even had to create a dedicated exhibition room just for her findings.
As for Cecily?She wasn’t particularly fond of physical activity and loved taking naps above all else.When awake, she would sip warm milk like tea or gather pretty dolls for tea parties.Incidentally, Cecily’s doll collection was quite expensive, gradually depleting the Legdoll family’s finances.
Anyway.The children developed wonderfully according to their ages.Though occasionally they would say things that gave us pause.
“Naru… rembers coming to the zoo before!”
Today marked our first trip to the zoo with the children.At age 4.We had brought our adorably aged children to the zoo for the first ti, yet they claid to have visited before.
“I saw rabbits over there!”
Naru exclaid.Indeed, there was a rabbit enclosure in that spot.How could this be?
The clever eldest daughter Tywin soon offered a plausible explanation.
“As children grow, their soul’s vessel expands along with their brain. Perhaps as the vessel grows, they begin accessing mories that were previously inaccessible?”
So as their human mory capacity increased, they slowly began recovering mories etched in their souls?
Pat—Just then a rabbit hopped nearby.The movent caused mud to splatter onto Cecily’s beautiful dress.Given that Cecily had insisted on sleeping in her dress the night before, declaring “I’m a princess! I must sleep in a dress!”, this was concerning.
“Grrrr!”
Cecily appeared furious looking at her mud-stained dress.But with her 4-year-old vocabulary, expressing that anger in words seed challenging.Cecily jumped up and down, struggling to contain herself as she moved her lips.
“Fu…”
“……”
We all tensed imdiately.Then Cecily shouted.
“…Fuck!”
“…!”
We were stunned.Of course we hadn’t expected Cecily to use such language. We had always tried to expose the children only to positive things since their birth.As proof of that effort, we had never once used profanity or harsh words in their presence.So how had Cecily learned such an expression?
Soon Naru also exclaid with a shocked face.
“Wow, holy shh…!”
Wow, holy shh?Where had Naru picked up such phrases?I carefully questioned her.
“Wow holy shh? Naru, who taught you those words?”
“Dad did! Said it’s the biggest exclamation in the world!”
Reviews
All reviews (0)