3 A Year in the Life

Author's Note: I've written some chapters in first-person to better show the thoughts of each character. But for the most part, the novel will be in third-person.

The rhythmic melody of chirping birds reverberated in my ears as a sweet aroma softly caressed my nose. Bright, luminous rays of light poked through my thin eyelids...

I took a deep breath in an effort to prepare myself. Through half-open eyelids, I realized that morning had already arrived. As usual, I once again tried to move on my own, pushing my small and frail body to its limits.

However, my endeavors quickly came to an end as a pair of soft hands gently yet firmly wrapped around my waist and lifted me up.

Before I knew it, I was cradled yet again in the arms of a silver-haired woman, the one I presume to have given birth to me.

Yes, this beautiful woman should be my mother. Ever since that night when I first woke up in this place, this woman had always stayed by my side.

Well, it doesn't seem to be 24/7, but as long as I'm awake, it was as if she received some sort of magical signal, and she would appear all of a sudden.

Everyday, she would look at me with a loving and caring expression, softly whispering words I still don't understand while pecking my cheeks from time to time.

She took care of me, fed me, cleaned me; pretty much everything a mother should do to her newborn child. At least, that's what I felt during the time I spent with her.

Aside from her, there were two other people who would also visit me and play with me, but it would always be under the watchful gaze of my mother.

One was a tall, black-haired man, presumably in his thirties, and he was quite… eccentric?

I don't know how to describe it, but every time he visited, he would always take me away from my mother's arms, lifting me above his head while mumbling some incomprehensible words.

There was a time when he tossed me high in the air, making me subconsciously let out a cry as my fear of heights struck me.

During that time, the one who caught me was my mother… who, strangely enough, had a dark expression on her face as she viciously punched the guy in the gut.

On the same day outside my room, a silhouette of a figure danced back and forth while hanging on a tree branch, but I decided not to think too much about it.

Truth be told, that guy's company, although sometimes unsafe because of his sudden and weird antics, was probably my only other enjoyment.

Everyday, that guy would force me and my mother outside the room, taking us to some sort of courtyard, and the scenery was extremely alluring under the sunlight.

The garden was brimming with a myriad of colors, and the various flowers were glowing under the sun. There was also a small pond where schools of goldfish lazily swam about, and above the middle of the pond, there was a bridge where that guy would bring me and mother to feed the fishes.

As someone who had nothing else to do because of my current state, those moments were something I enjoyed a lot, all thanks to that guy.

Well, I shouldn't really call him 'that guy'. I guess…

For a month or so, I thought he was just some random family member, possibly a brother of my mother.

At that time, I was still kinda skeptical about my status as a newborn child, and so I forgot that the birth of a child required two essential components—a father and a mother.

That day, I woke up to find that guy and mother making out. I guess it is safe to assume that he is, after all, my father.

Aside from that guy… erm, father, there was also another person that would usually appear before me and my mother, and in fact, she's the person I'm most familiar with aside from mother.

It was a little girl. No idea what her age is, but I guess it would be somewhere along five to eight.

Whenever she came, she would silently stare at me. It was kinda creepy. Over the course of a few months, she just stood beside mother and me for hours, not letting a single word escape her lips.

But strangely enough, after maybe three months or so, she soon warmed up to me. Those once distant and seemingly desolate eyes turned into something bright and adorable.

From then on, she would always talk to me, caress my hair, and kiss my cheek. She was quite the sweet girl, and although I couldn't understand her, or anyone else's words, it made me feel warm seeing that these people really cared about me.

If I haven't lost count, it should be more or less a year since I found myself waking up in this room. It seemed quite a long time, however, when you are so frail and weak, and all you do is eat and sleep, it's actually quite short.

I mean, if my mentality was that of a real baby's, would I have even felt the passage of time?

These days, I've pretty much embraced my status as a newborn child. My former life, as much as I yearn for it, has been placed on the backburner.

Praying that I would someday wake up in that distant bed and play video games as usual did not work for me, and here I am, still growing like how a normal child should be, so I decided to just accept it.

I guess it was a big blow to me, however, humans adapt, and as a human, I should be able to adapt. Even a child adapts to the changes he experiences as he grows up, so why couldn't I?

With the passage of time, my life has been full of ups and, actually, no downs. I can walk a little now, and I even graduated from breast milk into soft fruits and vegetables! Hell yeah!

That was quite awkward, but aside from those physical and developmental improvements, I could finally somehow speak and understand some of the words the people around me were using.

Now I can say 'food', 'toilet', apple, water, etc., and I finally know my name, mother's, father's, and that little girl's name!

In this place, I'm called 'Raizel'. Quite a fancy name, ain't it? I feel like some immortal vampire from a story I've been reading in the past… Well, it does save me from the despair all the death flags are pointing at in that story.

My mother should be Amaria, the name I always hear when my father, Rein, called out to her. As for the little girl, from what I understood in the family structure, she should be my elder sister named Rhea.

It was quite a small family, and aside from them and a handful of old women who seemed to be servants or maids, I haven't seen any other family member.

No grandpa, grandma, uncles, aunts, or cousins, but it's fine! Having to interact with only a few people was more than enough, especially when they really showed a lot of care and love to you.

I mean, even if it's only been a year, I like this family already more than my former family.

Hopefully, nothing will change when I grow up and understand most of the words they are saying.

I don't want to be in a family that doesn't give a damn about you, treating you like livestock, whose only purpose is to make income as soon as you're capable to do so.

Forget it, those people shouldn't even be considered family. I hope they're fine, but that's it.

That aside, perhaps I should talk about my home instead. I don't know the clear structure of where I am currently living, but all I know is that this place is really, really big.

My house is like an enormous maze. Outside my room, about seven or eight rooms can be found in the hallway.

I haven't really tried to explore anything. Well, let's not forget that I'm still a baby, not to mention that I'm always under the watchful eyes of my mother.

Aside from those seven to eight rooms, there is also a spacious dining area with a rectangular table about four or five meters long, a kitchen that is probably the biggest I've seen with my own eyes, and a living room more akin to that of a conference room filled with circular tables and different kinds of wooden chairs suitable for a multitude of people.

At the very least, in this place, I have never gotten the vibes of anything special other than the fact that it seemed to be an ancient place without any technological advancements from my former life.

For the lighting at night, we would only use different sizes of oil lamps complementing the room. The wind feels good at night, so it was neither too hot nor too cold, but it still feels weird to not even have an electric fan giving you sufficient air so you won't sweat at night.

Our house is completely different from what I was accustomed to, but I am surprised that I am not that bothered by it. Maybe I actually prefer this over the hectic place in my former life? Who knows?

Ah, now that I think about it, this place seems to have been born out of historical books. Did I actually turn back in time, or better yet, experience rebirth in another world!?

No, nope, I shouldn't really get into so much fantasy. I know nothing, and I shouldn't assume anything unless I have enough evidence to which I could be assured that my assumption would be correct.

This is one of the golden rules: random assumptions and expectations will, nine times out of ten, lead to disappointments.

Ah, all this monologue is making me a little bit drowsy. My eyes, they're slowly closing. I want to talk more, so much more stuff to talk ab…

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