CH. 4

The next couple of weeks allowed me time to process the reality I now found myself in.

Fragmented memories, broken and non-sequential flickered in the background of my own memories. Shadows basically, against my previous life and the ones that belonged to this world.

I was now Seth, a sickly six-year-old boy who belonged to the Vite Brumann family in the southeast territory of the kingdom of Harteva. With black hair and pale skin from my illness, the only thing that was remotely similar of my previous body were my eyes.

The same emerald green with gold flecks as before.

I'm glad for the eyes. It's the only thing that doesn't make me feel so out of place. Like an out of body experience.

From the memories of this body, I was able to understand that the man was Keiran, and the woman was Mera, my new (old?) father and mother. The young girl was my younger four years old sister, Lily.

Keiran was a Baronet, an honorary knight and regional lord residing in the town of Caarthite, overseeing a small area of the kingdom that fell to him to manage. As such, he was still a recognized noble because of the title, but by no means were we a wealthy noble family. Compared to others, we were considered to be exceptionally poor.

However, the lifestyle that we experienced was still above that of the peasant class.

Being in the body of their son, I feel out of place. But for all intents and purposes I am. So best at least act like I am.

Was what I had decided. I was new to this world, knowing nothing basically and too young to still be able to do anything on my own.

"Lily! Leave Seth alone to rest. He still hasn't recovered yet."

"But I don't wanna!"

"He can't get better with you smothering him all the time. Give him some space."

"Owww."

I'd gotten used to these exchanges between Mera and Lily over the past few days.

Ever since I had miraculously returned from what they thought was my death, my younger sister had constantly been by the bedside. As usual, Mera had to drag her putting face out of the room by one hand, while her other hand clutched a stuffed toy.

I had figured out pretty quickly that it was Lily's most treasured possession and went with her wherever she went. Not that it was anything extravagant.

It was a simplistic design of a frog. Tattered and frayed pretty much to the extreme, I wasn't quite sure how it was still keeping together. To put it bluntly, the thing was beat.

"Get as much rest as you can Seth. I'll be back to check on you soon."

"Sure."

So my days passed with me remaining bedridden, visits from Mera and Keiran, and the disturbances of Lily's invasions into the room.

Physically I felt fine. I mean, apart from feeling weak and tired, I basically possessed no strength at this point. But I was slowly recovering.

"Can I ask… what happened to me?"

"You don't remember?"

I'd asked Keiran exactly what had been wrong with me. Not that he seemed exactly thrilled to want to talk about it either with the way he averted his gaze.

"My memory is pretty foggy. I can't remember much before…"

"Hmm… I'm not comfortable telling you about it since you're so young. But, it appears as if you are going to be fine… So I guess it won't hurt to explain to you what exactly happened…"

He detailed that over the past few months I had steadily gotten weaker and weaker, to the point where I couldn't even hold myself up under my own strength. From there, I had struggled to keep food down and the little that I did manage to swallow, would be vomited back up shortly after.

I wasn't the only victim to the strange sickness. Countless children, and even a small number of adults, had fallen prey to its indiscriminate clutches throughout the kingdom.

Families all over the kingdom had been devastated from the impact that the scourge had cut a path of misery through it.

Keiran had sent word to the Royal Palace, beginning the king for assistance, for anything, to help him save his son. But the king had refused to help. He was a noble, but still only a lowly baronet. Other higher-ranking nobles had been taken under the care of the palace, but we had been shunned.

Such is the life of being on the lowest rung on the ladder.

Then just as mysteriously as the sickness had appeared, it disappeared. No cause had been found, no cure had been conceived, it just vanished as quickly as it appeared a month prior to the passing of their son.

"But…"

"What is it… Father?"

With a fatherly touch, one I could not recall having ever received in my other life, he patted me on the head.

"I'm sorry. You had become so lifeless, we thought you too, had died. We were wrong. It is a miracle you're still here with us. Your mother and I feel incredibly blessed."

"It's alright. I still feel unwell to an extent. I can only imagine how terrible it must have been for you and mother."

He nodded. "Your mother and I were indeed devastated. But Lily was the one who was hurt the most. She somewhat idolizes you. Believing you had perished almost broke her."

"Well, I'm glad that I'm still here for her then."

"So am I. She could not bring herself to enter your room when your mother and I told her of your passing that morning. But she could not bring herself to leave it either and say goodbye. Sitting outside the door to your room was all she could bring herself to face…"

That reminds me, she was the first one to see me when I fell from the bed.

"I guess that must have been pretty scary for her, when she opened the door and saw me on the floor."

"Haha! Yes, I'm sure it was a hell of a fright. She was so traumatized that she was basically only able to say your name when she ran down the stairs to tell your mother and I."

"I'm sorry I scared her so much." Damn, she probably thought I was a zombie or something. Even I'd get the heebie-jeebies if I saw something like that.

"There is no need to be sorry. I am sure she is just ecstatic that you are still with us. The bonds between brother and sister is a precious thing. She needs you just as much as you need her."

Bonds between siblings hey…

Those connections were something I had long ago ceased to recognize. As far as I had been concerned, I hadn't given a second thought to any of my siblings, parents or other family members since becoming a shut-in.

Since they had abandoned me to my solitary, I too had abandoned them. Strangers with one another is what we became.

But it's not as if I had completely forgotten what we had once been like together, when we were younger. Playing together, exploring together, getting up to mischief together and pranking one another.

Those were still floating in my memories.

The emotional connection I had with those memories for those times was what had been dropped. Thus, the emotional connection throughout my teenage and young adult years had also been severed.

"I hope you will still be the big brother that she wants you to be."

Be a brother to someone I don't consider family? I don't even consider you as a part of that family…

"I-I'll do my best…"

Whatever, I'm here now. It's best I at least pretend to be what this family expects me to be. Like a con artist, or an actor, I'll play the role for the time being.