Ellie

Without hesitation, Auric ran towards Ellie and pulled her into a tight embrace. Tears streamed down his face as he whispered repeatedly, "I'm sorry, Emma. I'm so sorry."

Ellie was taken aback by Auric's sudden outburst, but she could feel his sorrow and pain in the way he held onto her. She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively put her arms around him and patted his back gently.

Auric clung to her tightly, his emotions overwhelming him.

As Aunt Lu observed Auric's behavior, she immediately sensed that something was wrong. Even her husband was left speechless.

While Aunt Lu and Ellie patted Auric's back to calm him down, he gained clarity upon hearing Ellie's voice. He suddenly pulled away from her and wiped his tears.

He looked up at her, his eyes red and puffy, and smiled weakly. Realizing his mistake, Auric's face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me for my behavior. I think I need to rest for a while."

Feeling ashamed, Auric looked towards Aunt Lu and her husband apologetically. As this was going on, the knights and servants who had accompanied them on their journey stood there, dumbfounded.

They had never seen their calm and collected young master lose his cool so suddenly, especially in the presence of a young woman. The journey had seen too much already.

< System, why does she look like my sister? >

[ I'm sorry, host, but she does not resemble your big step-sister Luna. ]

< Haa~ I forgot you cannot access my past life memories...>

< Well, just check them. >

Just as he spoke, a painful throbbing struck his head, causing Auric to fall to the ground while holding his head and groaning.

" Auric!! " Aunt Luna worriedly shouted while helping him stand up. "What happened?!"

"Max, help me take him to the room!" Aunt Lu and her husband rushed to his side, supporting him as they carried him to their house. A knight then joined them, assisting in carrying Auric to a room and laying him in bed.

After a few hours, as he lay in bed, his consciousness slowly returned, and Auric cursed the system for not warning him about the pain that would come with accessing his past memories.

As he opened his eyes, he saw Aunt Lu sitting by his side, her face etched with concern. "How are you feeling, my dear?" she asked, her voice gentle and soothing.

Auric sat up slowly, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "I'm fine," he said, though he knew that was a lie. The pain had subsided somewhat, but his mind was still reeling from the shock of the system rummaging through his memories.

"You don't look fine," Aunt Lu said, placing a hand on his forehead. "You're still running a fever. I think you should rest for a while longer."

Auric nodded, grateful for the excuse to lie down and clear his head. As Aunt Lu left the room, he closed his eyes and grabbed his throbbing head, cursing at the system again. < Damn it, why did a pain assault my head just as you checked my memories? Why didn't you inform me earlier that it would be this painful? Hah? >

[ I'm sorry for the trouble, but I don't think you would have given me permission to check your memories if I had told you. Well, we will talk about that later. But you know, I checked your memories of your past life, and I have to say, your aunt's daughter and your past life's sister look extremely similar. ]

< I know. That's why I lost my cool when I saw her. >

< Ah, do you think she reincarnated in this world too? >

[ I don't think that's possible, and even if she did reincarnate, I don't think she remembers her past life. When you were calling her Emma, there was no such emotion as shocked or anything. She was just genuinely confused. But even with that small interaction, I can say for sure that she is genuinely kind. ]

Auric smiled at the response and then asked, < Do you think that she really did reincarnate, and her memories of the past life are just dormant? >

[ That probability is very low. I have to check her soul first to give a concrete answer, but I think you should also be ready in case she is not your sister. ]

< Ya, even if it turns out that she is not my sister, I will still protect her, even though I couldn't protect Emma. > Auric turned emotional and sad as he remembered that incident. "Maybe God just gave me this chance to redeem myself of my past life's faults."

Auric then closed his eyes, prayed, and thanked whoever gave him this chance. Even if the said god did not exist, he was still thankful to whoever gave him this relief.

As he was lost in his thoughts, the door creaked open, and a young girl was peeping inside. Auric saw her, and his face turned soft. "Hey, little girl, come here."

As Auric called her, she came towards him, looking at him with worry. "Big brother Auric, is everything alright? Is it painful?"

When she called him big brother, tears unconsciously started falling from his eyes. Ellie, who saw this, panicked, "Waaah! Big brother, is it hurting that much? Should I call for mother? Please dont cry." She too turned sad looking at Auric.

Auric wiped his tears and smiled at her. "Nah, I am just happy to get such a beautiful little sister. I will always protect you. And I am sorry for what I did there."

"It's okay. I don't mind," saying so, she just had a big smile.

"What a sweet girl," Auric thought.

As Auric thought of the dangers present in this world, he suddenly started thinking about relocating Aunt Lu's family as soon as possible. "I don't know when the town will be turned into ruins by monsters. Ah, by the way, how do you know me?"

"Of course, I know you," Ellie said as if she was very proud to know Auric. "Mommy always talked about you, and also that you were coming today. Hehe."

Auric chuckled as he looked at her.

< Appraisal. >

[ Name: Ellie

Age: 9

Race: Human (?)

Strength (STR): 6

Agility (AGI): 4

Dexterity (DEX): 3

Intelligence (INT): 9

Bloodline: ?? (Dormant)

Mana: 34

Element: Fire, Water

Artifact: None

]

< Wait! What is that!? Bloodline? And what's with the question mark in the race? > Auric exclaimed, surprised and worried by the information revealed by Ellie's appraisal.

[ It is a bloodline, but it's currently dormant. Your appraisal isn't high enough to appraise a dormant bloodline and her race ] the system replied.

Auric sighed, feeling overwhelmed. "This is a headache. I don't think I will be able to tell Aunt about this, as I don't know how to explain how I came to know about it."

He decided to put it aside for now and focus on taking care of Ellie. She was his little sister, and he would do anything to protect her. Looking at her smiling face, he felt a warm sense of affection and responsibility.

Auric wasn't surprised to see that Ellie didn't have a surname. It was quite common for only the nobles to have a family name, as well as some soldiers who made a name for themselves on the frontlines and battlefields.

For the whole evening, Auric and Ellie talked about various things. She became even more comfortable with her big brother, and Aunt Lu and Max were happy to see her smiling so much. As she would always say that she wanted to have an elder sibling.

The knights made a camp near Aunt Lu's house, and even though she offered to let them stay in the house, they all declined, saying they were only there to protect the young master and not to enjoy themselves.

Auric and Aunt Lu's family had dinner together, and she asked about Auric's daily life. She was more surprised to see him so healthy and wanted to ask him a question from the time Auric climbed down from the car, but the situation was not right. And now seemed a good time.

"Auric, did you lift the curse?" she asked, and Auric was shocked.

'Well, that was to be expected. She was a C-grade healer, after all, and could sense the mana around her,' he thought to himself.

When Auric had come to the town and Lumina saw him, she was very surprised. She could see that Auric had mana around him, and it was not possible unless it was a devine artifact or that he had lifted the curse.

"How and when did you lift it?" Lumina asked, still curious about the curse that she had been looking for an answer to for years.

"Ah aunt I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you. I wanted to tell you from the beginning, but today was a bit too hectic, so I didn't get the chance. Actually, I lifted it on the way here," Auric replied calmly, although inside, he was panicking.

He didn't know how to explain the situation to her. He couldn't just say, "Oh, Aunt, I actually have a system that helped me lift the curse through a damn potion!"