I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 155

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Side Story, Episode 5
Miracles never last long.
One month into parenthood.
Throughout Kalian Wynack’s long life, the most agonizing period had undoubtedly been when he was imprisoned in the Riltear Facility under Karga’s rule, subjected to inhumane experimentation.
Yet lately, his perspective was beginning to shift. The world held torments just as draining as living torture.
Raising newborn twins was one of them.
“Do babies really not sleep like this?”
“How could they? Newborns can’t even distinguish objects yet—what else would they do? Newborns sleep more than half the day. The other half they spend eating, and the rest they spend… well, you know. That’s all there is.”
“Then why do they cry every thirty minutes?”
Dark shadows hung beneath Kalian’s eyes.
For days now, he hadn’t slept at night, alternating care for the twins who cried dutifully at dawn. He had reached the point where hearing the slightest snuffle from the crib told him a wail was imminent.
“Soon they’ll start sleeping through the night. Just endure one more month.”
“One more month…”
Kalian released a sigh so heavy it seemed to crack the earth beneath him.
His firstborn son, Roen, gazed up at him with bright, curious eyes and cooed adorably. Kalian, moving with the practiced ease of habit, adjusted his son in his arms.
Rosien Wynyak was busy. After resting for a month following the twins’ birth, she had returned to her duties as Family Head the previous week. With a considerable backlog of work and many seeking the Kirges Family Head, childcare naturally fell entirely to Kalian.
“I should head back to my family estate soon. I’ve already taught the Kirges Court Physician examination methods and a list of medicines for when the babies fall ill, so that should suffice.”
“Don’t go, Railo!”
Kalian cried out desperately.
If you leave too, how am I supposed to watch both children alone!
He pleaded with his eyes, but Railo didn’t even scoff.
“They say you learn about life while raising children. Best of luck, Wynack!”
Right on cue, his second child, the daughter Ronette, began to whimper. Kalian hurriedly set his son down and picked up his daughter.
“Why? Again. What’s wrong? Tell me. Tell me!”
The arduous journey of parenthood had begun.
* * *
Both twins had inherited the Wynack mana powerfully. Even though Rosien Wynyak was a sorcerer born once in an age, she could not overcome the blood of Kalian, the first Wynack Family Head.
“That works out well. Kirges isn’t a family inherited by bloodline anyway. I can appoint one of my promising disciples as the Family Head successor. Whichever of Roen and Ronette grows stronger will become the Wynack Family Head.”
Owen, the current Wynack Family Head, came dancing to Kirges upon hearing that two children had been born.
Upon seeing the twins, who were Kalian’s spitting image, he was momentarily taken aback, but soon he sensed the overflowing Wynack mana and broke into a broad smile.
“By the time they turn fifteen, they’ll be capable of handling Family Head duties without issue, won’t they?”
“What are you saying about newborns?”
“Don’t you see how I’ve suffered at this age because you stubbornly refused to accept the Family Head position, Kalian? If you won’t fulfill your duty as Family Head successor, I’ll take your children!”
Kalian silently threw Owen out. And he reinforced the security of the Kirges Residence.
Never again would he show the children to anyone.
Kalian brushed his hands clean and returned to the inner chambers.
“Has the Wynack Family Head already left?”
Rosien Wynyak, nursing the second child, asked with puzzlement. Kalian shook his head to indicate it was nothing to worry about.
He paused at the doorway, gazing at Rosien. It was a peaceful, unfamiliar sight. The fruit of his love with her numbered two, and his wife held their children as she called to him.
“Why are you standing there?”
“Just like that.”
Kalian hesitated for a moment before stepping into the bedroom.
While the younger twin nursed, the firstborn slept peacefully in the cradle, breathing softly.
The firstborn had a gentle temperament. The second, by contrast, was already stubborn and uninhibited in expressing emotion.
“Come now, that’s enough. Your older brother needs to eat too, Ronette.”
As Rosien Wynyak pulled the baby away, it whimpered. When Kalian took the child into his arms, it quieted at once. The precious weight settling against his chest felt both cherished and still somehow unfamiliar.
“The babies seem to like you, Kalian. They fuss and cry, but the moment they’re in your arms, they go silent. I think they find your mana more soothing than mine.”
The twins were his mirror image in appearance and temperament alike. As they shed their wrinkled newborn skin and opened their eyes, the resemblance became unmistakable. Most notably, both children possessed his striking crimson eyes.
“It would have been nice if at least one of them resembled you.”
“Then should we have another one later?”
“No. Once is enough for you to endure that ordeal.”
Kalian refused outright. Not that he felt no regret. Instead, he had woven Rosien Wynyak’s letters into the children’s names.
‘Having these children doesn’t make a life without you seem any more joyful.’
Kalian attempted to lower the baby into the cradle.
With two infants demanding attention from morning to night, he scarcely found moments alone with Rosien Wynyak.
Since she had given birth, her natural scent had grown warmer and more verdant, and Kalian yearned to bury his face in her neck whenever the opportunity arose.
‘They’ve been fed, so they’ll sleep soon. Both sleeping at the same time is rare, so….’
Yet Kalian could not bring himself to set the baby down.
The infant’s eyes were wide and alert, tiny fingers wriggling. Then the small hand grasped his thumb firmly.
Kalian flinched and tried to withdraw his hand, but for some reason, it proved difficult. The baby had broken into a smile.
As though his soul had been captured by the tiny creature, he remained motionless. For a time, entranced, Kalian gazed at his daughter and murmured.
“The shape of her mouth….”
“Hmm?”
“The shape of her mouth resembles you.”
“Really? If you look closely, there might be other ways she resembles me. As she grows, she might look even more like me.”
Perhaps so. Kalian gently caressed his daughter’s soft cheek with utmost care. As he held her thus, her eyes gradually began to close.
“You’re good at putting her to sleep, Kalian.”
Kalian laid his sleeping daughter in the cradle.
After gazing for some time at the twins lying peacefully together in one cradle, he turned toward Rosien Wynyak, who watched the scene with contentment.
“…!”
Rosien Wynyak laughed as Kalian suddenly pressed down upon her. The sensation of his lips against her nape tickled.
Kalian scattered kisses along her slender neck, then licked her earlobe and gently nibbled her ear. Unable to bear his weight, Rosien Wynyak’s body tilted backward.
“Don’t you think the rest of our lives will be quite enjoyable?”
“If you’re there.”
“Even without me, the world will be joyful and beautiful.”
“Why do you speak as though you’re leaving somewhere? Are those children your excuse to abandon me?”
“Hardly.”
It would be more accurate to call it preparation for a future that would inevitably arrive someday, but Rosien Wynyak chose not to explain. It was too distant a future to worry about now.
Kalian’s voice grew thick with emotion as he pressed the matter.
“Even if you brought me ten, a hundred children who resembled you, you would still be the most precious to me, Rosien Wynyak.”
“I feel the same way.”
A lie. I could tell just by looking at Rosien Wynyak’s expression when she held the twins. She had fallen head over heels for the children at first sight.
I didn’t particularly enjoy seeing her gaze so tenderly at beings other than myself, but when I considered it one of the ways she expressed her love for me, it became bearable enough.
“I mean it. If even the smallest part of you is mixed into them, I couldn’t help but love whatever they are.”
Rosien Wynyak whispered the words calmly, then pulled the nape of my neck toward her and kissed me.
The warm, moist sensation passing between our lips sent heat flooding through my ears, which had grown cold moments before.
I wanted to hold her immediately. I wanted to become one with her completely, filling Rosien Wynyak from head to toe with my love.
Then, a baby began crying loudly.
“Waaah, waaaahhh—!!”
Awakened by the older twin’s cries, the younger one burst into tears as well.
Kalian closed his eyes and exhaled a deep sigh.
“Ha….”
Rosien Wynyak stared at the cradle with wide eyes, then playfully poked my chest, winking mischievously as if to say I should go tend to them.
Kalian reluctantly rose to his feet, his hair disheveled.
“Why. Why again. What’s the problem now….”
Rosien Wynyak watched his retreating figure as he began half-heartedly rocking the cradle, suppressing a quiet laugh.
Warm sunlight and a cozy sofa, the scent of each other drifting through the air, the twins’ adorable whimpers and the man clumsily soothing the children.
It was a season wrapped in love, perfectly beautiful.
【End of Side Story】

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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