The air in the quiet, spacious bedroom of the Greyrat home in Buena Village was thick with the smells of sweat, earth magic, and the metallic tang of fresh blood. Outside, the summer sun was relentless, but inside, the world had shrunk to the rhythmic gasps and triumphant cries of a new life.
Lilia, usually the picture of stoic composure, was utterly spent. She lay back on the bed, her crimson hair damp against the pillows, exhaustion etched into her features. On one arm rested Aisha, her firstborn daughter—a furious, tiny bundle of red hair and screaming protest. On the other, nestled just as tightly, lay her son, the newest Greyrat: Kaelen.
Lilia looked at her children, a complex mix of emotions swirling in her chest. There was the expected rush of happy exhaustion, the sheer relief that the difficult birth of twins was over. But under that, a different kind of happiness blossomed. She had fulfilled her duty to Paul, giving him not one, but two new children. The son, Kaelen, was a slightly weaker infant than his twin, a little paler, with fine, bright red hair that matched her and Aisha's exactly.
Across the room, Zenith was also battling exhaustion, but her focus was solely on the small, blonde baby cradled carefully in her arms: Norn. Norn had been born just a short time before the twins' sudden arrival, making the room a whirlwind of consecutive deliveries. Zenith offered Lilia only a polite, indifferent smile of acknowledgment across the distance. Another two children born so close together, she thought with a weary sigh. Her mind was too clouded with fatigue and the complicated reality of Lilia's position to summon up genuine excitement.
Paul Greyrat moved with the manic energy of a man completely out of his depth. He paced from one bed to the other, his rough hands trembling slightly. His focus, however, was clearly and immediately on the girls. He knelt by Zenith, marveling at the quiet, blonde beauty of Norn. Then, he moved to Lilia's side, his massive frame dwarfing her, and his eyes fell almost entirely on the fiery, screaming Aisha.
"Look at them, Lilia," Paul whispered, his voice thick with a genuine, overwhelmed pride.
He gave Kaelen a single, slightly distracted glance, a brief moment of acknowledgement before his attention snapped back to the two infant sisters. The boy was there, yes, but Paul's heart, in that moment, was completely immersed in his daughters.
A few hours later, after the initial chaos had subsided and the babies were clean and swaddled, a very curious six-year-old Rudeus Greyrat was ushered into the room. He walked with a small sense of importance, his knowledge of magic and his advanced mind making him feel much older than his years.
He stood beside Zenith's bed, gazing down at the three tiny bundles. He saw his baby sister, Norn, wrapped in soft linen. Then he looked at the identical red-haired twins lying beside Lilia.
Rudeus wasn't merely happy; he was ecstatic. He had spent his previous life entirely alone, isolated and ridiculed. Now, he was surrounded by family, and he had gained three new little siblings in a single afternoon. This was a bounty far beyond anything his former self could have ever imagined.
His gaze lingered on the little boy, Kaelen.
Kaelen was small and quiet, with his twin Aisha's striking red hair, but his face held a certain serene, almost calculating stillness, even as a newborn.
He's exactly the same, Rudeus thought, the observation hitting him with a jolt of déjà vu. The same small frame, the same intense quietness… just like I was when I was a child.
Rudeus's mind, the keen, sharp mind of an experienced adult trapped in a growing body, began to speculates. He dismissed the coincidence almost immediately. The chances of someone else from his original world having also died and reincarnated into this specific world, at this specific time, into the same family, were astronomically small.
But the resemblance—the faint echo of the intense, introverted spirit he had once possessed—nagged at him.
Rudeus leaned closer, pushing past his mother's tired figure to get a better look at his new brother. Kaelen's eyes were currently squeezed shut, but a tiny hand flexed near his cheek.
No… it can't be, Rudeus mused, a secretive thrill bubbling up inside him. But what if?
He knew the feeling of being born again, the terrifying, exhilarating shock of the transmigration. The sheer weight of his adult past informed every single action and decision he made. If Kaelen truly possessed a soul from another world, especially one from Earth, the bond they could share—the understanding, the common ground—would be an invaluable secret.
Rudeus gently placed a finger near Kaelen's small, still form. The baby didn't stir, but Rudeus felt a sudden, profound connection, something that went beyond the usual brotherly affection. He had sisters now, but this little brother, this Kaelen, offered the possibility of a fellow traveler.
A small, genuine smile—one entirely free of his internal anxieties and lewd thoughts—spread across Rudeus's face.
Another one? The mere speculation was a thrilling secret he would keep. Whether Kaelen was just a quiet baby or a new comrade in transmigration, Rudeus made a silent vow.
"Welcome, little brother," he thought, pulling his hand back. "I won't let you become the failure I was."
With that thought, he turned his attention to the crying Aisha, then the sleeping Norn, treating them with the same gentle care. But his eyes returned one last time to Kaelen, and a small, determined glint of excitement remained, promising a future of careful observation and secret inquiry. The Greyrat family had just gotten infinitely more complicated.
This chapter establishes Kaelen's initial characteristics, the family's differing reactions, and Rudeus's specific, unique suspicion.