IPHW 10

We quickly removed the wall of flames, and small children came into view.

‘I can’t see clearly from this distance.’

Except for the blond kid, they were children I was seeing for the first time since being reborn into this world. Even that was already two years ago. It suddenly made me realize how much my parents had sheltered me.

“Ian! Leon! What are you doing here?!”

“Father! Leon is b-burned….”

They looked about seven years old. Lord Lloyd quickly stepped forward.

“Leon, are you alright? Try standing up.”

“I-I’m fine….”

“If you’re hurt, you can say so.”

Lord Lloyd lifted the sleeve of the child lying on the ground. I was too far to see clearly, but if he had been hit directly by that burst of flames, it would not be a minor injury.

‘Should I throw some healing clay?’

Without realizing it, I fidgeted my hands, forming a lump of healing clay. If I threw it properly… it might reach…

I called it “clay” for convenience, but if I diluted its density, I could spread it like slime. I had done that when covering the manor. But now my parents were here, so I was cautious.

My parents, especially my mother, strongly—really, extremely—disliked me using my healing ability. She thought it was bad for my body…

“Lord Lloyd, is the child badly injured? Oh dear….”

“He didn’t suffer burns, but it seems he twisted his leg when he fell in shock.”

“I’m fine!”

The child sitting on the ground jumped up and shouted loudly when my mother approached. My father, holding me, walked over to them.

“You don’t need to force yourself to say you’re fine. Tell the truth. This is our mistake.”

“It’s my fault.”

“If it’s your fault, it’s mine too. Lord Lloyd, have you called a healer?”

“There is no need for that.”

“We should still have him checked just in case.”

“It’s just a simple fall. Leon, Ian, isn’t that right?”

My father clicked his tongue.

“Lord Lloyd, if you say it like that, the children won’t be able to admit if they’re hurt. Step aside.”

“N-no, I’m really fine!”

“It doesn’t hurt!”

Wow, they’re properly disciplined…

Still in my father’s arms, I kept debating whether to use the healing clay.

‘They must be twins.’

Seeing two identical children standing side by side was adorable. Seriously, they’re like angels.

‘Is everyone in this world good-looking by default…?’

Looking at Lord Lloyd, that didn’t seem entirely true. Not that he was ugly—if you judged by features alone, he was handsome—but the kind of handsome that belonged on a gym poster, not a celebrity photoshoot.

Still, he was handsome enough, so I concluded that the average beauty level in this world was quite high.

Unlike the rugged Lord Lloyd, the twins—both tying their reddish-brown hair into matching ponytails—looked clean and refined. Their bright blue eyes were especially cute.

However, they seemed like troublemakers, with small scratches visible on their cheeks, arms, and neck.

‘They’ll leave scars like that.’

While I was thinking that, I met eyes with one of them.

“Hmph.”

Huh.

Did that little brat just “hmph” at me? So rude, seeing someone for the first time and acting like that. What did I even do?

He turned his head away as if ignoring me.

And yet…

‘He’s so cute…’

I wanted to tease him.

“Are you sure you don’t need a healer to check your leg? Even if you don’t feel pain now because of the shock, it might hurt later.”

“We appreciate your concern, but falling like this happens often during training.”

“But this time it happened because of my mistake.”

“No, strictly speaking, it was because of these two.”

Lord Lloyd smiled faintly as he looked down at his sons. The twins’ faces stiffened.

“They snuck in without permission and caused this.”

“We’re sorry!”

“We were wrong!”

It was clear how strictly Lord Lloyd raised them. Still, it made sense—he would need some severity to handle children who looked like clear troublemakers.

Yet when he was in front of me, he always seemed soft, which was a different side of him. When it came to his own children’s education, he was different.

“That’s enough. I’ve heard your children often come to the training ground. However, you should correct the habit of entering restricted areas without permission.”

“Understood.”

As my mother spoke, she glanced at me.

“They’re usually not the type to disobey rules… I will make sure to discipline them properly.”

“No discipline needed. Let’s hear the reason.”

“Pardon?”

“You said they don’t usually disobey rules. If this was an exception, there must be a reason.”

My father said.

‘These kids… they seem to like my father.’

Their eyes sparkled the moment he spoke, as if they were completely transparent.

The more I looked, the cuter they became.

Lord Lloyd asked,

“Ian, Leon. Answer His Excellency’s question.”

“Um…”

The two exchanged glances. Then, as if making up their minds, they spoke.

“We were curious.”

“About what? Magic?”

“No. About what our father always talks about.”

“Lady Shana.”

“She’s supposed to appear, so…”

Huh. Me?

“Our father said we were to grow up and become knights who serve Lady Shana…”

“But we’ve never seen her.”

“Even when we came to the manor, we couldn’t meet Lady Shana.”

“He said she would appear this time, so we came to see.”

“We can’t accept serving someone we’ve never even seen.”

“He said we must become strong for Lady Shana and endure hardship…”

“But how can we find motivation when we don’t even know who she is?”

All of it made sense.

“So what were you planning to do after meeting her?”

My mother asked rather sharply, somewhat childishly for someone her position, and the twins answered in unison.

“To decide whether we can serve her!”

“Y-you little…!”

Lord Lloyd looked flustered. He seemed worried their blunt words might offend me or my parents.

‘But aren’t they right?’

It wasn’t like my parents would be hurt by kids’ words so easily.

‘Besides, I’m only three years old.’

What are they trying to decide…

Thinking about it, maybe the twins had heard so much about my name from Lord Lloyd that it had worn them down.

“Dad! Dad, put me down!”

“Shana?”

My father carefully set me down. My mother didn’t look pleased, but she didn’t stop him.

If they came to see me, I couldn’t just stay in his arms.

I walked toward the twins.

Tap, patter, tap!

“Ah, seriously…”

I was trying to be serious, but my steps kept ruining it.

As I approached them with cheerful little footsteps, I saw the stiff faces of the children who had even been answering adults calmly until now.

Ah, what?

Why do they look scared?

‘Do I look scary?’

To me, I only looked cute and pretty. I felt a small shock. Maybe beauty standards in this world were different.

Suppressing the disappointment that maybe my face—thought to resemble my mother’s beauty—was actually scary, I held out my hand to one of them.

“I’m Shana.”

“I know.”

Lord Lloyd shouted, “Leon, use polite speech!”

Polite speech, my foot. I’m the younger one here.

So this is Leon. The one who had scoffed at me.

“What’s your na—”

“Leon.”

“Right, Leon. And you?”

“Ian.”

“Ian, got it.”

They answered more obediently than expected, probably because they were wary of adults. I wanted to befriend the twins, the first kids my age I’d properly met in this world (newborn days don’t count).

They looked about four years older than me, but that was fine. We could talk.

I grabbed both of their hands.

Leon’s right hand, the one that had fallen. Ian’s left, also covered in scratches. They flinched slightly but didn’t pull away.

How gentle.

I smiled brightly.

“I don’t want to serve anyone either.”

“W-what…?”

“Don’t do things you don’t want to. Just do what you want, no matter what the old man says!”

The twins’ eyes widened. They clearly hadn’t expected me to refuse outright first and were at a loss for words.

“W-we don’t want to—”

“Honestly, what can kids like us even do to protect you? We don’t need protection, I’ll take care of myself!”

“Our Lady Shana speaks so well… she’s only three years old…”

“Yes, Lord Lloyd is the one protecting her!”

“Ha ha ha! That’s right!”

Hey, that’s not how this is supposed to go…

“People I don’t like, I don’t like. That’s all.”

“You, you… do you even know how promising our future is? You’ll regret it!”

“I’ll decide that myself.”

I applied healing clay to their visible wounds. It felt a bit strange, like throwing clay at a person, but I couldn’t help it. A faint light flowed and the scratches melted away as if dissolving.

“Shana, you’re doing it again…!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!”

“That’s not allowed…”

The twins looked completely shocked. I looked up at them and said,

“So don’t get hurt just to come see me. Do what you want. Leon, Ian.”

“Ugh.”

“……”

They suddenly started crying.

Huh? I made them cry. I’m not really a kid—I’m basically an adult. A veteran, even.

‘No way…’

Do I really look that scary?