But God Forced Me to Reincarnate!

The Cruel, Inevitable Fate

Thus, the secret was more or less protected. The Hartmann family seemed to notice how Cyan didn't seem to be so surprised upon hearing the rumor that Dius-sama spread. Not that Dius-sama exactly pointed me as Cyan's mother, though. But I got a hunch that they already knew that Cyan knew the truth. And they didn't seem to make a fuss out of it. That's good.

When Cyan turned nine years old, two joyous events happened. The first one was that an old gardener brought her daughter in as a new maid, and because her age was close to Cyan, they quickly became friends. I guess she was Cyan's first friend.

Looking at the two's interactions, I sometimes couldn't help but imagine about Cyan's future. One day, he'd marry someone. I wonder if his future wife would love him and treat him well? If it's Cyan, I don't have any doubt that he'll be able to treat his wife right. But... Cyan was seen as an "asset". I'm sure his betrothal and marriage would be arranged by Boris-sama...

No matter what, I hope he'd be happy in the future. I failed giving him a complete and happy family... so I wish at least, he'd form his own happy family in the future.

The second joyous event that happened was... the addition of a new member in our small family. It happened when Cyan and I were allowed to go out to town to buy necessary items such as Cyan's new stationaries and clothes. In a secluded alleyway, we accidentally found a creature on the verge of dying.

We brought it home and nursed it—thankfully, since it was a water beast, Cyan and I could help in nourishing its power back.

"Firis, there's something that I've been curious of," Cyan suddenly said, as I was tending to the little creature—that we named "Phyllo". Since his voice was 'pii pii', we tried to find good names that started with "Pi" or "Py" or anything that sounded like it. In the end, we picked the name "Phyllo"—a modification of the name "Philo"—which meant [a friend].

"What is it, Cyan?"

"How strong is your water magic? Can you do other magic, too?"

"...I'm not sure, Cyan. Maybe it's not that strong. I've never really learned magic, and it was by coincidence that I found out about my water magic affinity."

Cyan then started to guess that I might be very strong in magic and that maybe... we could just escape and live happily. With a strong magic, nobody could disturb us. I laughed it off.

After all, I easily got tired after doing any strenuous activity—and that involved casting powerful or long-acting magic. I remembered that my condition was much better back when I was younger... could this be the effect of aging?

Upon hearing this, Cyan was sulking in his disappointment.

"Pii? Pii pii!!" Phyllo sensed Cyan's bad mood and tried to cheer him up.

Looking at their interaction, I felt like the name "Phyllo" was really suitable. I hoped that Phyllo would be able to accompany Cyan and protect him.

And yes, Phyllo indeed stayed with us for a long time—though Phyllo didn't become my or Cyan's Contracted Familiar, it felt like he was already our little Contracted beast. Phyllo turned up to be so attached to me that I felt like having another child, fufu. It didn't feel bad, though.

"Let's protect Cyan together, Phyllo."

"Pii pii!!"

Oddly enough, it felt as if Phyllo took up the role of Cyan's big brother here. I wonder if this hierarchy would be turned over when Cyan grew up? I'm looking forward to that day.

The second joyous event might be everlasting, but that wasn't the same with the first joyous event.

Seeing that Cyan finally made his friend, Dius-sama interfered. At first, his teasing and bullying were 'mild'—then it turned worse and worse... until finally, his bullying ended up harming Cyan's only friend. She almost became crippled...