Rudeus suddenly felt a little scared. He looked at his father, who was laughing foolishly beside him, then at his mother, who was sitting quietly.
He really wanted to say, your child looks like he wants to kill me.
But Paul seemed to remember something and grabbed the impatient Roya, bringing him over to Rudeus. He smiled and said, "You two should get along well."
The two pairs of eyes met, and those cold red-gold pupils made Rudeus almost instinctively look away.
To be honest, at that moment, he was scared.
Paul noticed the strange atmosphere between the two. He tapped Roya's forehead and said seriously, "You two should get along well—especially you, Roya. As the eldest brother, you should give way to your younger siblings more."
Roya sighed and nodded helplessly.
Seeing his son's expression, Paul smiled and said to Rudeus, "Don't look at your brother like that. He's actually a gentle person."
Then Paul made a silly face, trying to amuse Rudeus.
But Rudeus couldn't laugh at all.
After playing with Rudeus for a while, Paul sighed in relief as he watched the baby gradually calm down. He put Rudeus back in the crib and began cuddling with Zenith, leaving Roya and Lilia to take care of Rudeus.
Rudeus half-closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, secretly observing the child in front of him.
Although Roya was a rare beauty, there was almost no expression on his face.
Those cold eyes showed no emotion, and almost instantly, Rudeus thought of the classmates who had bullied him in his previous life.
Because of his past, Rudeus was extremely afraid of strangers. In his eyes, Roya's childish face began to distort and overlap with those of his tormentors from before.
They looked at him with eyes like that, didn't they?
Fear crept in—panic followed. Would this supposed family member treat him the same?
He didn't know. The fear became a wave that swept through his little body. Without realizing it, he curled up again, just like he used to.
Just when Rudeus was growing paranoid, the two-year-old child walked over. Roya moved a chair and stood on it.
Rudeus' face turned pale. Already ghostly white, he lost all remaining color, and his body started trembling. He kept telling himself that things had changed, that he had started over, but the trauma made it hard to distinguish between reality and memory.
Roya, of course, noticed.
He looked at the baby in front of him—pretending to be calm, but trembling all over, curled into a ball, as if something terrifying was outside.
Roya sighed. Even though he had looked down on Rudeus in his previous life, the man really was pitiful.
He reached out to touch that soft, chubby little face.
Rudeus flinched. The closer the hand came, the more overwhelming the memories grew. The school bullies. The fists. The mocking laughter. The pain. The suffocating fear wrapped around his throat.
Tears gathered in his eyes.
But then… a soft hand pinched his cheek.
The pain he expected didn't come. Instead, smooth and tender fingers brushed his skin.
The warm and cool touch left him stunned.
Rudeus' eyes widened. Without realizing it, tears streamed down his cheeks.
Roya could tell something was wrong.
If Paul had been here, even with his thick skull, he might've picked up on it.
Luckily, it was him instead.
He sighed. Why do time travelers always make life harder for other time travelers?
He pretended not to notice Rudeus' distress and gently brushed the baby's forehead with his fingers. In a childish voice, he said, "You'll be my little brother from now on. I'll protect you."
Roya said it softly.
The voice sounded distant and familiar, like something buried in memory. The tone was gentle, not loud, but the words were clear.
Rudeus didn't understand, of course. He had just arrived in this world. But somehow, those words made his heart tremble.
Tears welled up again. His heart, fragile and raw, cracked a little more.
He instinctively reached up to wipe his face, but remembered—he was just a baby. He hurriedly tried to cover up, opening his mouth to cry loudly and hide the tears flowing down.
He had been pretending before. Now it was real.
Roya was speechless.
Soon, Paul's footsteps echoed from outside. He looked at Roya standing on the chair, then at Rudeus crying in the crib.
He walked in and asked, "What happened?"
Roya still wore his cold expression. "Maybe I woke Rudeus up. Sorry, Father."
Paul, used to Roya's poker face, just shook his head helplessly. "You should learn to smile more."
Roya thought for a moment, then forced an awkward smile.
Paul covered his face and muttered, "You know what, just forget it. That's worse."
—
Two years passed since that day.
By now, Rudeus had come to fully understand that the expressionless and cute boy was his older brother.
But… there was definitely something off about him.
Every time Rudeus tried to act shameless, using his baby status as a shield, that cold stare would cut him off.
Then came that same cold statement:
"Rudeus, a boy who does that kind of thing is a pervert."
His hand—reaching toward someone's underwear—would freeze in midair.
He'd try to look innocent, put on a big baby smile, hoping to get away with it.
But his brother didn't buy it. Roya would simply pick him up and lightly tap his forehead.
Then he'd grab him by the collar and toss him onto the bed.
With a stern expression, he'd say, "Don't peek at others with those perverted eyes. Do you want to become Paul?"
Rudeus wanted to shout that he really did want to be Paul. But when faced with that handsome, serious face, he couldn't muster the courage and just lowered his head.
Roya glanced at the sulking Rudeus and continued, "We need to be upright and fair."
Rudeus looked up, confusion written all over his face. He stared at Roya like he wanted to ask, Are you even listening to yourself?
"Anyway," Roya added, "stealing panties is wrong. Understand, Rudeus."
Serious face.jpg.
--.