The day dawned without hurry.
There were no announcements.
No solemn words.
No one said it would be a different day.
And yet, everything was.
I was sitting inside the estate, back straight, hands resting on my knees.
I wasn't crying.
I wasn't speaking.
I wasn't asking anything.
My eyes were dull.
They didn't look ahead.
They didn't look at anyone.
They simply existed.
Selene stood in front of me, leaning a little to enter my field of view.
"Nii…" she called softly. "Are you okay?"
I didn't answer.
Selene tilted her head, confused.
"Nii, look at me," she insisted. "Look, look."
Nothing.
My eyes didn't react.
They didn't blink faster.
They didn't change expression.
It was as if I was there…
but very far away at the same time.
Selene frowned.
"I don't like it when you get like this," she murmured.
She moved closer and took my arm.
"Let's go outside."
I didn't resist.
But I didn't follow either.
Selene tugged a little harder.
"Come on!" she said, puffing out her cheeks. "The garden looks nice today."
Nothing.
She clenched her teeth, decided not to ask permission, and pulled me with both hands.
"Now!"
She dragged me almost by force into the garden.
In one of the inner rooms, my mother stood before a small open suitcase.
It wasn't big.
It didn't need to be.
Simple clothes.
A couple of extra changes.
A thin book with worn illustrations.
A garment folded with excessive care.
She took a small shirt in her hands.
She went still.
Her fingers trembled.
Tears began to fall silently, one after another, soaking the fabric.
"I shouldn't…" she whispered. "It shouldn't hurt like this."
Liora was beside her.
She didn't speak at first.
She only stepped closer and placed a steady hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be okay," she said at last. "He won't be alone."
My mother shook her head, pressing the shirt to her chest.
"He's so little…"
"I know," Liora replied. "But he'll be protected there. He'll have a caregiver assigned only to him."
My mother took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.
"I don't want him to think we're abandoning him."
Liora squeezed her hand a little tighter.
"They're not abandoning him," she said firmly. "They're preparing him to survive."
In the garden, sunlight washed over the flowers with a soft glow.
Selene led me to the swings and sat me down carefully on one. I let myself sink into the seat without saying anything, swaying only slightly from the initial push.
She hopped off and walked a few steps away.
She crouched in front of a small cluster of flowers.
"Look," she said. "These are May flowers."
They were large, white, with soft petals opening in delicate layers.
In the center, pale purple tones spread like fine brushstrokes.
They were beautiful.
Quiet.
Almost unreal.
"Mommy taught me," Selene added. "They're my favorites."
She inhaled their scent with enthusiasm.
"I like them because they smell sweet," she said. "And they look like a super giant flower."
She turned toward me.
"Right, nii?"
I didn't answer.
Selene blinked, stood, and walked back to me.
"Nii… what do you want to do?"
Silence.
"Do you want to steal cookies from the kitchen?"
Nothing.
"Or do you want to go to the big field?" she insisted. "We can run a little."
Nothing.
She didn't say anything else.
She climbed onto the swing beside mine…
and started swinging.
Ten minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching.
The first to notice was Selene.
"Mommmyyyy!" she shouted from the swing.
She jumped.
Liora caught her with precise reflexes.
"Mommy, mommy," Selene said. "Nii doesn't want to talk to me."
Before answering, Liora turned her gaze toward me.
And then…
I raised my head.
The moment I lifted my eyes to meet hers, I felt sadness aimed at me.
It was almost like pity.
The impact was immediate.
Deep sadness.
Silent regret.
A painful certainty.
Liora understood, once again, that I understood far too much to be only three years old.
She came closer.
She tried to touch me.
I flinched away on reflex.
Her hand stopped in the air.
Her eyes grew even sadder.
"What happened, Jhosep?" she asked softly. "Come on… we have to go to your father."
Liora managed to bring us back to the residence.
She held both our hands.
Hers was warm.
Mine was cold.
She squeezed my fingers a little tighter, almost as if refusing to let me slip away.
I didn't return the grip.
Selene clung tightly, happy.
I was barely there.
When we reached my father, we found him sitting with his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
Thoughtful.
Selene hurried up to him.
"Daddy, daddy! What are you doing?"
"Nothing, sweetheart," he answered. "Just sitting."
"Daddy, daddy," Selene insisted. "Nii didn't want to talk to me today."
My father's eyes turned to me.
I looked back instinctively.
It was the same look Liora had…
but deeper.
Dark circles under his eyes.
A crushing mental exhaustion.
He was about to say something, but stopped.
"He must be tired, sweetheart."
"I don't think so, daddy," Selene said. "Nii just sat on the swing and nothing else."
At that moment, my mother entered the room with a small suitcase.
I didn't care about the suitcase.
I cared about her.
She looked like she'd just been crying.
"We're waiting for someone," my father said. "Selene… your Aunt Lauren."
"My Aunt Lauren?" Selene asked.
That name pierced straight through me.
Painful memories from my past life.
Calculated rejection.
Eyes that pretended not to see.
Mockery disguised as jokes.
I went on alert.
"Lauren?" I asked.
My father looked surprised.
Not because of the name.
Because of my eyes.
Fear.
My mother moved closer.
"It's okay, love."
I didn't answer.
In that instant, someone announced her arrival.
She had arrived at the residence.
My heart started pounding hard.
And a stupid hope crossed my mind.
What if she changed?
What if she was different… like my grandparents?
"Brother, you really don't look well," she said. "But I didn't come here for that, and you know it."
She made air quotes with her fingers.
"You know Father came last night to 'talk' to me."
"Lauren," my father warned.
"Relax, brother, let me finish."
She looked at me.
"Do you know what Father ordered me to do?
Do you even know, brother?
To babysit."
She laughed with contempt.
"Me, Lauren Arias de Moreno. An influential, intelligent woman, with power in several great houses… forced to take care of someone else's little mistake."
She looked at me.
That look was identical to the one from my previous life.
Disgust.
Contempt.
One step.
Then another.
My body reacted on its own.
I moved away.
"Damned mistake…" she muttered.
She didn't say it loudly.
She didn't say it for everyone.
She said it like an obvious truth.
I felt pressure crush the room.
I didn't understand what it was.
I only saw Lauren step back.
"Calm down, sister-in-law," she said. "I'm right. I'm here only to fix his little mistake… for now."
She looked at me.
"Better I take him before this escalates."
"Take…?" I said. "No… Mom…"
The pressure vanished.
My mother cried.
She hugged me.
"I'm sorry, my love… I'm sorry…"
Lauren pulled me away.
"Enough of the damn drama. Let's go, kid."
She grabbed my hand.
I swatted her away.
"Damn it," she muttered.
She yanked me roughly.
"Take the suitcase to the car."
"Lauren!" my mother shouted. "Don't pull him like that!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Liora roared.
"What do you want?" Lauren snapped. "For me to treat him like someone normal?"
Those words silenced every sound.
Lauren kept dragging me.
I saw the exit.
The black SUV.
"Manuel," she said. "You won't see him for a long time. Say goodbye properly."
Silence.
"Then that's how it'll be."
I wrenched free.
I ran.
"Mom! I don't want to go!"
I clung to her leg.
"Please… Mommy… please…"
I cried.
Lauren lifted me with force.
"Daddy!" Selene screamed. "Why is nii crying?"
"Mommy! Don't let them take my nii!"
No one answered.
Lauren clicked her tongue, visibly fed up.
"I make the damn effort to come personally to pick up your damn mistake," she said, her voice heavy with irritation, "and you make me watch this pathetic scene."
Her eyes swept the room with open disdain.
"Screaming, crying, begging…" she added. "As if any of that changes anything."
She pressed a hand to her forehead, annoyed.
"And yet," she continued, "I have to do everything myself."
She let out a dry laugh without humor.
"Ah, brother," she said, turning to my father.
"That person who, just by entering a place, commands respect.
That man the world considers strong, firm, unbreakable."
Then she looked at my mother and Liora.
"And you… one of the most powerful mages of this era.
And you, the archer with the best aim that exists."
Her voice hardened.
"And you still can't face what you did?"
She pointed at me.
"Do I really have to be the one—Lauren Arias de Moreno—who fixes your mistake?"
She shook her head, annoyed.
"It's not pathetic because I'm the one doing it.
It's pathetic because you don't have the courage to do it yourselves… just because he's your beloved little child."
My mother held me tighter.
"No…" she whispered. "Please…"
Lauren stepped forward.
"That's enough."
She ripped me from my mother's arms.
"Mom!" I screamed, reaching out. "Mom, no!"
My whole body was shaking.
I didn't want to let go.
I didn't want to leave.
"Mom, please!" I begged, my voice breaking. "I don't want to go!"
Lauren didn't stop.
She carried me as if I weighed nothing and threw me into the SUV.
The impact against the seat knocked the air out of me.
The door slammed shut with a heavy, violent thud.
The sound echoed inside me.
For a second I stayed still.
Then I snapped.
I jumped up and started pounding the window with my hands.
"Mom!
Dad!"
My blows were clumsy, desperate.
"Don't leave me!
Please!"
I hit again and again.
The glass didn't give.
"Liora!" I screamed. "Liora, help me!"
My voice started to crack.
I didn't want to be far from them.
Not again.
Not like before.
I wanted to live this life with them.
The life I couldn't live in the last one.
This time, I wanted to grow up with them.
I wanted to watch them grow old.
I wanted to stay.
"Mom!
Dad!"
I screamed until my throat burned and my chest ached.
No one opened the door.
No one came.
Desperation swallowed me whole.
I kicked the door.
I hammered it with my fists.
I shoved it with my whole body.
Nothing.
The SUV lurched forward.
The sudden movement made me fall to the floor.
I hit my back, but I didn't care.
I struggled up and ran to the rear window.
I looked out.
I saw them.
There they were.
My mother, on her knees.
My father, unmoving.
Liora holding Selene tight.
Selene crying, reaching her arms out toward me.
And I…
I was moving away.
They were getting smaller and smaller.
Every meter the SUV advanced felt like something being torn out of me.
And then I understood.
This time, it wasn't death that took them from me.
It was my birth.
The way I came into the world.
A defect.
That defect separated me from them…
and them from me.
The realization dropped like an unbearable weight.
My strength left me.
My legs gave out.
I let myself sink to the floor of the SUV.
The crying came on its own.
First a small, choked sob.
Then another.
Then I couldn't hold it back anymore.
I cried.
I cried with my face buried in my hands.
I cried with my whole body trembling.
Not understanding how to stop.
Not knowing how to breathe.
Like a little child.
Not from physical pain.
But from loss.
Because no matter how much I screamed…
no matter how much I begged…
This time, no one came to get me.