CH 153

Three years have passed since then.

Jay, who shares half of my blood but also has Rodo’s blood, is not as fragile as I am.

He runs with an incredible speed that you wouldn’t expect from a human child, and falling is a rare occurrence now that he’s turned three.

He hasn’t suffered from the typical childhood illnesses I experienced, and he’s an incredibly strong and healthy child, which is almost unthinkable for a human.

My stamina couldn’t keep up, so I mostly leave Jay in El’s care.

Because when Jay starts running, I can’t catch up with him.

Using teleportation magic would be fine, but Jay never runs in a straight line, so it’s hard to predict his movements.

It would be easy to restrain him, but I don’t want to restrict his actions.

On the other hand, El can keep up with Jay even without going all out.

He stops him before he does anything dangerous, and I’m always grateful for that.

El is now 10 years old.

He has grown to be the same size as Rodo in his beast form.

His mane is still growing, or so I’ve been told.

My height is 177cm.

El’s shoulder height is around 150cm.

His head is at the perfect height for easy hugging and petting, so whenever he’s nearby, I can’t help but want to hug him tightly and give him a good head rub.

The challenging part now that the children have grown bigger is bathing and brushing.

…But it’s not really a hardship.

It’s more like a joyful experience, I suppose?

Both Cal and Dee have also grown bigger.

I even brush Rodo when he’s in his beast form.

Thanks to that, everyone has shiny and fluffy fur.

Even Jay, with his ears and tail that can be brushed, has a shiny and fluffy coat, just like Rodo’s ears and tail in his human form.

Seeing them like this every day and indulging in my own satisfaction has become part of my daily routine.

“Jay, you’ve been told that the kitchen is dangerous and you shouldn’t go there, right? I understand that you want to be by Mom’s side, but if you do something dangerous, it will make Mom sad. Mom will listen to you once he’s done with his tasks, so let’s wait until then, okay?”

“……Mmm.”

Jay pouts in dissatisfaction at El’s words.

Even though Jay is now 3 years old, he still sleeps a lot.

And often, I’m surprised to find him by my side without realizing it.

Perhaps because he doesn’t verbalize his thoughts often, he expresses them directly through his actions.

But because of that, it feels like he’s falling behind in speaking.

Things tend to happen before Jay gets a chance to say anything.

I’ve heard that being overly attentive can delay speech development, but it wasn’t a concern with the other children.

However, Jay is almost 3 years old and hardly speaks in sentences.

I need to do something about it.

Even though there are individual differences, Jay rarely uses words.

He laughs, cries, and growls, but those seem to be the extent of it.

All the words he uses are single words.

…I need to do something about it from now on.

“What’s wrong, Jay?”

“Mooommy!”

When I finished tidying up and called out to Jay, he reached out his hands.

Usually, I would pick him up, but I need to start practicing to encourage him to speak voluntarily.

“Jay, ‘mm’ doesn’t convey much, you know? It might be enough for our family, but it won’t be understood by others, okay?”

“…………?”

Jay tilts his head with a puzzled expression.

…I guess it’s not something he’ll immediately understand just by saying it so suddenly, huh?

“Let’s practice expressing what you really think, okay? If you don’t say what you want to say, others won’t understand you. Come on, Jay. What do you want to say to Mommy? What do you want me to do? Can you say it clearly?”

Even though I can already guess what he wanted when he reached out his hands to me, I’ve been making things too easy for him until now.

By anticipating and acting based on his gestures and behavior before he speaks, both I and Rodo, as well as El, have been unintentionally enabling this behavior.

But that’s not beneficial for Jay.

“Mommy… want… hold.”

“Mommy isn’t holding anyone right now, sweetheart.”

“…Uhh…”

Did I sound mean just now?

Jay’s face started to look like he was about to cry.

But if we don’t start building a foundation for communication, even if it’s little by little, there might be difficulties down the line.

“What do you want me to do, Jay?”

So I intentionally stated the obvious.

“Mommy… hold… tight.”

It’s the first time Jay has expressed a request like this.

“Okay. Good job, Jay, for expressing yourself clearly.”

As I lift him up, he grabs onto my clothes, tightly…

It’s adorable.

Jay is currently the size of a human three-year-old, so it’s not difficult to lift him.

When El and the others were three, they were much bigger and heavier, so it was tiring to constantly lift them.

What I feel in my palm is Jay’s curly reddish-brown hair, just like Rodo’s.

Jay’s skin color and eye color are the same as Rodo’s, but his facial features resemble mine.

Both Rodo and my father-in-law dote on Jay frequently.

Although they scold him when necessary… I wonder what it is?

It’s different from when the other kids were growing up.

Not quite to the extent of being doting parents or grandparents… but it feels like they’re indulging him to the maximum.

It has become customary for my father-in-law to carry Jay on his shoulders when we go to the market.

Though we don’t do that now, in the past, Jay used to drool on his head and even soil his grandfather’s clothes, but father-in-law never seemed to mind.

Even when Jay pulls his hair or squeezes his ears tightly, my father-in-law has never gotten angry with him.

He always laughs and forgives him, and the next day, he’s back to carrying Jay on his shoulders.

It’s become second nature to him, and the sight of a grandfather and grandson together is heartwarming.

…It’s not that they’re cold to the other kids or neglecting them.

But El and the others are currently undergoing training in the barracks, so they spend less time at home.

It feels like they’re treated more like “apprentice soldiers” than “children,” and it seems that the kids are happier that way.

I can understand that being treated as capable individuals rather than children forever would make them happy.

They’re at that age where they want to grow up quickly.

“Jay, shall we take a bath soon?”

It’s after dinner, and we’ve finished cleaning up.

The children went straight to the bath after returning from training, so now it’s just me, Jay, and Rodo who will be bathing later.

Jay still can’t bathe alone, so he always bathes with me and Rodo.

We’ve renovated the bathtub so that the children can easily get in, so it’s quite large.

There’s even a step inside the tub, but it’s still difficult for little Jay.

First, he can’t straddle the edge of the tub.

Rod seems to be more motivated by a protective instinct rather than a paternal one when it comes to taking care of Jay.

He never shows any dissatisfaction with bathing together.

Rodo often takes the initiative to lift Jay on his own.

…But I still end up spending the most time carrying Jay.

It seems that I’m still the priority when it comes to being provided with protection, even with Jay.

…I wonder why?

After getting out of the bath, it’s time for our daily brushing routine.

For the larger children, we use a big brush.

Right now, I’m looking forward to seeing El’s mane starting to grow.

It shouldn’t be long before it starts growing.

As a parent, I really want to see the mane starting to come in.

It might look a bit thin until it fully grows, but it usually takes around two to three years to fully develop.

I’m carefully examining it, looking for any signs of reddish-brown mixed in with the black, but so far, there doesn’t seem to be any.

My anticipation for El’s mane is already well-known among the family.

One day, I was thrown an unexpected comment.

“Elred’s mane may not necessarily be reddish-brown. It might actually be the same black color as Ko. Calvert and Diadora have black eyes just like Cor, so there’s a possibility.”

(I hadn’t considered that!)

Although I should have realized it with a little thought.

Did I believe that all Akinists had a similar appearance?

Even though I knew that Rodo’s beast transformation, my father-in-law’s beast transformation, and even my late mother-in-law’s beast transformation were subtly different.

From that day on, I started looking for hair that was different from the fur, regardless of color.

And a few days later…

I found hair that was different from the fur, with a curly texture and black color…

Needless to say, I was overjoyed.