God’s Judgement

Even though some time has passed—four and a half years, to be exact—I've done little to make any significant changes to the novel.

'Tak '

Learning to sit up and flip over was pretty hard and time-consuming, especially considering that this body gets tired so quickly. I guess that's what being a baby is like. Though, learning how to crawl and walk is different. It didn't take long for me to learn to crawl once I figured out how to flip over.

Soon, I learned to stand, then walk, and even run... although I'm still a bit clumsy. I can't walk for long or run very fast, or else I fall.

'Tak, Tak '

Sitting at a small table near the window was a boy with long, straight half-jet-black hair, white underneath. His skin was soft, smooth, and plump like cotton, and he was pale like a porcelain doll. His small lips were rosy red, and his eyes were unusually sharp, especially for his age. They looked mature and clear, as if he could see through the world with his sharp white pupils, which had a cold, calculating glare. The boy sat silently, playing a game of chess with his older brother.

"Honey... is it just me, or is our son...?"

Seraphina whispered to her husband as they sat on the couch, watching their two sons play chess together.

"A genius? Of course he is. I would expect nothing less from a son of mine."

Gideon said proudly, a small curve forming at the ends of his lips. His arms crossed squarely over his chest, legs crossed as he sat. He was the embodiment of pride, elegance, and overwhelming power.

"Tsk."

"Don't act as if you aren't surprised too! I see you smirking, and you're watching so intently for someone who's so confident."

Seraphina pouted as she scolded her husband, causing him to turn his head away slightly, as if to avoid her pressing glare.

"Ehem..."

Gideon cleared his throat, raking a hand through his hair, then spoke, changing the subject.

"It's ending."

Seraphina rolled her eyes at her husband and glanced at the young boys playing chess. As the eldest son made a move, they watched as their youngest smirked slightly and then spoke.

"It's checkmate."

They watched as Kieran made the mistake of moving a white pawn from f2 to f3. Then, Yuri moved his black pawn from e7 to e5. Attempting to cut his younger brother off, Kieran moved his g2 pawn to g4. In return, Yuri moved his black queen to h4, achieving his seventh checkmate in a row in only a few moves.

"Wow..."

The room fell silent as everyone stared at Yuri. Over the past four years, they knew he was different. He rarely showed emotions like joy, and even more rarely showed sadness or frustration. He had always seemed to understand the words of those around him. From the moment he started learning to move his body, he learned to crawl, stand, walk, and run practically by himself before anyone even noticed that he had started crawling. That was until Seraphina and Gideon had heard from their son Kieran that Yuri had been walking in his room.

Since being caught, Yuri hadn't been trying to hide his intelligence as much. He did things like reading, playing advanced board games, doing puzzles, and even sneaking around the mansion to "secretly" learn math and history with his older brother. Yuri had now made astronomical advances. At least, that's what his parents and older brother thought. But to Yuri, his progress had been too slow, and they could tell.

'He always seems to be working toward a goal that feels far away...'

His older brother thought as he looked at Yuri, who had gotten up and began staring outside the window at something far away—something only Yuri could see. His gaze made it seem as though he knew the answer to everything in the world, yet he also seemed hesitant and unsure about many things. It made his family feel... helpless. They knew something was bothering him but had no way of knowing what it was. Yuri wasn't the type to speak his mind.

'He gets that side of him from his father...'

Seraphina thought with a deep sigh as she stood up, walking toward her youngest son. She rested a soft hand on his head and gently ruffled his hair as she spoke.

"You did a good job again, Yuri. How about letting your big brother go and coming to join your mum for a walk?"

"You did a good job again, Yuri. How about letting your big brother go and coming to join your mum for a walk?"

My mother said as she stroked my hair gently. I wanted to join her. I knew she was worried about me. She had always been that way since the very first day I was born into this world. She worries because I'm different, and she feels that worry. I know that, but... it's been nearly five years, and a lot has happened. Over the past five years, there have been more than seven assassination attempts on us.

'Sigh...'

After thinking for a while, I realized that maybe the reason why a family of our status was never mentioned in "Regressors Choice" is because... they were wiped out early on, before the story even started. That's the most logical reason I could come up with.

'Woosh '

A cool breeze blew past me, and the feeling of my bangs softly tickling my face brought me out of my thoughts.

I turned to my mother, and she stopped caressing my hair and looked at me. Her gaze was as gentle as ever.

"Mum..."

'Today is the day I need to ask her. I can't waste any more time.'

"I want to learn how to fight."

At my words, the room fell eerily quiet. It was so quiet that the faint sound of our breathing seemed to be drowned out by the cool breeze outside.

After what felt like an eternity, my brother slammed his fist down on the table and spoke in a serious tone I'd only seen from him a few times before.

"Why would you want to know how to do that? Did someone attack you again?"

His words came out coldly, and a murderous aura emanated from his body. His actions caused our mother, who was briefly in shock, to snap out of it and sigh softly before motioning with her hand for him to calm down.

"But—"

Kieran wanted to protest, but this time, it was our father who released his own aura, causing everyone to stop and look at him.

"Enough, Kieran. Let him speak."

Father's voice was calm and devoid of emotion. Kieran gulped and slowly sat down, silently turning his gaze back to me and our mum. Father, too, glanced in our direction before speaking.

"Yuri, explain yourself. Why would we let our youngest son, a mere four-year-old child, learn to fight?"

He asked as he looked at me with serious eyes, a piercing gaze.

I sighed softly.

'This won't be easy... but I need to do this now, or it will be too late.'

I moved away from my mother and stood straight, a cold sweat trickling down my back as I looked at my father with an unwavering, serious gaze.

"I don't think age is of any importance in this matter, Father..."

I spoke while never breaking my gaze from his.

"Oh? And why would you think something as foolish as that?"

He spoke with cold eyes, his gaze seeming as though it would devour me whole if I wavered even a little.

'Dang it... Is this the power of an S+ class Swordsmaster? It's terrifying...'

I clenched my fist tightly, then unclenched it, and spoke again.

"My brother, Kieran, is only three years older than me and has been taking a variety of classes since before I was born. If you cared about age, I doubt you would have allowed that."

At my words, my father sat up, moving forward, bringing his elbows to his knees and resting his chin on one hand. He looked me over for a while before slowly nodding as if satisfied with my answer. The intensity of his aura lessened considerably, and he spoke again.

"That still doesn't answer my question as to why you wish to learn such things. If you can't provide a good answer as to why I should allow you to learn to fight then I won't allow it even if you beg."

' Good, he didn't say no.. this is my chance. ' 

"I want to protect. I don't want to be at a disadvantage anymore against threats, nor do I want to rely solely on others to protect me when things happen. As a Leonheart, I no longer wish to bring shame to our proud family name by only being protected by others, I want to get stronger so that I can proudly fight and protect what is important to me. My family and our people. "

I spoke with as much conviction as I could muster under his suffocating gaze. I lowered my head and bowed slightly not wanting to be devoured by his gaze and waited for him to respond. 

"You can't, father! Tell him that he can't do it!" 

Kieran, seemingly fed up with sitting silently, had spoken up and desperately begged our father. 

"Why not, why are you so keen on stopping me big brother?" 

' I couldn't help but be a bit annoyed and offended as I watched my older brother try so desperately to have my request denied. I genuinely wanted to know why he was so against me being allowed to do what he could do when he was my age.'

"T-that.. it's.. because-"

"You're too weak."

Father had cut off Kieran as he stood up, his words hitting me like a ton of bricks. His intense gaze bore down at me as he prepared to leave the room.

"The difference between you and your brother, yuri.. is that unlike him, you are weak."

'What the.. heck??'

Just like that, the conversation ended one-sidedly, then my father left. Following behind him not long after was my mother and then my brother who halted his steps just before leaving to stop and stare at me silently before turning around and leaving, closing the door behind him. 

Moments passed like hours, all I could do was stand there in silent turmoil as I looked at the door while clenching my fist so tightly that my hands began to bleed.

'I'm weak??' 

"Are you kidding me?"

'I'm not weak, I know what weak is, weak..'

"Weak are the ones who die without fighting."

The words that came out of my mouth came out so naturally, my heart pounded and my mind though blank, felt foggy and heavy. 

'"Tap tap tap

"Young master, dinner is ready, everyone is waiting for you."

Mary, a young maid not much older than my brother spoke. Her soft delicate voice seemed to instantly clear the heavy atmosphere in the room. As she knocked and slowly peeled her head in. Surprised to see me just standing while staring at the door, she jolted back a bit before speaking hesitantly.

"Young master..? Is everything alright?" 

It took me a few moments to calm my nerves but eventually I nodded and spoke.

"I'm fine. Let's go."

Mary nodded and led me to the dining room, halfway there, she had started carrying me.

'Dang.. this is so embarrassing.'

I sighed to myself. At my age, including my previous age, I am almost 12 years old and yet here I am being carried around by a child who is the same age as me because my body gets tired just from walking. 

'" sigh

"If you keep sighing like that, you will age poorly, young master." 

Mary said while she walked me to the dining room with a slight chuckle in her voice. 

'I'm glad you find this amusing.'

I thought to myself sarcastically as I huffed in defeat and decided not to rebuttal.

It didn't take long to get to the dining room, at least when compared to how long it would have taken if I had walked, I suppose I could be thankful for Mary's help when I think about it like that. Upon entering the dining room I saw my mother, father and older brother sitting together, seemingly waiting for me. When I arrived, the atmosphere was tense, causing Mary to cough nervously and then she spoke softly.

***

"Your grace, I believe that it's quite nice outside today. It's especially beautiful near the lake." 

After Mary spoke those words, she sat my baby brother down next to me and smiled sweetly. My father silently gazed at her and then nodded his head slowly.

"Why don't we all go.. and have a picnic near the lake today?" 

My mothers crisp and clear voice came through gently as she spoke and turned her gaze to my father and then to me and my brother.

"I am free this evening."

My father spoke. His expression rarely changes, he is always stoic and looks cold but I've been seeing this face since I was a baby. I know how to read it most of the time at least. That's why I was so quick to notice the small curvature of the sides of his lips. He was probably trying to hide it but he was happy, he must have really wanted to have an excuse to take us out. 

Seeing him try to hide his smile that was creeping up on his face as he took a handkerchief and wiped his mouth, my mother shook her head while staring as if looking at an unruly child. Her face was contorted into a grimace as she cringed. However, she quickly realized that she was cringing and fixed her expression before turning back to us. 

"I think it will be lovely, what do the two of you say?"

Her eyes were practically begging us to say yes.

'Adults.. they're so weird.'

I knew quickly that this was their way of apologizing to yuri. They probably thought that he was still upset and wanted to get his mind off of fighting and onto something else. 

'I'm no better. I still…'

I knew that I needed to apologize. I hadn't particularly done anything wrong, I only want to protect my brother.. But even still, the look he gave me when I opposed his request and begged father to do the same, and the look he gave me after father said that he was weak..

'I..I messed up.' 

That's the only thing I could think of. No matter how much I thought I was just being a good brother.. Even if I don't like it, I should always be by his side. 

'We are brothers.. until death and even after we are brothers.'

'" haaah

With a deep sigh I nodded my head and then looked at my brother next to me. 

'Ah.. he wants steak. Cute..' 

I turned to see what my brother had to say but quickly noticed that his attention was on something more important to him than a walk. He was intensely staring down at a dish in front of him, a big juicy steak with vegetables on the side, the corners of his mouth practically dripping with saliva. So holding back a laugh, I grabbed the plate. He was going to protest, thinking that I may have been taking it for myself, but once he saw that I had only cut it into smaller pieces he went quiet again for a moment.

"Thank you.. big brorher."

'Cute…' 

I felt a pang in my heart, his tongue is still short because he is a kid and so when he speaks he has an adorable lisp. 

I handed him the plate and watched him eat. He didn't know how to properly hold utensils yet but it's fine. He hasn't had etiquette classes yet, and watching him eat makes me feel happy and warm.

'Well.. not just me afterall..'

I turned to my parents who were also quietly peeking at my brother as he ate, their faces practically beaming as they saw him enjoy his food. 

'He's… the cutest.'

We all thought the same thing while watching him eat.