Chapter 19
Marcus and Rita made their way home as they navigated the forest.
The sun had already begun to peek from the horizon, signifying the start of a new day.
Mark and Chise had been up all night waiting and praying for the safety of their children.
Swoosh!!
The front door suddenly opened up, startling the couple.
“Dad,” Chise called out upon realizing who it was. Marcus went into a room and laid Vasileios on a bed.
He had fallen asleep on the way back.
Marcus had gone ahead of Rita, who moved slower and carefully while carrying Draco.
He had done this after they exited the forest to make preparations for Draco’s treatment.
“Is Vasileios alright? Where is Draco? What happened?” she hastily fired a barrage of questions while running up to him.
“Shh, calm down,” Marcus scolded. He could understand her worries, but she was being too loud.
“Hmm,” Chise responded, sealing her lips, her ears drooping.
Marcus led them out of the room while explaining what he knew.
After hearing everything, Chise hurried into the kitchen and began preparing some easy-to-eat food.
They had a nice stock of potatoes, so mashed potatoes and soup were ideal.
Soon Rita arrived with Draco, she laid him on a bed they set up. Now the biggest challenge was feeding him.
First they tried feeding some soup to him, to their surprise, he consumed everything even while asleep, but his condition didn’t change.
Seeing how easy it was for him to consume the soup, they fed him mashed potatoes, which he also consumed but his situation still didn’t change much.
“Is the amount not enough?” Rita muttered while observing. She had some experience in medicine as an adventurer.
Right now they were all wary of everyone that didn’t live in their house.
Someone from the village must have been a part of the incident, but they didn’t know who.
All farming work was canceled, and all the workers were told not to approach the house.
“Mum, can I try this?” Chise suggested, showing Draco’s favorite meal, roasted meat. Surprising them, he devoured it very fast.
“This is fascinating; he instinctively eats anything that approaches his mouth. Is that some form of self-preservation?” Rita wondered, her bad habit surfacing again.
‘Can I touch his horns now?’ Rita wondered, raising her hand towards it.
“Mum, not now. Go make more roasted meat; he looks a bit better after eating meat,” Chise scolded, chopping Rita’s hand away from him.
“Ugh, I can’t see the difference though,” Rita muttered, walking away.
Marcus just stood at the front of the house, ready to defend.
………………………………………………………………
Gasp!!
‘Ugh, my head. Where am I, am I still alive?’ Draco thought. He had finally woken up, but everything felt like some nightmare.
He could tell that he was currently laying in a soft bed, meaning that he was still alive.
‘Sigh, who would have ever thought something like that would still happen even when surrounded by strong people,’ he pondered while staring at the ceiling.
His body felt like lead, and he didn’t feel like moving.
‘I managed to survive, but what about Vasileios?’ Draco wondered.
“I am so weak,” he muttered.
To him, this incident was like a sign from the heavens that he should grow stronger if he never wanted to experience something like that again.
Closing his eyes, he once again fell asleep.
3 hours later…
Gasp!
Draco woke up again, this time he had a horrible nightmare.
He could vividly see the faces of the people that he killed in the forest; he could hear their pleas for a second chance.
“No, I did not do wrong. They were bad people; they must have done such a thing a lot of times. Besides, I didn’t do it with a sound mind, so I shouldn’t be blamed, right?” Draco muttered to motivate himself and try to justify his actions.
‘Why am I even feeling guilt over the death of vile evil people that enslave others and sell them for coin. But what right did I have to pass judgment over them?’ he pondered.
‘They must’ve had families or even those that were forced into it by circumstance. No, they all had choices in life, but still chose such a path,’ Draco pondered some more.
He was having a battle of morality within himself.
He was someone that believed that taking the life of another was a wrongful act unless your life was in danger.
The slave trader wanted to sell him, not take his life so he was having a hard time justifying killing them.
It was his first time taking a life, no several lives all at once.
What also scared him was the thrill he felt when hunting them.
Though he wasn’t of sound mind at that time, he still vividly remembered everything like he was sanely committing such acts of cruelty.
‘Sigh, I will need to talk to someone and time to adjust my moral alignment but for now I should rest some more,’ he concluded.
Through the rest of the day, he just ate and slept while recovering.
He didn’t get to meet anyone besides his parents and grandparents who came to check up on him from time to time.
The next day…………
“Draco nii. Wakey,” a childish voice called out, drawing his attention.
Opening his eyes and turning to the side, he could see green hair covering his vision.
He felt a lot better now after eating and sleeping a lot the previous day.
“Yawn, Dimitra what is it,” Draco asked.
“Play!” she replied while pulling on his hand.
‘Looks like she snuck in here, I remember grandpa Marcus saying none of them should disturb me,’ Draco thought.
Growl!!
His stomach grumbled, signifying he was hungry.
Sniff! Sniff!
‘I smell so bad, I need a bath,’ he thought after sniffing his body.
“Later, Dimitra, I need to bathe and eat first,” Draco finally replied her.
“Promise ?,” Dimitra asked.
“Yea, promise,” Draco replied. Dimitra then let go of his hand and then exited the room.
Getting up from his bed, he took off his dirty clothes and grabbed a fresh pair.
Most of his clothes were custom-made by his grandma Anita; her hobby being making clothes for her grandkids.
He then walked naked to the bathroom to have a bath.
No one really cared to look at a naked 4-year-old walking around the house; weirdly, he didn’t care too and had gotten used to it.
Everyone had seen every inch of his body at home anyway, so what was there to be embarrassed about.
After a refreshing bath, he went looking for Vasileios to check up on him.
Surprisingly, Vasileios was doing fine and playing like normal, almost like nothing happened.
The only odd thing was that Vasileios seemed more attached to him now compared to before.
Now he was feeling better, he needed to tell his grandparents what happened after they were kidnapped.
It was something he needed to get off his chest for his mental health.
He wasn’t going to tell them that he reincarnated from another world as he considered that, a taboo for all reincarnators.
That was a secret he would take to his grave.
The past life was the past life, and he wouldn’t allow baggage from it to disrupt his new life.