Chapter 2: Chapter 2. One Year Old

One year later, inside a small but cozy medical clinic, a brown-haired woman was looking at some herbs with a little child on her lap. Most herbs were medical in nature. They had a natural aura around her that even normal mortals could feel.

Her hands deftly mixed the herbs in a concoction. She used a rock vase with controlled flames below it. Of course, it wasn't something difficult as she wouldn't risk something going wrong with the one-year-old on her lap.

The smell of the concoction didn't spread as she had a cleverly built ventilation system. From time to time, she checked on the baby to make sure everything was okay.

The child on the woman's lap still couldn't talk, but she could blabber some words and understood how to ask for things or give something that her stepmother pointed out.

Therefore, each time the woman pointed at a herb, the child's small hands would grab it clumsily and wave it toward the lady, making baby sounds. The woman would caress and kiss her head full of black hair, praising her lovingly.

Of course, it was just a reflective motion after the woman taught the child for some time. She did so to have some bonding time with her as she worked and to make the monotonous work more enjoyable.

Suddenly, the woman felt the little child in her lap pulling her robes softly as she blabbered some words. She looked down with a tender smile and asked, "What does my baby want?"

The little child made gestures to her mouth and blabbered some more incoherent sounds, but the adoptive mother understood her perfectly. "Oh~ Does my child want to eat~? Let's get you something to eat. We can't let this tummy empty for too long, right?"

The woman put out the fire and sat the child on the table, lowering her head to blow a raspberry on the child's little belly. The funny sound and ticklish sensation made the small child giggle cutely.

The woman also laughed and said, "Do you like it, little Tatyana~? Then mommy will give you more~."

*Brrr.*

Little Tatyana's exotic red eyes curved into beautiful crescents as she patted the stepmother's head while giggling. The woman also laughed with her.

After five minutes of playing with her, she heard a knock on the door. The woman stopped playing with Tatyana and picked her up between her arms, "Enter."

The door opened, and a young girl stepped through it. Although the person that entered was another child, she was much older than Tatyana, being ten years old.

She shared the mature and gentle woman's light-brown hair with brown eyes. The child's facial features were also very similar to the woman's, clearly showing that she was her biological child. "Mom, when are we going to eat? Ah! You are playing with Tatyana again without telling me! I also want to play with my little sister!"

The woman smiled and said, "You two have asked the same thing, hahaha. Little Tatyana just told me that she was hungry and wanted to eat. Come, let's go to the dining room."

The young girl scrunched her nose and said, "Don't lie to me, mom! How can she ask you about anything? She still can't even talk properly!"

The woman said with a smirk, "You are underestimating your little sister! Look."

She then turned toward Tatyana and asked, doing gestures with her hands, "Is my baby hungry? Do you want to nom-nom?"

Tatyana saw her mother's gestures and also did them, blabbing, "Nhom-hom! Hom-nhom!"

The big sister looked with wonder, "Wow! She is so smart!"

The woman said, patting the big sister's head, "Of course. Whose little sister do you think she is? Her big sister is so smart; the little sister must also be smart, right?"

The big sister puffed her non-existent chest with a big smile, "But of course! I'm also teaching little Tatyana how to play! That way, she will grow into a smart girl!"

The woman praised her sincerely, "Good job! If you keep teaching her, I may consider lessening your study time a little bit to let you play with her."

The big sister's smile became larger, and she patted her chest, "Leave it to me! I will make my little sister the most intelligent in the town. Of course, right after me! Hahaha."

The woman laughed and guided her children toward the dining room. Her mouth had a constant gentle, and satisfied smile. What more could she ask for than having her two children getting along with each other? Knowing that they were so close only brought joy to the mother.

The house was neither too big nor too small. However, since they had to have a place to admit patients and take care of them, they had an extra building beside their house that could hold four to five people.

Behind their house, they had a wide plot of land. Plenty of vegetables were planted there, and there was even a section full of medicinal plants.

Their living house had a single floor with four bedrooms, two baths, one kitchen, and one living room. There was also a basement and a hut holding farming equipment outside.

Since the woman was in her clinic, they had to walk ten minutes until they reached their house. All the townspeople they crossed greeted them with a smile. Since they were the only family of doctors in the town, they were very respected.

Still, the town was very small, with just between one and two hundred people.

They arrived at their house and made it toward the dining room. A tall, muscular middle-aged man was placing the food on a wooden table.

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He had light brown hair and honey-colored eyes, his facial features were defined, and his eyebrows were thick. His skin was tanned because of working in the fields, but overall, he was quite groomed and quite handsome.

When he saw his family arriving, he smiled playfully and said. "Three beautiful girls appearing in this room at this hour? What do you three want!? Even if you are hungry, I won't give you anything! I'm protecting it for my family!"

The big sister laughed and hugged his side, "We are here to steal your food! Even if you don't want to, you will have to feed me!"

The man picked the big sister up and laughed, "Oh no! These foodies are so unreasonable that they would steal my family's! Should I have made even more?"

The woman approached and kissed him briefly with a laugh, "Maybe not more, but I hope you did the food delicious enough~."

Then, the man kissed little Tatyana's forehead, making her giggle because it felt a little prickly with his short beard. Then, he said. "Delicious! I'm sure the three beautiful ladies, Salia, Loreia, and Tatyana, will like it."

After their playful greeting, they all sat down. Little Tatyana was on her father's lap, being fed by him. Salia, the mother, was seated beside him, and Loreia was in front of them.

Salia suddenly asked, "Terrance, how is the investigation about Tatyana doing? Do we know from where she is?"

Loreia paid attention, she knew that Tatyana wasn't her real little sister, but she didn't mind. She loved little Tatyana as much as Salia and her father, Terrance.

She still remembered how weakened little Tatyana was when she first saw her, wrapped in the bloody sheets and her face a little pale. Still, her charming red eyes seemed lively as they looked around, not bothered by it.

This was an impactful image for a nine-year-old, and learning that the child was going to be her little sister, made her awaken a protective instinct toward the fragile life wrapped in that cloth.

Of course, Salia had never wanted to show that scene to Loreia. It was a coincidence that they met when she arrived at her office with Tatyana to check on her. But in the end, it all ended well, and Loreia even gained a very defensive nature with Tatyana, taking care of her whenever she couldn't.

Terrance was also quite fond of Tatyana, he had always wanted a daughter, and now he had two! So, he pampered both of them as if they were his little princesses. They might have even grown spoiled if Salia didn't regulate his pampering.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason Terrance was accepting of Tatyana. He had seen Salia's face when looking at Tatyana and saw her determination to bring this child up.

He had always supported his wife in whatever she wanted to do, as much as Salia had supported him during his endeavors. Therefore, he took her in as if Tatyana was his real daughter.

Since that day, Terrance had been using the things the maid carried to find her origins. Still, no matter how much he searched in the surrounding towns, he didn't find anything during this whole year.

"I haven't found anything; she doesn't seem to be from a nearby town or city." Terrance said with a sigh.

Loreia was a little disappointed. She wanted to know which beast dared abandon her precious little sister and beat them up until they cried for their mommy.

Salia frowned, "But for the maid to be able to carry her here in that condition… They mustn't be from very far away. I can't imagine someone lasting more than an hour with a hole in their chest."

The father asked, a little hesitant, "What if they are Respected Immortals? I've heard that they can turn over rivers, flatten mountains, and soar in the sky. Sending their child far away to a remote place wouldn't be too far-fetched, right?"

Loreia's courage to find the culprits and beat them up deflated like a balloon, "A-Are they that strong?"

Salia and Terrance looked at her and chuckled. Terrance said, "Don't worry, princess. Immortals live in the mountains, and very rarely do they come down to the mortal world. There are also cities filled with them, but they are very, very, far away from here."

Loreia sighed in relief, "That's good! I don't think I can protect little Tatyana from them…"

Salia and Terrance also sighed and looked at the munching little Tatyana.

Seeing her bulging cheeks as she chewed slowly made them smile and dispersed any negative feelings in them.

Salia said, "Stop searching for it, dear. Let her live a normal life without worry between us. We can protect her from harm in this town without any problem."

Loreia nodded, "Right! I will beat anyone that dares bully her!"

Terrance thought briefly and nodded, "Okay, let's forget about it. Since she is with us, she will be our family unless her real parents come to get her back."

The dinner ended shortly after.

Like they agreed on that dinner table, they never searched for Tatyana's origins again. Terrance kept all the things the maid carried in a box in the basement. There were three books, a badge, and even the now clean cloth the maid had wrapped around Tatyana.

However, Terrance forgot to lock them in a chest, which would lead to Tatyana finding them some years later.

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