Chapter 51
"This is insane! You're telling me it's supposed to be like this? That raising a child has always been this hard? Then why isn't there a single scholar who talks about it?"
My little sister was born and that alone completely changed my life. Every time I went to see her because I missed her, she was either crying, sleeping, or being breastfed.
I often changed her cloth diapers.
She would wake up every two hours to breastfeed, and while slowly sucking, she would doze off again. She’d only burp after someone patted her back for over twenty minutes. She would throw up in her sleep if she fell asleep without burping.
Whenever I had the chance, I held my baby sister, Dina. She was nineteen years younger than me.
Technically, I could have married and had a child of my own at any time, but taking care of Dina made me reconsider that idea.
‘This is ridiculously hard.’
Training in swordsmanship by restoring memories from my past life was easier than looking after Dina all day. Dina gave me no rest. More than that, not knowing anything about babies filled me with anxiety.
This wasn’t a matter of strength.
In fact, I had to relax. Even the slightest pressure while holding her made her feel as fragile as glass.
Amy came by to help, despite her busy schedule.
"Childbirth is a woman’s affair. And once the baby is born, that too becomes the woman’s concern. I was taught that the business of women and children should be left for later."
Women and children were looked down upon, regardless of their background. Especially girls, they were considered inferior to boys.
I had read countless books, but none of them dealt with childrearing.
‘Well, peasant women likely couldn’t write, so they couldn’t publish books. And noblewomen probably didn’t feel the need to record anything since their maids raised their children for them.’
For nearly two weeks, I personally looked after Dina and kept a meticulous record. Diaper and feeding intervals, changes in weight and height, and even emotional fluctuations, everything went into the journal.
<Hebron Childrearing Encyclopedia: Focusing on the Life of Dina de Hebron and the Testimony of Midwife>
It started as an ambitious project. But according to Amy, every child grows differently. I'd need to gather an average before the book could be truly useful.
A newborn baby barely weighed three kilograms. They spiked fevers easily, but the midwife warned against using herbs. Medicine could harm the baby more than help.
"Then what's the point of medical knowledge? What do I do if the baby's sick?"
"You feed her, let her sleep, and watch over her. If you're rich, you call a priest."
"You mean to say House Hebron doesn’t even have a proper priest?"
Amy smiled wryly.
She had probably already drafted a list of candidates.
"Shall I look into it?"
"Make sure they’re talented in healing. I don’t care about any other qualifications. I already have someone in mind for Hebron’s main priest, just find someone to serve under him."
"If that’s what you want, then I do know the perfect person. But are you really sure? No other requirements?"
"I trust your judgment."
I checked Dina’s pulse. After observing her closely for two weeks, I realized that an infant’s Aura roads are fundamentally different from an adult’s. It was a single, simple conduit that grew more complex with age. In the process, Aura roads could become blocked or distorted, something that seemed to have a direct impact on a child’s potential.
‘Antaria’s royal children began practicing aura cultivation from birth. The first 100 days were used to stabilize breathing, followed by three years of structured training. Keeping a magic crystal nearby to familiarize them with mana was also a standard practice…’
I wore a ring embedded with a magic crystal, a gift from Viscount Zylson.
With that hand, I gently stroked Dina’s back and monitored the flow of her aura.
"That’s it, Dina. You feel it too, don’t you? Trust your big brother. I’ll make you strong. I’ll make sure death never gets near you, not even a cold will touch you. I’ll train you to be unshakable."
Amy quietly slipped out of the room. She could tell I had begun focusing entirely on Dina.
‘I will succeed. For Dina’s sake, and for Hebron’s future.’
The Lamazuri Aura breathing technique was meant for the mothers of this world.
I wanted to develop an ‘Aura Breathing technique for Infants’ with Dina as my test subject. It was clearly impossible to teach a newborn any technique, they couldn’t even understand words.
‘But I can draw out reactions artificially.’
It was a process that required patience. I had to stimulate her repeatedly until she reacted to my aura, but all the while ensuring her tiny body wasn’t harmed.
‘It’s possible.’
Clinging to the faintest possibility, I threw myself into the research. For the first time in this life as Louis de Hebron, I felt the familiar burn of obsession, the kind I once knew well.
‘You idiot.’
When my mind didn’t work as well as I wanted it to, I cursed myself and held Dina tightly. As if she understood me, the baby would either smile or drift off to sleep whenever I spoke to her.
"…You’re beautiful."
Honestly, I wanted to parade her around town and spread the word.
‘Dina de Hebron is beautiful! Her cuteness is lethal! Anyone who disagrees, step forward so I can cut your damn head off!’ I wanted to shout it to the world.
“Louis, leave Dina with me for a while. Go get some sleep.”
Mother breastfed Dina every two hours.
It was common for noblewomen to ask around for a woman who had given birth recently, and breastfeed their child, but my mother breastfed Dina herself.
“Oh, is it time for her next feeding already? Then I’ll cultivate my aura nearby. You can breastfeed her.”
I sat cross-legged on the floor and began practicing my aura cultivation. As she fed Dina, Mother said.
“You know, when you were born, you were sick for over a month. I was so worried, thinking something might happen to you.”
It was the first time I’d heard that.
I continued cultivating my aura as I listened to my mother speak.
“We tried to bring a priest from afar. But that was no easy task. Hebron was remote, and the priests assumed we couldn’t afford the offering. They weren’t wrong. Hebron was poor back then, unlike now. I was so desperate… I would’ve given my arms and legs if it meant bringing a priest to heal you. Then someone came and helped you. He appeared out of nowhere, blessed you, and left. I tried to at least ask his name, but he just smiled and walked away.”
I had never imagined that raising a child could be so difficult. And at the same time, I found it hard to accept that such an immense responsibility had been so easily dismissed by nobles, men, and scholars alike.
“Later I inquired and found out he was someone truly remarkable. A High Priest of the holy church of Haryan, and said to be a future pope. If you ever meet him again, you must express your gratitude. Don’t forget High Priest Valencia.”
‘Valencia!’
Valencia had once been dispatched to House Breio as a High Priest. Rumors circulated for over a decade that he was the next Pope, but he ultimately failed to become one. His gentle nature held him back. For some time, Duke Breio tried to support him, but Valencia was a true priest who pursued compassion over practicality.
High Priest Valencia had also been my teacher, the one who taught me the doctrines of the church of Haryan. To think that he had once saved my life, our bond ran deeper than I thought.
‘I must bring him back, no matter what.’
It wasn’t an urgent matter.
I was more concerned about Dina.
‘Her fever is rising… Why? Did I do something wrong?’
Dina was extremely delicate. A little cold wind or even being touched by multiple people would give her a fever. The midwife said it was because of her sensitivity and that it was just part of growing.
“They say infants naturally go through cycles of fever. So let’s not worry too much and just keep an eye on her.”
Despite her words, Mother looked uneasy. She was probably reminded of when I was sick as a child.
‘I can’t live in fear every time a child falls ill. If even newborns could learn aura cultivation… if I could imprint it onto them somehow, wouldn’t that dramatically reduce infant mortality?’
—You’re wasting your talent! You are of House Breio. A Breio looks upward, not downward!
I could almost hear Duke Breio shouting.
I smirked. Of all the people I’d known, Duke Breio was the most consistent.
How pathetic I had been, desperately trying to gain the approval of a man like that in my past life.
‘This is my talent. I’ll use it however I wish. I’ll protect the family I love, and nurture my territory. You say we must look upward? Duke Breio, you are wrong. If the foundation is weak, it all comes crumbling down. You look upward, sure, but only thanks to the steadfast people beneath you.’
I steadied my heart. My soul was not engraved solely with Breio’s ways. I also carried the memories of Hebron.
And so, I decided to waste my talent to the fullest. Just like Hebron’s way.
* * *
‘That’s enough.’
Dina’s nighttime sleep had extended from two hours to nearly four.
The midwife said it was simply the right time for that, but over the past ten days, Dina hadn’t fussed even once. She lived each day like a model of a healthy infant.
I checked her pulse.
Placing my fingertips on her thin wrist, I injected a small amount of aura.
‘Yes. My theory was right. This was always possible, from the start.’
Newborns couldn’t normally learn aura cultivation. Even those considered geniuses only began learning simplified techniques around five or six years old. That was because their aura roads hadn’t fully formed yet.
Dina breathed evenly. With each breath, the thick aura road running through her body would fill and empty in cycles. She had instinctively learned a very basic form of aura cultivation, something akin to how monsters awaken their powers by instinct.
‘They say a baby’s crown is still open… and so is their aura road. I have to see results before that closes. If I can, she’ll have a sturdier aura road than anyone else.’
Both Dina and my mother had awakened to aura cultivation. It might be that Dina had inherited mother’s genius talent.
I needed more data to understand the success of aura cultivation for infants.
‘I must gather all of Hebron’s newborns. Train specialists to care for them, and personally visit from time to time to instill aura cultivation.’
Fatigue began to crash down on me, but I sat at my desk and wrote. The theory had long been developed, it only needed to be compiled and recorded.
I stayed up all night and wrote two books. With them in hand, I went to see Amy. She, too, seemed to have pulled an all-nighter working on the tasks I had given her.
We looked at each other with hollow eyes, nodding at our disheveled appearances.
“Prime Minister Amy.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“It’s done. Teach the Lamazuri Aura Cultivation Method to pregnant women, and the Dina Aura Cultivation Method to knights. From now on, Hebron’s knights will take time to instill aura cultivation into newborns.”
Some knight might object, saying such petty tasks are beneath them.
But that would be an insult to me, who had been doing that very petty work myself. If such a fool dared speak, I would etch my fury into their bones.
I handed the books, which were still damp with ink to Amy.
