Stealing Underwear Was Wrong

Rudeus suddenly felt a little afraid. He looked at his father, who was grinning foolishly beside him, then at his mother, sitting quietly.

He wanted to say, Your child looks like he really wants to kill me.

But Paul seemed to remember something. He grabbed the impatient Roa and pulled him in front of Rudeus, then said with a grin, "You two should get along."

Their eyes met. The pair of cold, crimson-gold eyes made Rudeus almost instinctively look away.

Honestly, at that moment, he was scared.

Paul noticed the strange atmosphere between them. He tapped Roa on the forehead and said with a serious expression, "You two need to get along, especially you, Roa. As the big brother, you should give your little brother some leeway."

Roa sighed and nodded helplessly.

Seeing his son's expression, Paul chuckled. Whether or not Rudeus could understand him, Paul said, "Don't let the way your big brother looks fool you. He's actually a gentle person."

Then Paul made a funny face, apparently trying to cheer Rudeus up.

But Rudeus couldn't smile at all.

After playing with Rudeus for a while, Paul watched the baby gradually calm down and let out a sigh of relief. He put Rudeus back in his crib, then went to cuddle up with Zenith, leaving Roa and Lilia to look after Rudeus.

Rudeus half-closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, while secretly sizing up the child in front of him.

Though he was a rare beauty in the making, his face was almost completely expressionless.

There wasn't a trace of emotion in those cold eyes. Almost instantly, Rudeus thought of the classmates who had bullied him in his previous life.

Because of the memories of his past life, Rudeus was terrified of strangers. In his eyes, Roa's young face began to warp and overlap with the faces of the people who had bullied him before.

Wasn't that how they used to look at him?

He was scared and panicked. Would this supposed family member bully him just like those people had in his previous life?

He didn't know. Fear surged through him like a tidal wave, and before he knew it, he was curling up into a ball, just as he had in his previous life.

As Rudeus grew suspicious of everything, the two-year-old approached his crib. He dragged over a chair and climbed right up onto it.

Rudeus's face suddenly went deathly pale. His already pallid little face lost all color, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably. He told himself over and over that everything had changed, that he had been given a fresh start, but the fear in his mind kept him from distinguishing reality.

Roa saw it all, of course.

He looked at the baby trying to act calm, at his trembling body curled into a ball, as if some terrible monster lurked outside.

Roa sighed. He might have looked down on the Rudeus from his previous life, but in the end, he was a pitiful person.

He reached out to touch that plump, soft cheek.

Seeing the hand draw closer and closer, Rudeus couldn't help but shudder. Memories of being bullied at school in his previous life came surging back. Fear became a dark hand clamped around his throat, leaving him barely able to breathe.

Tears welled up in his eyes despite his best efforts.

But the next moment, a soft, pale finger pinched Rudeus's cheek.

The suffocating pain he had imagined never came. Instead, a smooth, tender finger brushed his face.

The cool, gentle touch left Rudeus stunned.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide. Without realizing it, tears had already begun streaming down his cheeks.

Roa could tell that something was wrong with Rudeus, too. He found it amusing. Even Paul, slow as he could be, would have noticed something was off. Luckily, Rudeus had run into him.

He sighed. Why should one transmigrator make things difficult for another?

Roa pretended not to notice anything unusual. His finger gently brushed Rudeus's forehead, and the childish voice of the supposed big brother in front of him said, "You're my little brother now. I'll protect you."

That was what Roa said.

The voice sounded familiar, both near and far. It was gentle. The speaker hadn't raised his voice, but the words were remarkably clear.

Of course, Rudeus couldn't understand what they meant. He had only just arrived in this world, after all.

And yet, for some reason, those words made his heart tremble.

His eyes grew wet again, and tears streamed down his cheeks. His heart was so fragile at that moment. How pitiful he was.

He hurriedly reached out, instinctively trying to wipe away his tears. Then he suddenly remembered that he was a baby. He tried to hide his strange behavior by opening his mouth and wailing, using his cries to cover up the tears in his eyes.

He had been pretending before, but this time it was real.

Roa felt a little helpless. It wasn't long before Paul's footsteps sounded outside the room. He looked at Roa standing on the chair, then at Rudeus lying in the crib and bawling.

He came over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Roa still wore that same cold expression. "I might have woken Rudeus up. I'm sorry, Father."

Paul had long since gotten used to Roa's expression. He looked at that placid face and shook his head helplessly. "You need to learn to smile more."

Roa thought for a moment, then forced an awkward smile.

Paul covered his face. "You'd better just keep that expression. I know it's hard for you."

Two years had passed since that unexpected incident.

Rudeus now knew that the poker-faced, rosy-cheeked little boy before him was his big brother.

There was just something a little off about this big brother of his.

Whenever Rudeus tried to use his young age as an excuse to do perverted things, that cold gaze would pin him in place.

Then Roa would say coolly, "Rudeus, boys who do that sort of thing are considered perverts."

And the hand reaching for the underwear would hang in midair.

Rudeus would try to play innocent, flashing a babyish smile in the hopes of getting away with it.

Unfortunately, his big brother wasn't falling for it. He would simply pick Rudeus up and give him a light flick on the forehead.

Then he would grab him by the collar and rudely toss him onto the bed.

After that, he would say sternly, "Don't use that lecherous look to stare at other people's private parts. Do you want to become Paul?"

Rudeus wanted to say that, actually, he did want to become Paul. But facing that stern little boy's face, he could only lower his head in shame.

Roa glanced at the dejected Rudeus and went on, "We should do that sort of thing openly."

Rudeus, whose head had been bowed, suddenly looked up. A string of question marks filled his mind. He stared at Roa's perfectly serious expression, wanting to ask if he'd even heard himself.

"Anyway, stealing underwear is wrong, got it, Rudeus?" Roa said with a serious face.