Of Arms and Arcane

Chapter 18

2 weeks had passed since my first birthday and I was being held by my hands as Alice assisted me in practicing my walking. I have spent the previous few months trying to stand by using my crib’s railings and whatever I can grab as support. When I first got up on my own feet with the support of the wall, Alice screamed in delight and went to get my parents while Emma crawled after me making excited baby noises with a sparkle in her eyes.

Since then, whoever was watching me at the moment would always encourage me to walk by propping me up as I put 1 foot in front of the other. Seeing what I was doing, Emma also wanted to try walking, but for now, her limbs were too weak and too unbalanced to do anything of the sort. It did not stop her from trying tho.

But today was special. I think I figured out the balance of this baby's body and I am ready to take the first step on my own.

It was after breakfast and the family had retired to the tea room to chat about their plans and what they were going to do today.

I wiggled out of Mum’s lap and she gently let me down to the ground feet first. I hold on to Mum’s hand as I take a few assisted steps.

After I felt confident of my balance, I released the grip of Mum’s fingers and started taking a few unsteady steps of my own. This caused quite a commotion from the family that was watching me, but I did not dare look back, least I lose my concentration and balance.

I take slow deliberate steps toward the nearest wall, I stumble a couple of times making my family raise their voice in worry, but I quickly recover and move forward.

When I touched the wall, my family cheered. I turned around to see my mother and the maids shedding tears of joy, while my dad and grandparents had a look of pride on their faces.

Mum then couched and stretched out her hands, “Well done Luke! Now walk back to mommy.”

Not one to disappoint, I carefully made my way back into Mum’s embrace, where she then proceeded to bring me into her cleavage for a suffocating hug.

That night, the family and servants under the confidentiality contract celebrated my first steps. Emma was there with me, she did not know what the ruckus was about but she got the general positive vibes and spent the whole party stuck to me. At this point, the family considered her as my childhood girlfriend.

***

Years pass and I am now 3 years old, and much has happened.

I now have a little sister, her name is Charlotte. 

Just like Emma, Charlotte loves her big brother and even gets jealous when Emma holds on to me. But Emma does not care and has also taken to hugging Charlotte, eventually, Charlotte stopped being jealous when me and Emma showed her enough attention.

But I am not the only one who just got a sibling, a few months after Charlotte was born, Anna gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Otto, who I treat as my baby brother. By this point, our 2 families were very close and decided to socialize the 4 of us kids together regardless of our social status.

My Dad who came from a humble background said it would be a good thing to avoid me and my sister growing up to be like some of the entitled lordling flops they had seen in the capital. While Grandpa agreed, Mum and Grandma had their doubts but went along with it.

Another big thing that changed is my physique. As time went on and my appetite continued to grow unnaturally, my parents got worried. So the job to find out what was going on fell to the closest thing to a healer in my family, Grandpa.

Grandpa went back to his home and raided his own library to re