She’d let Bram off the hook once, but she couldn’t allow herself that luxury while they were making their way to the capital. Normally, Bram’s actions would have given her a one-way ticket to prison, but she was a special case considering her age. The judge presiding over her case was the king himself, and the decision was ultimately up to him, but Shaer wanted to understand the circumstances that had led her to that bridge to see if they could be used to help her avoid doing time.
“I didn’t commit any crimes, m’kay?” Bram stated, confident in her innocence.
“You blocked the bridge for weeks.”
“I would always let women and children through! And I was gonna let the men through after I fought them! It’s not my fault they ran back home to their mommies, m’kay?”
“What did you expect?” Myuke rebuked. “A huge dragon asking people to fight it if they wanted to cross the bridge would scare anyone.”
Bram was being talked down to, both figuratively and literally. Her anger began to boil over, and she erupted at Myuke.
“What do you gotta butt in for?! Like you could ever understand how I feel when you’ve got a sturdy dad! Don’t put me in the same boat as you, m’kay?!”
“Daddy is sturdy, but that has nothing to do with anything!”
“It does! It has everything to do with everything! My parents were weak! They were super weak... m’kay...?”
Bram’s heart-wrenching scream immediately silenced Myuke. Anima, who’d been listening silently to their spat, gave her the warmest look he could muster.
“Bram, are you all alone?” he asked, making sure to choose his words very carefully.
Large tears began streaming down her face. She clutched the hem of her skirt and slowly opened her mouth.
“Mom and Dad passed away. They left me behind. They were weak... Mom’s been gone since... I don’t even know how long ago. And Dad left just a year ago... m’kay?”
“I see.” Anima gently stroked Bram’s head to comfort her, sliding his hand down her long, fluffy hair. “It must have been hard for you.”
She nodded deeply. Longing for warmth, she then looked up at Anima and grabbed his hand.
“That’s why I want a family, m’kay? Someone who won’t die, and...”
Anima was all too familiar with the crushing pain of loneliness. But unlike Anima, who had been ostracized by his family in his old world, the deep pain Bram felt seemed to have been because she’d been treasured by hers. He had no way to conceptualize her pain—the pain of being pushed from the warm embrace of happiness and into the dark pit of suffering, where her tiny body was torn apart by insurmountable grief.
In the year since she’d lost her father, she’d had no one to rely on. There was no one to praise her, no one to hold her, no one to love her; her days were filled only with darkness and pain. That was why she was looking for a family that would outlive her, because she didn’t want to relive the pain of losing the ones she held dear. In order to find that family, she’d set up shop on the bridge and patiently waited for the person she’d dreamed of to arrive. It was a reckless method, but she had become unable to bear the weight of being alone.
“Mm, so that’s why you asked if I have any chronic diseases,” Anima murmured. It all finally made sense to him.
Bram nodded once more, then looked up at Anima again. A glint of hope flashed in her wet eyes as she put on a delighted smile.
“I never expected to find someone like you, Anima! You’re healthy as an ox, sturdy as a rock, and stronger than anyone I’ve ever met! You exceeded all my expectations, m’kay?”
It might have been a bit boastful of him, but Anima knew that very few people, if anyone at all, could compete with his strength. Moreover, his sturdiness would guarantee that if they were to get married, she would never have to suffer the pain of being alone again. He must have been the light that would finally release Bram from the darkness that was her eternal prison of loneliness. She had finally found someone she could spend the rest of her life with in peace.
Anima understood what she was feeling—at least to an extent—and wanted to help her overcome her grief. If he could, he wanted to eliminate loneliness from the lives of children. Even so...
“I can’t be your husband.”
Giving her no room for debate, he turned Bram down. The glimmer immediately faded from her eyes.
“At least tell me why, m’kay?”
“It’s because there’s only one woman I’ll ever love, and that’s Luina.”
Bram’s eyes popped wide open as if she had just woken up from a sweet dream, then filled with darkness. She covered her face with her hands and slowly slid them down, but Anima flashed a gentle smile.
“Now, while I can’t be your husband, what I can be is your father.”
Bram slowly looked up.
“My father...? M’kay...” Bram asked, slowly turning her eyes upward.
“Yes, your father. You said you want a family, right? In other words, you aren’t necessarily looking for a husband. Am I mistaken?”
She slowly shook her head. “Y-You’re not wrong, but... I would be living with you forever, m’kay? Would that be a problem?”
“Not at all. What do you think?”
He looked at Luina, who answered with a warm smile.
“We were always a large family, so I’m used to a lively household. We’d love for you to be a part of that, if it’s something you want as well.”
All the kind, warm gazes set on her put a happy, genuine smile on Bram’s face.
“You lib with us?”
“I’d love to, but... You’d better be sure about this, m’kay?”
“Uh-huh!” Marie answered with a bright smile. “I like fends to pay with!”
Bram’s entire face radiated joy.
“I’m so happy! But I need you to be okay with this too, m’kay?”
Filled with hope, she looked at Myuke, who huffed timidly at her.
“If you don’t work, you don’t eat! Drill that into your stupid head!”
“Don’t you worry, Shorty! I’ll work and eat more than you, m’kay?”
“Don’t call me ‘Shorty’! I’m older than you, so you’d better show me some respect! Just use my name, got it?!”
“Gotcha! I appreciate it a ton, m’kay?”
“You can call me ‘Mommy.’”
“I will! Thank you, Mommy, m’kay?”
“And I like being called ‘Daddy.’”
Anima’s desire to hear Bram say the magic word was practically audible in his voice. He was excited for the moment she would say it, but her face betrayed her unease.
“I... wanna save that for later, m’kay?”
A long time had passed since she’d lost her mother, but her father had only been gone for a year. It was no wonder she was hesitant to call Anima “Daddy.”
Anima wanted to get her approval as a father, but he couldn’t ignore her feelings. Instead of pressuring her into it, raising her with love and care like he did with Myuke and Marie seemed like a much better option. There was no reason for her to rush; when the time finally came, she would surely say that magic word on her own.
“Don’t feel like you have to call me that. Take it slow, and only do it when you’re ready.”
Bram nodded. The beautiful smile from finally having her wish come true still hadn’t faded from her curiously pale face.
“Are you okay?”
She put her hands in front of her mouth.
“I-I finally had the chance to catch my breath, and now I’m feeling sick, m’kay...?”
“You must be getting seasick. Here, lie down.”
Bram looked at Anima and Luina with a pleading gaze.
“I’d like to sleep with you, if that’s okay, m’kay...?”
“Of course it is,” Luina said with a smile.
“That’s just fine.”
Other options had never existed. Both Anima and Luina loved fulfilling their children’s wishes. They lay down on either side of the bed, letting Bram take the middle. Conversely, Shaer, satisfied with Bram’s reasoning and the outcome of the resulting discussion, took her leave.
“It’s so warm, m’kay...?”
Bram’s smile somehow made her complexion look better. Lured in by that happy sight, Marie climbed onto Anima’s stomach.
“I wanna seep ’gever too!”
“Come on over here.”
Anima gently embraced Marie, who buried her face in his chest. It was pretty cramped, but Bram was enjoying every moment of it. She’d waited for so long to cuddle up with a family of her very own, and that dream had become a reality at long last.
“She fell asleep so quickly.”
“Yeah. Marie is out too.”
“She loves your stomach to bits,” Myuke whispered, careful not to wake the sleeping girls. She then climbed down from the top bunk. “Umm, Daddy? It’s probably more comfortable for you up here.”