As James is brought into the baby room, the white light from the ceiling mps illuminates a sterile room filled with the sound of medical instruments beeping in a regur rhythm. Standard procedures are deftly performed by medical personnel, ensuring each newborn is in good health. Blood pressure checks, neural responses and body temperature; all performed with a high level of professionalism.

  However, James was no ordinary baby.

  Newborn babies are supposed to spend about 16 hours a day sleeping, their little bodies needing time to grow and develop. However, James never really fell asleep. He could feel his body was in a state of exhaustion, but his mind stayed sharp, stayed awake, stayed aware. He only closed his eyes for a moment, then returned to gring with pitch-bck irises.

  His brain had mutated. He didn't know how or why, but his body refused to sleep like other babies. He stayed awake for almost 24 hours, looking out at the world with full awareness.

  James knew that this was dangerous. If people realized his abnormality, if they saw that there was something "not human" in him, then it was not impossible that this little body would be dissected alive, skinned, mutited, made into a research object that would never be able to escape.

  But at the same time, he didn't want to act like a baby. Pretending to cry, pretending to smile meaninglessly, pretending to babble in silly baby nguage, it all felt disgusting.

  To him, such acting is cheap manipution, a disgusting tactic used only by those who want to control the world with falsehoods.

  But here's the contradiction.

  On the one hand, he wants to live a rexed life without drawing attention to himself.

  On the other hand, he did something that would make people see him as an anomaly.

  'I need to gather as many resources as possible and as quickly as possible, then survive without harming anyone.

  Of course, without dirty tricks like manipution and barbaric science,' he muttered to himself.

  Of course, he wasn't someone with a heroic spirit with a burning fme.

  Retively unconcerned about norms and morals, he only sees rules as an effective tool to control society.

  He wasn't trying to be holy in the slightest, he just 'disliked' tricks like manipution. That's right, just a 'dislike', just like someone who hates durian because they don't like it.

  Even... Even if he really killed the original soul of this body and took his pce in the new family, James would not feel the slightest bit guilty.

  It's not that he's a psychopath, it's just that he realizes that everything is just the result of random probability that makes no sense.

  After the doctor confirmed that there were no postpartum complications, Aurelia could actually go home the day after giving birth. However, her husband insisted that she remain hospitalized for one week for the sake of her health.

  Aurelia, uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings, preferred to return home immediately. After a brief discussion, an agreement was reached that they would return home exactly three days after delivery.

  ××××××××××××××××××××

  It's been three days since I was born into this world. Three days in a quiet sterile room, a pce where I was the only one in it. There were no other babies, no faint crying sounds that are usually the background of a treatment room like this.

  I was alone. This solitude gave an increasingly accurate clue: I was born into a well-off family. From my observations in previous lives, newborns were usually pced in a room together, unless there was a specific reason such as an infectious disease.

  People come and go.

  The nurses appeared at consistent intervals, performing routine checks with professional precision. They checked my temperature, monitored my vital signs, and made sure I stayed healthy. Food was also given at regur intervals, though I don't want to mention the other part.

  However, there was one person who was always present more often than anyone else... Aurelia, my mother, more precisely the mother of this baby.

  She was never far away, as if my existence drew her in like an inexorable gravity. She sat quietly beside me, looking at my face with a look in his eyes that was hard to interpret. There was no contrived smile, no exaggerated emotional expression; just a silence that was heavy, but not oppressive.

  But, whenever a nurse entered this room, she immediately got up and left.

  Confusing behavior. If she wanted to be here, why leave? If she didn't want to, why come back? This contradiction reminds me of something my friend once said in a previous life, "tsundere."

  Back then, I never really understood the concept, and even now it still seems elusive. Why should someone hide their concern? Why pretend not to care if they come back in the end? If Aurelia wanted to be with me, wouldn't it be easier to just admit it? I don't understand.

  So far, I've only met women. Nurses, doctors, Aurelia, not a single male figure has appeared.

  Not that I minded that, but... shouldn't a father come at least once to see his child? I wasn't expecting, just assuming that he should have come.

  This conjecture became clearer when I began to catch conversations around the room, the name was mentioned several times... Dante, Aurelia's husband. The father of this baby.

  From the information I got, Dante had bck hair and dark irises, exactly like this baby's body.

  ××××××××××××××××××××

  The sky outside was already dark, with only the light of the hospital mps still on to illuminate the silent hallways.

  A man stood at the door of the baby room, tilting his body, trying to peer inside. His eyes were sharp, full of alertness, but his expression was a little stiff.

  Dante. It had been three days since his son was born, and he hadn't been able to see him.

  Not for ck of trying, he had tried to get inside several times, but there was always one obstacle that was more frightening than the hospital's security system. Aurelia.

  "What are you doing?" just as he reached for the doorknob, a cold yet firm voice stopped his movement.

  Dante froze for a moment, looking back with an expression that was all wrong. Aurelia stood there, arms folded across her chest, her expression remained neutral, but her eyes implied something difficult to expin.

  "I just want to see my son," Dante replied casually, trying to control the situation.

  Aurelia did not respond immediately. She just sighed slowly before stepping forward, closing the door to the room with a movement that seemed unintentional, but was clear enough as a barrier.

  "You can see it ter."

  Dante raised an eyebrow, "When?"

  Aurelia was silent for a while. To be honest, she didn't have a definite answer, but there was nothing to expin, because she didn't feel the need to give him an answer.

  "You told me to wait, but even you yourself have been in this room at all times," Dante asked suspiciously.

  Aurelia remained calm, "I'm his mother," she replied shortly, as if it was an absolute and invioble reason.

  Dante sighed, leaning his shoulders against the wall, "And I'm his father. So, when can I see him?"

  Aurelia gnced at the clock in her hand. It's getting te, "Tomorrow."

  Dante narrowed his eyes, looking at his wife with an expression more suspicious than ever. "You said that too yesterday", he replied.

  Aurelia still did not react. No emotion was painted on her face, as if she really saw no problem with this situation.

  Dante looked at him for a moment, then smiled a little, "You do realize this is an indirect ban, right?"

  "No, you're hallucinating," Aurelia replied curtly, her expression would have convinced anyone that what the woman said was the absolute truth.