A young guard with a nose that crooked like a parrot's beak, probably only in his twenties, leaned against a shady tree trunk. His body bent slightly following the movement of his head, nodding rhythmically. When his head reached the lowest point, too hard for his body to hold, until his body almost slipped away from the trunk, his body jerked immediately, straightened up at once. His eyes widened forcibly, reddened by the drowsiness that attacked him. But his effort was for naught, he kept repeating it time and time again.

What could he do? Being a guard was a tedious job if there were no unusual events that could stimulate his adrenaline to pump more. Of course, it was not something he wanted to experience, at least he prefer dying in boredom like this.

"MORNING!"

*BRUGH*

“OUCH!” he gasped and his body jolted in shock beyond measure, with a startling noise. As a result, his reflexive head swung strongly, forgetting that a hard tree trunk was behind him. The lump in the back of the head was the fruit of such carelessness.

Holding the back of his poor head, the crooked-nosed guard angrily turned his head toward the source of that sound. Yes, the voice that started him was from a small child. Now the brat had run a few meters ahead, scurrying towards the pond direction at the back of the residence, running away from the pitiful guard who had just been pranked.

"Sorry, uncle guard," immediately his irritated expression softened a little after that. Only, it would be better if he didn't hear even a loud laugh next, “Hahaha...”

"That brat," the crooked-nosed guard couldn't help but grumble a little and resigned himself to his misfortune to be tricked by a little ghost in the early hours of this morning.

The toddler was running while laughing, avoiding the guard he pranked a little just now. That made his energy fully recharged. It was quite effective in giving a little bit of color and brightening the dawn atmosphere which was too gloomy in his eyes. At least he enjoyed it, didn't he.

It's not the first time he had done this. Already several people had fallen to his mischiefs, of course only those who lacked awareness might become victims. That's why he had the nickname the little ghost because he often pranked the unlucky people so early in the morning.

But it was undeniable that they were also quite amazed by the habits of their young master. Even for adults, it's a little difficult to get up in the morning, especially for young children. But looking at this child, he was already very spirited this early. He was a morning person, oh no, he was a dawn person, a tad level higher.

After his spirits lifted, Aria continued to run towards the pond. He did not only carry empty hands, there was a basin he carried with both hands.

Before long, he came to the edge of the pond. It was as wide as an Olympic swimming pool in his previous life. There was nothing strange and dangerous in it, only fish that he deliberately asked his parents to breed.

Just to make sure that there were always stocks of fish whenever he needed his protein intake. Of course, that was just an excuse, considering what kind of family he was in. Delusional, sure, but he needed to do something, didn't he? He didn't want dying of boredom like those guards.

After all, with a supply of fish from the pond, he could quietly fill up his tummy without raising people's suspicions, especially his own family, given his energy demand. Of course, that's for later, not now.

Despite his appetite more than many kids his age; he always pushed himself to stuff his tummy more; not many portions of food could fit in his little tummy. His stomach was already bloated again after the baby fat that still didn't go away.

“Ah, I need some physical training to get rid of this damn baby fat. Otherwise, maybe once the system runs as it should be, I'll be the biggest round human meatball ever," he grumbled, remembering his mother who persisted in maintaining his chubby look and resisting any form of exercise that made him sweat.

"Have to pass the first obstacle first," shaking such useless thought, for now, he's back putting a lot of attention to the ripples on the surface of the water.

The basin he had brought earlier had been put aside. Now he was holding a small fishing net, enough to catch one or two medium-sized fishes.

Due to the net's size, it would be difficult to trawl any fish. But if it's bigger, it was him who would have a hard time trying to pull it, alive, out of the pond. So he closely observed the surface of the water, hoping that the place he threw the net could immediately snare one or two fish.

The first try failed. Not discouraged, the boy kept trying. The second one failed. Third, fourth, and so on.

His forehead began to glisten with sweat. He wiped it, as his face looked up at the eastern sky which was starting to turn brightened as the light continued to spread. The sky was no longer so dark as before, so he decided to finish it.

After placing the fishing net back on the side of the pond, he took the closed basin to the other side of the pond, only a dozen meters away. There was a small channel, both ends were connected to the pond with a height difference, allowing the water to flow from one end of the channel to the other.

Arriving there, he took a small cylinder that was placed to cover the width of the channel. The cylinder made of woven plant barks was also a tool that he placed there to trap the unlucky fish.

"Not bad," there was one fish caught, better than nothing. Then he put it to his basin together with two fish from before, for a small reunion.

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Successfully securing a portion of his protein that morning, as well as a form of exercise at the beginning of the day, he was satisfied.

"It was a very fruitful morning," he returned to his house, the kitchen to be precise. He was no longer running, scared that the three fish would fall from the basin, that would be troublesome.

.....

"So dad, what are your plans for today?" Aria asked in between their breakfast time.

Garreth raised his eyebrows at his son's question, "Well if you mean to exercise with me, you better give up. You have to get your mother's consent for that," while signaling at his mother with his eyes.

Aria shrank in his seat, his gaze lowered, slowly directed to his mother who was eating at his side elegantly.

"No!" without being questioned, Alisa answered firmly, continuing her meal without losing her rhythm.

His shoulders collapsed, feeling resigned, his appetite was gone as if three plates of fish in front of him didn't seem so tempting anymore.

His father smiled, trying to cheer him up a bit, “That's if it's normal, but not today. Your sister will carry out her soul enlightenment ceremony. So, we will prepare that for today.”

"Oh?"

Only then did he remember it. Now, his body had grown like his big sis almost three years ago. And now she was going to carry out the ceremony, which was only performed by children at least six years old. Safety reasons, maybe, or something else, he didn't know, and he didn't plan to find out, not now.

He turned to his sister who seemed so excited for some reason, looking back at him.

“Big sis, you are already six years old?” Rosalind's wide smile became a little stiff, "since when?" her little brother continued giving her a harsh blow, ruining her happy thought.

As if cold water was splashed on her face, Rosalind's expression was completely frozen now.

"Only. Just. TODAY!" she snapped. She gritted her teeth while crossing her arms across her chest, feeling stifled inside.

'Crap, I'm doomed,' Aria knew he said something wrong. He could only scratch his head,

“Ugh!” Feeling so uncomfortable with the glare from his sister's fire-spitting eyes, he threw his gaze to the side, organizing his words as carefully as possible.

“Sorry, big sis, I don't remember well. You know, I'm really bad with memorizing," he felt no visible change from her glare, he could only throw another coaxing word, "Erm... Happy birthday?" he probed.

"Okay," Rosalind exhaled, her attitude softened a little. "So, what are you congratulating me with?" she changed back, her expectation of her brother's gift.

Knowing his sister was no longer so angry, he was determined not to disappoint her. He thought hard, but there was no brilliant idea popped up from his head. A glimpse of his eyes flashed at the three fish in front of him that had not been touched yet.

“With…fish?”

Hearing that, Rosalind's brows immediately scrunched more than before. Meanwhile, both their parents who watched at the side let out a stifled laugh. Since the start, they had been tickled by their child's conversation.

Aria realized he was being laughed at by his parents, threw them a hurtful glare alternately. Then he continued to his sister, making such a lame excuse, yet reasonable.

“Hey, you didn't think I could really give you anything, did you? Oh, come on, I'm not even three years old yet. I don't have any allowances to buy you a decent gift. But fish, I can catch you some.”

"I'm a girl, I don't like eating too much, not like you. I don't want to grow fat like a pig," his sister was quite annoyed by him. Unfortunately, she didn't realize her words triggered her mother.

“Rosalind, you can't say that. Who is fat, your little brother is perfectly fine,” Alisa smiled at her daughter, still with the same motherly smile, as usual. It's just Rosalind felt a different vibe that made her scared a little bit.

"Right?" Alisa emphasized again.

"Yes, yes, yes. Fish is fine too, fish is good!" she agreed quickly.

"Okay, honey, you can give your sister a fish," Alisa said to her boy.

“Alright, I'll prepare the grill first, and I have to catch some fish too, and then…” Aria couldn't finish his words because his mother immediately interrupted.

"No."

"No?" he was confused, didn't understand what his mother meant.

"There's no playing with fire," his mother made it clear to him.

Hearing that, he opened his eyes wide, staring at his mother in disbelief.

'How can you cook fish without using fire? This is unbelievable,' he cried out inside.

Sometimes, with the overprotective nature of her, Alisa could really act very unreasonably, as it happened now.

"This is enough," his mother continued, glancing at him, more accurately, in front of him.

"Huh?" following the direction of his mother's gaze, Aria was still confused.

“Mom said this was enough,” Rosalind, who understood, immediately made a gesture to the fish in front of her brother.

"Alright, I'll take this, okay?" she immediately took action. She didn't want to prolong the matter, just following Mom's instructions, Rosalind didn't want to irk her more.

Her right hand moved, reaching for one of the plates in front of Aria. The grilled fish on the plate was indeed untouched, still looked warm, and smelled good too.

Aria just realized and finally understood them. Watching one of his meals was in danger, he quickly grabbed it. Due to his closer seat, his hand arrived earlier where his sister's hand just grabbed the air.

"This brat..." Rosalind was stunned and annoyed by her little brother again.

“No, this is my share. These three fish are all mine," he grabbed the remaining two fish on the table to protect it, "I'll make one for you later, but this one is mine!"

Aria made his stand clear, did not want any more compromise on this matter.

Rosalind snapped, she had completely run out of patience. She could no longer hold herself back. She immediately rose from her seat and immediately pounced on her brother, to teach him a lesson not to play with her fragile heart.

That morning, the maids on duty heard a cry for help and a scolding sound. They knew that their young master was acting up again, so they just smiled and shook their heads, already getting used to it.