Vera woke up with green and amethyst eyes staring at her in concern.

"Are you fine?" Lumi fretted over her. She offered her a cup of water, which she graciously accepted.

"We saw you collapse into the ground, then when we arrived, you've already fainted." Rhys brought his lips near Vera's ear and whispered, "How did the child wake up? Are we still conducting---"

"I'm fine," assured Vera. "It was nothing, really." The couple looked at her suspiciously.

"Are you sure? Fainting doesn't inspire wellness."

"I'm sure! How long was I out?"

Lumi wanted to question her, but stopped herself when she saw Vera's eyes leave no room for questions. She just sighed in annoyance. "Not even 5 minutes."

"That's great!" The fire within her eyes flared even brighter. "And I've found a solution to our problem, no sacrifices involved."

"How?"

"Here," Vera reached for the Olde Noire Family Magycks by Aren Brooke. "Let me confirm something first. The throne expressed that you must produce a blood-related heir, right?"

"Yes, we've told you that already."

"Just blood-related and nothing else?"

"Yes."

"Well, I may have gotten an idea to circumvent that. Take a look here at Familia: Cruorem Ascio."

"I don't really see where you're going, Sarah," said Lumi as she read the book.

"Neither do I," agreed Rhys. As they kept on reading, though, confusion became evident from their faces.

"How would this help us? I don't get it!"

"Well, the throne just wants a blood-related heir, right? As long as you share the same blood, it's fine." Understanding bloomed in their faces. "This is where---"

"---the potion comes in!" cut Rhys. "The potion lets us adopt someone and change their blood to be the same as ours! This means that we'll be blood-related after drinking the potion!"

"Yes, that's true!" Vera and Rhys' eyes were full of glee. However, Lumi wasn't convinced.

"Well, how could we prepare this? Won't it take too long? After all, this potion seems too good to be true."

"Don't worry! It has the same exact process with the other potion, but it just diverges from that certain step."

"Really?" asked Rhys. He looked over at both potion recipes. "Look, Lumi! It's true!" Both of their eyes displayed hope.

"However," said Vera. "Are you ready to be in pain?"

Rhys hesitated at this question. He looked at his wife's eyes, who gave him an encouraging smile. He nodded. "Yes, we are."

"Another question. Are you willing to adopt him? We've got no choice, the potion may spoil any time now."

Lumi surprised her husband by answering, "Yes! Seeing him fret over you earlier when you fainted made me realize that we shouldn't even be doing this in the first place. Do you agree with me, Rhys?" She gave him a menacing smile, which made him gulp in nervousness.

"Y-yes!"

"That's good! You just need to convince him, no?"

"Okay! I'll do it!" Lumi skipped to the forest where the child went. Rhys and Vera just saw her crouch behind a stone, talking with someone. Rhys turned towards her.

"Is this really true, Sarah? This isn't a joke?"

"Yes, why?"

"It's just..." He looked nervously at the ground. "It seems too good to be true."

"Don't think like that, Rhys!" She grabbed his hands and squeezed it in reassurance. "All of you deserve this, Rhys. You, your wife, and the child, especially after all that you've been through."

---

"He agreed, Rhys! Come on, Harry! Tell them!" Lumi urged the child behind her to come out. The reluctant boy tried to peek from behind her. Lumi crouched down and faced the child. "Tell them, please?"

He blushed from shyness and nodded. He hid his face behind him afterwards. Lumi squealed, then engulfed him in a hug. "There you go!"

"Hey! Let me play with him for a moment!" said Rhys with a pout.

"Fine!" Lumi turned to Vera. "It's fine, right?"

"Yes," said Vera. "We still have an hour before it spoils."

"You heard that, Harry? You want to play with him?" Lumi pointed a finger towards Rhys, who was bouncing childishly. Harry failed to hide a grin, and nodded. Rhys cheered in joy.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Harry in surprise as Rhys suddenly picked him up on his shoulders.

"Slow down!" warned Lumi as Rhys began to run. Both of them just blew her a raspberry. She sighed fondly.

"How did it go, Lumi?" asked Vera.

"It went fine..." Lumi trailed off. "Honestly, it feels like..."

"Destiny?" offered Vera.

"Yeah. You know, when I've started began talking to him, I felt like it was always meant to happen. Him becoming our child, that is." Lumi laughed. "You didn't set us up, don't you?" joked Lumi.

Vera was at a loss for words. "Uh..."

"I was kidding!" laughed Lumi. "You couldn't have done that! You're an apprentice!"

Vera just laughed awkwardly. "Yeah..."

Loud laughter caught both of their attention. Coming back were Rhys and Harrison, flushed from playing a lot.

"That was fun!" exclaimed Harrison with a grin on his face. "I wish it would last forever!"

Rhys put him back on the ground. "Of course, you dummy." Rhys poked his cheek. "It'll last forever. We're going to be your parents, remember?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts! We should be happy and let old, grumpy Aunt Sarah take care of it." Rhys sent a teasing smile at her.

His jab prompted her to send a deadpan stare. "Really?"

"Rhys!" exclaimed Lumi. "Sarah, just ignore him. He's really stupid most of the time."

"What did you say?!"

Harrison and Vera laughed at both of them. He turned into a tomato when Vera caught him staring. Vera crouched in front of him and made him look at her. "Are you sure you want them," she gestured at the bickering couple, "as your parents? They're quite... childish."

"Yes." Vera's heart swooned at his determined face.

"No matter what? Even if it is painful?"

His eyes became conflicted, but as he remembered the warmth he felt from having them, he relaxed. "Yes, no matter what."

---

She dropped a piece of Rhys', Lumi's, and Harrison's hair in the cauldron and stirred it a few times. It turned as red as a drop of blood in the snow. The contents of the cauldron reduced to an amount enough for three cups.

'Finally, it is done.' Vera turned around towards Rhys, Lumi, and Harrison. "I'm done. The only thing left is for you to drink it." Not even a bird dared to chirp from her words. "There's no backing out from this moment. I'll warn you that this will be incredibly painful. You'll be out for two days."

Her eyes surveyed their reactions. All of them were determined to see the end of this. She sighed in fondness. "You really are a tough bunch, huh?" She picked up three cups, and poured the contents of the cauldron. All of them stared warily at the cups full of crimson liquid.

"Are you sure this works?"

"Yes. That's the real one. You can trust me." 'Especially after receiving the help of Crispin.'

All of them were understandably nervous. This was a life-changing event, of course. Yet, for their wishes, they were willing to do it.

"Let's get it done," said Rhys.

"I agree. We just have to drink this, then that's it?"

"You're conveniently forgetting about the two-day pains and hallucinations, but yes. That's the gist of it. Anytime from now, you can drink it," answered Vera.

"On the count of three, shall we drink it?"

Lumi and Harrison nodded. Rhys turned towards Vera. "Vera, can you count for us? I'm afraid I won't be able to, as you can see." His hands were trembling, almost spilling a small amount of the potion. She just smiled at him.

"Of course. I'll even wait for you guys to wake up."

He nodded, then proceeded to hold Lumi's and Harrison's hand. "Start counting now, before I chicken out." The rest laughed at him. "Oi! I'm serious here!"

Vera began counting. "One..." The three reached for their glass full of the potion.

"Two..." They let the mouth glass touch their lips as their hearts beat wildly in fear, anxiety, and happiness.

"Three." They downed the potion in one gulp. It left a slightly bitter aftertaste on their tongues, but they did not feel anything changing.

"Huh?" Lumi looked at herself, then at Rhys and Harrison. "Is this it? Nothing changed!"

Strangely, this did not make Rhys feel at ease. The bewilderment on Lumi and Harrison's eyes only made him feel queasy. Despite this, he managed to speak to Vera. "Thank you Sarah for everything."

"I'm not leaving. Don't thank me yet."

"But---"

"And brace yourselves." The three turned to look at her. "The worst is about to come."

---

Rhys felt himself burn, as if he was consumed by flames. His back arched in a way that was previously impossible for him to do. 'Make it stop!' thought Rhys as the pain only began to intensify as thousands of burning hot needles seemed to puncture through his entire being. He tried opening his eyes, and saw his wife and his child keeling and twisting in pain. "Lumi... Harrison..." he uttered weakly. He struggled to reach both of them. "Please..."

His world distorted, and he was met by the gruesome sight of Lumi being whipped by the knights of the empire. A pained gasp escaped her lips as another lash hit her porcelain skin. He ran towards her and hugged her protectively.

"Lumi! No! Stop it!" However, he only passed through her. "No!"

His world distorted once again, revealing Harrison. His relief was shattered in the next moment as flames erupted from behind him and consumed everything around them, even Harrison.

"No!"

---

The other two were in the same predicament as him. Their heart broke as they watched their loved ones be horribly broken before them without being able to do anything but watch. They pleaded for it to stop, to no avail.

Little did they know, this was just the beginning of their two-day journey towards hell.