Elysia noticed the sun getting brighter and hotter.
She put out her hand and Christina gently held her little hands. She guided Christina towards the porch where the sun wasn't as bright nor hot.
For some reason, Christina blanked out and stopped. Elysia impatiently turned around and trot back a few steps to reach her. Elysia pulled Christina back to her senses.
They continued to walk towards their desired place. Elysia's little feet were about to run but still half the size of Christina's steps. Christina held back on laughing again when Elysia asked.
"Nana. That."
Immensely curious, Elysia pointed at the camera on the side that's printing a set of pictures. Smiling at her, Christina gladly answered her without explaining too much.
"This is a camera."
"…mera."
Elysia was having a hard time mouthing 'ca' that she tried to skip on the word.
"Camera."
"…Un."
Having repeated for her, Elysia memorized her tone. She secretly decided to patiently practice the word.
Seeing the hard-working determination of the toddler, Christina's hand could not help but ruffle her hair. Unlike the boys, Elysia did not complain or whine about her hair getting undone.
Christina was gratified at the stable growth of the toddler. She was proud of the little things that the little one accomplished as the day passed by. But was bitter at how fast a child could grow. Christina wished to spend a little more time with Elysia as a child.
"What. That."
Since Elysia was interested, Christina grabbed the camera and put a paper in front. In no time, rainbow dots of light floated around the camera and were absorbed by it in the process.
The paper slowly showed several colors printing little by little until a picture was created.
"The camera captures the beautiful things, places, and even persons. Just like the painters do in the paintings. But instead of putting them in a canvas, this one will put it in a paper."
While Christina pointed at the painting inside the house, Elysia curiously touched the camera here and there. Her serious look was very cute and satisfying.
When the picture finished forming, Christina showed it to Elysia.
"Look."
Blinking her beautiful blue eyes, Elysia grabbed the paper with her picture. She looked at it from different angles.
As if she remembered something, Elysia pointed at a painting in the living room. It was visible from their position. Then, she pointed at herself.
"Me."
That's right.
It was the painting of Elysia when she turned a year and a half years old. That was the moment, Christina had an idea of getting her hands on a camera.
She was still looking for ways to improve the quality. After all, she did not want to miss out on the development of her perfect muse.
"Good."
Christina praised Elysia for recognizing herself.
"Nana…This."
Elysia pointed at her face in the picture. It was her earlier when she held a sunflower and full of love as she marveled at the beauty of the flower.
"Me."
The grin on Christina's face got even wider.
"Great! That's you."
"Hmm…"
All of a sudden, Elysia furrowed her eyebrows. She had a troubled look written on her face.
"What is it?"
When Christina asked, Elysia picked the picture up and fixed the angle. Now the picture was vertically straight from the background's perspective. It wasn't as stylish as it was before.
Uh… Who did she get this OCD syndrome from?!
After all, Christina came from an era where there's no magic or wars. But an era that could produce high tech items without having one. Even digital cameras were about to fade in comparison to a much convenient gadget, Smartphones.
"That… Ellie…"
When Christina was about to teach Elysia about the beauty of angle, the toddler looked at her with a concerned face.
What's with that look?!
"Nana…"
Elysia called out with her eyebrows furrowing deeply. Christina resigned to her fate by slowly asking Elysia.
"Ellie, you didn't like the picture?"
She pouted in displeasure as she answered Christina.
"No. Ish rong. Dish. Right."
Elysia insisted that the regular angle that she usually saw in the paintings was the right one. Christina had no reason to argue and resigned to her fate.
"Okay then."
She watched Elysia criticize her beautifully angled pictures.
I'm sure I didn't teach her this. It must be from her parents.
Convincingly nodding by herself, Christina forgot the fact that she was a perfectionist. She had both symmetrical and asymmetrical designs all over her premises. Even her magic was a perfect-imperfect definition.
After watching the toddler for a while, Christina had an idea. She used magic to copy the picture from Elysia then cut it out into pieces.
"Unyuu…"
Elysia had an impending cry. But she already knew that Christina always had her way. That there must be a reason why Christina would cut her precious picture.
On the back of her mind, she thought that it must be her correction of the angle. After all, she saw Christina frown at her actions.
Still, she waited obediently until Christina finished.
"Alright."
Christina laid down the pieces of the cut picture. Each one was cut into different curves and angles. Elysia was fascinated by the unusual curves of each piece.
Since she already got Elysia's attention, Christina then explained.
"You see Ellie, there's another copy of that picture. Look."
Christina showed Elysia the same picture and Elysia took it in delight. She continued to explain.
"This one here, I made it into a game."
"G—...em…"
Knowing that Elysia couldn't speak that clear, Christina didn't push it.
"That's right. This was a toy that you could play with. A game."
Elysia's eyes were sparkling and eagerly listened to Christina.
"You see…"
Christina took the original picture and the copy of the picture that turned into puzzle pieces. She put them side by side.
"That picture and these pieces of the picture were originally the same. This one was cut and couldn't be the same anymore. Now you have to put this all together to be the same as that picture."
She explained it the way that she thinks Elysia would understand. Christina also put two puzzle pieces as a sample and tried to match them.
"These two, have a different shape. You can't put them together or else you won't get the same picture as that one. So, you need to find the other one that would match the curves too. You could mix and match to see what would fit as long as you reach the same image as that picture."
Elysia kept nodding as Christina showed how to put things together. She observed how she could turn it back to its original shape. Seemingly understood it roughly, Elysia took the opportunity to grab some pieces and match them.
Christina enjoyed how fast Elysia developed but felt complicated.
Really, fast…
At first, she was worried that the toddler was being constrained and stressed at the mansion, but she was wrong.
Elysia was just too much of a fast learner. She had the look that's unlike any normal kids that Christina had seen before, previous and present life.
I shouldn't think of this repeatedly. But if she didn't turn out to be a protagonist I'll punch that bastard of a God.
Sighing to her fate, Christina had another look at Elysia. She wasn't some reincarnated or transmigrated protagonist. She was a pure local cute and lovely baby that wasn't granted any cheat aside from their looks and upbringing.
As the saying goes, 'Girls matured much faster than boys.'
"Ah, that's right. Hehehe…"
Having free time in her hands, Christina went to the hidden storage behind the shelf contraption. This storage held the history and memories of people that Christina met in the past.
"!— Uwaa~ It's still intact."