The Gruagach's Eyes

The FitzGerald family was an ancient and prestigious lineage. They once ruled over the southeastern region of Ireland. During the Great Irish Famine, they abandoned their British colonial holdings and immigrated to the rapidly developing United States. No sooner had they settled and begun to build real influence than the American Civil War erupted.

The FitzGeralds had learned a harsh lesson during the famine: agriculture could no longer sustain them. After liquidating every family asset, they had turned to manufacturing in the American Northeast. It was only natural, then, that they threw their support behind the Union. Fortunately, backing the North proved to be the correct choice. When the United States defeated the Confederacy, the FitzGerald family reaped enormous rewards.

In the long years that followed, they dabbled in many ventures. Through cycles of prosperity and decline, they eventually consolidated everything under a single enterprise—Talon.

As an old noble house, the FitzGeralds carried many traditions and fascinating legends. One of the most persistent was the claim that fairy blood flowed through their veins. Most people would have dismissed it as a quaint fairy tale, but every member of the FitzGerald family believed it without question. They had good reason: once every few generations, a child was born with genuinely extraordinary powers.

The fairy child of this generation was Alex FitzGerald, the eldest son of the main family. His gift was known as Fairy’s Steps. While running, he could evade danger with unnatural ease. Thanks to that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability, he had become the premier running back in the current college football league. As a scatback who slipped through tackles like a phantom, he earned the nickname Ghost. Running backs usually had short careers and rarely went in the early draft rounds, yet analysts universally agreed that Alex FitzGerald would be selected high. Such was the overwhelming power of his Fairy’s Steps.

What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even the FitzGerald family did not know was that two fairy children had been born in this generation. The second was none other than Alex FitzGerald’s younger sister, Alice FitzGerald.

Alice herself was fully aware that she was a fairy child. The ability she had inherited was Gruagach’s Eyes. A Gruagach was a golden-haired female fairy said to bring fortune to any household that welcomed her. The version of the trait Alice possessed allowed her to perceive the intrinsic value of any object or person as light.

Having grown up surrounded by priceless heirlooms and antiques, young Alice had assumed the entire world glowed with brilliance. At first she hadn’t understood her own power, but over time she realized her perception differed from everyone else’s. She consulted the family archives and finally learned the truth: she was a fairy child, and her gift was Gruagach’s Eyes.

She told no one. The archives contained repeated warnings that children born with this ability were exploited by the family’s greedy elders and died young. Yet those same short-lived children had made astonishing decisions—liquidating assets just before the famine and fleeing to America, choosing manufacturing over plantation farming, and supporting the Union rather than the Confederacy during the Civil War. Every pivotal choice had come from the counsel of a child with Gruagach’s Eyes.

After reading those records, Alice decided she had no desire to die young. She began to suppress her power as much as possible. Fortunately, the ability could be toggled on and off at will, so she kept Gruagach’s Eyes sealed away in daily life.

When she was in middle school, Alice first visited Japan to meet her mother’s relatives. She had heard that her maternal family ran one of Japan’s premier corporations and, out of curiosity, activated her eyes to see for herself. That was when she witnessed the brightest light she had ever encountered. It belonged to her maternal grandfather, Taira Danzo.

Gruagach’s Eyes did more than measure intensity. When the target was a person, the light also conveyed their personality. Taira Danzo’s light was unbearably cold. Had Alice been any younger, she would have burst into tears from sheer terror. It was that merciless.

In her second year of high school, family business brought her to Japan once more. Frightened of her grandfather, she slipped out of the Tokyo hotel the day before heading to the family estate in Chiba and wandered the streets. In a back alley she stumbled upon a gang of delinquents. What she didn’t know was that they belonged to Dragon Head, a notorious local crew. Just as several of them seized her and things were about to turn ugly, two boys appeared.

One was an exceptionally handsome ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Japanese youth, the other a Black teenager. Together they dismantled nearly twenty thugs. The handsome boy in particular, despite his refined looks, single-handedly knocked out fifteen of them.

The pair bantered like a comedy duo as they escorted her to the taxi stand. Alice understood Japanese perfectly but simply thanked them with a natural “thank you” before riding back to her hotel. Only after she arrived did she regret not asking the boy’s name. She also wondered what his light might look like, but by then it was too late.

After graduating high school, she moved to Japan immediately. The desire to see that boy again coincided perfectly with an offer to work as a model under her aunt’s agency, Taira Entertainment.

She had been working for nearly a year when news arrived that her maternal uncle, Taira Saburo, had died. They had never been especially close, but it was the first time a relative of hers had passed away, and the shock hit her hard.

Alice had always called the late Taira Saburo her “lying uncle.” Every time he saw her, he would boast about having a son her age. Yet whenever she asked her mother, the answer was always that her uncle had no children. Hence the nickname. That was the extent of her memories of him.

With the rest of the FitzGerald family still in America, Alice attended the funeral alone. There, she encountered the handsome boy who had once saved her. And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he turned out to be the very son her uncle had always spoken of.

Someone muttered in a displeased voice, “That kid’s lucky, he became a direct descendant of the Tairas in a single moment.” Alice didn’t even hear it. She was the lucky one. After years of wondering, she had finally found the boy she had never stopped thinking about.

Unable to restrain herself, she looked at Taira Ryuta’s light with Gruagach’s Eyes. It was radiant. Though not larger than Taira Danzo’s, Ryuta’s light shone with a brilliant, warm glow.

Being called beautiful filled her with joy. The only disappointment was that while she remembered him clearly, Taira Ryuta had no recollection of her at all. If he had, they would have had so much more to talk about. Still, they could create new memories starting now.

A week later, following Japanese custom, it was time to visit her uncle’s grave. In just seven days, Taira Ryuta had grown taller, broader, and even more handsome. The cousins whispered about plastic surgery and body modification, but Alice knew better. Gruagach’s Eyes could see through such alterations, and there were none on him. Instead, his light had grown stronger and more radiant in that short time.

After the memorial service, while the family traveled together to the hotel her parents had reserved, Alice searched her phone for information on cousin marriage in Japan. Born in New York State, where such unions were legal, she only needed to confirm the Japanese rules.

It’s allowed! Hehe…

Her heart felt light and fluffy. The FitzGerald family traced its roots to nobility, so she held no particular aversion to marrying a cousin. Already her mind raced ahead, daydreaming about how many children they might have.