One Step Forward to the Flower Path

After Dante, who stayed with Ivanna all night, finished breakfast, Sullivan went to see Ivanna.  The shocking sight of last night still lingered before her eyes as she opened the door carefully.  Sullivan was still worried even though it was resolved well.  However, it was a really useless worry.

As soon as she entered the room, what she saw was Ivanna who finally revealed her pretty face to the world.  Not a child who was twisting her body and writhing in pain.

“Oh my God, Eve.”

A fine platinum color, an exceptionally prominent figure.  It was so beautiful to see her throw off all the terrible grey cloths that covered her.

“You are clean, you took a bath.”

Sullivan’s heart was so full that she felt like crying.  It was always beautiful to see deeply wounded people be fully healed and take a new step in the world.  But Sullivan was definitely certain that as Ivanna was hurt much more than anyone else, it was most dazzling to see her get away from it.

“You are pretty.”

Sullivan sat face to face in front of Ivanna and looked straight at her pretty eyes.

“How pretty, you are Eve.”

Then Sullivan reached out her hand to Ivanna.  Not the palm, but the back of the hand, so as to not startle her with the palms that used to always hit her.  Ivanna faltered a little, but she wasn’t scared.  Far from that, she reached out and tapped Sullivan’s and quickly stepped back.  It was a great growth.

This step seemed to be due to her father rather than herself as a counselor.  It was very good.  It was all thanks to Dante’s tip.

‘What she’s most afraid of is the palm of my hand.  So when you reach out, make sure the back of your hand, not your palm, is up.’

Alaine was very confused, but Sullivan thought it was quite reasonable.  So she tried it once, and she didn’t expect it to be successful in just one try.  Dante seemed to see the real Ivanna properly.

“Eve, can I take a look at Eve’s painful wounds today?”

“There’s no pain.”

“Maybe it’s something Eve doesn’t know about.  Eve doesn’t feel pain.  But it hurts more than anyone else.”

The words reminded Ivanna of what her dad had said.  The fact that the wound is not painful means that she is already sick. It’s just that she can’t feel any other pain because it hurts so much and it’s too big.  Her dad has said so.  And Eve says the same thing.

‘Oh, I see.  If I have a wound but it doesn’t hurt, it means that I’m already sick.  More than that scar.’

“If, I’m hurt, do you want me to share it with Eve?  Are you going to be with me?”

“Do you want to be with me?”

“My dad said that.  If you share it with someone, the wounds and pain disappear faster.  So my dad said he’d be with me.”

Isn’t that a good plan? We can be beside this child who has a severe amount of pain and wounds and share it between ourselves.  It was a very good catch phrase to learn.

“If your dad share’s your pain just by being on Eve’s side, I’ll be the one to always heal Eve’s wounds faster than anyone else.  I’ll always be there to heal Eve’s wounds.”

Sullivan reached out again carefully.  Of course, the back of her hand was facing up.

“Can I do that?”

Ivanna stared at the hand.  Long white hands.  It’s not big, but it’s bigger than hers, and it will definitely hurt if it hits.  But she didn’t swing big nor didn’t stand firm.  There was not a loud wind that always comes before hitting her.  That hand wasn’t scary.

Ivanna slipped her grip on the fingertips.

“Do you want to keep treating me?”

“If Eve wants to continue.”

“I hate being sick.  I don’t want to get sick anymore.”

“Okay, then I’ll stay.  So that even if Eve hurts, she can get rid of it in no time.”

Ivanna held Sullivan’s hand tighter, and Sullivan also gave strength to her fingertips.  The first time she felt the child’s grip, it was very strong. 

Ivanna feel like her hands won’t fall off.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

Ivanna nodded her head.  Her small lips drew a small line.  It was a very small, dreamy like smile that disappeared quickly, so it stuck deep in Sullivan’s eyes.

‘Oh, it was really shy and lovely, so it was a beautiful smile.’

***

Ivanna went up to the bed and received treatment.  The child’s body was much more miserable than expected.  There are signs of a broken arm that was not properly treated.  Looking closely, the ring finger of the left hand is twisted, both sides of her pelvis were also twisted, and scars and bruises were left all over the body.  Sullivan can’t believe that this five-year-old’s body was this terrible.  This was not abuse, but torture.

‘The only place Eve was known to stay in for two years is the Kingdom of Hedellen. When will we know the rest of it?’

‘I had to find out everything.  I had to find out all the people who were part of this.  And everything had to be paid for.  I had to kill them all.’

“If you’re afraid of the overflow of monsters, you have to offer the best you can and beg for help.  How can you torture a child?  I’m going to have to deal with these crazy bastards in the same way······.”

The curse that she had been constantly containing in front of Ivanna exploded as soon as she came out and closed the door.  Sullivan was ready to wield the cure bag as a blunt weapon against them.  However, Sullivan stopped her arm at the sight of the two waiting at the door.  Valerie and Luan, were standing in the hallway.

“Are you here to see the Young Lady Ivanna?”

It was only natural for the two to visit Ivanna, so Sullivan gently stepped aside.  However, the twins who would have said they liked it as if it was normal, hesitated.

‘What? Hesitating twins?! What’s wrong with them? Are they sick, too?’

“Are you sick?”

Sullivan was so surprised that she asked, but instead of raising their eyes and cursing, the twins laid their eyes down.  Sullivan was really perplexed.

“Is something really wrong?  What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“How’s our little sister?”

“Is she still sick?”

And at the two questions that alternated, Sullivan realized it belatedly.  She remembered that the twins were also there and saw what happened yesterday.

“Is she still in pain?”

The two pairs of eyes that asked those questions seemed rather painful.  Sullivan messed up. Dante, Alaine, and Sullivan also didn’t think of the twins because they only care about Ivanna, who had the seizure.  The two must have thought that what happened yesterday was because of themselves.

‘I am not qualified as a doctor specializing in counseling.’

“If the Young Lady Ivanna was still in pain, she wouldn’t be in the room where the ‘altar’ was, and I wouldn’t be able to enter the room by myself.”

A little light returned to the eyes of the two who were anxious.  Sullivan said once more firmly.

“What happened yesterday was not because of you two.  As long as there’s a pure white marble bathtub in this room, no, in this mansion, it would have happened.  It is something I should have thought about at once.”

“But if I hadn’t asked to play in the water, it would have happened a little later.”

Valerie’s pain was greater as she was the first to talk.  Valerie bit her lips hard.

“No, it was much better that it happened early on.”

Valerie and Luan looked at Sullivan.  The dark blue eyes beyond the glasses were clearly saying that it was not a lie.

“If it had been a while, the Duke wouldn’t have heard such words from the Young Lady.  Because it was at this point, things have been solved faster and easier.”

“Do you think so?”

Dante’s name mentioned with Ivanna worked very well.  Both Valerie and Luan understood in an instant.

“You couldn’t go in because you were worried about the Young Lady.”

“Yes, and it was also scary.”

Valerie and Luan shrugged and looked at each other.  This makes them feel like true 12-year-old children.  In any case, the family members of this house did not really match their own age.

“The Young Lady doesn’t blame you at all.  It’s more correct to say that she can’t even think about that.”

“Why?”

“Because she only remembers the broken ‘altar’.”

Altar. The faces of the twins were distorted at the same time.

“Was it that painful?”

“I cannot even imagine the pain she has suffered.  So we need to give the Young Lady affection so that she can forget everything faster.”

Sullivan pointed at the door at once.

“So please go inside and give your little sister lots of love and affection.  Brotherly love can only be given by two people.  She has only two siblings after all.”

‘For Ivanna, we’re her only siblings.’

Those words melted the frightened twins’ heart in a flash.  The yellow eyes sparkled beautifully again just like Meow’s.

“But don’t mention what happened yesterday.”

“Yes.”

“We understand.”

The twins finally knocked on the door past Sullivan.  The fear disappeared, but the tension was still there.  Sullivan looked at their stiff shoulders and swallowed a smile.

“I’m sure you won’t be able to say that anyway.”

The door that was already closed and words bounced back to her.  Sullivan was curious about the reaction of the twins who must be surprised to see Ivanna who was finally completely clean, but decided to endure it as much as she could.  Brotherhood time was very important to Ivanna.  Her curiosity not important if compared with Ivanna’s cure.

***

And as Sullivan expected, the twins stiffened as soon as they entered the room when they saw Ivanna.  The two held each other’s hands without realizing it.  They were so surprised to the point where the twins did something that both usually hated.

A little sister who looked completely like Louise was looking at them.

“······Sister?”

The twins asked at the same time.  Sullivan left and Ivanna, who caught the ball, nodded.  The white hair shook.  Their hearts were shaken like the wind.  The colors that resemble Louise, and the appearance of their father were all over her face.  She inherited the images of the two, which can be recognized even from a distance with only a look.

“That’s really our little sister?”

“Yeah, that’s really our little sister.”

This is a fact that they already knew, but it felt exceptionally stronger today.  The daughter of Louise and Dante.  Ivanna was really the twins’ sister.

The twins were far away and stood at the door and repeated only the words, “It’s our younger sister, a real younger sister, really real.”

Ivanna, who was holding the ball, looked at them puzzled, then walked up and put a soft ball in front of them.

“Aren’t we playing ball today?”

It was a voice who didn’t blame the twins at all.  Ivanna, who came to see the world properly, a little sister who doesn’t resent the two.  The twins felt as if what had happened yesterday was just a very bad nightmare.  It wasn’t real, it only appeared in a very bad dream.

The reality is this, where their sister is coming to play ball with them.  The moment the two opened their eyes, the nightmare was all gone.  They felt that way.

“······Yes, let’s play ball.”

“Yeah, whatever you want.”

But the twins know well.  It was not really a nightmare but reality.  It was not a dream that disappeared when they opened their eyes, but a reality that will remain in their memory forever.  So they will not forget.  They will keep it deep in their hearts, so that they never leave a scratch on this precious little sister’s heart ever again. 

The twins squeezed the hands they were still holding, as if they were swearing to each other.