One Step Forward to the Flower Path

Chapter 13

TL-Mechatronic

The child’s body trembled violently. Valerie and Luan shuddered when they first saw how broken their little sister was. A cracked scream tore their ears.

“Ha, don’t, don’t. Argh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Ugh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh!”

Ivanna couldn’t breathe properly, probably because of hyperventilation. As she could no longer stand by, Alaine eventually caught Ivanna. Ivanna’s body was completely turned over.

“Ah, uh, huh ……!”

Her mouth spattered with saliva. Two legs scratched, the floor. The stiff arms pointed to the sky. At that moment Dante broke into the door.

“D-Dying……. Again, like this, I…….”

Sullivan, who came in after Dante, stopped at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Dante, Sullivan, the twins, and Alaine were stiff as if they were hit by lightning at Ivanna’s rigid words. Shock hit them all over their body.

. After all, again, like

“Once again, it’s all over this……”

It looked like she was really going to die. Dante grabbed the child’s arm toward the sky. Ivanna’s head turned towards him.

“Ivanna! Wake up!”

“Power, if you want, take it.”

“……What?”

“Just like then, like I saw the gray world. Just take it like that. Everything. Then, everything will be over….”

Dante opened his eyes wide.

“Please, do it, in just a swift, movement……”

It was his daughter’s words begging him to kill her Terrible emotions swallowed up his whole body. Dante couldn’t hold his power. A strong burst of uncontrolled force arose. Sullivan and Alaine, crushed by the pressure, fell to the floor. Valerie and Luan also got stuck and froze.

“Alaine, what the hell is this?”

Dante asked, but Alaine, frightened, only trembled and couldn’t open her mouth. As Dante’s yellow eyes turned to her, she fell on the floor, gasping. Instead, it was Valerie who barely opened her mouth.

“Father, the bathtub…….”

“Tell me properly, Valerie.”

“Ivanna mistook the marble of the bath for an altar…….”

She couldn’t talk more, but that was enough. Angered, Dante’s eyes turned to the closed bathroom door.

“Ivanna.”

“Huh, uh, uh

…”

“Ivanna. Keep your eyes open and see.”

Dante took Ivanna and put her down in the front of the bathroom without further ado. Then Ivanna’s seizure worsened. But Dante didn’t back down.

“Ivanna!”

The child’s body hardened. Dante grabbed her small shoulder with both hands.

“Look right in front of you.”

The bathroom door opened and again revealed the white marble bathtub. Ivanna grabbed her head with both hands.

“Uhh, uhh, please, please……. Just end everything……”

Dante left Ivanna in the bathroom. A pure white and square stone. An altar for humans, not Gods. Dante twisted his mouth.

“Look closely, Ivanna.”

Then he pulled out his sword and struck the white marble bathtub, emitting a pure white light in the process.

BANG!

The immobile twins, Sullivan, Alaine, and Ivanna, who had been struggling with fear and pain that revived with her nightmares, looked at Dante blankly. In the pouring gaze, Dante hit the white marble bathtub once more.

KWAAANG!

A louder sound was heard and fragments of the marble shattered in all directions. Ivanna opened her mouth.

KWAAANG!

One side of the white marble bathtub collapsed on the third hit. Ivanna’s breath stopped.

KWAAANG!

The fourth hit seemed like the world was falling apart. Ivanna’s trembling stopped completely.

KWAAANG!!

And the white marble bathtub was completely broken by the fifth swinging sword. The white marble turned into dusty debris, leaving no trace. Dante stopped his sword and looked at his daughter sitting blankly in front of the bathroom.

“Look. The altar collapsed.”

Ivanna looked up at Dante.

“The altar that bothers you is broken. It can’t bother you anymore. It can’t take your power.”

Dante approached Ivanna. The sword that destroyed the altar flashed before her eyes, she couldn’t take the eyes off the powdery white black blade.

“The thing that bothers you is just feeble like this. It can be easily destroyed by striking it down with the sword five times.”

Dante put his sword down and knelt in front of Ivanna.

“Ivanna, you can easily break it down too.”

“I, can break it ……?”

“Yes, you can break down the altar that was bothering you. Look at it again. Look how terrible it looks now.”

Ivanna saw an altar with only powder and debris left. It was completely broken and ruined, and now it seemed that it would never be able to harass her again.

“There is no reason for you to be afraid of the altar. If it’s scary, I’ll break it. Like that. All the altars that appear in front of you.” Dante once again affirmed.

“Until the day comes when you can destroy it yourself.”

“I can……? I…Can I break it?”

“Of course. Ivanna, you are my daughter, I can, so you can. Like your mother.”

Mom broke the altar. At the unbelievable words, Ivanna opened her mouth wide. And she crumbled again.

“I really can……?”

In the meantime, a voice full of tears flowed.

“Yes. I will teach you in place of your mother. I’ll let you know everything so you can break the altar yourself. So, don’t be afraid anymore.”

“Really…..?”

“Yes. I promise you.”

Dante kissed the small back of her hand as if he had sworn a promise. The stiff hand trembled little by little. It soon spread throughout her whole body.

“Huh, uh, huh……”

Ivanna began to cry again. She trembled, convulsively, dripping tons of tears. But those were completely different from the tears she shed in fear

“Ivanna, you can cry louder. No one gets angry when you cry.”

Dante hugged his sad daughter, who couldn’t even speak a word. The first time he finally hugged his daughter, she was so small that his heart was broken.

I’m so sorry, for holding my little daughter like this only now.’

Ivanna, in his arms, squeezed Dante’s hem.

“Ah, Daddy, Daddy…….”

At that moment, Dante’s chest was tight. The child’s chest shook violently. The child, Ivanna, his daughter called him ‘Daddy’ for the first time. With those little Tips, she called him Daddy for the first time ever, Feelings beyond words filled his whole body. He was painfully happy. The child was so lovely that it tickled his whole body.

“Daddy…….”

Dante bit his lips trying to hold back his tears. He hugged the child with similar strength. And he did so, as if to compensate for the time he could not give her a hug, since she was born into the world, until now.

“Ivanna, my dear daughter.”

Dante’s lips pressed against Ivanna’s hair. In a warm breath tickling her forehead, Ivanna held his hem tighter.

“Daddy…….”

The father and daughter, who were supposed to be bound since the birth of the child, were forced to be torn apart by the twisted world, have finally reached each other’s hearts. Their hearts became strong and bound tightly to each other so that it would not fall, apart any more. Now, no matter what happens to the world, no matter what happens to the two, the strings once tied will not be loosened again.

It was a very precious relationship that Ivanna managed to catch with her wounded hands.

The white bubbles glowed in five colors. It was very dreamy_that it tickled her hands when she touched it.

“Are you feeling good?”

Ivanna nodded and laughed at Alaine’s question. The little hand touched the foam.

“Now, young lady. If bubbles get into your eyes, it will sting, so close your eyes tightly.”

Ivanna, who had touched the fuzzy bubble back and forth, closed her eyes at the words. Alaine washed her hair again with a pleasant smile. When the bathroom incident happened, she thought it was all

over.

I thought Ivanna’s mind and heart would never open again.

The world really seemed to collapse when Dante couldn’t overcome his anger and let his power burst. But as expected, there’s no way that the master would just give up. When Dante broke the marble bathtub that caused the child’s fear, and Ivanna first called him daddy, Alaine was so overwhelmed that she cried.

“Oh, it’s not easy for a father and daughter to break

off

“I’m going to rinse your hair now, Miss.”

The foam that got on the child’s hair was washed off with warm water. Little by little, the hair, which was full of dust and spider webs, began to show its color. Alaine’s heart beat fast.

Rather than closing her heart again, Ivanna asked her first to have a bath. Everyone was jumping with joy, and at Dante’s command, an ordinary wooden bathtub was immediately prepared. Ivanna settled safely in a bathtub full of water.

Since she had not washed for so long, Alaine had to change the water again and again. It was only after the seventh time that there was no more gray water coming out of her body.

The more she was washed, the more of the child’s appearance, which was hidden, came to life. When all the hair that covered her face was removed, Alaine spit out an exclamation without realizing it.

I wanted to show this to the Duke as soon as possible.

“Now, Miss. Come here.”

Finally, after all the bubbles were washed off, a large towel was spread. Alaine then wiped Ivanna’s body as she observed it more closely. Ivanna’s body, which she saw for the first time, looked as pained as her terrible screams. It was without a single piece of soft flesh. The skinny body, rough skin, and even the scars of abuse remained intact.

I can see why Ivanna misunderstood the marble bathtub as an altar and had a seizure. For two years, those crazy guys really ruined the child gravely.’

She had to apply balm oil to smooth the child’s skin, but she couldn’t because there were scars everywhere. She decided that she had to ask Sullivan to properly take care of the wounds.

“Let’s go out and dry your wet hair.”

Alaine came out of the closet together with Ivanna, who was wearing an all white and soft pajamas,

“Are you do.”

Instead of a broken bathroom, Dante waited outside the screen while Ivanna bathed on the other side. Sitting on the sofa and waiting for it to end, he jumped up as soon as the child came out. And opened his eyes wide.

“How pretty is she, right?”

Alaine laughed happily at the Duke’s surprise and inability to speak.

“She looks very much like Lady Hugor.”

She turned all the hair that was covering her face back, washed the dust, and threw off the dirty rags. But realistically, Ivanna, who was completely revealed, cannot be said to be pretty. Her pale skin was rose white because she could not see the sun, her cheekbones popped out because she could not eat, and her eyes were hollow. The whole body was so filled with the aftermath of the abuse, that no one could think of the child as “pretty”.

But to Dante, her father, the child was dazzling,

“My daughter’s face, finally revealed to all, was more beautiful than anything else in the world.’

Dante was able to find both his beloved lover’s face and his in Ivanna’s.