One Step Forward to the Flower Path

Ivanna’s face was red and her whole body was wet with sweat.  Her skin is stinging and breathing was hard.  Her body was clamoring to get out of this painful place, but the voice in her heart says otherwise.

‘I feel good here, so let’s stay a little more.’

So, instead of moving, Ivanna breathed a long sigh.  A hot breath came out, but even such thing felt good to her.

Fuaaa.  A whimper naturally came out of Ivanna’s lips.  A sound of happiness.

Ivanna, who was lying with her arms wide open, turned the other way and lay down on her stomach.  The face that touched the cold soil was cooled down, and her cold back was heated up by the sun.  The dirt that touched her hands and cheeks was very fragile and soft.

“Summer… it’s great.”

In my first life, when I lived with my mother, I couldn’t remember summer because I was too young.   After that, I only lived in a damp and cold prison, so I had no idea how good this felt.

Even in this new life, my head was so confused that I couldn’t feel anything.  So this summer, which I could properly feel, was very interesting and pleasant.  The feeling of the hot sun penetrating through my skin, which I have rarely felt while living in prison and locked up, could not be compared to anything I have ever felt.  Even the stinging sensation was so good.

“Sister!”

“Where are you Little Sister?”

Ivanna, then she heard the twins’ voices from far away.  She then raised her hand as she was enjoying sunbathing on her back.  The twins wandering through the garden quickly found the short arm and ran toward it.

“You’re doing this even in this hot weather!”

The twins laughed when they saw Ivanna sprawled out, looking almost as if she melted on the floor.  It was a common sight now.  This white kid hanging her hair all over the place and enjoying sunbathing was already seen many times.  Although, sometimes they were still a little scared.

“Aren’t you sweating too much?”

Luan gave her a light hand fan, but the day was so hot that it didn’t do much.

“Your clothes are already soaked in sweat.  This much is fine, but it’s also not good to sweat too much.”

“If you do, you will get dizzy and fall down.  Here, I brought you some water.”

Whatever they talked with her, Ivanna did not budge.  So the twins gave up on bringing the child to the side with shade, and sat down beside her.  When the water bottle was handed to her, Ivanna wriggled up slowly.  The twins lost their words when they saw white hair and dirt were all over her sweat-soaked face.

“Is this really okay?”

“That’s my line.  Is Sullivan really okay with this?”

“She said that since I’m eating well and sleeping well, I don’t have any health problems······.”

“Did she really say that after seeing this?”

“I really want to ask her that.”

Seeing that Ivanna was drinking the water with loud gulps, the twins thought she was really thirsty.  No, this is enough sunbathing.  No matter how good the sunlight felt, this was a bit too much.

“I have to bring Sullivan or McKellen.”

“You have to bring Sullivan.  No matter what McKellen says, she won’t even listen to one word he says.”

“That’s right.  Then go get Sullivan.”

“You brought it up, so you go.”

“No, it’s annoying.”

“It’s annoying for me too.”

The twins looked back at the mansion.  The sunniest place, where they currently are, was a little far from the mansion.  They have to endure the hot summer sun and go to the mansion just to come back again?  It was an absolute failure.  The twins gave up very fast and just sat next to Ivanna.

“She said Little Sister is okay, so she’d be fine.  Sullivan isn’t taking her treatment lightly.”

“I can call Sullivan later if we need her.  I’m sure sister will be out sunbathing tomorrow as well.”

Ivanna emptied the full water bottle clean and laid back to enjoy sunbathing again.  It was annoying to go back to the mansion, but the twins were worried about her red smiling face.  Valerie doused a napkin with cold water and gently wiped Ivanna’s sweaty face.  Ivanna, who was lying with her eyes closed, smiled pleasantly.

“It’s cold.”

“Little sister, no matter how good the sun feels, it’s not good to sweat too much.  Let’s stop here.”

“I like it, though.”

“Don’t overdo it since you’re still getting treatment.”

Valerie gently wiped Ivanna’s face, while Luan gently massaged and stretched her arms.  They wanted to stay close to their little sister, but it was too hot for any human.  More than anything else, as Luan said, Ivanna’s treatment was still ongoing even if three months has already passed.

“I haven’t been here long.”

“You can come back tomorrow.  Let’s go in now, wash up and eat some snacks.  Alaine said she’d give you mille-feuille today.”

“Milpoe?”

“It’s a snack that is very crispy, very delicious, and very sweet.  You want to eat it, don’t you?”

Ivanna, who had been grumbling about wanting to stay here, showed interest when Valerie talked about snacks.  Although the negotiations were still halfway through, her small lips and pretty eyes were rolling back and forth.

‘All right, it’s time to make a winning move!’

“And Father brought strawberries!”

“Hug me.”

‘Bull’s eye.’

Ivanna immediately reached out her arms and Valerie hugged her with joy.  As expected, there was nothing like strawberries to seduce her little sister.

***

“Does your arm hurt?”

Ivanna was taking a cool bath in a wooden bathtub when she suddenly got a stiff arm.  She rubbed it with her hand as Alaine, who was washing her hair, looked at it and asked anxiously.

“It’s just tingling.”

“Can I massage it?”

Ivanna shook her head.  Now she wanted to wash up quickly and eat the mille-feuille and strawberry.  Her inner feelings were clearly revealed on her face.  So, even without speaking, Alaine smiled and moved her hands faster.

After bathing her, Alaine then applied the ointment, which was prepared by Sullivan herself, to the child’s wounds and dried her hair.  Maybe because she was still undernourished, the newly grown hair was still dry.  Alaine felt sorry as she smoothed her pretty hair. 

‘But overall, it’s much better than before.  Also maybe because she often gets under the sun and with the better ointment, her skin got better. The cheeks that gained weight were so lovely that I wanted to bite them.’

“Come now, my Lady.  It’s all done.”

As soon as Alaine finished drying her hair and took her hands off, Ivanna wandered around the room carrying the soft Meows on her sides.  The room was still piled up with toys.  It was because Ivanna was unable to play with them.  After all, the treatment to fix both arms took three months.

Ivanna walked around and looked at the toys she hadn’t seen properly, but if there was anything she liked, she would put down the Meows and fiddle around with them.  Today’s target was one that emitted an unusually twinkling light among the mountains of toys.  Ivanna put her hand through the mountain of toys as she tried to get it out. But the toy was hard to get, as if it was running away from her hands so she stretched out her arms a little longer.

Knock, knock.

“Are you done washing······.”

Then, as soon as she was able to squeeze out what barely touched her fingers, Dante and the twins came in with the tray.

“······.”

“······.”

“······.”

The three was at a loss for words as they stared at Ivanna’s bold pick.  It was a Tiara with all kinds of jewels in it which exuded a very strong presence as she held it with her tiny fingertips.

“Father, that······?”

It looked just like a real Tiara, not a toy, with its brilliance, delicate workmanship, and high purity jewelry.  It really looked like a real one.

‘Why the hell it was stuck among the mountains of toys in an unwrapped state?’

Ivanna spun around the Tiara as the three people watched without speaking.  She has never seen anything like this before, so she didn’t know where or how to use it.  After thinking for a while, she soon threw it on the floor like a ball.

Tink-Klink.

Whether it was a fake or not, it was fortunately not broken.  Only then did Dante came to his senses and put the tray on the table then approached Ivanna.

“Ivanna, this is not a toy.”

“It was between the toys.”

“I don’t know why it’s there, but it’s not a toy.”

Dante examined the tiara carefully.  Just seeing its unique presence among toys that filled the area, one could tell that it was not a fake but a real tiara.  But even if she was blood-related to the Imperial family, Ivanna can’t use this because she’s not a princess or the empress.

“······Did His Majesty really send you this?”

The twins also put down the tray they were holding and approached Dante’s side.

“I’m sure he knows Ivanna can’t use a tiara.”

“If she uses it wrongly, she would be dragged away.  He wouldn’t have sent it for that.”

“Then did someone put it in maliciously?”

“In His Majesty’s gift?  I would just choose to commit suicide.”

“It could be idiots who don’t know their place.”

“There’s that too.”

The twins looked at the gleaming tiaras while gossiping.  Ivanna opened her eyes wide.

“Tiara?”

“It’s a crown worn on the head.  We can’t use it.” (Twin)

“Why?”

“It can only be used by Her Majesty, who is His Majesty’s companion and their daughters.  But there is no daughter between the two, so the only one that can actually use this is Her Majesty.” (Twin)

“But there are no one eyes on her for now, so it’s not a bad idea to use it for a while.” (Dante)

“What?!”

The twins questioned Dante’s words at the same time.  But Dante said it nonchalantly that it seemed that nothing was wrong with his words.

“His Majesty definitely sent it.  A royal crest was stamped on the inside.  So I think it’ll be okay to use it in a place where no one can see.”

“Is it okay?”

“If a problem occurs, His Majesty will just take Ivanna as his foster daughter like he’s been waiting for.  Then there’ll be no problem.”

It was very emperor-like behavior.  The twins nodded with a very serious face.  There was no one but Louise who could beat the Emperor.  Now that the problem was solved, Dante carefully picked up the tiara and gently put it on Ivanna’s beautiful platinum blonde hair.  The three stopped breathing at the same time.

A Rose Gold Tiara was sitting on white-blond hair.  The large adorned gem stuck in the middle was very beautiful, and complemented well with Ivanna’s purple eyes. She was only wearing a white one-piece pajamas, and the only thing that decorated her was the Tiara, but the sight was shocking.  Not only twins but also Dante, who was deeply moved, bit his lips tightly.

“It’s heavy.”

Tink-Klink!

The moment only lasted for an instant.  Ivanna grimaced under the heavy weight of the tiara on her head and threw it to the floor.  The tiara thrown a second time eventually could not hold on and few small diamonds fell to the floor, unable to overcome the falling strength.

“······.”

“······.”

“······.”

The three were silent.  Ivanna hugged the Meows and left to run towards the tray, which had been smelling deliciously for some time. The three that were left behind stared at Ivanna’s back as she ran away.  They can’t believe that she just threw out the Emperor’s gift.

Ivanna, who inherited Louise’s blood, was truly amazing.