One Step Forward to the Flower Path

I felt bad. Sometimes I could feel that they were colder than the prison I was in.

Because they dragged me to prison, and they dragged me to the altar.

They were always there when I was beaten. They were always there when I was given rotten food.

Iron-clad men were everywhere.

Even in dad’s house.

“Ahhh, ahhh ahhh!”

“What, why, what’s wrong?”

As Ivanna screamed and shed tears, the man was taken aback and reached out his hand. He was also wearing iron gloves.

This caused Ivanna’s emotions to become uncontrollable.

“No! I Hate it! Don’t touch me! Don’t take me!”

The man stopped and stepped back. Still, Ivanna’s seizure did not stop.

“I hate it now! This······. I don’t want to go back anymore. I hate prisons, I hate altars! Daddy, ah, Daddy!”

Ivanna hugged her head tightly and sobbed. Where is he, he said he would always protect me! Where the hell are you!

Why is there a bad guy here who bothered me?

“Aaugh!”

She was suffocated by the sudden seizure. The child’s face instantly turned red and her body went backward. The embarrassed man’s hand lifted her arm after he caught it in a hurry.

“Hey, hey! Get a hold of yourself!”

“Argh, aaugh! Ahhh!”

The touch on her arm is cold. It feels bitter.

Like the moonlight looking down at me. Like the pale moonlight rebuking me for killing my mother.

It’s a cruel hand that kills everything.

“Everyone killed me······. Watched me die······.”

Her lips opened and spat out things from her first life.

“Hurry up and just kill me, I don’t want to be a tool anymore. Please just end my suffering······.”

All I could see was an iron finger, and a cold sword approaching like it was going to stab me.

She was sure she’d see the land of the dead after it.

Death, in the form of a devil, strides toward me, and they send me to the afterlife.

“To fulfill the value of the offering······.”

“What the hell are you talking about······.”

“Mom······. Did you take Mom too?”

“This, what the hell······.”

“Ivanna!”

Then someone ran from far away.

The man who was supporting Ivanna, who spoke incomprehensible words, raised his head.

Dante was running towards her with a pale face.

“My Lord.”

The man hurriedly lowered his head, but Dante didn’t care about it.

A big hand grabbed her slender arm.

“Ivanna, Ivanna!”

“Huh, argh······.”

Open eyes, trembling body, and breathlessness.

It was something he had seen once. Seizures caused by fear.

Damn, what was the problem this time?

“Ivanna, it’s Dad. Daddy is here. Wake up.”

Dante held Ivanna in his arms.

He tried to soothe her as he kissed her sweaty pale forehead.

He could feel her body trembling under his lips. Dante grabbed Ivanna’s hand tightly.

“It’s okay. Daddy’s here. I told you I will protect you. It’s alright. Breathe.”

“Huff, huuu, haaa······.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. It’s okay, calm down.”

Big hands wiped away her tears and hugged her trembling body. Little by little, her choked breath returned to normal.

“Huh······. Oh, Daddy······”

“Yes, Ivanna, Daddy is here.”

“Ah, Daddy, why, why······. Why is the man in iron, here······?”

“Iron?”

Ivanna’s shaky fingers pointed to the man in front of her.

The man, who was puzzled, stiffened as Dante’s eyes turned to him.

“Winston.”

The man called by his name hurriedly went down on his knee and lowered his head.

“Winston Noel, greets the Lord.”

“Iron clothes······. Right.”

Dante scrutinized Winston’s armor. The iron clothes the child was talking about.

A knight’s armor.

Ivanna saw the armor and she remembered the people who had harassed her. There are knights in any kingdom.

“Ivanna, it’s alright. Not everyone wearing iron clothes is bad. It’s just protective clothing.”

“Ugh, no······. I hate it······. It’s cold, hard, and scary. Everyone wearing that hurt me······.”

“Ivanna, your mom also wore iron clothes.”

Ivanna raised her trembling head. Her pretty eyes were drenched with tears.

It was illuminating her doubts.

“Uh, mom, did······?”

“That’s the armor that everyone with swords wears to protect their bodies. Mom wore it, and dad wears it too. Not everyone in those will hurt you.”

“Mom, she didn’t wear it when she was with me. Daddy doesn’t wear it either.”

“Think of your mom’s painting. In the painting, Mom was wearing iron clothes.”

Little by little, Ivanna’s tremors subsided, but she still didn’t believe him.

“Let’s go see your mother. Let’s look again.”

Dante picked her up from her seat, covering her eyes as he held her in his arms so that Ivanna could not see Winston.

“Stand by.”

Leaving cold words to Winston, Dante hurried off.

Winston, with a bewildered face, was left behind.

***

Dante quickly headed for the mansion. But this time it wasn’t the portrait room. It was another room, but right now it’s better than the portrait room for Ivanna.

“Ivanna. Lift your head.”

Ivanna, who soaked Dante’s shoulder with her tears and runny nose, slowly lifted her head.

She wept so much that she couldn’t see clearly. She shook her head.

“Shh. slowly. It’s okay.”

Dante gently wiped her tear-filled eyes. His palms became wet.

“Nothing here can hurt you.”

It felt good when dad kissed my forehead.

Ivanna took deep breaths slowly and looked around the room her dad had brought her to. She naturally thought it would be the portrait room with her mom, but it was a completely different place.

Ivanna opened her eyes wide.

“Everything in this place belonged to your mom.”

In addition to the paintings in the portrait room, there were several paintings of her in iron here.

Mom’s clothes were there as well.

Several swords were hung side by side on the wall.

Some of her clothes were hung, too.

Among them were iron clothes that Ivanna was so afraid of.

“Iron clothes······.”

Dante hugged her and walked in front of her, Ivanna’s hand clasped Dante’s shoulder. Her fear-filled hand was held tightly by him.

“This iron suit is an armor. They are clothes that protect her body from being stabbed by someone’s sword when fighting other people.”

“Mom, wore it too?”

“Yes. All of the armor here belonged to her.”

Ivanna slowly looked at the four armors in front of her.

Some armors have more leather than iron, and some armors have iron from neck to toe.

There were also armors similar to those who harassed me.

But the trembling stopped just because my mom wore it.

“Everyone in iron clothes has always hurt me.”

“All knights with swords wear armor. And there are knights in all countries. Ivanna, your mom was a knight and so is Dad.”

Ivanna opened her eyes round.

“Daddy too?”

“Yes. Dad uses a sword, so I have to wear armor to protect my body. Like your mother.”

“But you have never worn it.”

“The metal clothes are so heavy that it hurts to keep wearing them at home. Mom didn’t wear it when she was at home. Just like daddy.”

Still, Ivanna seemed difficult to convince. Dante thought it was fortunate enough for her child to stop crying, so he gently kissed her wet cheek.

“Does Ivanna wish her dad get hurt in a fight with someone else?”

“No.”

“That’s why I wear armor. If I get hit it will hurt, and the one I love becomes sad.”

“······So the people who bothered me were wearing armor in case they would get hurt?”

“Yes. Ivanna is scary.”

The eyes stopped crying and looked at Dante.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not scary.”

“No, because Ivanna is strong, you can be scary. I told you, you’re strong enough to break the altar too.”

“I haven’t broken it.”

“But when you get healthier, you can break it. So you have to wear armor to protect yourself. After you become strong enough to break the altar.”

I hope you’re not scared anymore. I’m telling you that you’ll become someone very strong.

She had never even thought about it.

“Ivanna, you’ll become strong. As dad said, if you eat, sleep, play, get treated, and learn how to use a sword later, you will be stronger than anyone else.”

“Me?”

“Well, of course. Maybe someday Ivanna can protect me.”

Ivanna opened her mouth wide. Dad said that I could protect him, who always said he would protect me?

Me?

“I can protect you?”

“Ivanna, people can become stronger than they think when they have someone they want to protect.”

“When you want to protect.”

“Yes. That’s why dad could be strong, and mom became strong too. We didn’t just protect ourselves, but because we wanted to protect each other.”

Dante set Ivanna down. And he sat down on one knee in front of her and clasped her tiny hand.

One day, you will hold a sword in your hand and you will shine brighter than anyone else.

“If you remember that, Ivanna, you will be stronger than anyone. Enough to protect daddy, your sister, and your brother. Enough to punish the people who harassed you.”

Her face that was previously red from the seizure, was now burning with a different meaning.

It was a beautiful flush.

“Can I get rid of them myself?”

“If Ivanna wants to do it. If you don’t want to, daddy will do it for you. But if you want to do it yourself, daddy will help. So Ivanna can do it.”

I can get back at the people who harassed me.

She had never thought about it. That was because they were so scary. They bothered me and hurt me.

I never thought of that.

“Ivanna, when that time comes, because they are afraid of you, all of them will show up in this iron suit. Surely they’ll be a lot of people wearing armor.”

“······.”

“But don’t be afraid. Dad will be next to you, your sister and brother will be there too. We will wear armor together and break the armor they wear.”

Ivanna’s eyes were dripping with tears again. She felt very sorry, and still deeply wounded. Dante’s chest tightened to the appearance of his daughter.

Dante reached out his arms and hugged his daughter again.

“Iron clothes are worn for protection of one’s body, for their loved ones, and to escape fear. It’s okay and not bad, Ivanna.”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Ivanna’s heart throbbed.

I’ve done nothing wrong.

His words touched the depths of her heart.

“You did nothing wrong.”

Ivanna buried her face deep in her dad’s warm chest. And nodded her head small.

The cold energy like the one from the moonlight that covered her body gradually faded away.

It wasn’t cold anymore.