“…”
“…”
Shiver.
The hand gripping Aslan’s collar trembled like a quaking leaf.
Irene couldn’t say anything for a moment.
She had been honing the blade of revenge for half her life.
The target to point that blade at was right before her eyes now.
So why… why on earth… had she become tongue-tied?
It was a phenomenon she couldn’t understand herself.
“Maybe… it’s become a habit…”
“…”
Irene bit down hard on her lip.
It was nonsense.
It wasn’t something Aslan would believe.
But at the same time, it was the closest to the truth.
Because of habit.
Afraid of change.
Even though she knew there was no longer a father who wanted her to act like a villainess, nor was Aslan the same as before.
Perhaps she was just moving forward without overcoming inertia.
She wished someone would stop her.
But who could possibly do that?
Who on earth could stop her?
Because everyone was afraid of her… No.
Who would dare touch someone as filthy as her?
Irene ground her teeth, released her grip on Aslan’s collar, and spun around sharply.
“I-I’ll take the experiment later. I don’t mind promising. I’m not running away, so don’t worry.”
“Don’t go, Sister.”
“Let go of me…”
“Stay and sleep at the mansion tonight.”
“Let go…”
“This isn’t a request or a suggestion; it’s an order as the head of the family. After you forcibly convened a meeting last time to call me out, are you planning to ignore the orders of the head?”
“…”
A large hand grasped Irene’s wrist.
Irene stood there, held in place.
If she wanted, she could twist and shake off the grip of such a weakling.
She could ignore him and drag Aslan along as she left.
But for some reason, her body didn’t budge.
At this rate, it’s like… as if I was hoping he’d hold me back…
“Your old room is still just as you left it.”
“I hate it there…”
Why did I leave this house?
What did I run away from?
Wasn’t it to escape that corner of the room that gave me chills every time I lay down…?
“Then there’s nothing I can do.”
“…”
Aslan ruffled Irene’s disheveled hair and sighed.
If she didn’t want to sleep in her own room, there was no other way.
“Then we’ll have to have a group sleepover.”
“…!?”
‘What is this…?’
Plop.
Lying on the bed with a flushed face, Irene couldn’t hide her bewildered feelings.
She wasn’t alone.
Next to her, she could hear the constant rustling sounds of skin brushing against the blankets.
Irene remained frozen.
“Ahhh! I can’t sleep…”
“Charlotte, shh. Aslan’s sister is sleeping.”
“Oh. I thought I smelled something nice… I guess it was coming from your sister.”
“In that case, you should say ‘fragrance,’ not ‘smell’…”
“Yuri, you’re still awake too?”
“Yeah…”
“Then why don’t we quietly chat before sleeping? Let’s be careful not to wake up Aslan’s sister… What do you think, Charlotte?”
“Zzz… Hmmm, smack smack… Phew…”
“She’s already asleep.”
“Maybe we should just sleep too.”
“Yeah…”
From all around her, she could hear the constant chattering.
Pretending to be asleep, Irene tightly closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh inwardly.
He said ‘sleepover’…
When Aslan said that with a strange expression, I was expecting… no, I was worried.
But the result was completely different from what she expected.
Well, it’s a sleepover, but…
‘He’s such an idiot.’
Yawn.
Sliding her face under the blanket, Irene gritted her teeth.
It’s so annoying I could die.
I said I didn’t want to sleep in my room because it’s scary and I hate it.
Who puts me in a room full of kids to sleep?
Shouldn’t the person who lifted my mask be the one helping me fall asleep here…?
Aslan, who had merely shown her to the room and then swiftly left, had never felt so cold-hearted as he did today.
‘But surprisingly… I feel drowsy…’
Slowly, gently.
As Irene felt her eyelids growing heavier, her consciousness gradually became hazy.
It was strange.
She had become unable to sleep at the Vermont mansion.
In this dreadful and chilling place, she shouldn’t have been able to sleep a wink.
The rustling sounds of the children.
And their whispered voices that they couldn’t help but let out, even though they tried to be quiet.
Plus, the sound of peaceful breathing…
Surrounded by these sounds coming from all around, Irene began to forget that this was the place she had feared so much.
It was just warm and peaceful.
For the first time in a long while.
For the first time in a very long time, she regained peace in the place that had turned her into a monster, and could fall into a deep sleep.
***
‘Ah, I was sleeping so well…’
Flash.
Opening her eyes in the darkness, Irene tightly closed them again.
She had finally fallen into a deep sleep.
For some reason, she suddenly became wide awake.
‘What? But my body won’t move…!’
Just as she was about to pull the blanket back up, Irene realized that her arms wouldn’t move.
Not just her arms; her legs and body wouldn’t budge.
Even when she tried to say something, her mouth just opened and closed without producing any sound.
‘I’m having sleep paralysis!’
Ah, that’s why I didn’t want to sleep in this damn mansion…
Cursing Aslan, who had insisted she sleep here, Irene closed her eyes and began to count numbers.
It would pass with time anyway.
It’s just a temporary phenomenon.
It’ll be okay…
Believing that, as she counted toward a hundred, Irene felt the hairs on her body stand on end as she sensed someone approaching her side.
‘The kids?’
Charlotte or Julia?
If not them, perhaps a junior girl from Vermont Security?
It was unpleasant to have someone invade her bed, but for now, she’d make an exception.
Irene sighed with relief and opened her eyes.
At that very moment.
She felt a hand stroking the back of her head, and goosebumps ran all over her body.
“…!?”
It wasn’t a child’s hand.
It was a much larger, adult’s hand.
That hand tousled her disheveled hair and gently pushed aside the hair covering her ear.
At that moment, a small voice flowed into Irene’s ear.
[Hide yourself.]
“…!?”
At the deep voice, her whole body trembled.
What on earth is this?
Definitely a voice she had never heard before.
Yet strangely familiar.
[Close your heart, silence your voice. Hide yourself so thoroughly that eventually even you forget who you are.]
[Until when…?]
Then, from her other ear, a quivering voice echoed.
The moment she heard it, Irene realized it was her own voice.
At the same time, she understood.
That this wasn’t just a simple dream.
‘My memory…?’
The memories she had glimpsed fleetingly in the inner world that day.
This was definitely one of them.
She had already forgotten them on the conscious level, above the surface.
But they were precious memories held deep in her unconscious.
She had forgotten why she forgot them.
Memories where she had forgotten even why she had to forget them.
Now they were flowing back into her ears.
[Someone you can trust will appear. Just wait until then.]
[What if they don’t appear…?]
[They will definitely appear. No. They will definitely appear···]
Then the voice faded and became blurred.
Irene’s eyes shot open.
“Gasp…!”
“Sister, calm down.”
“Haah! Haaah! Haaah…”
When she opened her eyes, what came into Irene’s view was.
Pillows and blankets scattered all around.
Aslan, looking at her with a pitiful gaze, his neck being held.
And the owner of the hands strangling Aslan’s neck was…
“Ah! Ah!? I’m sorry…!”
As Aslan’s face grew paler and lifeless, only then did Irene fully come to her senses and hastily remove her hands from his neck.
There were clear handprints on his neck.
And perhaps during her unconscious state, she had scratched him with her nails; his forearms had long, torn wounds.
The moment she saw that, tears welled up and poured out.
“I’m sorry! Sob, I’m sorry! I didn’t want to hurt you…”
“Come back home now, sis. It wasn’t so bad at the mansion, right?”
“How can you say that…! I had a strange dream and ended up hurting you like this…”
“I’m fine, so come back. It will get better gradually.”
“Sob…”
Burying her face in Aslan’s chest, Irene finally burst into the tears she had been holding back.
‘Now I understand… Aslan is now completely on my side…’
The sword she had sharpened for revenge became useless.
It was the moment when Aslan became a complete ally.
“I can’t come back now…”
The blade she had sharpened for revenge had become useless.
It was the moment Aslan became a complete ally.
“I can’t return now…”
And along with that, it was the moment she realized she couldn’t stay at this mansion for the time being.
Today it ended like this, but…
“My ferocity, ingrained over a long period, will someday cause Aslan great harm.”
“I will hurt my only ally, end up hurting him myself, and regret it.”
“You’ll come back someday, right?”
“Yes…”
“Then that’s fine.”
“.”
That’s fine.
She felt so relieved by that one sentence.
With her head buried in Aslan’s chest, Irene fell into thought.
‘So who was the person who appeared in my dream…?’
Who was the owner of that deep voice?
And who is the ‘someone you can trust’ he spoke of?
She felt lost in a fog.
