The Twins
The Twins
The day of the procedure arrived.
"This is a procedure that will protect both of your minds through the Miracle of Mental Protection while gradually lifting the Blocking Magic completely, restoring the mind of Her Imperial Highness Iomene. It requires powerful miracles and delicate magical manipulation to be carried out in tandem."
The court mage inspected the complex magic circles installed inside the Magic Tower and explained the process to the emperor.
"I understand that the procedure exploits the nature of soul-linked twins, where an intact counterpart can restore the damaged mind of the other. Is that correct?"
"That is accurate, Your Majesty."
"The goal is for Almene's intact mind to transfer to Iomene so that both recover, yes?"
"That is correct."
"Conversely, what is the probability that Iomene's negative memories and emotions will transfer to Almene and cause problems?"
At those words, the court mage nodded with a worried expression.
"Naturally, that possibility exists. Completely lifting the block means all of their memories, emotions, and thoughts will be shared in real time. There is a sufficient possibility of mutual collapse rather than mental recovery."
"That would be the worst outcome."
"However, we also cannot keep artificially blocking the minds of soul-linked twins, who are meant to be connected, forever. This artificial and coercive block could eventually fester to the point of damaging the very soul they share."
His Majesty massaged the bridge of his nose with a complicated look in his eyes.
His worry was only natural.
Leaving it alone would harm them both in the long run, but undoing it carried the possibility of both of their minds collapsing together.
As though reading the emperor's thoughts, the court mage calmly continued the explanation.
"Of course, the probability that both Her Imperial Highnesses will recover is higher. Both of them possess a powerful will to get better, and numerous priests will cast very powerful Miracles of Mental Protection. And above all..."
After saying that, the court mage looked at me.
"Do we not have the Saint with us? Even if we assume the worst-case scenario, the possibility still exists if the Saint steps forward."
It was not an incorrect statement.
After all, I possessed Absolute Hypnosis, an exceptionally fraudulent and cheat-like skill.
Of course, my Absolute Hypnosis was ultimately a skill that made the target obey my commands absolutely; it was not a skill for delicately restoring a broken mind.
So ideally, the worst-case scenario where everything had to be staked on my skill should never come to pass in the first place.
I was merely a role that reassured everyone as a last resort. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Do not worry too much, Your Majesty. I am here."
Even though I would be leaving before long, my desire for the sisters Iomene and Almene to be happy was genuine.
The procedure was today.
I intended to steer things toward recovery however I could.
At my words, the expressions of His Majesty and Her Majesty eased slightly.
"Understood. Proceed!"
"Yes."
The priests of the Lilia Order and the court mages approached the two imperial princesses.
Iomene seemed a little anxious at the sight and snarled, but once I held her hand at her side, she grew calm.
"It's okay, Iomene. Don't be nervous."
At my words, Iomene stopped snarling.
"When I get better, kiss."
I nodded.
"Yeah. I'll do it. So you have to get better. Understood?"
At those words, Iomene smiled happily and became quiet.
After calming Iomene, it was Almene's turn.
Seated side by side next to Iomene, she held out her trembling hand to me.
"I'm trembling, Saint. Could you hold my hand as well?"
I nodded.
Almene and Iomene.
I took both of the twin imperial princesses' hands.
"It'll be fine. Both of you. You two are both strong. And even in the worst case, I'm here. So don't worry too much."
Almene smiled gently at my words.
After taking a deep breath for a moment, Almene soon nodded.
"Please begin. I'm ready."
"Me too."
Iomene also nodded with a serious expression.
At those words, all the priests and mages in the room began to move.
The massive magic circle drawn on the floor emitted light, and the priests of the Order of Grace began pouring holy power into the heads of the two imperial princesses.
"We have cast the Miracle of Mental Protection!"
"Her Imperial Highness Iomene's emotional state is stable!"
"Slowly! We must release the Blocking Magic in gradual stages, never hastily! Commencing now that the magic circle is ready to operate!!"
In Iomene's right eye.
And in Her Imperial Highness Almene's left eye, the engraved Blocking Magic began to shine.
Both of them squeezed my hands tightly at the same time.
"Releasing the block. Commencing now."
At the very moment the mage's tense voice rang out.
"Ugh!...... Aaaah!!"
Screams burst simultaneously from both imperial princesses' mouths.
"Hold on! You have to hold on! Almene! Iomene!"
At my words, the two imperial princesses gripped my hands as though they would crush them and began desperately enduring the pain.
They held on so tightly that blood began to flow, but I could not even feel the pain myself.
I could just heal myself with Body Modification anyway.
You two, just please.
Please be safe.
Had that wish of mine come true?
For close to an hour.
The two imperial princesses held on well.
The procedure also progressed without difficulty.
"Phase two release complete! Now entering the final phase! Proceeding to the phase three release!!"
Everyone performing the procedure was drenched in sweat.
At the words the court mage uttered while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, I looked at the two with an anxious expression.
Please.
Please let nothing go wrong.
I just wished they could get through this cleanly without any need for me to step in, just like this.......
"I d-don't want this!! Aaaagh!!"
Almene suddenly let out a sharp scream.
Iomene also suddenly rolled her eyes back and began convulsing as if she were having a seizure.
Unfortunately, it seemed their limit had arrived.
"It hurts!! It hurts!! It's agonizing!! S-stop!! Stop it! Please stop it!!"
Along with Almene's scream, the priests who had been casting the Miracle of Mental Protection on her head panicked.
"The miracle is collapsing!"
"The mental state is extremely unstable! At this rate, they will break down!!"
"We're struggling to hold on!"
Almene's face looked as if she were going mad from the pain, and Iomene's convulsions only grew worse.
"Saint!! Help us! Please!!"
And in the end, the line I least wanted to hear spilled from Almene's mouth.
You son of a bitch!!
Should I command them not to feel pain with Absolute Hypnosis?
No.
Feeling pain was normal.
Ordering them to forcibly stop feeling it could cause unknown side effects.
Think!! Kim Min-gyu, you goddamn idiot!! Think!!
What command could I give so that both of them would be safe?
What could I do so that both of them could overcome this moment?
Come to mind! Please!!......
There was one.
A way to save both of them with Absolute Hypnosis.
[Activating the skill Absolute Hypnosis!]
Hypnosis was cast on both of them simultaneously.
What I could do was not some grand feat of restoring their minds.
I could only help make it a little easier for them to endure.
Please.
Please endure it.
I prayed and prayed again as I gave the command to the two imperial princesses.
"Happy memories! Remember the joyful memories!!"
***
It was something she had begun with firm resolve.
Iomene.
Her other half.
An existence that had unfortunately been in pain for sixteen years.
She had wanted to save her.
That was why Almene had resolutely insisted on the procedure.
It was something that would have to be undone someday anyway.
On top of that, the Saint was with them as well.
She had believed that he would surely help her.
She had begun with that resolve, but the moment the sixteen years' worth of accumulated painful memories began to batter her, Almene realized she had made a mistake.
She endured desperately.
Yet no matter how much she endured and endured again, the end of the painful memories was nowhere in sight.
At some point.
Almene sensed intuitively that her limit had finally found her.
She squeezed the Saint's hand with enough force to crush it.
It hurt.
It was agonizing.
I wanted to pull away.
"Saint!! Help me!! Please!!"
Iomene's pain, like a black wave, battered Almene as if to devour her.
After she let out a scream like a dying breath.
Slowly.
Almene began to be consumed by the wave and dragged beneath the surface.
If she sank below the water like this, that would be the end of it.
She too would clearly become a broken ruin of an ego, just like Iomene.
It was pathetic.
Was the will and courage she had to save Iomene really only this much?
In that moment, as she sank amidst fear and regret.
A single intense command forcibly pulled her back above the water.
"Joyful memories! Think of happy memories!!"
Within the flood of memories filled only with surging pain and darkness, one small remembrance surfaced.
Father.
The memory of the Emperor holding Almene surfaced.
The memory of enjoying teatime with her mother and father in a sunlit, well-kept garden surfaced.
So did the memory of seeing a cute puppy.
Pretty pictures and the feel of clothes made from soft silk.
The moments when sweet and soft desserts made her mouth happy.
And the first time she heard about Iomene from her father and mother.
The moment she resolved firmly to save her also surfaced.
The waves of pain still crashed in.
Iomene's memories—of having to suffer every week for sixteen years and being left alone in loneliness—were grinding down Almene's mind and ego just as they were.
But Almene desperately clung to the happy memories and endured the waves.
The happy and good memories were protecting her.
Compared to the raging waves that crashed against her, the happy memories seemed fragile and foolishly small, but no matter how much the waves struck and shook them, they never disappeared.
At some point, Almene, who had endured and endured again using those seemingly tiny and fragile memories as her staff, realized.
That the waves had stopped crashing.
Tranquility visited her.
And within that tranquility, Almene could hear the sound of a sobbing young child.
A child, whose mind had been devoured by pain and loneliness and who still could not grow up and had collapsed, was weeping sorrowfully.
Almene approached that child.
And she called the child's name.
"Iomene."
At those words, the young child, bruised, hurt, and covered in wounds from self-harm, raised her eyes.
"It hurts. It hurts."
Iomene burst into tears.
"It hurts so much. I'm lonely. There's no one. I want to die. I don't want to live anymore."
Iomene muttered that like a fool.
As if she understood.
Almene hugged Iomene.
"I know. Now I can understand everything too. But, you see."
Almene took the happy memories that had protected her from the waves.
The little clumps of light, and handed them to Iomene.
"There are still many happy and good things in the world. Your pain will become a burden that the two of us will carry together from now on. But my happiness will also become memories that the two of us can share together."
Carefully.
Iomene accepted the light.
Tears quietly streamed from her eyes.
Iomene caressed Almene's light, then soon let out a soft laugh.
A clear and lucid voice, not a slurred, childish one, flowed from Iomene's lips.
"The Baumkuchen and desserts you ate. The cookies and cakes. I want to try them too."
At Iomene's words, Almene shed tears as well and smiled.
"Let's eat them. We can eat them."
"I want to hear my mom and dad say that they love me."
"They'll definitely tell you. They absolutely will."
"I want to walk barefoot on the grass under the warm sun, just like you. Almene."
"Of course you can. And I also, like you......."
Almene, to Iomene.
No.
One person's happy memories quietly declared to her own unhappy past.
"I want to keep seeing the face of the man I love for a long time."
The horrifying memories.
The happy memories that felt as if they could float up weightlessly.
Now, they all belonged to one person.
There was no longer any difference.
Now the only difference was the names that distinguished their bodies.
***
"Mental Block Removal! The ego states of both princesses are also stable! It's perfect! A perfect success!!"
Along with the excited voice of the Court Mage, the two imperial princesses opened their eyes simultaneously.
No longer was there a magic circle forcing one eye closed on each of them.
The two of them looked down at the Saint, who was holding their hands, with their eyes both wide open.
Because the two of them had gripped his hands so tightly, their fingernails had dug into his flesh and blood was flowing, but the Saint did not show any sign of it.
"Iomene. Almene. Are you all right?"
The Saint's eyes as he looked at the two of them were full of nothing but worry.
At that gaze, as if they could no longer endure it, the two of them simultaneously threw themselves forward.
They leaped into the Saint's arms.
And they both began to rub their faces against the Saint's body at the same time.
"I, I'm sweating a lot right now!..."
Good.
Even the scent of that sweat felt like a powerful pheromone.
I love you.
I love this man before my eyes.
This man who had saved them and ultimately made them happy, so very much.
They loved him so much it truly took their breath away.
"Thank you."
When the two imperial princesses said that while shedding tears, the Saint soon smiled and quietly held them both.
"That's a relief. I hope both of you become happier than you've ever been in pain."
That was exactly what they planned.
The two of them were determined to be happy, no matter what.
After holding the Saint tightly, Iomene and Almene rose to their feet.
The two of them turned their gazes to the Emperor and Empress, who were seated to the side, watching them with anxious expressions.
Almene carefully stepped back and pushed Iomene forward.
Iomene slowly approached her parents.
She smiled.
She was smiling and sobbing at the same time.
"I... I'm back. Mom. Dad."
It was not slurred.
It was a clear and precise voice.
"I've been in so much pain all this time. So much..."
She spread her arms.
"Hold me. Tell me you love me."
At those words, the Empress threw aside all dignity and rushed at her daughter.
She, too, was crying.
They were tears mixed with both happiness and guilt.
"My daughter."
The Empress held her daughter.
"My beloved daughter. Ah... Oh gods. Lilia. Saint. Thank you, truly. Thank you..."
The Emperor, slower than that.
With a face weighed down by guilt and remorse, began to approach Iomene.
"May I... may I love you? May I hold you and tell you I love you? Can you forgive me? Iomene?"
The Emperor, too, was crying.
And Iomene smiled at her father.
"Hold me, Dad. And tell me you love me."
The Emperor embraced Iomene firmly.
"I love you. I love you. Iomene. I truly love you."
Iomene began to cry like a child.
She wailed and wailed bitterly, as if vomiting out all the pain she had endured for sixteen years.
But on her face, there was a strangely relieving smile drawn at the same time.
The Emperor and Empress held that Iomene even more tightly.
Everyone in the room, quietly.
Watched that scene.
In that place, there was no emperor, no empress, and no imperial princesses.
There was only a saved father, a forgiven mother, and two daughters pouring out tears of happiness—not the sovereign rulers of a solemn empire.