Chapter 29. Reunion (1)

The first meeting between the two was at the age of seven, in a hospital room.

More than the neatly organized interior like a hotel, what remained in memory was the medical equipment with unreadable screens, numerous wires, and the pungent smell of alcohol. In the middle of it all, a girl with short hair sat buried in a large bed.

“Greet her. She’s my granddaughter.”

“…Hello. My name is Seo Ira.”

Even as she bowed her head in greeting at the chairman’s words, who had become her sponsor, Seo Ira’s gaze kept glancing at the girl. The eyes staring at her with a sickly face were unfamiliar yet sparked curiosity.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Kang Seon! Just call me Seon!”

When the girl greeted her with a bright smile, Seo Ira felt as if she was standing in front of a radiant sun. A lovable person, completely different from herself, who had grown up in an orphanage without knowing her parents.

That was the first impression Seo Ira, before she became Iella, had of Kang Seon.

From that day on, many changes came to Seo Ira’s life.

Instead of the orphanage, a small corner room in a large mansion became her new home, and she wore high-quality clothes that fit her body instead of the worn-out, ill-fitting hand-me-downs. She could always eat warm and delicious food to her heart’s content. Of course, all of this wasn’t given for free.

“I’ve heard that Seon has been talking more lately. You said you’re seven years old? It must be because she has a friend her age to play with. Please continue as you are.”

“Yes.”

Kang Seon’s family was one of the most famous business families in the country. Even Seo Ira, who didn’t know much about the world, had seen their company logo countless times around her. There was no way the chairman of such a place would support a child from a lowly orphanage without a reason. The chairman demanded one thing in return for his support.

To be a gift for his granddaughter, who had become a long-term hospital patient at the age of seven. In essence, he had bought her with money and wrapped it up nicely with words like gift and support.

But Seo Ira had no reason to refuse. As an orphan, it was a rare opportunity she would never have again. The orphanage couldn’t take care of her forever.

‘I have to find my own way.’

Being precocious, she accepted the demand. What followed was as mentioned before. And Seo Ira, who gained a life that was as rich as a dream, faithfully fulfilled her role.

“Hello, you’re here again today?”

Fortunately, Kang Seon was not a difficult person. As she felt from the first impression, the bright-spirited girl was friendly to everyone and always had a smile on her face. She reacted positively to even the smallest things, like finding shapes in clouds drifting by and naming them.

Although there were times when she felt a strange sense of incongruity, it was so fleeting that she dismissed it as her imagination. Seo Ira visited the hospital room every day, played with her, ate with her, and stayed by her side when she took naps. Her role was to stay by her side all day.

As time went by, she saw and heard many things and learned a lot.

First, the real reason the chairman had brought her under the guise of support.

According to passing remarks from adults, Kang Seon’s family was a large organization-based business, busy expanding their presence domestically and internationally to shed their organizational image.

Thinking back, Seo Ira realized she had never seen any of Kang Seon’s family members in the hospital room since their first meeting. She occasionally heard phone calls, but that was it. From morning until late at night, the only people who formally visited the hospital room were herself, the medical staff, and a few security personnel.

In other words, Seo Ira was a human doll meant to alleviate the loneliness of the granddaughter in place of her family.

Second, Kang Seon was well aware of this. The occasional sense of incongruity she felt stemmed from this. The kindness Kang Seon showed her was the same kindness she showed to everyone.

To Kang Seon, Seo Ira was just a friend doll that her grandfather had bought with money.

“Again today? …Alright.”

Seo Ira turned her gaze away from Kang Seon, who hung up the phone in a sullen voice.

When she realized these facts, Seo Ira didn’t feel particularly different. There was no need to feel hurt since it wasn’t wrong.

Rather, she was grateful that Kang Seon treated her well on the surface, allowing her not to return to the orphanage. She thought it would be fine to maintain a slight distance from each other.

That thought changed, and their relationship grew inseparably closer after two incidents.

First, it was Seo Ira who changed her mind and became sincere. The turning point was when Kang Seon, who seemed perfectly fine except for her patient gown and pale face, had a seizure one day.

As the medical staff and security personnel rushed in and the hospital room became chaotic, Seo Ira froze in a corner. Despite being more mature than her peers, she was still a seven-year-old child. Witnessing someone she had just been talking to roll her eyes back and convulse was a huge shock.

Seo Ira didn’t go home and stayed crouched in the corner, watching Kang Seon with wide eyes all night.

However, unlike her, Kang Seon, who opened her eyes the next day after the seizure subsided, returned to her normal self. As if the seizure was no big deal, she went about her daily routine without any sign of surprise.

No, she laughed and played more, ate diligently, as if to show she wouldn’t be defeated by the seizures, wouldn’t succumb to the illness eating her away.

Seo Ira, who had thought of her as a pampered girl who had only known love, felt ashamed. Kang Seon was living a fierce life with a burning will and vitality stronger than anyone else. Even if she couldn’t directly help, Seo Ira wanted to sincerely support her.

But just because Seo Ira’s attitude changed didn’t mean Kang Seon changed as well. On the contrary, perhaps thinking it stemmed from pity and sympathy, she drew an even thicker line.

Even so, she occasionally initiated conversations out of curiosity about Seo Ira’s life after she started attending elementary school. During this time, a kidnapping incident occurred. They were twelve years old.

Seo Ira saved Kang Seon by throwing herself in front of her. There was no other reason. She couldn’t just watch someone who fought so hard to live despite having seizures and harsh treatments die meaninglessly.

Besides, Seo Ira had no one. While Kang Seon had a family and many people who cared for her.

After Kang Seon’s seizure, Seo Ira, who now stayed late in the hospital room, often witnessed her parents and grandfather, who claimed to be too busy to visit often, tenderly stroke her face late at night or early in the morning while she slept.

The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was their faces, marked with worry and relief, as they rushed to Kang Seon.

She thought it wasn’t such a meaningless end after all.

Fortunately, contrary to her thoughts, Seo Ira didn’t die and recovered well from her injuries. It took some time, but she eventually got up from her bed and returned to her usual routine.

The only difference was that Kang Seon was now always by her side.

When Seo Ira visited the hospital room after school, Kang Seon approached her as if she had been waiting, seeking her more than her parents or anyone else.

A bit later, when she ended her long hospitalization at fifteen and was discharged, Kang Seon even declared she wanted Seo Ira to stay in the next room and continue living together.

Naturally, they grew closer quickly. As they went through various incidents and gradually opened up to each other, their inner thoughts piled up and grew, eventually making them the ones who knew each other best.

At the end of the winter vacation before graduating high school, Kang Seon showed Seo Ira her first created world, <Twisted Salvation and the Flower of Embrace>, for the first time. It was because the only place she could escape the pressure of being the heir to the family business was beside Seo Ira and while writing novels.

‘I never thought we’d meet again in different forms within that novel…’

Iella, finishing her long reminiscence as Seo Ira, turned her gaze to the side. Vanessa, who had been rubbing her swollen red eyes, smiled brightly when their eyes met.

“I thought something was strange. Ailexia’s behavior was different from usual. Especially when she suddenly started avoiding Allen. Until the day you woke up in that body, she had been tormenting Allen for days.”

“……”

“At first, I thought she was about to cause trouble again. But then she went out with Duke Calver, whom she used to despise, and things started to seem odd. After that, strange things kept happening. But then, things seemed normal again, so I wasn’t sure.”

Vanessa shrugged and pointed to a spot. It was where Iella had taken the money pouch.

“Then, when she started exchanging letters with the Duke again, I put some money there just in case. She looked like she wanted to run away at any moment. I thought it was unlikely, but when I checked in the early morning, Ailexia was gone, and so was the money pouch. I rushed out and ran into the imperial knight…”

“And you heard that Allen was being brought?”

“Yes.”

Iella fell into deep thought for a moment. There was no doubt that Vanessa was that friend. She knew all the secret conversations they had shared.

‘Especially calling the chairman a bald goblin…’

Iella sighed softly, recalling the term Vanessa had repeatedly mentioned while asserting her identity. It was a nickname only Kang Seon had used and could use.