Wasn’t This a Night Game

Twin Souls

The day of the procedure arrived.

“This procedure will protect both minds through the miracle of mental stabilization, while gradually and completely releasing the barrier magic to restore Princess Iomene’s sanity. It requires both a powerful miracle and a precise magical procedure.”

The court mage, after adjusting the complex magic circle set up inside the magic tower, explained it that way to the Emperor.

“I understand it’s a procedure that utilizes the characteristics of twin souls, where the healthy side can restore the injured side. Is that correct?”

“Exactly, Your Majesty.”

“The goal is to transfer Almene’s complete sanity to Iomene, to restore them both, yes?”

“That is correct.”

“And conversely, is there a possibility that Iomene’s negative memories and emotions could transfer to Almene, causing problems?”

At those words, the court mage nodded worriedly.

“It certainly exists. Completely releasing the barrier means all their memories, emotions, and thoughts will be shared in real-time. There is a real possibility of co-collapse, not recovery.”

“That would be the worst.”

“But we cannot artificially block the minds of twin souls, who should be connected, forever. This artificial and forced barrier will eventually fester to the point of damaging the very soul they share.”

His Imperial Majesty rubs the space between his brows, a complicated look in his eyes.

Understandable, his worry.

Leaving it be would harm them both in the long run, but unraveling it held the possibility of both their minds shattering together.

The court mage, as if reading the Emperor’s thoughts, continued his explanation in a calm tone.

“Of course, the chances of both Princesses recovering are higher. Their will to heal is strong, and a multitude of priests will cast miracles of powerful mental protection. And above all…”

The court mage paused there, his gaze turning to me.

“Do we not have the Saintess here? Even in the worst-case scenario, if the Saintess were to intervene, a possibility remains.”

He wasn’t wrong.

I possessed the legendary, almost cheat-like skill of Absolute Hypnosis.

Though, my Absolute Hypnosis was only a skill that ensured absolute obedience to my commands, not one that delicately repaired shattered minds.

So, the best outcome was to avoid the worst-case scenario where everything rested on my skill in the first place.

I was, after all, meant to reassure everyone as a last resort. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Do not worry so much, Your Majesty. I am here.”

Even though I was leaving soon, my wish for Iomene and Almene, those two sisters, to be happy was genuine.

Today’s procedure.

I intended to guide it towards a recovery, no matter what.

At my words, the expressions of His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress softened a little.

“Understood. Proceed!”

“Yes.”

The priests of the Lilia Order and the court mages approached the two princesses.

Iomene hissed, a touch uneasy at the sight, but settled when I took her hand.

“It’s alright, Iomene. Don’t be nervous.”

Iomene stops hissing at my words.

“If I get better, a kiss.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I’ll give you one. So you gotta get better. Got it?”

At that, Iomene quiets, a happy smile gracing her face.

After calming Iomene, it was Almene’s turn.

She sat beside Iomene, extending a trembling hand towards me.

“I’m shaking. Saint. Could you hold my hand too?”

I nodded.

Almene and Iomene.

I held the hands of both twin Princesses.

“It’ll be alright. Both of you. You’re both strong. And even in the worst case, I’m here. Don’t worry too much.”

Almene smiles faintly at my words.

After a moment of deep breaths, Almene nods.

“Begin. I’m ready.”

“Me too.”

Iomene nods as well, her face serious.

At those words, all the priests and mages in the room began to move.

The massive magic circle drawn on the floor vomited light, and priests of the Grace Order began to pour sacred power onto the two Princesses’ heads.

“A Miracle of Mind Ward is cast!”

“Princess Iomene’s emotional state is stable!”

“Slowly! We must deactivate the blocking magic gradually, never rushing! Begin when the magic circle is ready to activate!!”

Iomene’s right eye.

The blocking magic carved into Princess Almene’s left eye began to glow.

Both of them gripped my hands at the same time.

“Blocking release. Commencing now.”

The mage’s tense voice echoed – in that very instant.

“Ugh!…….aaah!!”

Screams erupted from the two Princesses’ mouths in unison.

“Hold on! You must hold on! Almene! Iomene!”

At my words, the two Princesses seized my hands with crushing force, desperately enduring the pain.

They gripped so tightly that blood began to flow, but I couldn’t even feel the pain.

I can just heal with my body modifications.

Just you two, please.

Please be alright.

Was my wish granted?

For nearly an hour.

The two Princesses endured well.

The procedure unfolded smoothly enough, until now.

“Phase Two release complete! Now for the last! Entering Phase Three release!!”

Everyone involved in the procedure was drenched in sweat.

The court mage wiped the cold sweat from his brow as he spoke, and I watched the two of them with a nervous face.

Please.

Please let nothing happen.

I just hope it goes smoothly like this, without me needing to step in, and they can heal cleanly…

“N-no! aaargh!!”

Almene suddenly lets out a piercing scream.

Iomene, too, suddenly rolls back her eyes and begins to convulse as if seized by a fit.

Unfortunately, it seemed the limit had been reached.

“It hurts!! It hurts!! So painful!! S-stop!! Please stop it! Please!”

Along with Almene’s scream, the priests who had cast mental protection miracles on their heads grow flustered.

“The miracle is collapsing!”

“Their mental state is extremely unstable! At this rate, they’ll break!”

“It’s hard to hold on!”

Almene’s face was twisted in maddening pain, and Iomene’s convulsions only grew more violent.

“Saintess!! Help me! Please!!”

And from Almene’s mouth, finally, the line I most didn’t want to hear came out.

Goddamn it all!!

Should I command them to feel no pain, with Absolute Hypnosis?

No.

Pain is normal to feel.

Forcibly suppressing it… who knows what side effects might arise.

Think!! Kim Min-gyu, you idiot!! Think!

What command can I give that will keep them both safe?

How can I help them overcome this very moment?

Surface, dammit! Please!!…

There was.

A way to save them both with Absolute Hypnosis.

[Skill: Absolute Hypnosis is being cast!]

Both are simultaneously placed under hypnosis.

What I can do isn’t some grand feat of restoring their spirits.

I’m just… helping them endure a little easier.

Please.

Please just hold on.

I pleaded and pleaded, then issued the command to the two princesses.

“Joyful memories! Remember the happy memories!!”

*

It was a task begun with a hardened heart.

Iomene.

Her other half.

For sixteen years, a being tragically wracked with pain.

He wanted to save her.

Almene, because of this, insisted on the procedure, resolute.

It was a task that, one way or another, had to be undone.

And besides, the Saint was also there.

Surely, he would lend his aid, she believed it so.

She’d started with this resolve, but as Iomene’s sixteen years of accumulated, agonizing memories began to pound against her, Almene realized she’d erred.

She desperately held on.

But no matter how much she resisted, how much she endured, these painful memories showed no end in sight.

At some point.

Almene finally sensed the limit had found her.

She gripped the Saint’s hand with a force that threatened to crush it.

It hurts.

It is agonizing.

She wanted to escape.

“Saint!! Help me!! Please!!”

Iomene’s suffering, a black tide, pounded against Almene, savage, threatening to swallow her whole.

After a scream, a death rattle of sorts.

Slowly.

Almene began to be swallowed by the waves, sinking beneath the surface.

If she were to simply sink below the water like this, it would be the end.

She, too, would surely become a being with a shattered self, much like Iomene.

Pathetic.

Was this all her will and courage amounted to, the will to save Iomene?

In fear and regret, as she sank thus…

A single, intense command forcefully pulled her back up above the water.

“Joyous memories! Recall happy memories!!”

Amidst the memories overflowing like a flood, filled with only pain and darkness, a tiny recollection surfaced.

Father.

The memory of the Emperor embracing Almene rose to the surface.

She recalled tea time with her mother and father in a well-tended garden bathed in sunlight.

The memory of seeing a cute puppy, too.

The feel of beautiful paintings and clothes made of soft silk.

Moments when sweet, soft desserts made her mouth happy.

And when she first heard about Iomene from her father and mother.

The moment she hardened her resolve to save her, that, too, came to mind.

The wave of pain still surged in.

Iomene’s memories, of being tormented every week for sixteen years and being left alone to waste away, were carving away at Almene’s mind and self.

But Alméne, she clung desperately to those happy memories, weathering the waves.

Happy, good memories, they were guarding her.

Compared to the onrushing, violent waves, the happy memories seemed fragile, foolishly small, but no matter how much they were hit and shaken by the waves, they never disappeared.

Using those small, seemingly fragile memories as her cane, Alméne endured, and endured, until one moment.

She realized the waves had stopped crashing.

A stillness found her.

And within that stillness, Alméne could hear the sobbing of a young child.

A child, its mind gnawed away by pain and loneliness, still unable to grow, collapsed and weeping sorrowfully.

Alméne went to that child.

And spoke its name.

“Ioméne.”

At that word, the young child, bruised and hurt, its body full of self-inflicted wounds, lifted its eyes.

“It hurts. It hurts.”

Ioméne burst into tears.

“It hurts too much. I’m lonely. There’s no one. I want to die. I don’t want to live anymore.”

Ioméne mumbled like a fool.

Alméne, as if understanding.

Embraced Ioméne.

“I know. Now, I can understand everything. But listen.”

Alméne, those happy memories that had protected her from the waves.

He offered Iomene a tiny ball of light.

“There are still so many happy, good things in the world. Your pain will remain a burden we two must carry together. But my happiness, too, will become a memory we two can share.”

Iomene, carefully.

Receives the light.

Tears flow silently from her eyes.

Iomene caresses Alméne’s light, then suddenly bursts into a small laugh.

A clear, distinct voice, not the clumsy, childlike one, flows from Iomene’s lips.

“The Baumkuchen and desserts you ate. I want to try the cookies and cakes too.”

At Iomene’s words, Alméne laughs, tears streaming down her face alongside.

“Let’s eat. We can eat them.”

“I want to hear my mom and dad say they love me.”

“They will definitely tell you. They will surely say it.”

“I want to walk barefoot through the grass under the warm sun, like you, Alméne.”

“Of course you can. And I, like you…”

Alméne, to Iomene.

No.

One person’s happy memory quietly declares, to their own unfortunate past.

“I want to see the face of the man I love, again and again.”

The terrible memories, too.

The happy memories, seemingly floating into the air.

Now, it all belonged to a single being.

No more distinctions remained.

Only the names separating the bodies were left as difference.

*

“Mental Block Disengaged! Both of your selves are stable! Perfect! It’s a perfect success!!”

With the court magician’s elated shout, the two princesses opened their eyes in unison.

The magic circle that once forced one eye shut was gone.

Both, eyes wide and unhindered, gazed down at the saint, whose hands they clutched tight.

Their nails dug into his flesh, drawing blood from the strength of their grip, yet the saint showed no sign of it.

“Iomene. Almene. Are you alright?”

His eyes, fixed on them, were filled only with worry.

That gaze broke them. In perfect synchronicity, they lunged.

Both dove into the saint’s embrace.

And began, at once, to rub their faces against his body.

“I, I’m sweating like crazy right now!…”

Good.

Even the stench of sweat felt like an intoxicating pheromone.

I love you.

I love the man before me.

The man who saved us, and will finally bring us happiness, so very much.

Truly, I loved her to the point of breathlessness.

“Thank you.”

The two princesses, tears streaming, spoke those words, and the Saint simply smiled, embracing them both gently.

“Good. I hope you both become happier than you have suffered until now.”

That was the intention.

The two were resolved to become happy, without fail.

After holding the Saint tight, Iomene and Almene rose.

Their gazes shifted to the Emperor and Empress, seated on one side, watching them with anxious expressions.

Almene retreated carefully, nudging Iomene forward.

Iomene approached her parents slowly.

She smiled.

Smiling, she sobbed at the same time.

“I… I’m back. Mother. Father.”

It wasn’t clumsy.

Her voice was clear and precise.

“I was in so much pain for so long. So very much…”

She opened her arms.

“Hold me. Tell me you love me.”

At those words, the Empress abandoned all decorum and rushed to her daughter.

She, too, was weeping.

Tears mixed with happiness and guilt.

“My daughter.”

The Empress embraced her.

“My beloved daughter. Ah… Gods. Lilia. Holy One. I thank you. I thank you, truly…”

The Emperor moved even more slowly.

His face, crushed by guilt and regret, he began to approach Iomene.

“Would… would it be alright if I loved you? Would it be alright if I held you and said I loved you? Can you forgive me? Iomene?”

The Emperor, too, was weeping.

And Iomene smiled at this father.

“Hold me. Father. And tell me you love me.”

The Emperor clasped Iomene tightly in his arms.

“I love you. I love you. Iomene. I truly love you.”

Iomene began to cry like a child.

As if vomiting all the pain of sixteen years at once, she wailed and wailed wretchedly.

But upon her face, strangely, a smile that seemed relieved was etched there as well.

The Emperor and Empress clasped such Iomene even tighter.

Everyone within the chamber, quietly.

Were watching that scene.

There was no Emperor there, nor Empress, nor Princesses.

Not the stern rulers of a mighty empire, but a father redeemed and a mother forgiven. And two daughters, shedding tears of joy.

##