My younger sibling stared at me intently.

Just like back when our dad was just a noble to this child, and I would watch him neatly organize our clothes.

“Eciel, it’s uncomfortable…”

Earlier, it was half a joke, but this time I was serious. Eciel didn’t care and pressed on.

“Why did he say you’re amazing?”

“He didn’t tell me. He said I’d find out if I go to the temple.”

Blatant disappointment transparently filled my sister’s face.

“What the heck, useless…”

I felt a chill down my spine. Panicking, I grabbed the child.

“If you keep talking like that, you’ll be in big trouble. Watch your mouth.”

Eciel didn’t even bother to smirk at my frightened state and ignored it.

“Don’t worry about it. Forget it. Why have you been holding on to such a bothersome comment until now?”

“…. first, I usually don’t forget things well. Second, it wasn’t just any bothersome comment, it was His Majesty the Emperor’s words. Lastly, it was something I couldn’t ignore.”

Eciel looked at me with an exasperated gaze and sighed deeply.

My sister reached out and firmly pressed my cheeks to make me focus on her.

“Then listen to me carefully from now on and think like this. With your memory, you’ll remember my words too.”

“……”

“When he said you’re amazing, which allowed us to be born as twins, it means you saved me. Got it?”

“…… really?”

My speech was unclear because of how strongly Eciel was pressing. She responded confidently.

“How would I know? I heard it for the first time today.”

“……”

“But Claire, if I could have originally died because of you, then it can only be you who saved me. The reason we were born as twins is because you saved me.”

“……”

“From now on, think like that. Okay?”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t relieved after hearing those words.

The anxious heart I was holding onto was let go. Unhidden relief and tension surged within me.

I wonder if Eciel noticed that.

Eciel slightly smiled.

That was how I accepted the <homework> Eciel gave me and returned to my room.

Seven numbers Eciel wrote down. The empty blank space below them.

The empty space felt daunting.

At least seven more things I liked. Things even my sister, who had been with me since before birth, didn’t know about.

Did I really have such things? Truly?

My thoughts deepened endlessly.

For the first time in a while, I created a small vortex and made it spin on the desk.

‘Can I  write things like this?’

I had a fleeting thought and then dismissed it. Because I knew it was just a simple habit rather than something I liked.

I didn’t want to fill it with lies, even by  writing such things.

Unlike my complicated mind, the wind was simple and greedy.

While I was off guard, it grew bigger and swallowed the pen, then slammed it onto the floor in protest.

Rough and merciless expulsion.

Clatter, clatter.

The pen, which got sucked in without reason and was expelled, groaned.

It rolled off the edge of the desk and was about to fall to the floor.

I unwound a strand from the vortex and caught it. I held the pen, which returned to its original place, in my hand.

‘Wasn’t it like this when Eciel found out about my power too?’

Even though my gaze was still on the paper and pen, my excellent memory brought back the past moments as if I were seeing them now.

Old and worn gray clothes.

 

* * *

 

Astariol’s growth wasn’t much different from that of ordinary children.

They spent ten months in their mother’s womb and took about a year to start walking.

Of course, as they grew, they exhibited slightly superior physical abilities compared to ordinary children.

I walked, ran, and talked earlier than Eciel. But that slight physical superiority didn’t stand out much.

At least not in the monastery where Mom and we stayed at that time.

It was a chaotic period.

The tyrant’s reign had ended, and a new emperor had ascended, but it still took time for the entire Roman to recover.

Many people sought refuge in the secluded monastery. Among those seeking the mercy of God was Mom.

Eciel and I were born and raised in the monastery.

Instead of staying there for a long time, Mom made magical potions.

Potions to reduce fever, remove old stains, and other necessities of the monastery.

Such potions were needed daily in the monastery.

Even in a remote monastery, people’s lives weren’t quiet and simple.

The less they had, the more desperate their efforts were to maintain their daily lives.

All the priests’ clothes were the same. Gray clothes with frayed ends.

From the abbot to the trainee priests, their clothes were all shabby.

Even a small monastery without a single priest with divine power must receive subsidies from the Great Temple.

Looking back, they must have shared even the minimum subsidies for their livelihood with those seeking God’s salvation.

They were such people.

Mom was always close to being a non-believer, but during our stay in the monastery, she never showed it.

“May the Lord bless you, Sister.”

“May the Lord bless you, Priest.”

She attended the dawn prayer every day and responded with a bright smile to the priests’ blessings.

They deserved respect.

If the first miracle God bestowed upon humans was Astariol, the greatest miracle was pure goodwill.

The willingness to give everything to the needy and hungry.

We spent about two and a half years in a place filled with goodwill, even if it lacked wealth and splendor.

“Claire, Eciel. Hello.”

The abbot was very old and often unwell. His vision was blurry, and his hearing was gradually deteriorating.

But on days when his body allowed, he would walk around the monastery, meet new people, inspect things that needed fixing, and tend the fields.

And if time allowed, he would visit the children who stayed at the monastery for a long time.

A slow smile creased his wrinkled face. Bending down slowly so as not to startle the children, he greeted us softly.

The scent of piety from his hands as he gently touched our cheeks and foreheads.

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

Back then, I would answer first, and Eciel would follow.

A pleased smile appeared on the abbot’s face. He carefully held our hands and spoke to Mom.

“May I take a walk with the children?”

There was no reason to refuse.

Mom nodded easily.

We left the room we were staying in and started to walk around the monastery slowly. The abbot told us stories of heroes from the scriptures in a gentle voice.

“While Lucy guarded the path, Rosanna never stopped.”

A kind voice. Warm sunlight. The scent of the clean monastery. The pillars and roof covered in ivy.

A piece of a peaceful and simple daily life.

A time when I didn’t even know my own strangeness and enjoyed being an ordinary child.

There were occasional remarks that it was strange for me not to laugh or cry… but back then, Eciel drew more attention, so I didn’t stand out much.

Even though we were twins from the same womb, Eciel was slower to develop and frequently sick compared to me.

“So, Rosanna, who met the star, made a wish…”

In that small monastery, we were happy.

Even without many things, the world filled with goodwill was beautiful despite the daily struggles.

Our steps from the lodging were now nearing the front gate.

The abbot’s peaceful story was also coming to an end.

“… and she wished for salvation, saying that we are so weak, and evil is so strong.”

At that moment, a priest came running from somewhere. Instead of coming close, he stopped at a distance.

He was someone who would usually greet us warmly, and I wondered why he didn’t today.

“Abbot, the three brothers who came in a week ago… they seem to be… showing signs of an infectious disease.”

The abbot’s face turned pale.

I understood now.

In a small monastery where everyone lived communally, three infectious disease patients could kill everyone in just a week.

But I didn’t know that back then.

I shook the head monk’s hand slightly and asked.

“What happened next?”

“Well… Claire, I’m sorry. The rest of the story will have to wait… for another time.”

The abbot rarely stuttered.

The priest, who was looking at us anxiously, raised his voice and coaxed us gently.

“Claire, Eciel. Don’t you want to go back to your mom? The abbot is busy right now.”

Then the priest clammed up as if he was about to say, ‘Shall I take you?’

He must have thought he shouldn’t approach the children since he had been in contact with the patients.

He was a good person.

And usually, such people were the first to die. We never saw the priest again after that day.

It was the first time we learned about death.

Not being able to meet someone who liked me ever again.

Suddenly, I find myself groping around for an empty place in my heart.

That was death.

“… you need to leave. We have to stay and protect this place, but there’s no reason for you and your daughters to go to certain death.”

After that, we stayed in our room until we heard the soft voice of the deputy abbot.

Mom and the deputy abbot were talking through a window, just loud enough for the sound to pass through.

“Deputy abbot… my potions are the only reason this place is holding on. You know that. Nobody knows how far it has spread.”

“Sister, you’ve done miracles for us. Everyone knows that.”

The deputy abbot was usually strict and scary.

He would frown when Eciel spilled or ate something messily, and he would scold me if I was impolite to the abbot.

But at that moment, he spoke more humanely and kindly than anyone else.

“But sister, there’s no more ingredients to make potions. No money to buy them, and we can’t bring any in. This disease must be contained here.”