After Winter left, Violet followed the bodyguard who had arrived earlier and headed to the hospital where the children were.
As she walked, she felt more and more resentful. How could a body that had been thrown from an airship and shot so many times still be in good shape?
In addition, because the road to Alika had been a mess, her buttocks, the back of her thighs, and even her arms were all bruised and sore. But this man didn't feel any pain anywhere. Even the cold didn't seem that hard.
The doctor's words that Winter's sturdiness was at the level of a research subject were no exaggeration. Moreover, when Violet looked at herself from her husband's perspective, he understood why he would pick her up so often. When she tried to walk at his pace, her pace felt too slow, so he thought it would be better to just pick her up and walk.
As she was feeling wronged, the bodyguard, Shizu, who was walking one step ahead, turned around and said.
“As the CEO said, the Alika people were really ogling mixed-race children. No one was picking a fight, but it really annoyed me. I almost beat them up.”
Violet nodded with a bitter expression and asked.
“How is the children’s health?”
“They are all malnourished. And that little girl, Una, was the worst of the lot. She fainted on the way to the hospital.”
“What, what?”
“Oh, she's fine now! She just woke up. But the kids... all caught a cold. The doctor said it must have been caught by Una.”
“Oh, how bad is it? How much do you mean by little by little?”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Not at all. Besides, Alika is very good at medicine, so if they receive treatment here, they’ll all recover quickly.”
“But can you guide me quickly? I feel uneasy.”
At her request, his face turning pale, Shizu wondered why the CEO was being so gentle, but at the same time, he felt uneasy and walked quickly.
The two soon entered the hospital. This was the largest hospital in Alika, and it had large wards, so it could accommodate all the children in one place. As Violet entered, the children sitting on the beds ran towards her with wide eyes.
“Scary old man!”
As soon as Violet quickly counted the number of children with her eyes and was relieved to see that they were all there, the children swarmed over and clung to her.
“Please throw us in again!”
“It’s fun to fly away!”
Violet looked embarrassed at the children's excited urging. No matter how many beds there were, throwing a child was too difficult for her.
She, who had been looking embarrassed, said with a kind smile.
“You’re all still feeling unwell. I’ll do it when you feel better.”
The children nodded sullenly at her words. Violet felt a sense of burden at the children's disappointed faces and approached Una and asked.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm okay!"
“Do you remember coming to the temple?”
Una nodded vigorously. Then the other children crawled onto the bed, lay down, rested their chins on their hands, and spoke.
“We remember too.”
“I remember too! Una said that in exchange for us being a little sick, the Princess would be happy.”
“And that’s what we were originally doing. People who share the pain little by little. That’s what ‘Kanik’ means.”
“But if we catch a cold, will the baby be born? Can we see it too?”
The children were chattering and asking questions all at the same time.
Everyone seemed more comfortable with Winter, who was also a mixed race, than with Violet, so they quickly began to talk about what was on their minds. There was so much they wanted to say that eventually, Violet had to decide the order in which they would speak.
Violet brought a chair and sat down, listening intently to the children's stories and answering them as best she could. Of course, she didn't forget to express her gratitude.
She couldn't be there for the little boy who worked alone in the restaurant, but she could be there for these kids.
Violet made sure the children were back in their beds and sleeping well, and after consulting with the doctor and giving them plenty of food to eat, she headed straight to the house where the Harlin twins lived.
When she arrived, worried about what was going on with Winter, she saw a carriage with a couple in front of the house. Violet was about to go inside the house when she noticed a light coming out of the carriage and opened the carriage door.
As expected, she saw her face sitting in the carriage with a grumpy expression. Violet said with a laugh.
“Don’t make that face.”
“Whatever I do with your face is up to me. If you feel wronged, you shouldn’t have changed your body.”
As soon as Violet got on the carriage, fortunately, their bodies switched again. At the same time, Violet uncrossed her legs, while Winter crossed his legs again.
“Oh, shit. I thought I was going to die. Why are there so many bruises?”
“I bumped into things here and there on the carriage. Anyone would be more surprised to see you looking fine.”
“I’ll apply some medicine for you later.”
“It’s not an area you can apply it to.”
“That’s why I’m going to apply it even more.”
Violet tilted her head, puzzled by Winter's words. Then she quickly returned to the main topic and asked.
“Have you been here alone the whole time?”
“But Harlin’s dying twin came and talked to me for a moment. He was a walking half-corpse.”
“If you don’t want to go in, you don’t have to. Should I just go in instead and say hello?”
Only after she was there did Winter make up his mind, taking a deep breath and wrapping his arms around Violet's hand.
“I think I can go if I go with you.”
Soon the two got out of the carriage. Winter strode briskly to the front of the house and knocked on the door. Then his biological mother, Line, ran over and opened the door.
“I’ve been crying, but my eyes are red and swollen,” said Line, stammering.
“Wow, you’re here?”
As Winter stood there without answering, her husband, who had been behind Line, walked out curtly, putting on his jacket.
“I’m going out to sleep, so eat slowly and go.”
Then, without making eye contact with the two of them, he left the place. As Winter stood silently in front of the door, Violet spoke instead.
“You can stay.”
“I guess it’s easier to go out.”
Line said with a forced smile. In the meantime, Winter still didn't say anything or move. Violet handed Line the ornament she had bought on the way back from the hospital.
“I heard that in Alika, there is a tradition of placing decorations in front of windows. I brought some as a thank you for inviting me, but I hope you like it.”
“Oh my, it’s beautiful. Thank you, Ma’am. I’ll use it well.”
Line was talking loudly. Violet, who was concerned about Winter who was not moving even while the two were talking, grabbed his hand and asked.
“Do you want to go now?”
“...”
“Winter.”
“Please take care of me for 7 more years.”
As he spoke for the first time, the two women looked at Winter. After a moment of silence, Winter continued.
“If only you had held out until I was twelve. I could have earned money on my own from the age of twelve.”
When Line remained silent, Winter continued speaking calmly.
“That’s how... I grew up like this, abandoning your child without even saying goodbye. A man who gets scolded by his wife every time for not saying goodbye.”
“...”
“That’s extremely rude.”
Winter said that as if he was trying to make a joke, but eventually, unable to suppress his anger, he turned around and headed towards the carriage.
As Violet turned to look at her, Line grabbed her urgently with a face filled with sadness.
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll come in... So I packed it up. Can you take this?”
Violet looked at Line again and nodded.
“I’ll take it. I think that person will be upset if I don’t take anything.”
"Thank you."
“My husband said that forcing someone to give me a gift they don’t want is violence.”
"...”
“He always forces himself to give me gifts.”
Violet, who had been choosing her words for a while because she was stuck in the middle, added something, and Line nodded, bursting into laughter and tears at the same time.
As Violet entered the house, Line quickly wiped away her tears and packed the food she had prepared. Each and every food item had already been carefully packed as if Winter had not come in and was trying to deliver it through the twins. Violet quietly asked Line, who was putting the food in the basket.
“Do you have something to say?”
Then, Line took a deep breath and said.
“I don’t know what to say. On my topic.”
“...”
“I was seventeen when I had that child, and I feel so sorry for that. I believed that the young master I served would take responsibility. As soon as I was caught having the child, the former Duke and Duchess of Blooming tried to make me have a miscarriage. I ran away and went around looking for work as a maid, being persecuted for having the child. At first, I hated that child so much.”
“...”
“Then that day, the man who had been following me tried to hack Winter, so I came out of the house where I was living in a panic. The child kept crying that he was hungry, and I didn’t have the strength to protect myself, so how could I protect this child... I was scared and tired of it... So I left him at a restaurant. They kept saying he was hungry...”
Even though Line filled the basket, she still felt like it wasn't enough, so she filled the basket with ingredients that she could buy right away. Violet, who was watching her, opened her mouth.
“The situation.”
“...”
“There are times when that is the case.”
Violet thought of Winter telling her about the situation. She continued, taking the basket.
“I’ll eat well.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Violet smiled at her greeting, said goodbye, and left the place.
As Violet returned and got into the carriage, Winter asked irritably.
“My real mother is holding you? Asking for money? Then tell her to talk to me. Don’t bother her.”
“No. She just packed the food for us. Let’s go and eat.”
“Well, yeah. I’m hungry anyway.”
Winter still looked suspicious of his mother's intentions. To dispel his suspicions, he took a round bowl out of the basket Violet had brought, placed it on his lap, and untied the string that had been carefully tied to hold the pretty cloth in place.
Inside the bowl was meat grilled over charcoal.
Winter asked.
“Are you going to eat now? You’re not that kind of person.”
“I even prepared a fork to eat it now.”
“Isn’t that too bold?”
While Winter was talking half-jokingly and half-seriously, Violet picked up a piece of meat with her fork, put it in her mouth, covered her mouth with her hand, and mumbled.
“It’s delicious.”
At those words, Winter picked up the meat with his hand and put it in his mouth, frowned, and said.
“Tough.”
“Chew it thoroughly.”
Winter shrugged and laughed at Violet's serious solution.
Violet took a sip of her food, trying to make sure it was to her liking, before continuing.
“I also got some bread.”
“Is that the black bread? The one with the big griddled cuts on top?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“I haven’t had that since I was twelve. It’s made by southern farms, and it’s hard on the outside and chewy on the inside.”
"Is it so?"
“I lost a tooth eating that when I was little. I think half of my baby teeth fell out because of that bread.”
Violet listened with a joyful face to what Winter was saying with an excited expression. He found some pleasant memories from his childhood that remained at the bottom of the nostalgic foods, and Violet added the stories she had heard from Line one by one.
Winter nodded when he heard the story of the man who liked Line.
“I remember. My mother was crying and clinging to me as she grabbed me by the back of the neck and tried to drag me somewhere.”
“I see.”
“That’s what it was.”
Violet continued as Winter leaned back.
“Winter.”
"Huh."
“I know that was the situation she was in at the time. I can’t possibly judge her pain. But just because you can’t forgive her, the way I see you will never change. I want you to know that.”
“You’ll see me as a heartless villain.”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m on your side.”
When Violet spoke with eyes that seemed determined, Winter laughed boyishly, as if he had never been hurt by his parents.
“Very sturdy.”
As she walked, she felt more and more resentful. How could a body that had been thrown from an airship and shot so many times still be in good shape?
In addition, because the road to Alika had been a mess, her buttocks, the back of her thighs, and even her arms were all bruised and sore. But this man didn't feel any pain anywhere. Even the cold didn't seem that hard.
The doctor's words that Winter's sturdiness was at the level of a research subject were no exaggeration. Moreover, when Violet looked at herself from her husband's perspective, he understood why he would pick her up so often. When she tried to walk at his pace, her pace felt too slow, so he thought it would be better to just pick her up and walk.
As she was feeling wronged, the bodyguard, Shizu, who was walking one step ahead, turned around and said.
“As the CEO said, the Alika people were really ogling mixed-race children. No one was picking a fight, but it really annoyed me. I almost beat them up.”
Violet nodded with a bitter expression and asked.
“How is the children’s health?”
“They are all malnourished. And that little girl, Una, was the worst of the lot. She fainted on the way to the hospital.”
“What, what?”
“Oh, she's fine now! She just woke up. But the kids... all caught a cold. The doctor said it must have been caught by Una.”
“Oh, how bad is it? How much do you mean by little by little?”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Not at all. Besides, Alika is very good at medicine, so if they receive treatment here, they’ll all recover quickly.”
“But can you guide me quickly? I feel uneasy.”
At her request, his face turning pale, Shizu wondered why the CEO was being so gentle, but at the same time, he felt uneasy and walked quickly.
The two soon entered the hospital. This was the largest hospital in Alika, and it had large wards, so it could accommodate all the children in one place. As Violet entered, the children sitting on the beds ran towards her with wide eyes.
“Scary old man!”
As soon as Violet quickly counted the number of children with her eyes and was relieved to see that they were all there, the children swarmed over and clung to her.
“Please throw us in again!”
“It’s fun to fly away!”
Violet looked embarrassed at the children's excited urging. No matter how many beds there were, throwing a child was too difficult for her.
She, who had been looking embarrassed, said with a kind smile.
“You’re all still feeling unwell. I’ll do it when you feel better.”
The children nodded sullenly at her words. Violet felt a sense of burden at the children's disappointed faces and approached Una and asked.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm okay!"
“Do you remember coming to the temple?”
Una nodded vigorously. Then the other children crawled onto the bed, lay down, rested their chins on their hands, and spoke.
“We remember too.”
“I remember too! Una said that in exchange for us being a little sick, the Princess would be happy.”
“And that’s what we were originally doing. People who share the pain little by little. That’s what ‘Kanik’ means.”
“But if we catch a cold, will the baby be born? Can we see it too?”
The children were chattering and asking questions all at the same time.
Everyone seemed more comfortable with Winter, who was also a mixed race, than with Violet, so they quickly began to talk about what was on their minds. There was so much they wanted to say that eventually, Violet had to decide the order in which they would speak.
Violet brought a chair and sat down, listening intently to the children's stories and answering them as best she could. Of course, she didn't forget to express her gratitude.
She couldn't be there for the little boy who worked alone in the restaurant, but she could be there for these kids.
Violet made sure the children were back in their beds and sleeping well, and after consulting with the doctor and giving them plenty of food to eat, she headed straight to the house where the Harlin twins lived.
When she arrived, worried about what was going on with Winter, she saw a carriage with a couple in front of the house. Violet was about to go inside the house when she noticed a light coming out of the carriage and opened the carriage door.
As expected, she saw her face sitting in the carriage with a grumpy expression. Violet said with a laugh.
“Don’t make that face.”
“Whatever I do with your face is up to me. If you feel wronged, you shouldn’t have changed your body.”
As soon as Violet got on the carriage, fortunately, their bodies switched again. At the same time, Violet uncrossed her legs, while Winter crossed his legs again.
“Oh, shit. I thought I was going to die. Why are there so many bruises?”
“I bumped into things here and there on the carriage. Anyone would be more surprised to see you looking fine.”
“I’ll apply some medicine for you later.”
“It’s not an area you can apply it to.”
“That’s why I’m going to apply it even more.”
Violet tilted her head, puzzled by Winter's words. Then she quickly returned to the main topic and asked.
“Have you been here alone the whole time?”
“But Harlin’s dying twin came and talked to me for a moment. He was a walking half-corpse.”
“If you don’t want to go in, you don’t have to. Should I just go in instead and say hello?”
Only after she was there did Winter make up his mind, taking a deep breath and wrapping his arms around Violet's hand.
“I think I can go if I go with you.”
Soon the two got out of the carriage. Winter strode briskly to the front of the house and knocked on the door. Then his biological mother, Line, ran over and opened the door.
“I’ve been crying, but my eyes are red and swollen,” said Line, stammering.
“Wow, you’re here?”
As Winter stood there without answering, her husband, who had been behind Line, walked out curtly, putting on his jacket.
“I’m going out to sleep, so eat slowly and go.”
Then, without making eye contact with the two of them, he left the place. As Winter stood silently in front of the door, Violet spoke instead.
“You can stay.”
“I guess it’s easier to go out.”
Line said with a forced smile. In the meantime, Winter still didn't say anything or move. Violet handed Line the ornament she had bought on the way back from the hospital.
“I heard that in Alika, there is a tradition of placing decorations in front of windows. I brought some as a thank you for inviting me, but I hope you like it.”
“Oh my, it’s beautiful. Thank you, Ma’am. I’ll use it well.”
Line was talking loudly. Violet, who was concerned about Winter who was not moving even while the two were talking, grabbed his hand and asked.
“Do you want to go now?”
“...”
“Winter.”
“Please take care of me for 7 more years.”
As he spoke for the first time, the two women looked at Winter. After a moment of silence, Winter continued.
“If only you had held out until I was twelve. I could have earned money on my own from the age of twelve.”
When Line remained silent, Winter continued speaking calmly.
“That’s how... I grew up like this, abandoning your child without even saying goodbye. A man who gets scolded by his wife every time for not saying goodbye.”
“...”
“That’s extremely rude.”
Winter said that as if he was trying to make a joke, but eventually, unable to suppress his anger, he turned around and headed towards the carriage.
As Violet turned to look at her, Line grabbed her urgently with a face filled with sadness.
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll come in... So I packed it up. Can you take this?”
Violet looked at Line again and nodded.
“I’ll take it. I think that person will be upset if I don’t take anything.”
"Thank you."
“My husband said that forcing someone to give me a gift they don’t want is violence.”
"...”
“He always forces himself to give me gifts.”
Violet, who had been choosing her words for a while because she was stuck in the middle, added something, and Line nodded, bursting into laughter and tears at the same time.
As Violet entered the house, Line quickly wiped away her tears and packed the food she had prepared. Each and every food item had already been carefully packed as if Winter had not come in and was trying to deliver it through the twins. Violet quietly asked Line, who was putting the food in the basket.
“Do you have something to say?”
Then, Line took a deep breath and said.
“I don’t know what to say. On my topic.”
“...”
“I was seventeen when I had that child, and I feel so sorry for that. I believed that the young master I served would take responsibility. As soon as I was caught having the child, the former Duke and Duchess of Blooming tried to make me have a miscarriage. I ran away and went around looking for work as a maid, being persecuted for having the child. At first, I hated that child so much.”
“...”
“Then that day, the man who had been following me tried to hack Winter, so I came out of the house where I was living in a panic. The child kept crying that he was hungry, and I didn’t have the strength to protect myself, so how could I protect this child... I was scared and tired of it... So I left him at a restaurant. They kept saying he was hungry...”
Even though Line filled the basket, she still felt like it wasn't enough, so she filled the basket with ingredients that she could buy right away. Violet, who was watching her, opened her mouth.
“The situation.”
“...”
“There are times when that is the case.”
Violet thought of Winter telling her about the situation. She continued, taking the basket.
“I’ll eat well.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Violet smiled at her greeting, said goodbye, and left the place.
***
As Violet returned and got into the carriage, Winter asked irritably.
“My real mother is holding you? Asking for money? Then tell her to talk to me. Don’t bother her.”
“No. She just packed the food for us. Let’s go and eat.”
“Well, yeah. I’m hungry anyway.”
Winter still looked suspicious of his mother's intentions. To dispel his suspicions, he took a round bowl out of the basket Violet had brought, placed it on his lap, and untied the string that had been carefully tied to hold the pretty cloth in place.
Inside the bowl was meat grilled over charcoal.
Winter asked.
“Are you going to eat now? You’re not that kind of person.”
“I even prepared a fork to eat it now.”
“Isn’t that too bold?”
While Winter was talking half-jokingly and half-seriously, Violet picked up a piece of meat with her fork, put it in her mouth, covered her mouth with her hand, and mumbled.
“It’s delicious.”
At those words, Winter picked up the meat with his hand and put it in his mouth, frowned, and said.
“Tough.”
“Chew it thoroughly.”
Winter shrugged and laughed at Violet's serious solution.
Violet took a sip of her food, trying to make sure it was to her liking, before continuing.
“I also got some bread.”
“Is that the black bread? The one with the big griddled cuts on top?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“I haven’t had that since I was twelve. It’s made by southern farms, and it’s hard on the outside and chewy on the inside.”
"Is it so?"
“I lost a tooth eating that when I was little. I think half of my baby teeth fell out because of that bread.”
Violet listened with a joyful face to what Winter was saying with an excited expression. He found some pleasant memories from his childhood that remained at the bottom of the nostalgic foods, and Violet added the stories she had heard from Line one by one.
Winter nodded when he heard the story of the man who liked Line.
“I remember. My mother was crying and clinging to me as she grabbed me by the back of the neck and tried to drag me somewhere.”
“I see.”
“That’s what it was.”
Violet continued as Winter leaned back.
“Winter.”
"Huh."
“I know that was the situation she was in at the time. I can’t possibly judge her pain. But just because you can’t forgive her, the way I see you will never change. I want you to know that.”
“You’ll see me as a heartless villain.”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m on your side.”
When Violet spoke with eyes that seemed determined, Winter laughed boyishly, as if he had never been hurt by his parents.
“Very sturdy.”
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