Chapter 37: Flamm’s Disease
Dining on desserts, Yulei's cheeks puffed as she munched on a bagel stuffed with sweet cream. Licking the cream sticking to her lips with a face melted with ecstasy, Yulei's half-open eyes remained stuck on the piles of desserts.
With all the noble pleasantries aside and a pile of appetising desserts, the Yulei most knew of was nowhere to be found.
Good, let your guard down.
Yes, I was manipulating a child into a good mood so that I could ask them how they lost their ability to walk.
Yes, it's scummy.
And yes, I am trash.
But, so what?
I know I am.
I always have been.
And for my sister, I'd do anything.
The clamminess in my hands, the nervousness in my voice, the inability to express myself-
It's gone.
For her sake, it's gone.
"Nom~"
Planting a piece of cake into my mouth, I had to wrap my whole hand around the oversized fork to keep hold of it. Munching the strawberry and cream cake, I wiped my mouth with a handkerchief and laid down my utensils.
It was about time.
Mother, I shall show you perfection.
Staring past the hazy veils of chestnut and blue hovering past my vision, I broke the silence between us:
"Yulei, I have a question."
Sparing me a glance, she chewed her food, swallowed it-
"What is it, Lady-ahem, Alora?" Due to me setting an informal tone, Yulei quickly switched voices to follow suit.
"Your legs."
Yulei flinched, her gaze sticking deep into my own.
"What happened?"
...Yulei, pausing, took a moment to collect herself and set down her utensils.
Her eyes rumbled with dense emotion, her throat gulped, and faint peals of sweat trickled from her neck.
Those eyes.
Staring straight at me.
They seemed to ask-
[Why?]
[Why are you asking?]
Why am I tearing open a wound?
...That, is what they asked of me.
I responded, "I'm curious, because you were able to stand the other day..." Lowering my tone of voice, I fidgeted with my fingers and moved my eyes off her face and towards the table.
A mask was worn atop my mask; a facade of curiosity based on her ability to stand and the fact that Yulei considers me to be much younger than her.
A ploy at pulling out the answers by making the question innocent.
I'm disgusting.
But I must know.
Releasing a nervous breath, Yulei entered a brief period of silence.
Within this moment of silence, Hilda tapped my shoulder, drawing my attention.
But, after taking just one look at her-
Black lines ran all across her face, even the hand resting on her sword was clenching and unclenching the weapon; she was seemingly contemplating...
Murder.
Her eyes panged with rage—unfiltered anger.
Yet, she didn't act.
Half of her attention was on Yulei, she awaited her judgment.
Between me and Yulei, she decisively sided with Yulei, her friend.
Thus, judgment descended.
Judgment upon the sinful creature.
"...Fine. You don't know, right?" Yulei, with a light smile lingering on her face, proceeded to explain to me; she proceeded to provide me with one of the most crucial clues I'd receive in this damned Domain of Light.
"Flamm's disease. An early-onset disease that occurs on rare occasions in young people, like me. Anyone from newborns to teens can suddenly fall victim to it. You lose your nervous connection to specific things."
Taking a breath, "In my case, it was my legs. I gradually lost all movement capability. Some lose their arms, fingers, toes, or more. And, in some rare cases, people lose their heads. Thereby dying shortly after."
"Early onset Flamm's, that's what I have."
Hilda's tight grip loosened, and I promptly bowed my head, "Sorry, and thank you."
Smiling, "No worries! You didn't know, right?"
"...Yes, I didn't. Sorry."
I could still feel Hilda's dagger-like eyes glaring at the back of my head, but, finally, I got a clue-
It's not unique to Yulei; people from all walks of life, as long as they are young enough, can fall victim to this disease. A neurological disease that affects movement capability and perhaps even sensation.
Will Esme, too, fall victim to this disease?
But if Esme suffers from it, as long as she doesn't get affected on the head, she'd survive...
I pondered for a moment.
Impossible, they'd never give me information for a mere odd of something terrible occurring. There has to be more to it, something crucial to do with the source of the dis-
"Yulei."
"Hm?" I interrupted her as she drank some tea.
"Do you know what causes this disease?"
Sipping from her teacup, she released a satisfied breath and placed it back down, "No. No one knows; only Sir Flamm of old recognised this pattern and aptly named the disease after himself. He spent his lifetime dissecting the cause and effect of the disease, but to no avail."
"I see..."
Suspicious, that's doubly suspicious.
No one knows the cause?
And it only occurs in children?
"If you're curious, go visit St. Neuvae's Clinic in the city. It has many patients and a lot of information you can pick up from them."
"Okay, thank you!"
Expressing my gratitude, and with my curiosity fulfilled, I painted a target upon this 'St. Neuvae's Clinic'.
Let's visit it as soon as possible.
-----
...And just like that, 4 quiet, uneventful days passed.
Other than a grumpy Hilda who pestered me all day on why I asked Yulei something so bad, my days were filled with walking around the palace grounds in search of any more information.
Still, I found nothing.
I was just waiting for an opportunity to go out to the city at this point.
Esme, however, was occupied by a pile of lessons from the Maiden. She had skipped a day when we went out a couple of days ago, and since then, she'd been entrapped by the Maiden's nigh-tormenting lessons.
LuckilytheMaidendoesnotdarehurtmysisterotherwiseIwouldneverforgiveher.
I held back on visiting Vanessa, questioning her on the underground black-market could prove counterintuitive, so I also had to wait for Esme to be freed up to get the chance to visit that place again.
...and...
I want to see Esme's face again.
But I really shouldn't.
I can't, absolutely not-
But I want to.
Ba-dump.
Fanning my flushed face, I endured Hilda's harassing pokes on my waist.
"Why are you fanning the mask, little dummy? Does the mask also get hot? Is it hot under the mask? Is it comfortable? Hey, hey?!"
...Also enduring the relentless questioning of the curious child, my raised heart rate cooled down as Esme's face was replaced by Hilda's grumpy little eyes.
Till:
I'm a hypocrite.
A vile hypocrite.
Till the thoughts inevitably snapped back in place, whether I liked it or not.
No number of Hilda's tomfoolery could distract my mind from these thoughts.
Nothing could distract me from the fact that I am nothing but a hypocrite.
I cry that I cannot let her see this creature in its vile state-
I cry that she shouldn't see these things, that I don't want her to see it-
That because I love her, I should keep a distance-
Yet, no matter how much logic and emotion I throw at this creature-
I want to see her.
I want to see the one I love—the one I adore.
Smiling, I let out an odd cackle stuffed with a managerie of emotions. A cackle loud enough to draw Hilda's attention, to force her to back off away from this creature.
HowdisgustingIam.
WhatamessIam.
"A part of me wishes I had never met her again."
Liaryoulielielielielie-!
Hilda's hand had planted itself on my head, rubbing it with hesitant back and forth even as I spoke and cackled at myself like the twisted little creature that I am. Spitting out an elongated sigh, I lowered my head into my chest, practically curling up on the grass.
Fresh air would be nice, removing this mask would be nice;
Freeingthiscreaturewouldbenice.
-----
'I don't understand Alora of Light.'
Lady Esme's sister and the other half of the Domain of Light, the Ghost of The Palace.
She showed up one day after years of the world having known the existence of only one child of His Majesty and the Mistress.
Not little dummy, that girl that I understand to be stupid...
But Alora of Light, the twisted little girl.
The one who talks to herself, seemingly communicates with an invisible something and randomly utters these strings of numbers at times.
'And the odd morning Alora of Light, the one that awakens like a machine.'
'I just don't understand this girl, I remember her being a little dummy when we first met because I saw her face... Saying all those weird things...'
Confused, Hilda patiently rubbed the little dummy's back. This wasn't the first time she had to do this babysitting duty, this act of waiting for the twisted little girl to wake up from her episode.
Worst of all, she had no one to go to for information on Alora of Light.
And even worse of the worst of all is that she wasn't allowed to convey this private information of Alora of Light to anyone, it was her role as her private maid to keep everything confidential.
Everything.
.....
'Hnnng~!'
Pouting, 'Mommy, what do I do?!'
Her frustrations were rising and alongside it, her borderline violent tendencies. The temptation to raise her fist and pound this weirdness out of the little dummy was the same level of temptation as having someone dangle a bar of gold in front of your face-!
Too alluring!
As this was happening;
As Hilda worried over these matters;
Flinch.
Her ears twitched.
The palm rubbing Alora's back came to a halt, and all the worries and concerns she had burned to a crisp, gone from her brain.
Because-
Flinch.
'What is that?'
She was hearing someone speaking.
'...No...'
Palpitations gripped her heart, tightening its noose around her neck as goosebumps shot down her spine.
It wasn't 'someone'.
Gulping, she bit down on her lips and, with these horrible feelings in her chest, she glared around the open grass field.
Ba-dump.
It was 'something'.