The Advent of Madness: My Twin Sister And I

Bathing in the warm breeze, Hilda sat me on her squishy lap and gradually fed me today's breakfast. It was a slight inconvenience, but using the Book of Heresy wasn't an option for something as minor as this.

"Does it taste good?" Hilda asked.

"Mhm, it always does. You made it this time, right?"

"Yep! I've been practising~ Mommy has been teaching me so that when I get m- uh, Never mind. But I've been practising well, little dummy."

Hilda puffed out her chest, but from this angle, I could see what she was waiting for.

"Good job, Hilda."

"Hehe~"

She wants praise.

This big, big idiot.

After a couple more munches of Hilda's delicious food, I quipped up and asked her, "How long for you to reach the Third Step?"

Putting the spoon back on the plate, she tilted her head to the side, nuzzled my scalp, and said, "Not long? 3 more years? I think? I'm pretty sure the others are also the same, except for Nemora. According to Yulei, it'll take her two more years to advance."

"What about you, little dummy? You hit the Second Step at 9! That's crazy! How long until the Third Step?"

...Well, the accomplishment isn't entirely mine. I could only do it thanks to Esme completing her Approval on time.

But, knowing her-

"She'll do it in time."

-five more years.

Once we reach the age of 14, we'll have done it.

I can Descend, and she can Ascend.

Then, I'll tell her everything.

No more lies.

No more secrets.

I'll bare it all.

She, a titled Cleansed of the Third Step, and I, a titled Profaned of the Third Step. At that point, there is no going back, even if Esme wants otherwise; I'll be a little selfish this time around, my adorable Esme.

Taking a deep breath:

"Hilda, what's after the Third Step? Are there more? Is the path long?"

Shrugging, "I don't know, little dummy. No one has ever told me, Papa always tells me it'll come to me the further I advance, and that he won't say it."

"How long, then?"

Hilda raised her fingers in front of my eyes, "There's the Awakened of the Initial Step."

That's the same with my Descent.

"An Entrant of the First Step."

I was a Defiler at the First Step.

"An Ascendant of the Second Step, that's where we're at."

I'm a Fallen of the Second Step at the moment.

"And, finally, a Cleansed of the Third Step."

A Profaned of the Third Step.

"That's all I know." Closing her raised fingers, she pulled it back towards me and loosely wrapped the hand around my neck.

"Now open up~"

Nom.

I playfully chomped on the spoon and drank the soup.

With that in mind, I don't have much to do. I simply have to wait for Esme to complete her Approval, and we'll be entering the Third Step.

On my end, everything is already prepared, or even overprepared.

Licking my lips, "Your Approval, Hilda, is it anything complicated?"

Scooping up another spoonful of soup, she pushed it into my mouth and responded, "Kind of? But not really? Mine is weird."

"How so?"

Leaning her face down and forwards into my clear vision, she smirked, "Can't tell you little dummy~"

Oh.

"Fine. No more desserts."

"Eh?!" Hilda jumped slightly.

"Just joking."

"That's a cruel joke!"

"I'm a cruel person."

"Eh?!"

"That's also a joke."

So gullible.

----- Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel⸺fire.net

...Nevertheless, time was destined to pass.

Seconds turned into minutes.

Minutes in hours.

Hours into days.

And days into years.

Throughout these years, each time Esme came and went, my heart would flutter and my stomach prickle with the flapping of butterfly wings.

Hilda was still as innocent as always; it almost made me question her parents' education system; she never kissed me again, ever since that day. Or maybe she wasn't innocent, I'm not even sure anymore.

We hung out with Yulei and Vanessa a few times, and each time Vanessa's face grew darker and Yulei's frailer.

Jill and Elden were like passing ghosts, appearing here and there, but never truly sticking around with us.

As for Hildekar-

Almost no one has spotted his face since that day.

Nemora, on the other hand...

"What would you like, Alora? The peach-flavoured or the mango-flavoured ice cream?"

She stood before me in her electrifying adult beauty.

She was already 18 years old.

Hilda was 17.

Esme and I are now 12.

Still lying in Hilda's thick, tender lap, the cushion behind my head has grown drastically to the point where if I stick my head into the valley, her breasts turn into ear muffs; no, not just ear muffs, I'd probably suffocate to death in there.

"I'll take the mango flavoured."

Plucking a scoop of ice cream from the array of delicacies filling the table, she passed it over to Hilda for the sake of my feeding.

Don't ask me.

I think I know, but I also don't know.

"Open up~" Hilda's sultry voice hissed in my ear.

Fleetingly pulling my chin down, she slipped my mask up slightly, opened my mouth and waited for me to stick my tongue out. Following through with the 'instruction', I consumed the delicacy with bored 'delight'.

She likely reached the Third Step.

Her Authority is high enough to remember the contents of The Canary and the tapestries. That's why she's here now, to glean information from me.

...That's what I'm assuming, at least.

As for Hilda-

Wow.

That's all I can think or even say when I look at her face. When I feel her body on my back, my head, and my butt.

The Third Step Cleansed her like no other.

If when she was 14, I'd have considered her a blossoming beauty, then now she'd be almost fit for the status of a motherly lady; a seductress not just in the making, but a Queen.

And she was only 17.

Imagine when she hit 18, 19, 20...

Or when she reached even higher up the Heirarchy...

Gulp.

I almost always forget the pain I'm constantly under during these moments. And, these moments also make me wonder... How beautiful will my lovely sister, Esme, be after her Third Step?

And, in that regard-

189,432,112HowProfanewillibe?189,432,641

189,433,091Howuglywillibe?189,433,791

I'll find out in 2 years.

"Say, Alora, the black. The waves. Do you know?"

Just as I had my mouth stuffed with ice cream, Nemora's questioning voice crashed into my ears like thunder.

It instantly proved my previous assumptions.

She's reached it, the Third Step.

I stared at her silently, my modest body's reflection glaring back at me vividly in those crystal clear green eyes. Incapable of moving my head to check out my body at the moment, I could only rely on that reflection.

"Alora?"

"Oh, right."

Waking up from my thoughts, I pondered over my response, then said, "It depends on Hildekar, if he can finish it in time, in the next 2 years, we can figure out what the waves are. I have a solid suspicion, but it's not 100% certain. We'll have to wait and see."

"Is it what I think it is?" Frowning, Nemora asked me with no hints of her previous scorn and hatred towards me.

"Probably."

Funnily enough, I didn't even have the urge to nod my head anymore. It's been too long now, I've gotten used to this useless body.

"What are you talking about, little dummy?" Hilda habitually nuzzled my scalp with her chin. She practically purred in my eardrums.

"Something too complicated for your dumb brain, big dummy."

"That's rude, little dummy! I'm average intelligence, don't even test me~ I'm not as stupid as I was when we first met."

"You mean jumping out of a bush and ambushing me?"

"Well, that was entirely your fault, wasn't it, little dummy? You were the one crying on that side path."

"...Fine."

"Ahem!" Nemora cleared her throat, redirecting our attention to her, "I'm here as well, you guys."

Giving us that familiar icy gaze for a split second, the frosty pupils melted moments later, and she continued questioning me.

"How about the bird and the ruins?"

"I'm not sure. It's too cryptic. I'm only familiar with the crown; you should also be familiar with it."

"Yulei's one, correct?"

"Correct."

Picking up a handkerchief, Nemora wiped her hands, neatly stood up from her seat, and said, "I'll see you soon, Alora. I still have more to ask, perhaps too much."

Bowing slightly, she waved at me and left the patio, leaving me and Hilda behind in the warm breeze of the main gardens.

Pinch.

"What were you talking about? The cavern? The three tapestries? Yulei's issue?" Hilda pinched my waist, and, having also reached the Third Step, decided to ask me a few of her own questions.

Funnily enough, I'm sure that if Nemora hadn't brought the topic up, Hilda would have never questioned me.

"Mhm. Nemora was curious. But I don't know too much myself, so I couldn't really help her out."

"Hm..." Swinging her body side-to-side lightly, my vision also swayed with the playful movement, "...When are we leaving? Papa and Mommy haven't said anything these past few years, but their eyes have been looking at me funny. So I'm sure they know something too."

When are we leaving?

"Two years. After Esme and I reach the Third Step."

"And after Hildy finishes building The Canary?"

...I froze.

Hildy?

Did she just?

Hildy, really?

From the bottom of my pitch-black chest, the maddening sprout swayed with glee, spewing its horrors out and into my veins, "Hilda Von Lamperard."

Every word came out with a cold undertone.

"Um. Little dummy?" Her body stiffened beneath me.

"His name."

"Uh-"

"Say it properly."

Gulp.

I don't know what my face looks like at the moment.

I don't know what Hilda's face looks like at the moment.

But 'Hildy' is unforgivable.

"H, Hildekar, little dummy."

My frosty smile melted instantly, "Good girl!"