My name was Tulpe Edelweiss.
I was the older sister of the girl known as Saint Iris—my darling Iris-chan.
I could never forget the day I first learned that my most beloved sister had passed away. However, I doubted there would ever be another day in my life where I felt as much shock and pure, unadulterated joy as I did today. After all, Iris-chan was alive—and she was living as an Alraune!
Before I recorded this joy, which felt so great I might ascend to the heavens at any moment, I felt it necessary to recount the events leading up to this miraculous day.
I first became a member of the House of Duke Edelweiss when I was twelve years old. My father was Duke Edelweiss, but my mother had been a commoner—a dancer. It was only through a series of fortunate accidents and coincidences that I was welcomed into the ducal house at all.
At the time, the eleven-year-old Iris-chan had been chosen as the Saint, and it was decided that she would eventually marry into the royal family. Furthermore, even as an illegitimate child, I happened to possess a talent for Light Magic. There were other factors at play, of course, but for those reasons, I was brought in to be educated as a Duke's Daughter to serve as Iris-chan’s replacement.
To me, however, becoming the sister of Saint Iris was a far greater blessing than merely becoming a member of the nobility. I could still vividly recall the moment we first met. She had a lovely, delicate face that looked as though it were sculpted for a doll, and hair of a dazzling, beautiful blonde. Cloaked in shimmering particles of light, she was the very image of a Saint. It seemed I was the only one who could see her truly shining, but to my eyes, Iris-chan was always wreathed in radiance.
Iris-chan was a special existence from the moment she was born—a noble being whom everyone in the Kingdom of Gardenia admired and worshipped. And that child had become my younger sister. I wept as I blessed my own destiny.
However, life as a Duke's Daughter was not entirely pleasant. Between the rigorous noble education of the House of Duke Edelweiss and the frigid glares from my relatives and the surrounding nobility, my environment was far from welcoming. In those days, Iris-chan was my only solace.
As her half-sister, I should have been a thorn in her side. Given that half my blood was that of a commoner, I undoubtedly should have been an eyesore and a nuisance to her. Despite that, Iris-chan adored me as if I were her true sister. I would never forget the gift she gave me—tulip earrings, named after my own name, Tulpe. It was only natural that she became the very pillar of my heart.
As the years passed and I grew accustomed to life in the ducal house, I began commissioning various artists to paint her portrait. I took great pride in the fact that I possessed the largest collection of Saint Iris paintings in the entire kingdom. She was the most popular hero in the land, a goddess to all—and I was her greatest devotee and supporter.
That was why I still could not let go of the regret I felt for that day. Iris-chan, my everything, supposedly lost her life. She had set out on a journey with the Hero and his companions to subjugate the Demon King, stopping by Edelweiss on the way. I never dreamed that would be the last time I would see her in that form.
After leaving Edelweiss and traveling south, Iris-chan defeated a demon named Baldanders, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army. As word spread that she was the one who had truly struck him down, her fame reached its zenith. But the next news we received was a tragic report of her death.
Saint Iris had fallen at the hands of the Demon King's Army in the southern reaches of the Dryades' Forest. This was the testimony of the Second Prince and Zelma, the woman who would later become the new Saint, upon their return to the Royal Capital.
While the entire kingdom was plunged into mourning, our house faced a dire crisis. The Second Prince and Zelma claimed that Saint Iris had betrayed the kingdom and defected to the Demon King. They insisted that they had been forced to execute her for her treason against humanity, and that her body had been vaporized when she self-destructed using Light Magic.
If this had become public knowledge, it would have been a scandal of such proportions that it would have torn the kingdom apart. Thus, His Majesty the King decided to keep the "truth" a secret among the high-ranking officials, announcing to the public that she had simply been killed by the Demon King's Army.
This move ostensibly saved the House of Duke Edelweiss. Had the truth of her "betrayal" been revealed, our house might have been stripped of its status. We owed this mercy to Saint Zelma, who reportedly wept as she begged the King not to hold the ducal house responsible for her senior's actions.
However, in exchange for this "mercy," our house became beholden to her. She held our weakness over our heads. Zelma, once a mere junior apprentice, used our house to secure her own position as the official Saint. We were forced to act as her patron, providing her with a mansion in the capital and funneling massive donations into the Selene Church and the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Gardenia on her behalf.
We could not refuse. The First Prince had been ousted, and the Second Prince—the Hero—was essentially guaranteed to be the next King. Offending the two of them would have invited ruin, especially since the King doted on Zelma to such an extent that some whispered she was the true Empress of the kingdom.
Yet, we did not remain entirely silent. The idea that Iris-chan would ever defect to the enemy was fundamentally unbelievable. A child that kind would never betray us. We tried repeatedly to uncover the truth of her death, but there was no information to be found—not even a trace of her body. It was suspicious. No matter how powerful the self-destruction, there should have been some evidence left behind. Saint Zelma was clearly hiding something.
Four years after her disappearance, a new rumor began to circulate. It spoke of an Alraune in the Dryades' Forest who resembled Saint Iris and had saved the Tower City. More rumors followed: she was as beautiful as a goddess; the Saint Nectar she produced could heal any wound and tasted more divine than any food on earth; she was strong enough to crush the Four Heavenly Kings. The Saint Hair Tonic she invented became the height of fashion among the nobility in the capital.
But the rumor that most caught my attention was that this "Crimson Flower Princess Alraune" looked exactly like Saint Iris. For a fleeting moment, I dared to hope she was alive, but the reports said her hair was lime green and her lower body was that of a plant. I assumed she was simply a lookalike.
Then, six years after Iris-chan’s supposed death, that very Alraune arrived here in Edelweiss.
My tears still would not stop. I noticed I had even smudged the paper with them. I had been looking back on these years because there was no longer any reason to dwell on the past. Even now, it felt like a dream. Unbelievable as it seemed, that Alraune was indeed Iris-chan herself.
She was alive. That fact alone saved me in ways I could never put into words. It truly was a feeling beyond description. It seemed all the years of decorating this room with her portraits and praying to the Goddess Selene had finally been rewarded.
Iris-chan told me everything—how she, a human Saint, had become a plant monster. I was horrified to learn she had been swallowed whole and nearly dissolved by a monster's fluids, only to survive by using Light Recovery Magic to seize control of the creature's body. It was a feat only someone as extraordinary as Iris-chan could achieve, likely with the Goddess Selene’s divine protection.
I wept again hearing about her lonely survival life in the forest. If only I could have been there for her. Still, the stories of her life with the beast-ear race girl, Rufe, were quite heartwarming.
But then... but then! I reached a point in her story that filled me with such incandescent rage that I shattered my chair with a burst of Light Magic.
The ones who had truly "killed" Iris-chan were the Hero—the Second Prince—and Saint Zelma. How dare they betray her! It turned out that they were the true traitors all along. They had branded her a criminal, cut off her limbs, and thrown her to a monster to be eaten. It was an atrocity that could never be forgiven! I wanted to tear them limb from limb this very second.
And that Second Prince! To have the honor of being Iris-chan’s fiancé and then throw it away to have an affair with Zelma! And then to marry her! Our house had paid a fortune for that wedding, and to think we were funding the very people who had tortured my sister... the rage was enough to make me lose my senses.
Iris-chan asked me if I could really believe such a story, but I didn't doubt her for a second. An older sister would never doubt her precious younger sister. I loved her more than all the paintings in this room—more even than the secret, most precious "Iris-chan Collection" I kept hidden in the back of my closet!
Oh, it appeared I had run out of pages. I had recorded every detail of Iris-chan’s life in these books since the day she became my sister. This 58th volume would conclude with the story of our reunion. There was much more to write, but I had to finish for today. I had promised to have a tea party with her tomorrow morning, and I needed my rest.
Thus concluded Iris-chan Observation Log No. 58.
In the 59th volume, my story of vengeance would begin. Just you wait, Saint Zelma and the Second Prince. I would use the entire might of the House of Duke Edelweiss to bring God's judgment down upon you both.