My half-sister, Tulpe Edelweiss, had told me she wanted to speak with Alraune.
Tulpe reached out toward the Little Witch, intending to take the pot I was planted in. "I will carry Lady Alraune myself."
"……No," the Little Witch replied. "I'm carrying her."
"Lady Rufe, that dress you are wearing seems to be quite the poor fit. We have a new gown prepared for you, so why don't you go and change first?" Tulpe clapped her hands.
Immediately, a group of maids swarmed the Little Witch. While the Witch Queen's magic had temporarily transformed her into an adult, she had since reverted to her usual ten-year-old self. As a result, the dress intended for her grown-up form was drowning her, leaving her looking rather unkempt.
"It's fine, Rufe. Go ahead and change," I told her.
"……If you say so, Alraune." Reluctantly, she handed my pot over to Tulpe and allowed the maids to lead her deeper into the mansion.
Of course, I knew exactly what Tulpe was doing. The wardrobe change was just a pretext to separate us. She clearly wanted to talk to me in private. Given the circumstances, I actually welcomed the opportunity to speak with her away from the Little Witch.
"Well then, Lady Alraune… shall we?" Still cradled in Tulpe’s arms, I was carried into the mansion. Since I had no legs of my own, I was essentially just a passenger in a flowerpot.
Even when we were children, Tulpe had never carried me like this. We didn't even meet until I was eleven and she was twelve. Twelve years had passed since then, and I had been reincarnated as the plant monster Alraune. Tulpe was now twenty-four. She had blossomed into a woman and her aura had matured, but her orange hair remained exactly as I remembered it. More importantly, she was still wearing the tulip earrings I had given her. Knowing that our familial bond still held strong after everything brought a surge of warmth to my heart.
However, the moment we stepped into her office, I had to look away. Paintings of Iris—of me—were plastered over every available inch of the walls. There were frames of every imaginable shape and size, and every single one of them featured Saint Iris. Surrounded on all four sides by my own face, the sense of claustrophobia was staggering. I didn't want to be in a room like this, but since I was a potted plant, I didn't exactly have a choice.
Tulpe set me down gently on the central table and took a seat in the chair opposite me. I generally kept my past life as Saint Iris a secret—I hadn't even told the Little Witch—so talking to Tulpe one-on-one felt incredibly strange. I was terrified that if we made eye contact, she’d see right through me. To hide my unease, I looked away toward the walls.
A golden-haired girl from a bygone era smiled back at me from a canvas. Her eyes were almost the same nectar-like color as mine were now, but the fact that she was human marked a stark contrast to my current existence. That painting was from the day I first awakened my light magic. How nostalgic.
And that one was from my visit to the Edelweiss Church. The one next to it had been commissioned by my father to commemorate the time I drove back the Demon King’s Army. Then there was the portrait gifted by a famous artist after I’d healed the people of his town. There was even a scene of the Hero's party parading through the Royal Capital.
"Wait, is that…?" There was even the painting Manfred, the Margrave of the Tower City, had given me. I hadn't realized we still had it.
The room was a visual timeline of the most significant moments of my life. There were also sketches of my daily routine and family portraits, but the overall theme was overwhelmingly "Saint Iris." To be honest, it was a bit creepy. Even for my sister, this was extreme.
Bringing a guest into a room this obsessive usually required an explanation, and while I knew this room existed even before I died, it had clearly gotten worse. I shot Tulpe a look that said, "Care to explain what's going on with all this?"
She began to speak as if there were nothing unusual about her decor at all. "You are wondering why I invited you here, aren't you, Lady Alraune?"
Not exactly! I mean, yes, I wanted to know why I was here, but shouldn't she explain the mountain of self-portraits to a first-time visitor? (Even if I wasn't technically a first-time visitor.)
"I have something I wish to ask you. That is why I have requested this private audience."
As expected, my sister was as eccentric as ever. She was going to dive straight into business without acknowledging the gallery in the room. It was enough to make anyone uncomfortable, but I managed to keep my composure. I knew her quirks better than anyone.
"Lady Rufe referred to you as her 'younger sister,'" Tulpe continued calmly. "But you two aren't actually related by blood, are you?"
"……As you, can see, there is no blood, relation between us. But we, live together, as family."
"A bond between sisters that transcends the boundaries of race… how truly wonderful."
Actually, I was the older sister and she was the younger one, but I kept that to myself. What Tulpe said next, however, caught me off guard.
"When I hear the word 'sister'… I cannot help but think of her. You see, I once had a younger sister of my own."
I struggled to find a response. After all, that sister was me. Everyone in this city—and likely every traveler who passed through—knew that the Duke’s Proxy had been the sister of Saint Iris. The Little Witch knew it too. It would have been suspicious if I pretended to be ignorant.
Gathering my courage, I managed a reply. "You mean… Saint Iris, don't you?"
I watched her carefully. Her eyes seemed to flicker for a moment. My instincts screamed that this was dangerous territory. Tulpe was clearly suspicious. I didn't know how much she suspected, but at the very least, she had to be wondering why Alraune shared the exact same face as the late Saint. The Little Witch had already warned me that Tulpe was thinking about it.
To keep her from digging further into that particular topic, I shifted the focus. "What kind of… sister was she to you, Tulpe-sama?"
"…………Iris was my precious… my only little sister."
Tulpe hesitated at first, but then the floodgates opened. Her words began to flow with a rhythmic, practiced passion.
"Oh, she was everything to me! She was my dearest, most beloved sister—the most adorable, wonderful girl in the world! When I first met her, she seemed to be radiating light. I don't mean that figuratively; her beauty and brilliance were so immense they seemed to physically manifest. Others called it a hallucination, but I know what I saw. I still find it hard to credit that someone as perfect as the Saint could be my own half-sister. I never stopped thanking Goddess Selene for that blessing. I was the luckiest person alive just to be her big sister."
There it was—the classic "Tulpe Style." Once she started talking about Iris, there was usually no stopping her.
But today, something changed. The momentum of her monologue faltered. Her voice began to crack, losing its noble steadiness.
"But… I was a failure of a sister. I wasn't strong like her. I couldn't use light magic like she did. I couldn't do anything to save her… I couldn't even be by her side when she was suffering most. I don't know where she died, or why… and no matter how much I pray, I will never know. Because Iris is gone from this world……"
Tulpe let out a shaky, muffled sob, but she forced herself to keep speaking.
"I just want to see her again… I want to talk to her. I want to clear her name and find out the truth of what happened. I want to tell the whole world just how incredible she really was………… But most of all…"
Tears tracked down her cheeks. She was weeping openly now.
"I just want to be with her. I want us to be sisters again… and talk, just like we used to."
I realized then just how fortunate I was. I’d had no idea my family still held onto me with such ferocity. After I died, I’d been plagued by anxiety over what they thought of me. Though we were only half-sisters, Tulpe truly, deeply loved me. I’d always written her off as a bit of a weirdo, but family was family.
The seed of doubt that had been lodged in my chest for the three years since I became an Alraune finally dissolved. My mind was made up. I couldn't stay silent after hearing her pour her heart out like that. I had to show her the same sincerity.
I decided then and there—I was going to tell her the truth.