A new flower bloomed on the barren land.
The trees and bushes hid their sharp thorns and sprouted green leaves.
The black and murky river transformed into a clear stream filled with flower petals, flowing coolly.
The gloomy sky regained its blue, and the strange sounds that echoed from the forest disappeared.
Instead, the chirping of birds and a subtle, beautiful song echoed.
The sight of life filling the dying land was wondrous.
It was a spectacle akin to the miracles of God, praised by humans.
As she dyed the dark world in green, Cheshire tried to convey her true feelings with her power.
‘It’s okay.’
Because she knew better than anyone the emotions the fairy must have felt.
She whispered the words the fairy would most want to hear now.
‘Nothing will bother you anymore.’
The reason she put her heart into it wasn’t just because she empathized with the fairy’s emotions or to escape the Reverse Realm.
Actually, she was reminded of her mother.
If Cheshire had been by her mother’s side when she went mad back then.
She would have tried anything.
She would have bloomed flowers all over the land of death her mother had created and comforted her.
Even if all attempts failed, at least…….
She would have stayed by her side so that her death would not be lonely and painful.
Cheshire recalled the only trace of her mother left to her.
Remembering the lullaby she had sung in a gentle voice, she transformed the gloomy Reverse Realm.
When the Reverse Realm regained its original, complete beauty.
Her vision was filled with flowers.
The fairy, who had regained her sanity, was retracting the Reverse Realm she had unfolded.
‘I did it.’
Cheshire smiled faintly.
She wanted to confirm that she was returning to reality, but she had no energy left in her body.
It was the first time she had used her power by scraping it all the way from the bottom.
She tried to open her flickering eyes, but it was no use.
She didn’t even have the strength to lift an eyelid.
Feeling the touch of hands catching her, Cheshire eventually lost consciousness.
***
She had a dream.
It was a very monotonous dream.
The scene of a woman with long golden hair carelessly let down, leaning against a tree, stroking her round belly and singing a lullaby, continued repeatedly.
The singing woman’s face was not visible.
But the lullaby that lingered in her ears was familiar.
It was the lullaby her mother had sung to Cheshire.
Cheshire watched her from afar before waking up.
“……”
Still in a daze, Cheshire stared blankly ahead.
Four red jewels came into view…….
‘What is this?’
In the short time she was out of her mind.
The four jewels came closer and closer until they were right in front of Cheshire’s nose.
The moment she thought they would collide, the red jewels spoke.
“Baby’s awake.”
“Little sis, you’re up?”
Only after hearing their voices did she realize what the jewels were.
‘It’s Karha and Ishuel.’
Her mind slowly returned.
When Cheshire just stared at them without saying a word, the twins showed signs of anxiety.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking? Is this okay?”
“I don’t know either.”
As they whispered to each other so seriously, she suddenly felt the urge to play a prank.
Cheshire blinked slowly and moved her lips slightly.
“Who are you……?”
A moment of silence flowed.
The twins’ eyes and mouths slowly began to widen.
Karha stammered with a shocked face at his younger sister who had lost her memory.
“Uh, hey, what, what should we do…….”
It was then.
Ishuel quickly struck Karha in the side.
While Karha groaned painfully, Ishuel smiled brightly.
The boy made full use of his bright and pretty face and whispered.
“We’re the people you love most in the world. Especially me.”
His quickness to jump in as if he had been waiting for it was admirable.
Feeling that if she joked any more, not even her bones would be left, Cheshire quickly corrected herself.
“Ah, it’s my brothers.”
Then Ishuel pouted his lips.
Karha sighed in relief and grumbled.
“I thought my heart was going to drop.”
Cheshire giggled inwardly and looked around.
Judging from the slightly shabby furniture and interior, it seemed to be an inn.
Cheshire was lying on the bed, and the twins were sitting on either side of her, looking down at her.
Both of them were stuck right next to her and wouldn’t leave, but when she looked closely, it seemed like they were guarding her.
Under the twins’ fervent gaze, Cheshire slowly traced back her memories.
She tried to calmly recall what had happened before she fainted.
‘This is so embarrassing…….’
She couldn’t think calmly at all.
The more she retraced her memories, the more embarrassed she felt, and she wanted to hide in the flowers.
She couldn’t believe that she, who is not even a child, had cried like that.
There was no need to act like a child just because her body had become younger.
‘I even got caught being a fairy.’
Thanks to Hylon’s firm misunderstanding, it seemed to have been glossed over somehow.
First of all, Kieren and Hylon were the only ones who witnessed what happened in the Reverse Realm.
She wondered if they had told anyone else.
Cheshire probed the twins by subtly throwing out a word.
“Fairy…….”
“Why fairy?”
Ishuel’s eyes, asking right away, were clear.
Judging from their lack of reaction, they didn’t seem to know that Cheshire was a fairy.
“It’s nothing.”
Cheshire reached out her hands to them.
Then the twins each grabbed one and helped her up.
They took great care of Cheshire.
They helped her sit back against the headboard and brought lukewarm water to her lips.
Cheshire drank the water without lifting a finger.
As if they had been waiting for Cheshire to wake up, the two chattered from both sides.
“You woke up in half a day, little sis. You must have been very surprised to be dragged into the Reverse Realm.”
“I’ve never seen a fairy pop out on the street in my life. It’s unfair to take a baby.”
While letting the twins’ voices flow by, Cheshire pondered.
It was a fairy she had been searching for for years but had never met.
To suddenly encounter such a fairy.
It felt unnatural.
‘Besides, it was a fairy who wasn’t well, a fairy who was going mad.’
But she couldn’t let go of the clue she had barely caught.
She needed information about the fairy kingdom in order to fix her body that doesn’t grow into an adult.
She didn’t want to remain a young baby next to Basilian’s three brothers, who would grow up quickly.
A baby who never grows up is just a terrible monster…….
Cheshire glanced sideways at her small feet.
Although the situation was suspicious in many ways, there was also a new fact she had learned.
Just because she had awakened the Reverse Realm didn’t mean that all fairies were as strong as Cheshire.
She hadn’t been sure because she had no one to compare herself to until now.
‘I’m actually one of the strongest fairies.’
She had vaguely thought so, but she realized it for sure this time.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for a fairy who handles the Reverse Realm to be chased by hunters.
Numerous hunters had clung to Cheshire’s mother, who was a mad fairy, but she had slaughtered them instead.
‘Anyway, I need to ask the fairy about this and that.’
She also had to ask how she ended up like this.
She might have escaped from the laboratory.
Cheshire asked the twins, who were still surrounding her on both sides.
“Where did the fairy go?”
“Is that what you were curious about earlier?”
“Don’t be interested in that. Yucky, yucky.”
Karha pronounced the word ‘yucky’ particularly clearly.
Cheshire pretended not to know and said again.
“I want to meet her.”
Then the twins suddenly made troubled noises, like ‘hmm’ and ‘heumm’.
Karha scratched the back of his head and muttered.
“I wonder if the body is still there. No, I don’t think there would be any trace left.”
“You idiot, you should have said she ran away.”
Ishuel snapped irritably.
It seemed they had caught the fairy somehow…….
‘What are they doing to get this kind of reaction?’
Cheshire looked at the twins with anxiety.
Then Karha laughed very awkwardly.
“Well…. we’re kind of asking her questions.”
“Questions……?”
Ishuel retorted coldly.
“How can we leave her alone after she touched you? Of course, we’ll catch her and…….”
Ishuel, who frowned while speaking, said irritably.
“Father and the Inquisitors are interrogating the fairy themselves.”