Violet Evergarden Volume 2 Chapter 8

Violet Evergarden Volume 2 Chapter 8

Violet Evergaden: Chapter 8Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, support the creators by buying the official releases .

Battlefields
were like b.u.t.terflies. They swayed and swayed, lives wandering about infinitely
without a destination.

“I am going to break down their vanguard artillery.”

Battles
were like businesses. Filled with lies and truths, bargaining, deceptions. Things
progressed with revenues and losses.

“I’ll back
you up. But Violet, this fight isn’t only yours. Don’t forget that.”




The bigger
the proportion, the lower the chances of the ones that had started said battles
to be in them. They would throw their soldiers into the blazing flames like
chess pieces on a board.

“I recognize that.
However, I alone can suffice for a breakthrough. I concluded that involving others
would be unnecessary.”

Although
the soldiers were bundled up together, that was, in fact, a gathering of distinct
individuals.

“War is not
something personal of yours. Victory is reached through the cooperation of all
soldiers.”

With so
many of them, there were surely those who were bound to become very close to
one another in the ma.s.s of people.

“I understand.
As a soldier, I shall grant you victory, Major. And protect you. That is what I
exist for.”

Even if the
color of their skin, the words that would spew from their lips or everything
they had on them were reproved, everyone was the same at the beginning of all.
Were they dismembered, there would be no difference in the composition of their
blood, flesh or bones. However, even the bodies of snowy countries’ young men
and southern nations’ boys were currently sinking within the soil of what was the motherland of
none of them.

“I am fine.
Prioritize your own body.”

The
interchange from life to death occurred naturally, due to the existence of a
greater cause.

“Major, I
am your tool; your weapon. Weapons… exist to protect their wielders. Please do
not say that to me. The word you always use… is enough for an order. Please
say it. ‘Kill’.”

If so, what happened
in the meantime that said cause was lost?

Emerald green
orbs darkened. In a battlefield of scorching gra.s.sland and deluging dirt, the
Lord and his subordinate locked eyes with each other. The subordinate kept by
the Lord was a beautiful monstrosity. Said monstrosity prided in being the
strongest fighter, and was as ignorant as she was innocent. Until the time when
her eyelids would close for eternity, she would not know the feeling of having
her body burn. There was conviction but no salvation for her. Her hands never
held onto anything, and she would most likely continue living that way.

“Violet.”

She was
definitely destined to do so.

“Kill.”

The Girl Soldier and Her Everything

The long-lasting
confrontation involving the allied nations of the East, West, North and South of
the continent was named the Continental War. Resources strife between North
and South; religious strife between East and West. The diverging interests of
the Northeast and Southwest, which had formed an alliance with and convolutely comprised
each other, interwove with one another and eventually broke out. The Northeast lost,
the Southwest won.

Originally,
the inequality of the trade between South and North was much too strong, which
compelled the North to start the war. The voices of criticism regarding the
victory were many, coming from countries that had not partic.i.p.ated in the war.
What was essential to the war was compensation once it was over. Due to disapproval
from other countries, the southern side had only requested the removal of
military factories, mainly producing and storing weapons and ammunition, after
war reparation. The northern countries had scarce natural resources, but their
machinery industry was superior to the South. The confiscation of such
technology and the calling-off of their military forces was what served as the
compensation.

As no other
sanctions had been imposed, there seemed to be peace at first glimpse, but in
reality, it was not an exaggeration to say that unsaid rules had been
imposed.

The
settlement of the East-West war was of superficial mutual reconciliation. The West,
victorious, did not forbid the forms of belief of the East and suggested
coexistence. However, it was not a reciprocated compromise in the true sense, as
it conditioned the East to accommodate to a certain amount of taxes for each
church of the West. Moreover, the East had been prohibited of pilgrimage to Intense,
the most important sacred grounds of the East-West religion, which had also
been the site of the decisive final battle.

There were
numerous states all over the continent’s territory. The lump called Continental War
had been but one of the conflicts caused by bigger countries putting limits to
each other. Nonetheless, peace was brought temporarily to the concerning nations.

Along with post-war
reparations, the wounded soldiers would clearly be included in the subjects to
come. Soldiers provided for national defense once wars were over. The current
objective was to devote medical treatment to the ones that had been injured in
the war.

Leidenschaftlich,
one of the winning countries, had its military hospital built on a not-so-tall hill.
The name of said hill was Anshene. It was a problematic location, as the
roadway to it, made by cutting dense trees, was narrow and required caution and
driving skills whenever carriages and cars had to pa.s.s by one another.
Originally, it was a recreational facility of the army, and had been quickly
transformed into a medical one in order to make up for the lack of hospitals. Such
was one of the consequences brought by the war, in which so many soldiers had been
injured that the number of sickbays became insufficient.

When going
down the road, one had to pay attention to the pa.s.sage of small animals, such
as squirrels and rabbits. After three or so small animal attention signs, the
hospital could be sighted. The property retained a luxurious, broad garden. It
was a place for playing outdoor ball games, where one could bask in a peaceful
walk through the woods. Even the parts of it that no one used would now likely
see the light of the sun. Due to the increasing support of wounded soldiers’
families, the hospital had recently become able to acquire regularly operating shared stagecoaches. Children brought in them played together albeit often
being strangers to one another.

Amidst those
who hopped off the stagecoach was a remarkable man. He wore a tone-on-tone plaid
vest over a white shirt and wide pants made of a Bordeaux-colored fabric, decorated
with Suède strings. A plaid ornamental cloth rustled from his waist belt. He
was a charismatic man, his fairly long crimson hair tied behind his head. Perhaps
because he had many acquaintances in the hospital, amongst not only the nurses
but also hospitalized patients and their families, he pleasantly returned all the
greetings directed at him. His gait was unfaltering.

He climbed up
the stairs and walked through the corridors. The scenery from the windows was
the best view that Anshene hill could provide. Beyond the mountain woods was
Leiden, the port capitol. A gull flew in the distance, growing farther away. The
current season was early summer. The mountain winds brought in the smell of freshly
blooming flowers through the open windows.

The room
that the man entered after a knock was an infirmary used by multiple people. Female
and male soldiers were apparently split. Some patients of that room were
separated by curtains and could not be seen, but all were women.

“Mister
Hodgins, she has awoken… honestly, it was a ha.s.sle.”

The
so-called Hodgins was dumbfounded upon being informed in a fatigued tone by a
nurse accompanying a patient. “No way, seriously?” his voice echoed through the
infirmary. Breaking into falsetto, it denoted amazement, joy and a little bit
of unease.

He gazed at
the interior of the room with a nervous look. The one he had asked for lay
there, on a bed made of rusted white pipes, staring at her own hands. The eyes
that wondrously observed the artificial limbs as if they had been forcefully
attached to her shoulders were of a clear blue color. Her hair grew unevenly,
but was as flowy and golden as a sea of rice ears. She was a girl so
beautiful that she could take one’s breath away with just a glance.

As she took
notice of Hodgins, who was searching for words as he walked to her side, she
opened her mouth first, “Major… where is… Major Gil… bert?” Her lips had
cracks from being too dry, blood welling in them.

“Little
Violet… you were quite a bit of a Sleeping Beauty.”

The girl
was an injured soldier, just as the other patients. She was the driving force
of Leidenschaftlich’s army, acting from the shadows without any registration –
the weapon that only a certain man could use, Violet.

“Do you…
recognize me? It’s Hodgins. I commanded the Leidenschaftlich units at Intense.
See, during the night of the last battle, we greeted each other, remember? You
weren’t waking up, so I was worried.”

However,
for Hodgins, the fact that she was the soldier his best friend had raised was
more significant. As the other patients began talking with one another in
hushed whispers, he closed the part.i.tion curtains and sat on a nearby
chair.

Violet looked
into the gap between the curtains. She was probably expecting someone to enter
from there. “What about Major…?”

“He isn’t
here. Since he has been… busy because of the postwar victory. It’s not a
situation where he’d have an opportunity to come.”

“Then…
then… he is alive, right…?!”

“That’s…
right.”

“What about
his wounds? How are they?”

Taken aback
by her frantic aggressiveness, Hodgins stalled for an answer. “In terms of
injuries, he was in a better state than you. You should worry more about
yourself.”

“Whatever
happens to me… does not matt…” for a moment, Violet peeked into Hodgins’s
eyes as if suspecting of something. “Is this information true?” Her gaze
was icy. Precisely because she was so beautiful, her outer ghastliness
increased with it.

Yet Hodgins stared back into her blue eyes without wavering.
Contrastingly, he put on a cheerful smile. “Worry not, Little Violet. I’ve come
to visit you because he asked me to.” With a
gentle tone, he created an atmosphere as warm as possible.

Such was Hodgins
specialty. From extolling his superiors to making his way into ladies’
bedrooms, the process was different but the technique was the same.

“Major…
did?”

Firstly,
he had to make the other party think of him as an ally.

“Yeah. We’ve
been best friends since back when we studied at the army’s military academy. We
always help each other whenever anything happens. We might be more familiar
with one another than with our own parents. That’s why I’ve also been entrusted
with you. Gilbert is concerned about you. I’m the proof of that. Though you
might have forgotten about me…”

“No…
Major Hodgins. I recall it. That was the second time… we had met.”

“Eh, you
remembered up to the first one? You… didn’t say that on the night of the last
battle.”

Hodgins had
said during their second encounter, “Well, this isn’t your first meeting with
me, but you don’t remember it, do you? I’m an one-sided acquaintance of yours.
Call me ‘Major Hodgins’.” And in response, Violet had merely saluted him.

“I had not
thought I was being asked to speak.”

“Do you
really remember… our meeting in the training grounds?”

“I had not
yet learned words back then, so whatever was said is unclear to me. But Major
Hodgins was very friendly with Major… Major Gilbert.”

As he had
thought she had taken no notice of such things, his happiness was more prominent than
his astonishment. The tension that had previously surrounded the two of them had diminished
slightly. Violet was self-conscious of Hodgins, and Hodgins was self-conscious
of Violet.

“Is that
so? He is all right…?” Violet closed her eyes and sighed in relief.

What the
nurse had described as a “ha.s.sle” possibly referred to that. Someone who would
only ask about Gilbert in spite of whatever was being said to her was unquestionably a ha.s.sle.

“Your unit’s
achievement was particularly huge. To compensate, there were many casualties,
but… it’s the same for all the corps. Just as planned, you caused a
disruption, destroyed the North’s posture, and we were able to strike them down.”

“The
doctors have told me… that we won the Great War. But I do not… have any
memory… of the very end.”

“You were
lying on top of Gilbert and you both fell unconscious. Then, you were saved by
a comrade who called for reinforcements. It was close, but well, neither
of you died. Your blood loss was especially profuse.”

——Your resistance level is beyond that of
humans. Such words
had traveled up his throat, yet he did not muster them out.

“What kind
of mission… is Major in at the moment? When should I join him? My body… is
not moving, but… it will return to normal within a few days. Major was also
supposed to have suffered serious damage. His eye…” Violet’s voice wilted
halfway, “I was unable to protect him. I will at least stay by his side to
replace his eye.”

——It ain’t very good… to believe too much…
in something.

From the
very start, the girl had not mourned the loss of her arms at all, only worrying
about a man that was not present. Hodgins could not sincerely think well of her
blind devotion.

——Trust and faith are different things.

Violet’s att.i.tude
was close to faith. Hodgins’s way of thinking was, very much like him, oriented
by a calculation of profit and loss. Be it with material possessions or with lovers,
overestimation was not advantageous. Otherwise, any case of sudden betrayal or
disappearance would be unbearable. He was very pa.s.sionately enthusiastic when
it came to social disposition, but his reasoning was cold.

“That will
be impossible, Little Violet. The one who should worry about their body is you.
Your arms… you must already have noticed, but there was nothing that could
have been done. I’d wanted them… to have put prosthetics of a more subtle
design on you, but… this is a military hospital. They ended up being combat-specialized ones. I’m sorry.”

“It is good
that they are st.u.r.dy. Why are you apologizing, Major Hodgins?”

Upon being
asked, Hodgins shrugged. He had no words to reply with. “I wonder why.” His
eyebrows were low as if he were troubled.

With that,
the conversation came to a halt and a drape of silence fell between them.
Perhaps because the infirmary was quiet, said drape was painfully perceptible.

“Little
Violet, is there anything you want to eat?”

The sound
of the second hand of a clock hanging on one of the infirmary’s walls.

“No, Major
Hodgins.”

The
whispering voices of nurses and patients.

“Don’t
you… want some water?”

Their own
breathing.

“It is
unnecessary.”

They all echoed
much too conspiscuously.

An image of
every bullet of potential topics shot at Violet being sliced by her with her
battle-axe Witchcraft played in Hodgins’s head. The talk did not progress from
there.

——This is a problem. To think that a guy like
me would have difficulty chatting with a girl…

Hodgins
groaned inwardly at how considerably hard it was to please the Warrior Maiden
of Leidenschaftlich. Their only commonality was Gilbert Bougainvillea. However,
since she dedicated her body to her Lord to the point that the first thing she
had asked upon awakening were his whereabouts, wouldn’t speaking of him only
cause her to feel desolate?

——I mean… does she even think of anything as
lonesome? She does seem… obsessed with him, though.

It was
hardly imaginable that the girl, who looked like an inorganic and refined art
piece, was a living being. Was she alive or dead? If she were alive, what did
she enjoy in her life?

——Aah… Gilbert, you’ve asked a pretty
troublesome favor.

It was
difficult to divide people into two types, but there were those who could withstand
silence and who could not. Hodgins was rather the latter. His gaze
instinctively lowered to his feet as he aimlessly rocked his shoes with them. As
his droopy, grayish blue eyes wandered to the floor, he found something. He
then reminisced to the existence of what could get him out of his dilemma.

“That’s
right, I had brought gifts for the visit! I’d been avoiding doing this because
I was told it would get in the nurses’ way, but I’ve actually been bringing in a quite
a bit of stuff until now. Here.” Hodgins took paper bags from under the bed. He
turned towards Violet, who could not sit up, and pulled a stuffed black cat from
within one of them.

Violet’s
reaction was minimal.

He then
took out a stuffed feline with tiger strips. Lastly, he took out a stuffed dog.
Lining the three of them up, he made them bow with a, “‘h.e.l.lo’!”

Her
reaction was still dull.

“Is it…
no good?”

“What is?”

“Did they
get reproved as a present for you?”

Violet’s
big eyes blinked. Her golden lashes swayed as well. “For me…?” She really did
hold doubt. “Why for me?” Violet asked again, adding one more word.

“Since you
were injured and hospitalized, getting gifts during visits is only the obvious.
I see, so you’d never been hospitalized before. These are my feelings… like,
‘get well soon’. Your belongings… have gone missing in the postwar turmoil.
You have nothing now. That’s why, in order for the room not to get lonely…” at
that second, Hodgins’s body gave a p.r.o.nounced flinch.

It was
because Violet had let out a gasp that sounded like a swallowed scream.

“A-Are you
okay, Little Violet?”

“Brooch…”

“Little
Violet?”

“My brooch…
my emerald brooch… it is something that Major gave me. If it has been lost, I
must look for it. It was given to me…!” Violet moved her neck in a
forceful attempt to stand.

Hodgins
frantically moved to stop her. Nevertheless, there were no issues, even without
him holding her back. Violet could not get up at all.

“Why? Why…?”

There was
no way that someone who had been in a coma for months, and on top of it, had
their upper limbs fall off and be replaced by artificial ones, could immediately start
walking around. Her prosthetics creaked.

He held
down her shoulders as she seemed to be about to collapse. From the sides, it
looked as if he was pinning her violently.

——Cut me some slack.

Hodgins’s
inner gentleman could not forgive the manner with which he was pressing down
the girl soldier that his best friend had entrusted to him, who was also a
woman weakened due to losing her arms.

“Is it fine as long as it’s emerald? I’ll buy another to replace it, okay?”

Violet
shook her head slightly. “There is… no replacement.” She closed her eyes as
if suppressing something.

Hodgins
concluded it was an extremely important item. “I understand. I’ll buy it
back, so rest a.s.sured, Little Violet.” He declared without thinking twice.

“Can you do
it…?” Violet’s resistance ceased instantaneously.

Without
delay, Hodgins put on a boastful grin and nodded, “Probably. I think it’s gone
to the black market. I’ll try to contact a merchant that I’m acquainted with.
Please, don’t think of going anywhere out of here in that state. Until then,
couldn’t you endure it using these? Stuffed toys and brooches are… completely
different things, but… ain’t they cute? This is exactly like one I used to own
in the past. Little Violet, would you have preferred stuffed rabbits or bears?”

“I do not
know.”

“Which is
the cutest one out of them? If you had to choose no matter what, tell me which
it would be.”

She had
certainly never been asked such a question before. Violet silently eyed the
plushes from right to left.

“What if
the condition is that the world would end if you didn’t respond? Okay, three,
two, one! Answer!”

“No way…
the dog… maybe?”

“Mickey,
right?! Ah, Mickey is the name of the dog I used to own. Then, I’ll leave him
right beside you. Isn’t that great, Mickey? You’ve been chosen.” Hodgins placed
the stuffed dog he had named Mickey near Violet’s face. He ma.s.saged his own chest
while watching her finally calm down. Cold sweat trailed his back.

Primarily,
Violet seemed to have no interest, but eventually dragged her head close to the
stuffed toy and touched it with her face.

After
casually watching her for a moment, Hodgins said, “Little Violet. There’s a tad
too many people here, so if a private room becomes vacant, should I transfer
you? The formalities have been dealt with. It’s… been several months since
that last battle. At first, the infirmary was also crowded, and there weren’t
enough beds. But now the number of people has finally decreased… though that
was just from the fact that most who were brought here died… that’s why… it
seems there will be private rooms available. When that happens, these can be
put there as well…”

Was a stuffed toy itself something rare to her? Perhaps because it felt pleasant albeit feeble, Violet
closed her eyes and rubbed her nose against its stomach. As she had just
awakened, she could not yet move her untrained prosthetics. She could only
touch it with her head. Once she had pushed it too much and it strayed, she
stirred her neck and landed her cheek on it again.

“And,
also…” At the sight, whatever Hodgins was about to say was erased from his
mind. “Erm…”

Her actions
were incredibly natural.

“Is it
fun… to touch… that plushie?”

“I do not
understand ‘fun’. However, I believe I want to keep touching it.” Possibly due
to her anxiety and nervousness subsiding, her tone was softer than before. She
politely thanked him as he held still the plush that was drifting apart from her nose
once more.

——She was… this kind of child?

An emotion
unlike whatever had been wafting within Hodgins until now began to sprout in a
corner of his heart. It was not fear, inconvenience or desire to control. It
was something more lukewarm.

“I see…
yeah, I used to be like that in the past too. Little kids… ah, no, I don’t
mean it in a bad way, but… little kids do that a lot. It’s not… like
they’ll always be looked after by their parents.”

“I do not
know my parents.”

“Aah,
that’s right…”

Children
would touch humanoid and animal toys in search of solace. But those were not real
protection from insecurity and toxic environments. In actuality, they were but
subst.i.tutes. Childhood itself was a replacement for shelter.

——She was… the kind of child to do
something like this?

He could
not determine anything just from her reaction.

——No, isn’t it more like… she can’t keep up
without doing something like this? Right now, she is genuinely… alone.

“Erm…
what was it again? That’s right, if there are any other… other… things you
want me to do, just say it. Gilbert entrusted you to me. If you’re bothered by
anything, I’ll try to solve the matter however I can. Somehow, the things I’m
saying are messed up, huh. When you woke up, I was… a bit… shocked, and
ended up talking too much.”

Violet
replied curtly, “Thank you very much.”

Hodgins,
who was a master at keeping a poker face, maintained a grin, but under his
smiling façade, he embraced a completely different feeling.

——I see, so that’s how it was?

He had not
had many opportunities to get to know Violet – only during the few days
subsequent to the gruesome spectacle presented in the training grounds, in which he
had seen Gilbert for the first in a long time after their promotions, and the night
before the final battle. Once said battle was over, he had come visit her many
times. Violet had no parents or siblings. Neither did she have friends. Hodgins
was always her sole visitor.

——Even though I know how powerful she is, and how
many she can kill…

Perhaps he
should disqualify her as a weapon and put an end to such insanity.

——Aah, this is…

Just from
conversing with her normally and watching her movements, he could understand.

——This is no good. This… I mean… Gilbert,
you…

“Major
Hodgins?”

——Isn’t she… just a young girl?

Hodgins
felt as if a soft spot somewhere within his heart had been hollowed out with a
spoon. As she was so demonic in battle, he had forgotten about it. He had played
a blind eye to it. Most likely, anyone in the Leidenschaftlich army who sighted
her had done so as well.

“If this…
is left in my care, will it not break?”

Violet was
but a child that would do nothing when she was not fighting. She was not
registered as a person, and had been raised not knowing life outside of the
battlefield. She was a beauty-endowed weapon, a commodity, an a.s.set. A girl
soldier that was permitted to live in exchange for her battling capabilities
had no need for unnecessary knowledge.

One would
never think that watching her in combat would instigate so much fear that people
would not dare speak to her. Her adult-like appearance caused men to feel
excited rather than paternal. She was not treated as a child at all.

——Still, what’s in front of my eyes now is…

“You can do
as you please. It’s already yours.”

“All
right.”

What lay
before Hodgins’s eyes was the girl that Gilbert Bougainvillea had made a
‘person’. The one who had taught her words and manners was Gilbert himself. Doing so
while leading army troops in wartime must have been terribly difficult.
Hodgins knew of Violet’s initial circ.u.mstances.

“Major
Hodgins, is something wrong?”

“No,
nothing. Isn’t there… anything else?”

While taking
back the bags, Hodgins was immersed in the feeling that his entire body was
rotting. He attempted recalling how he had regarded Violet so far.

——That time, I… wagered on you.

He no
longer remembered what he had bought with the cigarettes he had earned. Gilbert
had stubbornly refused to take his own share.

——I had thought you would, surely, be of use to
the military.

Just as he
had imagined, Violet had done an excellent job. During the final battle, she had
successfully caused the disturbance that had been the key of his strategy. That
had been merely one portion of a grander achievement, but he did not know of
other soldiers whom could say they would have accomplished the same in that
situation. Had she not fought, the number of casualties amongst their allies would have
been even bigger. Conversely, there were many who would have escaped death without
her there. She was that kind of existence.

——I thought… we could use you.

The girl
who had survived by slaughtering men one after another at those training
grounds pledged allegiance to Gilbert alone. A part of Hodgins had believed
that, since she was a monster, she was better off as a cold-hearted a.s.sa.s.sin
doll that could not conceal her brutal nature.

——There’s no way…

The girl who
had been named Violet peeked through the curtains with unyielding expectation. Her
figure was similar to that of a chick searching for its parent bird.

——…that this… was the case.

“Little
Violet, I’m sorry.”

“For what
reason?”

“The gifts
I have aren’t that good. Next time, I’ll prepare lots of stuff to surprise you.
You used to travel a lot, so you haven’t gone shopping downtown, right?”

“Only
once.”

“Is that
so? I’ll put in more effort next time. Get your hopes up. Even if you don’t
like them and they’re no good, it’d be great if you could not throw them away.”

“I do not
quite understand, but I will not do that.”

“‘Kay,
thanks.”

After that,
even as the conversation did not continue, Hodgins stayed with Violet until
sunset. They could hardly chat as Violet had continuously fallen asleep and
awoken in the process, since she was unable to stay conscious for too long.

At evening,
a bell would resound to inform the end of visits in the hospital. Along with
it, the nurses started prompting visitors remaining in each room to take their
leave. Hodgins was unable to move immediately.

“Major
Hodgins, the visiting period is over.”

“Hm.”

“Is it all
right for you not to go home?”

In the
beginning, their talk had not been progressing and he had wanted to hurry home,
but now he wanted to be by her side very much. Leaving her alone in that state
ached in his conscience. As he pierced his own heart with the fact that that
such pain was too late to occur, what he felt was even more of it.

“The nurse
is glaring at me, so it’s not. Guess I’ll go home… ah, speaking of which, I
forgot to say this: I’m not a major anymore. I’ve quit the military.”

“Is that
so?”

“Yeah.”

“What do
soldiers… do when they deploy from the military?”

“We can do
anything. Life doesn’t have only one path. In my case, I’m an entrepreneur
trying to open his own business. I’ll be the president of an agency. Next time,
I’ll tell you about that.”

“All right,
Maj… Hodgins…” She was certainly at loss as to how she should refer to him.

Hodgins
giggled. “You can call me ‘President Hodgins’. I don’t have any employees yet
so I’m not referred to like this, and I can’t get anyone to call me that.”

“President
Hodgins.”

“It doesn’t
have a bad ring to it. When Little Violet said ‘president’, I got chills.”

“Are you
cold?”

“Hmm…
next time I come, I’ll explain to you about jokes.”

Although it
was summer, Hodgins pulled Violet’s comforter up to shoulder level so that she
would not be chilly at night, placing the dog plush next to her face once again. She
stared straight into him. Unlike the first time she had done so, Hodgins was
unable to bear it and wound up averting his gaze. He directed it to the window.
The scenery that could be seen from the infirmary was dyed with the orange shades
of sunset.

The borders
of day and night intertwining was a scene that one would always end up
contemplating, regardless of where they were, what time it was or what they
were doing. The clouds in the sky, the sea, the earth, the city, the people; a madder
red light poured over everything. Even as those that received such grace were
not actually equal, at that moment, all were h.o.m.ogeneously covered and
gradually being embraced by the night. As Hodgins
commented, “Pretty, huh?”, Violet replied with, “It is beautiful.”

“Well, then.”
Hodgins said as he got up from his chair.

“Farewell.”

“This isn’t
a ‘farewell’. I’ll come again.”

——Though you… may have zero interest in me.

Opposing his expectations, Violet whispered expressionlessly, “See you…”

She had
fixed the “farewell” into “see you”.

“Yeah, see
ya, Little Violet.”

After a
brief silence as if she were deep in thought, Violet nodded a bit.

Insects cried
so as to inform the world of their short life.

The hospital
of Leidenschaftlich’s army was encircled by a forest with lush greenery. The
path arranged for wheelchairs to pa.s.s through pushed by volunteer soldiers had
recently started turning into a resting place for patients. Wooden tables and
chairs were scattered along its course, and it was not uncommon to see the
hospital staff distributing meals around them at lunchtime. In that midst were a
man and a girl.

“Little
Violet, aren’t you tired?”

Both sat on
stump chairs next to each other. Some time had pa.s.sed since the early summer of
their reunion, and they spent the best moment of sun exposure quietly. It was a windy,
refreshing and easygoing summer day.

“President
Hodgins, there are no issues. How about ten more strolls?”

Violet wore
a loose cotton dress. Although it was a simple and plain clothing, her emerald
brooch gleamed on her chest. She would occasionally glance down at it to
confirm its existence. Watching her, Hodgins smiled without pointing it out.

“That won’t
do. The doctor told you to just go once and return, right? I also get anxious
when I see you like this… I’ll push you on the way back.”

“But…”

“No.”

“But…”

“You can’t.
I’ll know right away if you’re forcing yourself.”

“All
right…”

“Now, let’s
wipe that sweat, or else, you’ll catch a cold.” Hodgins took out a
handkerchief.

Violet
grabbed onto it, preventing him of properly cleaning her forehead.

“Can’t I be
the one wiping it?”

“No can do.
I would not be able to practice otherwise.”

“But, hey,
you’ll mess up your hair.”

“No can do.
The one who said I should first and foremost learn to move these arms was you,
Maj… President Hodgins. Indeed… in this condition, I would be of no use to
Major. Quite the reverse, I would be a dead weight.”

At that, Hodgins
did not let any bitter smiles or afflicted expressions show.

Ever since
the girl soldier Violet had awoken, the number of visits he paid her had
acc.u.mulated into two months. Every time they saw each other, he was
consistently asked first-thing whether Gilbert Bougainvillea would visit. The
latter had not come until now. Hodgins was unable to do anything about it, but
he could not handle Violet’s sorrowful face whenever he had to say, “He won’t
come today”. Therefore, he had persuaded her with, “While Gilbert doesn’t come,
what you’re supposed to do isn’t to lament for his absence but to do whatever you
can. In other words, to rest and head towards recovery. Becoming able to use
your arms with pride when you meet him is your mission.”

That had a
profound effect on Violet.

“I will
definitely master the use of these arms even better than my flesh ones. Estark
Inc.’s prosthetics are combat-specialized… if my skills catch up to them, I
should be able to become an even more useful existence.”

She was the
sort of person that shone brighter when having missions or orders to follow. It
was her main trait.

“No, that’s
not true. Just by existing, girls are already as praise-worthy and wonderful as
the miraculous limpid waters that flow from mountaintop springs. Men are
filthy.”

“I fail to
understand that example, but I think that while I am unable to receive Major’s
orders, I should train autonomously.”

“Okay…”

It was a
somewhat strange conversation, but the mood was not somber. On the contrary: the two of them, who were a disagreeable combination, had
unexpectedly become familiar with one another. And that, in retrospect to
Hodgins’s relationships, might not be so odd. He and Gilbert were best friends,
but Gilbert corresponded to him essentially in a leveled manner. Meanwhile, Hodgins
had the tricky characteristic of proffering his love for women but being fond
of swaying amongst beautiful people regardless of them being male or female.

“It’s a
tricky lifestyle, huh, Little Violet.” Hodgins made a comment also supposedly
directed at himself as if only speaking impersonally.

Violet
repeatedly picked the handkerchief after letting it fall on her lap, finally
managing to wipe the sweat. She had been able to leave her previous state of
not being able to use her arms at all, but had not yet received permission to
do everything on her own.

“Good job.”
After fixing her disheveled forelocks with his fingertips, Hodgins sat Violet
on her wheelchair.

“Are we
already leaving?”

“Since the
wind has started to get chilly.”

“I will…
not sweat anymore.”

“If you
can, I want you to teach me that technique. No matter what you say, no can do.
Let’s go back to your room.”

——It’s exactly because she’s a kid who forces
herself a lot that I don’t want to let her do too much therapeutic exercise. Hodgins thought while leisurely
pushing the wheelchair.

As always,
Violet’s reactions were dispa.s.sionate, yet as she cast her eyes down, she
seemed somewhat depressed. It was but Hodgins’s own a.s.sumption – however, that
was how she looked to him.

——Even so, it’s no good to take away what she’s
doing. Isn’t there a better training method?

The two
that had become used to silence returned to her room. It was not a big one, yet
it was just about enough to shun outsiders. The girl soldier with artificial
upper limbs, whom only the ones she was close to truly knew, was a frequent
target of rudeness and impolite stares.

As a result
of her being transferred to a private lodging, Hodgins was able to bring her
many gifts. When entering the place, the fragrance of fresh flower arrangements
wafted towards them, several stuffed animals welcoming the duo. Clothes and
shoes that she had not yet worn lay in piled boxes wrapped with ribbons. It was
a very feminine room. Inside of it, Violet’s outstanding figure as she sat on
her bed was akin to that of a doll.

“Little
Violet, I have something for you.”

“I have
received enough. There is nothing I can give in return. I will have to refuse.”
Violet shook her head and turned to the side, displaying predictable rejection
towards Hodgins, who would bring something during every visit, as a doting grandfather
would do with his granddaughter.


“No, it’s nothing too expensive. Actually,
it’s a secondhand notepad of mine. A fountain pen, too. I just changed the ink,
so I don’t think it’ll run out so soon.” Hodgins put the objects on the desk
installed in the private room – a hardcover book-like notepad and a golden
fountain pen.

As she was surged,
Violet sat in front of the desk, prompted to pick them up. Only a few sheets of
the notepad had been used. Hodgins took them off and threw them away.

“Let’s make
of this… practice for your hands. Do calligraphy. If I’m correct, you were
able to write your name, right?”

“Yes…
however, I cannot write… other words.”

“Isn’t that
fine? It’s exactly because the hospital life is boring that it was your fate to
learn it at a time like this. It’s better to have a goal. How much would
you aim to be able to do?”

“Letters.”
Violet said as if coughing. “I want to become able to write letters.” Her voice
contained urgency.

Hodgins’s eyes
and mouth were wide-open in bewilderment. That was a great offer for him. He was actually going to take the matter into that same direction at his own
convenience.

“Why… did
you think of that? Little Violet, it’s rare for you to have something you want
to do. Like, aside from training…”

“Letters
can deliver words to those who are far away. There are no communication devices
here. However, if I wrote a letter… and received a response, although I would
not be using my voice, it would be the same as having a talk. Major
might not have spare time for it. Still, I… the fact that I, his tool, am
here… to Major…”

Even as she
did not finish speaking, he understood.

“To
Major…”

Violet did
not want to be forgotten. She wanted to remind Gilbert Bougainvillea of her
existence as the tool that was there for his sake.

“You wanted
to convey your thoughts to him.”

“Yes… No… No, most likely… Yes.” Came the ineffective reply.

She was unable to properly express her feelings. Hodgins knew it well.
Every time he opened the door to her room, he would witness Violet’s expectant
expressions disappear.

——Aah, no good. This
kind of stuff is really no good. Hodgins pressed his eyelids with one hand and exhaled a breath.

“President Hodgins?”

“Hm, sorry, just wait a jiffy. I’ll recover soon.” He flailed his other
hand and faced elsewhere. The insides of his canthus were hot. His chest hurt.
He bit his lip, attempting to somehow cancel out the pain in his heart with the
pain of his body, to no avail.

——I wonder if I’m
getting old.

As he was touched by the ‘humane’ face that the automated a.s.sa.s.sin
doll had unintentionally showed him, for some reason, he felt like crying.

——I’m so sad that it’s
agonizing.

The sound of his sniffles reached Violet’s ears. Her shoulders flinched
once in alarm, just as a small animal would do when sensing danger. It was
only Hodgins’s bodily impression, but an aura of not knowing how to deal with
the circ.u.mstances emanated from her.

“Wait just thirty more seconds…”

Violet observed the surroundings. Her blue eyes carefully searched in
the room for something supposedly necessary in such a situation. She took a
handkerchief from her nightstand and a black cat plush from her bed. As the strength
of her grip did not make it until she reached Hodgins, they fell to the floor.
By the moment she squatted to pick them up, Hodgins was already back to normal.
He crouched as well to help her out.

“Were you, by any chance, trying to comfort me?”

His painfully clenched heart unraveled at her clumsy gentleness. A form
of affection unlike romantic love bloomed deep within his chest.

“President Hodgins, you told me before that, in your early childhood,
you would nestle with a stuffed toy that resembled this black cat one to
deceive your own loneliness whenever you cried from not being cared for by your
parents…”

However, said feeling blew away the next second.

“Did I… tell you even about that!?”

“You once came here drunk on the way back from a business negotiation and
talked about half of your life for nearly two hours.”

Now Hodgins wanted to cry for a different motive.

“Little Violet, if I show up drunk any next time, it’s okay if you don’t
take my words seriously. You can even hit me. Really… I’ll avoid alcohol.
I’ll drink tea from now on. I’ll live off tea. Aah, how embarra.s.sing… what
did I say after that?”

“That you are named Claudia… because your parents had believed you
would be born as a girl and prepared to receive you as such, but you wound up
earning the name either way and it was difficult to live with this.”

“Alright, let’s go back to the letter writing work, Little Violet.”

Claudia Hodgins was at his limit in countless ways.

The duo’s new experiment started with becoming able to hold the fountain
pen. Just from her writing a single character, the pen would roll away and she
would grab it back. Her figure as she would attempt to pick it whenever it fell
onto the floor caused Hodgins’s heart to be enveloped in sorrow again.

“You can take it slow.”

For Hodgins, who had only ever attended the army’s military academy, playing
the role of teacher was quite rough. The same applied to Violet. Although she
could dismantle guns, she did not know how to write. The unskillful teacher and
student had no choice but complement each other’s inept.i.tude. In her current
level, he thought of her being able to write letters as a marvelous future.

“I want to become able to write… Major Gilbert’s name.”

Along with the progress of her writing, the scenery outside the window
gradually faded.

Decayed maple leaves created a colorful carpet over the ground. It
seemed the main entrance of the Leidenschaftlich Army Hospital would not be clean of them in time. The mountain road to said hospital was tinted in the
sigh-inducing beauty of nature. The world was completely dyed in autumn colors.

In front of said main entrance, a young woman awaited someone, her trunk
case and trolley bag lying on the ground. Perhaps because she had too much
luggage, her stuffed toys’ heads stuck out of the bag. She was most likely being
stood up, staring into the air in an unspecific direction. It was a girl beautiful
enough to become a painting. She wore a wisteria mist nude coat and a black high-neck knitted jumper. Her raw organdy lilac skirt rustled noisily every time
the wind blew it.

The golden hair of the female soldier Violet was growing quite long. It delated
the number of days that she had spent in the hospital. As she spotted a small carriage coming from the mountain path, she took
her luggage with her creaking prosthetic hands. With no inconveniences, she
lifted them with both arms and headed to where the carriage had stopped. Similarly,
a man made his way towards her.

“Sorry, sorry. A lot happened at work, so I ended up being late.” Even though
it was an autumn where the gelid breeze could make one shiver, Hodgins was drenched
in sweat as he came running, showing a surprised smile as he saw Violet wearing
ordinary girl clothes, almost as if not recognizing her. “Little Violet, you
look cute. My choice was wonderful! I have so many talents that it’s
troublesome… maybe I should have gotten into the fashion industry. What about
the brooch?”

“I have it. I thought it might get lost during the moving…”

“It won’t fall that soon. You should put it on. Lend it to me.” Hodgins
placed the emerald brooch firmly on Violet’s chest.

Violet showed no signs of cautiousness, although the distance between
the two of them was small.

“Done. It suits you, Little Violet.”

Even as he patted her head, she remained docile, not pushing his hand
away. It seemed she had accepted Hodgins, who had taken care of her for a long
while.

“Major Hodgins.”

“‘President’.”

“President Hodgins, where should I go now that I have been discharged? What
will be my next post? Major has not replied to my letters. I have sent several
of them already.” Taking Hodgins’s hand, Violet entered the carriage.

“From now on, you’ll become the foster daughter of a certain n.o.ble
family. Their son pa.s.sed away during the Great War, you see. They were looking
for an adoption candidate. Their household is related to Gilbert’s. You’ll be
educated on lady manners there.”

After confirming that the pa.s.sengers had come inside the carriage, the cabby
set it off. It swung p.r.o.nouncedly once. Violet stood still with a serious look.
She was not caught off-guard in the slightest by the oscillation.

“Are those teachings necessary for fighting?”

Just as she had thought she would finally return to the place where she
could put her abilities to use, she was informed of an outrageous fact. Her
reaction had been moderate.

Hodgins bent his waist, facing Violet’s eyes directly. “The war has
ended, so you won’t be needed as a soldier anymore. That’s why you will learn
what’s necessary to lead a life that isn’t the one of a warrior.”

“I do not understand…”

Hodgins nodded at the response he had already foreseen. “Yeah. It’s a
pretty complicated issue, and I’m also forcing my own values onto you.”

“‘Complicated… issue’. Even for… you, President Hodgins? Is it not
easy?”

“Little Violet, why did you use to kill people?”

“I had that ability, and it was needed. Simple as that.”

“Yeah. In order to live, in order to protect yourself, you’d been
killing… surely, you had been doing that even before meeting Gilbert, because
someone made you so. It was like a task of getting rid of obstacles… there’s
no emotion to it.”

——And that caused you to
malfunction as a person.

“Aah, truly complicated. Hm, for example, let’s say I was attacked by a
thug. You killed the thug to save me. It would have been better if you had
acted without doing so, but you killed him. There’s a moral cause in that. You almost
certainly wouldn’t be convicted for the crime. Actually, you’d be a hero.”

“What is a ‘moral cause’?”

“Something important that people believe they should abide to while
living. If you don’t abide to it, in the world of humans, you’ll be caught by
the military police. Can you understand if it’s from that angle?”

“Yes.”

“Then, another example. I had actually wanted to be killed by the thug.
I gave him money and asked him to murder me. I wanted to die. We’d discussed
our losses and gains and made a deal. You misunderstood that, meddled and ended
up executing a person who was merely playing the role of thug and going to kill
me because I asked. Do you think this is a murder with a moral cause?”

Silence.

“See, it’s pretty complicated, right? There’s probably no correct
answer. In the legislation made by humans, both would likely be tried, but a
correct answer probably doesn’t exist. Forget the example of just now for a
bit.”

Violet thoughtfully leaned her rigid and inorganic hands on her cheeks. At
the moment, Hodgins was confronting her with what she considered to be ruthless
words. Yet that was a problem she would have stumbled upon sooner or later.

There existed a girl soldier. She had slaughtered many. Although the
murders had been for a greater cause, she had still killed people.

Was that girl soldier allowed to find happiness?

“Only, what I can say for sure is…” despite fearfully not wanting to
be ostracized by the confused Violet, Hodgins spoke, “I don’t want to see you
killing anyone, so I don’t want to let you go someplace where you’d have to do
that. This is a completely emotion-driven theory, but… I think it’s the
closest it gets to a solution.”

He almost despised Gilbert Bougainvillea for burdening him with such a
role.

“Murders increase the number of sad people. That’s why I don’t want you
to do it. I want to avoid… things that could be sad. I don’t feel this
towards the whole world. I only seek it… for those whom I cherish. Gilbert
was the same… that’s why we say ‘no’. We push our ideals onto you. A moral
cause with an extremely egoistical thinking of killing or not killing. The
world is becoming like that. Everyone… is really selfish. Little Violet, what
was the last order you received from Gilbert?”

Upon being asked, Violet reminisced to the peak of the Great War.
Gilbert was covered in blood. She had cried. Those had probably been the first
tears she had shed.

“I love you.” As
she pondered over those powerful words, her
heart would race. Just by recalling them, her heartbeats would intensify.

“To escape from the military and live freely.”

“That’s how it is.”

The conclusion had come to light. For Violet, Gilbert’s orders had to be
followed. She would not reject them so long as there were no exorbitant perils.
Even so, it seemed that she had difficulties in accepting a future where she
would not return to the battlefield.

“Is that something beneficial to the military? Even if it results in our
allies’ deaths if I do not kill?”

“The enemies are also people. Besides… it’s because you don’t know
that killing people is slowly setting fire to your body and scorching it that
I’m telling you this… Little Violet.”

The girl soldier – rather, the former girl soldier – dropped her gaze to
her own body. Nothing was on fire. She could only see the materials of her
beautiful clothes.

“I am not burning.”

“You are.”

“I am not. This is strange.”

“Nope, you are. I saw you burning and left you alone. I regret that.”

Everything Hodgins said was abstract.

“You will learn a lot from now on. And then, surely, the things you have
done… the things I said I left you alone to do… there will come a time when
you’ll understand what they were.”

The
subordinate kept by the Lord was a beautiful monstrosity.

“And then,
for the first time, you’ll notice the many burns that you have.”

Said
monstrosity prided in being the strongest fighter, and was as ignorant as she
was innocent.

“You’ll
realize that there’s still fire at your feet. You’ll realize that there are
people pouring oil onto it. It might be easier to live without knowing this.
There will certainly be times when you’ll cry.”

Until the
time when her eyelids would close for eternity, she would not know the feeling
of having her body burn. There was conviction but no salvation for her.

“Still, I
want you to know. That’s why you won’t go back to the military.”

Her hands
never held onto anything, and she would most likely continue living that way.

“Little Violet, let’s change your fate.”

She was
definitely destined to do so.

However, a certain man had appeared to grasp the hand of the burning girl and
throw her into a lake. Although he was not present, he undoubtedly existed.

“The people you’ll meet now are officials from the upper military
departments and who belong to a prestigious family that others don’t have
contact with right away. From the get-go, your name wasn’t registered in the
military. So, start a new life from this point.”

“But then, I won’t be by Major’s side…”

“This is an order from Gilbert, whom you want to become the strength of.
He wished for this. What are you to Gilbert, Little Violet?”

“I am… Major’s…”

“Aah, we’re here. We have to give our greetings.”

The carriage had stopped. Without being able to do anything else, Violet
hopped off, led by Hodgins’s hand.

Although old-fashioned, a mansion with an architecture magnificent enough to
be mistaken for a castle rose at the end of the long road. An elderly couple
walked out of said mansion. While they had not yet arrived, Hodgins whispered into Violet’s ear, “Try to not be rude.”

Violet hurried to hold onto her emerald brooch. The carriage was already
starting to depart from the same path it had come from. Beyond said path, she
did not spot the figure of the person she had wished to be there. No matter how
much Violet sought him, he would not come see her.

“These are the head of the Evergarden family and his wife. They will be
your subst.i.tute parents. Now, your greetings.”

The elegant but gentle elderly couple took Violet’s artificial hands
without hesitation. They smiled at her as if unbearably contented.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Violet.”

And thus, Violet Evergarden was born.

Snow melted into the nightly sea. The water surface was even darker
than the starry sky that people slept under. The flakes being absorbed by it one
after another were a rare sight in the south of Leidenschaftlich.

Children ran towards the gift from the sky after opening their
windows. Doormen of wealthy estates trembled with the coldness. Sailors were relieved
to have finished their voyages safely and returned home before the snowstorm. In such
scenes that were rarely winessed, the arrival of winter could be keenly felt.

In the south of Leidenschaftlich, snow fell only a few times a year and never
piled up. No one would have been able to tell it would downpour incessantly
by a capricious command from the heavens on that year. Normally, there would be nothing but nimble snowfall, yet it had piled up to reach the knees of adult
males.

A government meteorologist announced the occurrence to be a once-in-a-century abnormality
in the weather, and the southern part of the country was caught in a temporary disorder.
People would slip when coming outside and the roads for carriages and cars had
vanished. Those who did not have stocks at home had flooded food shops and
restaurants, from which came screams of rapture and apprehension. Once logistics had
ceased, no one was walking around the city. It was wrapped in silence, as if the
snow had absorbed all sounds.

Among it was the figure of Hodgins, who advanced along the snowy path, used as he was to walking over it despite being from a southern country. For
someone like him, one of the former majors of Leidenschaftlich’s army, which had
clashed with the northern countries, the snowy scenery overlapped with the
battlefields.

He continued trailing the lone roadway silently while pushing over the snow
with his dragging winter shoes. In front of him, although faintly, he could see
the Evergarden manor, which was far apart from Leiden, the capitol city of
Leidenschaftlich. He let out a thankful sigh in relief. The puff of his breath
soon dissipated like smoke in the darkness.

As he arrived at last, firstly, he was welcomed by a butler of the
Evergarden residence. The mansion could not be considered warm in every corner due
to its large structure, yet Hodgins, who had endured the pa.s.sing of a dark
snowy night, was grateful enough to even be inside a room. During his
reception, he spent a few minutes drinking hot tea next to the fireplace.

“You have finally arrived, Mister Hodgins. I was thinking you would not
come today.” An elderly woman with a silk nightgown appeared before him.

“Miss Tiffany, it has been a while. I’m sorry for visiting in the middle of the night.”
Hodgins bowed respectfully.

“That is my line. You were in another continent, am I right? It was my
mistake to summon you immediately after your return.”

“There’s no way I would refuse the request of a lady. Where’s Mister
Patrick?”

“My husband has left me here and confined himself in a far-off town. He
still protects this land, but he will certainly not see this scenery again
before he pa.s.ses… Since this is about that person, even though he is already
so old, I think he might even be playing with snow outside. He better catch a
cold.”

The image of a youth merrily making snowmen formed in Hodgins’s mind.
“It’s wonderful that he is a candid person that does not forget his childish
innocence.”

“No, he is but a child. Even so, he is the head of the Evergarden
family… still, rather than Patrick, we should discuss about Violet. My head is
full of her at the moment.”

Tiffany Evergarden started talking with a melancholic face. It seemed
she had attempted to give Violet various sorts of knowledge ever since taking
her in. From schooling to etiquette, horsemanship, singing, cooking and dancing. Yet she
would not enjoy any of them or show a remotely delighted expression, and
whenever she had nothing to do, she would shut herself in her room and write
letters all day long. However, none of the letters she had sent ever earned a
reply.

“She has become pretty familiar with everyone in the house, and even
ma.s.saged Patrick’s shoulders a while ago. He cried from joy… no, it might
have actually hurt. But even though she is awkward, I believe she is a good
child. Our hearts, which felt as if they had been stabbed when our son died,
are gradually healing… I like her sincere innocence.”

“So do I.”

“But if only we are healed, there would be no meaning in adopting her.”
Seemingly cold, Tiffany braced herself over her gown. “We took her in after
hearing everything about her circ.u.mstances. We are the ones that actually
should bestow her with something… is it no use, after all? If there is no
blood relation…”

“That is not true.”

In spite of Hodgins’s a.s.sertion, Tiffany shook her head. “We cannot…
replace Gilbert.”

“Just as Violet cannot really replace your son. No one can replace
another person. We can only be of comfort. Ever since that girl left wherever
she came from, she has not had a home to return to until now. Neither did she
have people waiting for her with a warm meal. But she does now. This time,
whatever path she decides to take will be very important. Just this much is
enough. It’s something very precious. Please do not send her off.”

“‘Send her off’…! I have no such intention. If I had to let go of
Violet, I would rather sell my husband.”

Her gaze held no lies.

“Miss Tiffany… this exchange is becoming very fascinating, but please
cherish your husband.”

“Honestly, a daughter is much cuter than a husband…”

“Please do not destroy the dreams of an unmarried man.”

“If you have any interest, I can introduce you to as many candidates as you want.”

As Tiffany’s eyes shone, Hodgins quickly halted the conversation, making
his way to Violet’s room as if running away. The servants of the Evergarden household
nervously observed him from a distance. The resolve to enter the room was not
building up in him. He then attempted to motivate himself.

——No one can become
anybody’s replacement. Isn’t that right, me?

Hodgins had tasted that feeling many times after becoming Violet’s
guardian. He had also felt lonely. But simultaneously, he had felt happy.

——If it’s me, I can
give her the things that Gilbert couldn’t and do that he didn’t manage to.

“Even without becoming his subst.i.tute…”

He hit the chest area of his shirt as if confirming something. He then
cleared his throat and tried once more to knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Since it was her, she probably knew who was coming inside just from his
footsteps. Although he had visited her room often, even Hodgins would be
anxious when sneaking into a young woman’s bedroom late into the night.
But the tension melted into a different emotion the next second.

“President… Hodgins. It has been a while.”

Violet Evergarden, named after a flower G.o.ddess, had become even more
beautiful yet again in the few months they had not seen each other. Her figure
as she wore a negligee was pure and refined. Her golden hair had become
lengthier. The sight was mysterious even. She had grown into someone fitting of
the name Gilbert had given her.

“Little Violet, what are you doing?” Still, what caught Hodgins’s eyes was not that. His voice quavered. He
had not wanted to show much of a reaction, yet could not hide it.

Violet stared
at Hodgins as he entered the room while sitting on the floor amidst a heap of
disarranged letters. It was not one or two, but dozens of paper sheets piled up
quietly like corpses. Dead thoughts merely existing, like continuously pouring
snowfall.

She did not answer him right away. It might have been that she did not
have the will to open her mouth. “I was… sorting out letters.”

“From who? I always send postcards, right?”

“n.o.body… these are the ones I wrote and did not send. I no longer send letters. I understand… that there will be no reply. I simply find myself
writing letters whenever I have nothing else to do, is all. There is no meaning
to it. These are mere miscellanies in which I wrote about my days. I was
pondering on whether I should dispose of them.”

The letters without destination were indeed corpses. And Violet, who had
given birth to them, lacked the glow of life in her eyes. It could be that she
was livelier during the times she spent in the battlefield.

“Little Violet…”

Hodgins sat down in-between the mountain of letters and the empty s.p.a.ce.
He positioned himself to confront her directly. When looking into Violet’s
blank eyes, he felt like evading them. However, Hodgins disciplined himself
with the reminder that that had been the result of continuously evading her.

“Major will… no longer come back to me, will he?”

“Yeah… he won’t.”

“Has my value as a soldier been lost… because my arms were gone?”

“That’s not it.”

“I can still fight. I can become stronger.”

“Our fight is already over, Little Violet.”

“Can I be of use aside from as weapon?”

“You’re not… anyone’s tool anymore.”

“Then, if my existence itself is a bother to Major, could you please
tell him to order me to disappear? I will go anywhere. If I… if I remain as I
am, I will be of no use…”

Hodgins desperately stopp