Didn't Lie to Me

"No wonder. I remember I didn't have that many sisters. Turns out they're just split personalities of mine..." Once Yaxiu briefly explained the origin of the Witch sisters, the Little Witch accepted the fact surprisingly quickly. "To think that when I grow up, I'll be able to split off sisters to play with me! I'm amazing!" "Yeah, yeah, Witch is super amazing!" Yaxiu chimed in, intending to slip away, but the Little Witch grabbed him. "Wait, I want to learn more about the person I like when I grow up." "There's no need for that much trouble. Once your memories come back, you'll remember me anyway." "It's not the same! Not the same at all!" The Little Witch shook her head repeatedly. "Imagine if you lost your memories, and I appeared before you, telling you that I'm the princess you're supposed to protect for the rest of your life. Wouldn't you want to learn more about me?" Putting himself in her shoes, Yaxiu had to admit she made a lot of sense. But right now was hardly the time for a leisurely chat. He considered for a moment. "I'll answer three of your questions at most. Once I've answered them, you have to hurry up and finish your painting." "Okay!" the Little Witch said. "First question: when you first met me, did I already have four personalities?" "Yes. They were Secret Princess, White Queen, Black Butler, and Red Apostle." "Second question: what do I like about you?" "Actually, I've asked you that question before, but you never answered me." Yaxiu paused. "We've simply spent a lot of time adventuring together and keeping each other company... Perhaps your feelings for me are just the fondness one has for a playmate." The Little Witch nodded. She turned to look at the whiteboard, then suddenly said, "It seems life was very hard for me as a grown-up." Yaxiu froze. "Just how lonely does someone have to be to split off other personalities just to keep themselves company?" the Little Witch said. "I must have lived a really miserable, helpless life—like a princess captured by an evil dragon—to become that desperate. "And then, you shone into my world like light and protected me like a knight. That must be why I like you!" The Little Witch held up four fingers. "I split into four sisters, so my standards must have increased fourfold! Don't worry—the feelings I have for you when I grow up are definitely genuine. In fact, four times as genuine!" Yaxiu never expected to be comforted by the Little Witch. "I wasn't worried!" "Alright, alright, no need to be shy." The Little Witch patted his shoulder like a worldly elder. "Oh right, I saw little girls in the painting. Have we already had children? Come to think of it, how do you make babies?" Yaxiu hastily denied it. "We haven't, and we don't live together!" The Little Witch asked, "Then is the painting I saw actually my heart's wish?" Yaxiu recalled the painting depicting everyone out on a picnic and camping trip, and nodded gently. "It could also be an imagination of happiness." "Happiness..." the Little Witch murmured softly. Then she said, "Whenever I read fairy tale picture books, they usually end after the princess and the knight live happily ever after. Back then, I was always curious: what happened after they started living together? "Then I flipped back to the beginning, saw how lustful and greedy the wicked king was, and how evil and jealous the wicked queen was, and realized that a book can be read twice." She touched the whiteboard. "When we live together like in the painting, will we really be happy forever? Or will we end up becoming the wicked king and queen in the future?" The question was far too profound; Yaxiu figured only his mother might know how to answer it—perhaps not even his brother and sister-in-law, who had been married for years, could. Yet the Little Witch didn't need an answer from him. She set her pen to the whiteboard and began drawing. "Regardless, having someone I like and a life to look forward to means I'm already very lucky as a grown-up." Cunning yet clever, calm yet passionate, mature and profound, pessimistic at heart yet positive in thought... Yaxiu realized that the Little Witch was strikingly different from the four Witch sisters. Whether Secret Princess, White Queen, Black Butler, or Red Apostle, none of them fully corresponded to her, yet faint traces of her could be seen in each of them. It was almost as if... Witch had another sister Yaxiu had never met. "One last question..." Yaxiu said, "Didn't I just answer more than three of your questions?" The Little Witch looked at him. "If each of us asks three questions and there are four sisters, then I should have twelve questions. But right now, I only want to ask you one more..." Yaxiu surrendered. "What else do you want to ask?" The Little Witch pointed at Little Sword Princess and Little Weise. "Do all of us like you?" Yaxiu fell silent for a few seconds before squeezing out a few words through his teeth: "Not all of you." The Little Witch gave an understanding nod. "So fairy tales really are lies. Male veelas actually do exist in this world..." *Stop, just stop. If you keep talking, I'll start hallucinating Igola's laughter.* Yaxiu hurried over to Little Weise. The moment she saw him approaching, she clutched her head and shrank into a corner, trembling with her back turned to him. Though this child was also strange, she was far easier to handle than Sword Princess and Witch. Drawing on his advanced experience dealing with his nephew, Yaxiu squatted beside her and asked, "Do you like drawing?" "...Yes." "Then why aren't you drawing? All you have to do is copy it." "...Too scary." "Hmm? Is what you have to draw scary?" Puzzled, Yaxiu asked, "What are you supposed to draw?" "I... I..." Little Weise was tongue-tied. She tried for a while without getting anything out, and when Yaxiu pressed her a little more, her nose stung, tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to wail, "Wei'onai, Wei'onai, come quick—" There were two options here. One was to whip her like a spinning top, which usually made kids behave obediently—Yaxiu had used that on his nephew to great effect. The other was to talk to her and soothe her gently. Clearly, he could only choose the latter. After all, suppressing her memories was only temporary. If Weise regained her memories and found out Yaxiu had given her a beating, their bond level might drop. Moreover, to be fair, ever since Youlanweise joined the team, she had worked diligently and never caused Yaxiu any trouble; he was willing to afford her more patience. So he asked, "Who is Wei'onai?" Little Weise sniffled. "Wei'onai is Wei'onai." "Is she good to you?" "Mhm." "Then you want to go back and see her, right?" Yaxiu coaxed patiently. "As long as you finish your painting, you can go back and see her, okay?" Little Weise sucked back a snot bubble and turned to look at Yaxiu. "Really?" But she soon shook her head. "You must be lying to me. Last time, they lied to me like that too, and in the end, there was no item that could make Wei'onai better at all." Yaxiu asked, "How did they lie to you last time? What happened to Wei'onai?" "Wei'onai... Wei'onai wasn't feeling well, and she stayed in bed all the time. She promised to take me to buy clothes. I wanted to make her better, so I asked a lot of people. Then they told me that if I went to a certain place at dusk, I would find an item that could make Wei'onai better." Yaxiu frowned slightly. "Was Wei'onai sick? Weren't there healing sorcerers to treat her?" Little Weise shook her head. "I... I also went to the big sister who treats my booboos, but she said there was nothing she could do. When ordinary people reach that age, they all get sick. Only sorcerers can live a little longer." *A natural lifespan limit common to ordinary people? A genetic disease? Environmental pollution?...* Yaxiu asked, "And then? Did you go look for the item?" Little Weise nodded. "At dusk, I went to that place. I searched for a long time, searched until it was dark, but still found nothing. And then... I got lost for a very, very long time. I saw so many things, and I saw really scary ones... Sob..." As she spoke, she seemed to recall those terrifying experiences and frightened herself to tears. Helping her wipe them away, Yaxiu asked, "Did you manage to leave after that?" She took a deep breath, choked on the air, coughed twice, and nodded. "It took me a long time before I got out, and then I ran back to find Wei'onai. When Wei'onai saw I was gone, she asked where I had been when I came back. Finding out I had been outside at night made her furious, and she spanked my bottom really hard... "She told me that she was going to die and wouldn't be around anymore, and that I had to take care of myself from then on." Little Weise looked at Yaxiu and asked through tearful eyes, "When people die, where do they go?" *Why does each of these kids ask questions more profound than the last?...* Yaxiu said, "They probably go to Heaven to enjoy eternal bliss?" Little Weise shook her head. "Impossible. Only the most amazing people can go to Heaven. Wei'onai isn't a sorcerer; she can't go to Heaven." If not Heaven, then the only other option was Hell. But looking at the pitiful Little Weise, Yaxiu couldn't bring himself to say the words 'Wei'onai went to suffer in Hell.' He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly remembered another option. "You know about the Void Realm, right? The Void Realm is vast and boundless, and it is the final destination for everyone. When people die, they return to the Void Realm." Yet Little Weise was still unsatisfied and pressed further, "Then what do people do in the Void Realm after they die? Can they return from the Void Realm to reality? Can Wei'onai come back to see me once in a while? Can she write letters to me?" Looking into Little Weise's expectant eyes, almost instinctively, Yaxiu told a lie: "When people die, they attain eternal happiness in the Void Realm, so they can no longer return to reality." At that moment, he saw a look of astonishment light up Little Weise's eyes, causing even the teardrops clinging to her eyelashes to sparkle brilliantly. "Really?!" "Really." "Yay! That's wonderful!" Little Weise hugged Yaxiu and leaped up in joy. "So it was true! Wei'onai didn't lie to me!" "What?" Yaxiu blinked. "Wei'onai didn't lie to you?" "I asked Wei'onai where people go when they die, and she told me the exact same thing!" Little Weise said cheerfully. "I thought she was lying to me again!"