The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 146

Chapter 147
Yulia Reborn
After taking care of Lily’s matter, Eivass did not accompany her to school.
Since he had already taken the day off, he might as well stay home and rest with Yulia.
When Eivass was at home before, Yulia would often hug her plush toy and come to sleep with him.
Her body was always very hot back then, and even without hugging her, just lying next to her was like a stove emitting heat. It was fine in winter, but it made Eivass very uncomfortable in summer. It would sometimes make Eivass’s mouth dry and his lips crack from the heat.
But he never refused Yulia.
Because Eivass deeply understood that the suffering he endured was nothing compared to Yulia’s. The two had supported each other since their orphanage days, and had developed a deep bond by today.
However, Eivass could not share Yulia’s pain. From the age of six or seven, she had been suffering from fevers, and her entire body was almost always in a weakened state.
If it were someone else, their soul might have withered like a flower. Depression, anxiety, and wrath were the least of it; it was normal to lash out at family, break things, or even want to commit suicide due to unbearable pain.
But Yulia was never like that.
The more pain and melancholy she felt, the more radiant her soul became.
Yulia endured all the suffering she experienced and transformed it entirely into a thirst for knowledge.
Mathematics, physics, architecture, geology, history, alchemy…
She enjoyed things that gave her room for thought. Knowledge that allowed her to feel the profound texture of the entire world without leaving her room.
When Eivass visited Yulia in her bedroom, she was either disassembling appliances that her foster father had bought at a high price—at least in Avalon, many appliances were scarce, and not many families even had electricity and telephones.
But Yulia, who was only eleven or twelve at the time, had already successfully disassembled and reassembled a fan, a radio, a telephone, an electric iron, a record player, and a camera.
At that time, Eivass had not yet recovered his past life memories… He often sat next to Yulia, watching her reassemble those electrical appliances. Watching the fragments become whole again in her nimble hands, he would marvel at this magical skill.
And every time, Yulia would smile faintly. Like an elegant young lady.
A satisfied smile would appear on her delicate little face, her eyes glittering like jewels.
Compared to the visibly intelligent Yulia, Eivass deeply felt his inadequacy. When Yulia was in pain, he could do nothing but watch her and whisper words of comfort.
He later realized that Yulia did not need comfort. She was strong enough to recover on her own… All she needed was company.
Therefore, whenever Yulia was in particular pain, Eivass would stay with her for a night. When Yulia woke up with a headache, Eivass would gently squeeze her hand or stroke her head, whispering, “I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
—Until today.
Eivass sat quietly on the bed, by Yulia’s side, flipping through a book. He leaned against a pillow, drawing his left leg up. His left hand supported the spine of the book, placing it gently on his knee.
On the cover of the book, written in golden Iris language, was “Six Classics Commentary.”
The room was incredibly quiet, with only the occasional rustle of pages and Eivass’s almost inaudible breathing. The afternoon winter sunlight fell on the table by the bed and on Eivass’s head, warming his hair slightly. His platinum-blonde, smooth hair cast a golden outline in the sunlight.
When Yulia woke up, this was the first thing she saw.
Her eyes widened in a daze.
Her head didn’t hurt anymore…
Even her entire skin and bones no longer ached.
Her body was no longer weak, and her hands could grip firmly again. Her breath no longer burned her trachea, and her heart no longer felt heavy and suffocating. The auditory hallucinations that occasionally echoed in her mind had also disappeared.
Yulia felt hungry. It was an appetite she had almost never experienced before.
A large part of Yulia’s body was so thin and weak because she had never had an appetite, and even had some aversion to food.
Is this… a healthy body?
At that moment, tears streamed from Yulia’s eyes.
Eivass suddenly heard a faint sob. He immediately closed his book and set it aside, asking with concern, “What’s wrong, Yuli? Is there anything else that’s uncomfortable?”
Yulia shook her head vigorously, then threw herself into Eivass’s arms.
The small sobs suddenly intensified, muffled in Eivass’s embrace, audible only to him. It was as if years of pent-up grievances had poured out.
Lily, who had been quietly reading on the sofa, also looked up at Yulia with a touch of pity.
Only at this moment could they, members of the Moriarty Family, truly realize… that Miss Yulia, who seemed to understand and learn everything, was ultimately just a fifteen-year-old girl.
Eivass felt the emotions Yulia was releasing. He felt relieved and let out a sigh.
He held Yulia tightly, resting his chin on the back of her head, and closed his eyes. As he used to do to lull her to sleep, he gently patted Yulia’s back.
After a long time, she finally calmed her emotions.
She silently pulled away from Eivass’s embrace, took out a handkerchief, and lowered her head to earnestly wipe her face.
“I’m so happy, Brother…”
Her voice was soft, but no longer the weak, wavering tone from before. That ethereal voice was not her natural pitch, but the feebleness of a patient suffering from anorexia and weakness.
“It’s not because you cured me, but because I can continue to be with you. I won’t suddenly… leave you at some point.
“Really. I had a vague feeling before that that day might not be far away…”
She spoke of a bleak topic, discussing her own impending death.
But Yulia’s eyes seemed to sparkle: “But now, I can finally continue to live… That’s great.”
For the first time, she was completely free from the shadow of death.
At this moment, Yulia was like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon. After struggling out of the cocoon, she spread her butterfly wings and finally took flight.
Her entire face was filled with a radiant, hopeful glow. It made her look so beautiful.
“A fifteen-year-old girl, in her flower-like youth, should naturally live happily and full of hope.”
Eivass stroked her head and said softly, “This is what this World owes you. I have taken it back for you.”
Yulia did not respond. She merely narrowed her eyes like a puppy, lowered her head, and earnestly nuzzled Eivass’s hand.
Finally, Eivass embraced Yulia again, let out a deep breath, and looked up at the sky.
“I was also very scared.”
Eivass replied calmly, “Because I wasn’t sure if I could seal the Phantom Demon inside you. I didn’t know if you would be safe…”
“But I also had a premonition that you were reaching your limit. That ominous feeling made me anxious and impatient. It made me use the first opportunity on you, Yuli, without experimenting on others first.
“Thank the Candlemaster, thank the Father Snake… and also thank the Fallen Heavenly Envoy a bit. I truly succeeded.”
These were words he would never have dared to utter before the ritual began.
They might have undermined Yulia’s confidence, or made him falter—strictly speaking, he had only experimented with drawing power from the Phantom Demon to create Illusion Cards, not Great Sin Cards to seal the Beast of Sin.
While the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had not yet fallen, there was a possibility of failure.
Eivass had simply overcome the fear of failure and completed it with the determination to win.
But now that he had won, he could calmly review his mental journey.
Eivass sighed, “What left me with lingering fear was seeing in the ritual that you were indeed at your limit. If you lost control again, you could no longer be safely sealed… The Butterfly of Blazing Flames would have completely consumed your life. And after the sealing, Illuminate Spell revealed to me the severity of your physical condition.
“Your body was like a hollow shell eaten away by the Butterfly of Blazing Flames. Like a butterfly’s cocoon, the nutrients inside were almost completely drained.”
And under such circumstances, Yulia’s life could still erupt with such a brilliant flame…
Eivass sincerely admired his sister.
Now, Yulia had escaped the dangerous shackles that clung to her destiny, intending to kill her. Her soul, talented in equilibrium, wisdom, devotion, and transcendence, would also erupt with its own radiance.
She could become an Alchemist or a Mage, because Yulia still retained traces of the flames left by the Butterfly of Blazing Flames within her, which would make her flames inherently more intense than others.
And when the Butterfly of Blazing Flames fully developed and exited its larval stage… Eivass could infuse its power back into Yulia.
The Shepherd’s Method would not permanently weaken Eivass’s own power, but he had to carefully select his limited quota for herding.
Just as Lily was very suitable for the power of the Shadow Demon.
The most suitable for the power of the Butterfly of Blazing Flames was undoubtedly Yulia.
“By the way… where is Dad, Brother?”
Yulia suddenly thought of her strange little teddy bear. She felt a bit uneasy without her plush toy.
Dede was a character from the popular children’s comic “Director Brown” in Avalon.
It was white, with a round bear-like face but with long, drooping rabbit ears. Its face had a large X-shaped stitch running across it, and its two eyes were small X’s. It looked like it had been cut open.
In that comic, it was a foolish villain character. Eivass had also watched the comic with Yulia.
It was set as an immortal monster like Jason, who would chase the protagonist with a butcher knife—the protagonist was a brown bear named “Brown,” a supervisor. But Dede was very weak, to the point that it would die immediately every time they met. Thus, it became a comical character.
But for some reason, Yulia liked it very much. Eivass had asked her before, but Yulia always avoided the question.
Now that Eivass asked the question again, Yulia finally gave an answer.
“…There’s no particular reason, really. If I had to say, it’s a kind of superstition.”
Yulia bashfully touched a lock of hair that drooped over her forehead.
“I just felt… we were very similar, both being white. Our eyes are both red, and our bodies are both tattered.”
The girl whispered, “I hope I can be as full of vitality as it is, and be unkillable.”
—That was simply the girl’s most basic desire to live.
This was a powerful will to survive that Yulia had never shown to Eivass or other family members.
Last month, over 200,000 words were updated!! This is the month with the most VIP word count updates in Cat’s nearly ten years of writing!
Cat has also grown (sighs)
Seeking votes at the beginning of the month, meow~