Afterword
IT’S SO NICE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN. Reina Soratani here.
Thank you for purchasing Volume 5. Due to all my loyal readers, we brought this story to the finish line. I’m truly blessed.
I had many different ideas for the final scene, but it wound up exactly as you read it. I was worried some people might find it a bit sudden, but the moment Violette’s attitude switched from a tentative “I don’t want anyone to hurt us” to a bold “I won’t let anyone hurt us,” I thought that was where the ending had to be. It was a bit risky to make that a symbol of happiness, but it worked out very well for them.
I’d been wanting to write little stories from Auld’s, Bellerose’s, Elfa’s, and Maryjune’s perspectives, so I had a lot of fun doing that, and they were the easiest things to write. Their inner thoughts, their futures, and anything else I didn’t touch on that I had in mind during the course of the main story—I finally got to bring it all up. I especially enjoyed writing Bellerose’s descent into madness, since she’d only appeared in flashbacks.
Bellerose and Elfa were very similar characters. Had they not fallen for the same man, they might’ve been best friends. Auld perceived them as polar opposites, but that only proves he never saw Elfa for who she truly was. Violette and Marin figured her out after only a brief conversation, and Chesuit had an inkling as well.
I guess Auld just wasn’t careful enough around a woman who was too good to be true. I can sympathize with him wanting to let Elfa soothe his weary soul after Bellerose, but the fact that he attracted a similar woman… He’s terrible with women, that’s all I can say. Still, Elfa inarguably did accept everything about Auld, so you could say she was his ideal wife. Since she’ll be with him until death does them part, how their marriage goes from this point onward is really up to Auld.
As for Maryjune’s future—personally, I think it’ll be bright. It’s also up to Maryjune, in a way, but she was always a beautiful, purehearted girl. If this most recent ordeal made her stronger, she’ll probably make it through any struggle on her own now. The connection between her and her big sister was severed, but I think she’ll make a happy life for herself somewhere far away.
Elfa will likely be happy until the end. She’ll probably cry at the loss of some aspect of Auld, but that’s all. All she needs to be happy is Auld, so chances are she’ll live out the rest of her days neither helping nor harming anyone.
As for Yulan’s birth mother…I might write about her at some point, but I also might not write about her, so I think I’ll reveal a little about her right now. She looked exactly like Yulan. Since Yulan already has an androgynous look, if you just looked at their features devoid of male or female attributes, they’d be identical. As for where she disappeared to and why she left Yulan behind, her life was full of mysteries, but one thing is clear—she couldn’t live the life of a caged bird. She preferred to venture out into the unknown rather than stay in a little treasure box wanting for nothing. (That said, from Yulan’s perspective, she was nothing but a nuisance.)
Vio and Yulan’s baby, and Rosette and Claudia’s baby, also made their appearances. I did a lot of research and asked around to learn about early childhood development. Since each baby talks and walks on their own timeline, I had to consider how old their babies would appear. The more I learned, the more amazed I was by the wonders of life.
I made Vanila a mini Violette with sand-colored eyes, and Radia a golden-haired Rosette, just because. Since they’re the same age, I simply decided that they’d probably be friends. I haven’t made my mind up about whether they’ll have any younger siblings or not, but I’m really excited to see how those boys grow. I’d love to write a side story about the boys someday.
Speaking of side stories, I’d have a lot of fun going into detail about how Rosette’s and Claudia’s hearts evolved, penning a story that featured Marin, or writing more about Gia.
At the end of the day, Gia sort of wound up being the most powerful character in the main story. That worked out well for Yulan, since they were allies. Had they been enemies, though, the strong-willed, tough-minded, and hardy Gia would’ve ignored all of Yulan’s carefully crafted schemes and just gone his own way. Free spirits are powerful.
On that note, Chesuit and Gia embody the same archetype. They’re both excessively free-spirited. Having been raised in Duralia, Chesuit has more common sense than Gia, but they both keep their eyes focused solely on what they want to do. In Chesuit’s case, that’s cooking—which is both his hobby and his career, so it’s not an issue. Meanwhile, Gia has a dauntlessness that enables him to cast everything else aside to serve himself. A man who has the confidence to survive with only the clothes on his back essentially has no weaknesses—I could imagine no bigger thorn in Yulan’s side.
I considered romances for Gia and Chesuit too, but for the moment, absolutely nothing has come to mind… Chesuit, maybe, but would Gia ever choose love over amusement? If he ever did come to love someone, what would they be like? He might find somebody who ignited his curious spirit, but things would get tricky when it came to romance. Although Gia was the easiest character to write in the story, he’d be the toughest if he had a romantic arc.
The thought of Yulan and Violette going from schoolmates to parents…it’s just really emotional. I never thought the main story would make it past two hundred chapters, for starters, so writing about their future in a novel is like a dream come true. I can’t thank you all enough for watching over Violette and Yulan all these years.
The manga version is also available, so I’d love it if you supported that run as well. It has a charm different from that of the novels, and I look forward to every new volume. They include bonus short stories by me, so I’d love it if you gave them a read.
Thank you all so much, truly.
I look forward to the day we meet again, whenever that may be.
Reina Soratani
February 2024