The Forest Where Monsters Live - Chapter 5
5. Monster and Monster
"Benjamin?"
Johann paused on the stairs, spotting his brother standing by the door. Shrugging off his coat, he approached and draped it over Benjamin’s shoulders before closing the door behind them.
"You have a cold. Why did you come all the way down here?"
"Where’s Leticia?"
"What, you want to see her?"
"Don’t do this to her."
"Do what?"
"Johann."
"You heard her, didn’t you? She loves it. Begging to be filled—would ignoring that really be any kinder?"
"You know she’s innocent."
"Brother."
Johann wrapped an arm around Benjamin’s back, guiding him to the sitting room sofa. After helping him sit, he set the cane aside and asked, [Tea?]
He returned with a pot of Benjamin’s favorite blend, handing him the cooler of the two cups. Benjamin’s fingers, fused together, required both hands to hold it steady. That’s why his teacups had no handles. And why his tea was always left to cool just enough.
Every detail of Johann’s life had been adjusted this way for Benjamin. Thirteen years of care had honed his attention to even the smallest needs.
"Drink slowly, brother."
"Johann. Neither Father and Mother’s deaths nor what happened to me were Leticia’s fault. What could a six-year-old child have possibly done? It was a tragic accident—"
"It wasn’t an accident." Johann’s voice sharpened. "You know it wasn’t. The oil was poured beforehand. That woman lit the candle. She locked the door from the outside so we couldn’t escape. I haven’t forgotten a single detail, brother. Not one. I can’t."
"Then you must also remember how sweet Leticia was."
Johann’s brow furrowed.
"You remember the happiness she brought us, don’t you? How much joy she gave us? How we took turns holding her hands when she learned to walk? Do you remember what you did when she fell and cut her forehead? I do. You—"
"I don’t want to hear it."
"You cried at her bedside all night. Because she’d been hurt. And now you’re the one hurting her?"
"I don’t remember."
Johann shook his head.
"I threw away all memories before that day. Only the fire remains."
"What then?"
Benjamin took a sip and set the cup down. Tea dribbled from the hole in his jaw, and Johann wiped it away with a handkerchief.
"Once your revenge is done—what comes after?"
"I’ll live happily with you."
"And if I die?"
"Brother."
Benjamin smiled faintly.
"You know I’m reaching my limit."
"Don’t say pointless things. If you want to watch me die, go ahead and die first. If you die, I’ll follow."
Benjamin reached out, resting his hand on Johann’s knee.
"Sometimes I wonder if it would’ve been better if I’d died that day. You could’ve lived freely. Not like this."
"I…"
Johann covered Benjamin’s hand with his own and closed his eyes.
"I’ll always regret how cowardly I was. Why couldn’t I protect you the way you protected me?"
"That’s what older brothers do."
Benjamin stroked Johann’s hair.
"Brothers protect their younger siblings. That’s how it’s always been. And Leticia… she’s our little sister, Johann. We’re her brothers. Brothers protect their sisters. So please… stop hurting her."
Johann kept his eyes shut under Benjamin’s touch.
They were twins.
Benjamin had been born first, Johann moments later.
Twins, yet Benjamin was the elder.
They’d been identical in every way—faces, voices, likes and dislikes.
It’s because you’re twins, their parents always said. Even your smiles are the same.
But they were wrong.
They weren’t the same at all.
In the fire, Johann had frozen in fear while Benjamin found courage.
Benjamin had shielded him.
He’d failed to return that protection.
Their faces might have matched, but their hearts didn’t.
People might call Benjamin a monster now, but the truth was reversed.
The real monster was him.
Thud—!
A harsh sound jerked Johann’s attention away.
At the foot of the stairs, Leticia lay crumpled and naked, writhing in pain.
She must have stumbled from the top and fallen.
"Leti—!"
Benjamin tried to rise, but Johann pressed him back into the sofa.
"Stay here. I’ll handle this."
He approached Leticia. Blood seeped from a gash on her forehead.
Tch.
Johann clicked his tongue.
If he’d wanted her dead, he wouldn’t have brought her here. The wolves or the cold would’ve sufficed.
"It’s not serious. Just a cut. I’ll treat it—don’t worry, brother."
He inspected the wound, reassuring Benjamin. This wasn’t a sight he’d wanted him to see.
"Don’t think about it."
Scooping Leticia into his arms, he felt her body go limp.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
***
Johann finished applying medicine to the torn wound on Leticia's forehead before opening the window to air out the room.
He cleared the ashes from the fireplace and stacked fresh firewood inside.
The taming process would have to wait.
For now, assessing her injuries took priority.
The visible wounds consisted of the gash on her forehead and extensive bruising on her arms and legs from tumbling down the stairs.
But the unseen damage inside her skull remained unknown.
A concussion couldn't be ruled out.
The opium would have to be discontinued until she regained consciousness.
The drugs mixed into her food would stop as well.
Once her condition stabilized, the opium could resume.
It wasn't as if Leticia could escape this manor.
Without a carriage, traversing that forest was impossible.
The wolves weren't a lie.
And even without them, no one could navigate an unfamiliar, snow-choked woodland in winter.
She'd lose her way and freeze to death long before reaching help.
As Johann withdrew his hands from her wounds, his gaze lingered on the crescent-shaped scar.
["Do you remember what you did when she fell and cut her forehead? You cried at her bedside all night. Because she'd been hurt. And now you're the one hurting her?"]
He hadn't forgotten.
The memories remained vivid.
Leticia had come to this manor cradled in Hannah's arms.
Abandoned by some man with no means to raise a child, Hannah had been moments from jumping off a bridge with two-year-old Leticia when Johann's parents found them and brought them to the estate.
His frail mother entrusted the twins to Hannah's care.
A nursemaid's duties.
She'd cared well for her own child, so surely she could tend to them too.
And Hannah had excelled.
Her kindness toward the twins made them adore her little girl in turn.
They'd rocked Leticia's cradle, helped her toddling steps.
This very scar was Johann's doing.
While Benjamin was briefly away, Johann had let go of her hand for just an instant during walking practice—long enough for her to fall and earn this permanent mark.
He knew.
Of course he knew.
Benjamin's words held nothing but truth.
But without this outlet, Johann's hatred would have nowhere to go.
Someone must bear the blame.
Someone must become the sacrificial goat, laden with sins and driven into the wasteland.
For Johann, that scapegoat was Leticia.
For his own sake, she must suffer.
Else that suffering would consume him instead.
Johann walked slowly to the open window and gripped its frame.
The icy air flowing in numbed his cheeks.
This manor was a cold, lonely place.
His soul had frozen solid within these walls.
Yet once, long ago, spring had existed here too.
There had been seasons when flowers bloomed and sunlight streamed through green leaves.
But after that day, spring abandoned this estate forever.
It would never return.
Not in eternity.
***
["Leticia."]
A groan escaped Leticia's lips as she surfaced through the splitting headache.
'It hurts... I'm suffering...'
Her entire body ached. Nausea churned in her gut, her chest felt tight, and her skull threatened to crack open.
["Leticia. This is a gift for you."]
A voice echoed in her mind.
'Who...?'
She knew that voice—yet couldn't place it.
["Johann and I picked it together. We engraved our names on the back."]
["I chose it, not my brother. He wanted something else, but I insisted. Isn't it pretty?"]
["When you grow into a fine lady, you'll put a portrait of your sweetheart inside. A tiny one."]
["If anyone proposes, they must seek our permission first. If we refuse, it's over."]
["Why? Because you're our little sister, of course."]
Her thoughts tangled in unfamiliar yet intimate words. The same voice, layered over itself. A voice she'd heard long ago.
["Leticia—!"]
Who was calling her?
That scorching smell, the smoke—what was it?
["We have to run!"]
Why did they need to run?
A horse screamed.
The carriage tilted, plunging over a cliff.
Tossed violently inside, she shrieked as her body slammed against the walls.
"Ah... ahh..."
Leticia's hand flailed in empty air.
"Sa... save me... please save me...!"
Her consciousness was trapped in that tumbling carriage.
"Save—"
The moment the carriage crashed—
"AAAH!"
—she woke with a gasp.
"Haah... haah... haah..."
Trembling fingers curled in the air as she panted. Her pupils shook with terror.
"Ha... ah..."
Struggling upright, she touched the bandages on her forehead. Clutching her head, she scanned the room with wary eyes.
'This place...'
She knew it.
No—she knew this manor.
She'd lived here once. Long ago, as a child.
Though young, the memories surfaced with startling clarity, as if from yesterday. Thirteen years of forgotten moments rushed back.
Every detail vivid.
Even the memory of tumbling down the cliff in that carriage felt real.
The scar on her forehead. The pendant.
And the fire.
No—not just a fire.
Her mother had set it.
Locked the door from the outside while the twins screamed for her inside.
["Mommy! The brothers are calling!"]
She'd cried, but her mother hadn't listened.
Carried away in her mother's arms, they'd fled in a carriage—only to crash down a mountainside.
Then, darkness.
"Benjamin... Johann..."
Names long forgotten spilled from her lips as she lowered her hands.
Now she remembered everything.
Her mind was chillingly clear.
Including what had been done to her in this manor.
What Johann Hildesheim had done.
The violations. The humiliations. Every vile word he'd uttered.
A shudder wracked her body as the memories replayed.
"I have to escape..."
That venomous hatred in his eyes—the monstrous cruelty—terrified her.
If she stayed, he would break her.
'But how?'
He wouldn't let her leave willingly.
Yet remaining here meant being dragged into an abyss from which there'd be no return.
He'd said he'd throw her to the gypsies.
'Should I kill him?'
The thought slithered into her mind, icy and sharp.
Perhaps the surest way was to end him.
Even if she fled, there was no guarantee of safety. She could be caught. Or die lost in the wilderness.
But if she killed him first?
Eliminated the threat at its source?
'Yes. Kill him.'
Her gaze swept the room.
No weapons in sight.
Then—the candlestick.
Its pointed end glinted.
'Stab him with that...'
With luck, it might be fatal.
But he was stronger. Taller.
Ambush was her only chance.
'What else?'
Options flickered through her mind.
Push him down the stairs. Poison his drink. Sneak a knife from the kitchen.
Yet poison required resources. Approaching unseen would be near impossible.
A knife, then?
'But... what about Benjamin?'
The other twin surfaced in her thoughts.
She'd only seen Johann so far.
If memory served, Benjamin was the elder.
'Is he still here?'
Facing both twins meant killing them together.
Leave one alive, and revenge would follow.
'How?'
Staggering to her feet, she lurched toward the wall mirror.
The gaunt stranger reflected there barely resembled her.
Sunken eyes, shadowed and hollow.
A nightgown—not hers—hung off bony shoulders.
And on her neck:
Bruises.
Bite marks.
Sucking wounds.
Rage ignited in her chest.
Trembling, she stared into her own eyes—and saw a monster staring back.
A monster no different from that man, Johann.
The way she now schemed to kill him for her own survival—there was no other word for it but monstrous.
Yet perhaps only a monster could defeat another monster.
Even if she had to become one herself, she would kill Johann and survive.
She would escape this place alive.
If necessary, she would burn it all down, just as her mother had thirteen years ago.
'Fire...'
Her gaze slid to the fireplace.
The logs still smoldered.
'If I set a fire...'
The thought slithered in, cold and calculating.
Fire might be her only tool.
If she set the manor ablaze in the dead of night—perhaps both Johann and Benjamin would perish.
Then she could flee on horseback, vanishing into the darkness as the estate burned behind her...
"Ghk—!"
Leticia clamped a hand over her mouth.
Bile rose in her throat.
The ease with which these horrors came to her—it sickened her.
"Ugh! Ghk—!"
She collapsed to her knees, retching violently.
But nothing came up.
Only the ugliness of her own instincts spilled out.
***
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