Anwen cried in Odette's arms. She felt sad at Rion's words when he became Lucifer. She knew and realized that what her mother had done was indeed very fatal and could not be forgiven. She also knew that what her brother had said was not wrong, but it hurt a lot when Rion said that she was a child of a snake and a bearer of calamity.
After a while, Anwen finally let go of her embrace. Odette wiped the young girl's tears and invited her to sit on a bench under a tree.
"Anwen, don't be angry with Rion. He said that while he was not himself."
Anwen, who didn't know that Rion had DID, was surprised by Odette's words.
"What do you mean not himself?"
Odette furrowed her brows. She was surprised when she realized Anwen didn't know about this. Did that mean Rion had kept his condition a secret from his family? But how could he do that for such a long time?
"Miss Ody, what do you mean by 'not himself'?" Anwen looked very surprised and curious to hear Odette's explanation.
"Anwen, you… really don't know?" Odette asked to be sure and Anwen shook her head.
"Didn't you ever feel that there was something different about your brother when you two lived together in the palace?" Odette asked.
Anwen shook her head again. She explained that since Queen Rose's death, her older brother rarely came to the palace. He always went to war and kept himself busy by making various work visits to various areas of the kingdom, and often even went abroad to take care of regional relations with countries that had peace treaties with Panthera.
"But…" Anwen furrowed her brows as she remembered something. "After the execution of sister-in-law, Rion fell ill for a week."
Anwen told the story while remembering the incident one night when she visited Rion.
"That night, I came to my brother's room to see how he was, but he looked at me very coldly and said that I was a child of a snake." Anwen's eyes drooped sadly.
Now Odette understood the reason why Anwen didn't know that Rion had a mental disorder. They rarely interacted. In addition, based on the information she received from Anwen, that maybe that night was the first time Lucifer appeared.
At that time, Anwen must have been very sad, and it seemed that Lucifer was the reason Anwen and Rion's relationship was strained.
"Miss Ody, you haven't answered my question yet." Anwen looked up, waiting for Odette to give an answer to her question.
"I still need some time to confirm, but Rion is most likely affected by dissociative identity disorder."
Just like Rion and Trish, Anwen didn't even understand what DID was. So Odette started to explain it to her. However, this time, Odette explained more to Anwen about DID than she explained to Rion and Trish. She used as much simpler language as possible that Anwen could easily understand.
Odette first tried to make Anwen understand the situation experienced by someone with dissociative identity disorder through a question.
She asked Anwen what would happen if a carriage had two coachmen, three coachmen, four or more than the imagined number and each coachman took turns controlling the carriage? All the coachmen had different goals and each one of them was fighting for their turn to take over the control of the carriage.
Anwen actually didn't understand why Odette would even ask such a thing but she answered anyway. "That carriage is going to be really messed up."
Odette nodded. "That's what Rion is experiencing right now."
Anwen was shocked and her eyes opened wide. Odette told her that dissociative identity disorder usually arises due to physical violence or abuse and various traumatic events experienced by the sufferer.
Odette looked at the silent Anwen with eyes looking straight at her. The young girl listened carefully to everything Odette said.
"Don't be offended by Rion's words. He said that when he was taken over by his alter," explained Odette, still trying to make Anwen understand.
"Alter?" Anwen didn't understand. "Is that the name of the evil spirit that took over my brother's consciousness?"
Odette's mouth opened slightly. She was surprised because it seemed that Anwen had interpreted DID as a case of possession. "Evil spirit? Anwen, it's not like that. Rion isn't like that because he's possessed by an evil spirit."
"No?"
Odette nodded. Odette also explained more about DiD, which was a condition when one person had two different personalities, three, four and so on. The other personalities were called the alters and the main personality was called the host.
"So, the alter isn't an evil spirit?" Anwen recalled that, several years ago, her grandmother brought a holy man to the palace.
She saw the holy man enter her brother's room, and she overheard the servant's chatter saying that Her Highness Cristela had brought the holy man to exorcise the evil spirit that inhabited the king's body.
"Anwen, right now, Rion is in dire need of support. He felt very sad when he found out that he had hurt you during his takeover. He may want to apologize but he has no explanation as to why he would say such things to you. Anwen, Rion loves you very much. "
"Brother…" Anwen looked down sadly.
***
Meanwhile, from his study window, Rion looked towards the garden, or rather at the two girls who were sitting opposite each other on a bench under one of the trees.
"The princess seems very close to Miss Odette," Trish said, while he paid attention to the girls.
Rion only responded with a snort. He focused on looking at Anwen. He recalled his time with Anwen when they were little.
The two of them were very close, but Queen Helen, who didn't like Anwen being around Rion, sent Anwen to the Arawn Kingdom to study. Rion missed Anwen all the time, and sometimes wanted to visit Anwen, but he couldn't, because of the strict training his grandfather gave him. Rion was not given the time to have fun or just play.
Anwen only returned to Panthera one day before Rion's and Rose's wedding, even then, it was because Rion had come to pick up Anwen himself. Rion knew very well that his actions of bringing Anwen back to Panthera made Queen Helen very unhappy.
Rion sighed tiredly. His chest felt heavy.
"Is Your Majesty all right?" Trish asked.
"I'm never okay. You know that, right?"
Trish looked concerned.
"I hurt you and Anwen while I was unconscious, I'm sorry, Trish." Rion looked straight at Trish, then patted Trish's injured shoulder lightly and that made Trish sigh a little in pain.
"Next time we fight, you have to win. Don't lose, let alone be killed by Lucifer," said Rion, and then sat back in his chair. "Trish, I never said this. To me, you are a very valuable friend, so take care of your life."
Trish's breath hitched a little, then stared blankly at the king, who seemed to be reading a document.