"No."
Georgia said dubiously.
"They were concerned about Emilia. The two of them might look cold and hard to approach, but ever since Emilia got hurt, they've been trying to look for ways to help her, and they've stayed in constant contact with us. If there's anything that's a bit different from regular parents, it'd be how understanding they were. Emilia ended up like this because of me and Robert, and even though the two of us definitely didn't want it, the cause was definitely the two of us as well.
"We had a conflict with Eric, which led to Emilia going through this torment. It'd be exceedingly difficult for normal parents not to take it out on us, and even hate Robert and I. But Oscar and Margie were only focused on helping us treat Emilia and make Eric pay. Does that count as something unusual?"
Georgia was still dubious. It wasn't that there was nobody this understanding in the world, and she couldn't say that it was "off" for Emilia's parents not to blame them.
And she wasn't about to look that gift horse in the mouth.
"It might just be a feeling of mine. I've just always felt that Emilia's parents were strange, but my relations with the Powell family don't run deep, and I've never investigated if there was something off about them particularly. My instincts have always been sharp, though. Don't trust Emilia's parents too much, Georgia. Even Emilia herself isn't too close with them. Otherwise, she wouldn't have liked to wander outside so much, so much that there could be a whole year between seeing her parents.
"Emilia's not the sort of person to deliberately stay away from her parents, either. She's actually got a great sibling-like relationship going with Aston, and she's close with me as her aunt as well. I don't know if their family's just naturally cold and aren't too suited to living together, or if there's any other causes. Emilia hasn't talked to me about it. She doesn't like talking about her own family. Now that she's mentally traumatized, you can't ask her that sort of question, either.
"Anyway, just watch out. Don't trust the Powell family easily. Selfish blood runs in their veins. Of course, Laurie and Carr are good people."
"I've got it. Don't worry, Mom. I'll keep an eye out."
After Georgia made that promise, Casey relaxed.
As the two sides hung up, she turned to Robert.
"Do you think there's anything unusual with Oscar and Margie?"
"I can't tell. They're Emilia's parents. At least from Emilia's incident till now, they've acted like normal parents. It's not that they don't hold a grudge against us at all. It's just that they've kept it reined in. I can't say if that's normal or not, since I've never experienced my children getting hurt, and I hope I never will."
"No matter how it is, since my mother reminded us – didn't you talk with Oscar for a while? What did he want from you? Let's be careful. We've got children, and your condition has to draw the attention of others. We have to remain cautious."
"I've got it. Oscar mainly talked about moving against Eric this afternoon. I gave him the general outline. He wants to get involved and to avenge his daughter personally."
"So you told him about the plan?"
Georgia asked, while Robert nodded.
"Don't worry. If Emilia's father really is off and could put a wrench in our plans, this might let us realize even sooner that he's not on the same front as we are. If we take revenge successfully on Eric, that in turn proves that we've overthought it. Even if they knew about the plan, the worst-case scenario is that Eric gets away. Our plan might not succeed anyway."
"You're right. But let's see if we can investigate Oscar and Margie's past. We might turn up something."
As Robert nodded, the secretary outside walked in and told them Emilia had woken up.
Georgia and Robert walked out. They couldn't see her, of course, since she was on guard against everyone.
Ivan had said, though, that he was going to talk with Emilia this time.
Both of them were concerned over whether or not Emilia would be better today, so they waited outside the room. Ivan walked inside.
As he entered, the bedroom was composed completely of foam walls. Even the bed was just a mattress.
There was a small room with a bathroom and toilet.
It was the type of padded cell designed for suicide risks. Emilia wasn't there yet, but they were afraid she'd hurt herself, so they'd transferred her to such a room.
Ivan walked in and saw Emilia sitting on the ground, her head between her knees, her legs hugged to her chest.
He couldn't see Emilia's expression and didn't know what condition she was in.
Ivan walked closer, taking care to lighten his footsteps so Emilia wouldn't be frightened.
He knew that people who'd undergone mental trauma could be triggered just from loud footsteps and going into panic.
After stopping a few paces from Emilia, Ivan slowly sat opposite her.
That was around the safe zone for interpersonal distance, and Ivan didn't try to draw closer.
He wanted to stay where Emilia felt safe.
He felt strange about it, though. He'd asked about Emilia's condition beforehand.
Apparently, Emilia would crumble whenever she saw or heard people before, chasing everyone out and howling in agony in her room. Her emotions had been incredibly unstable.
He'd been inside for a few minutes already. Logically speaking, even with his footsteps so light, Emilia should have heard and felt another person's presence.
But she'd just stayed her curled up sitting on the ground, not even looking up once.
That wasn't right. He couldn't be sure what mental state Emilia was in, so he just sat in front of her and remained silent.
He was afraid that saying something would startle her.
And he knew that he just had to wait for her to speak actively.
He waited on for almost half an hour before Emilia slowly raised her head from her knees.
There was a trace of fear in her gaze, and she looked at Ivan like she was looking at a stranger, on guard.
"Am I sick? Why am I shut in here? Daddy and Mommy are too busy with work to visit me again, aren't they?"
The moment Emilia spoke her first sentence, Ivan's heart sank completely.
"Do you know how old you are right now, Emilia?"
Ivan asked, and Emilia's tone turned curious.
"I'm ten years old. Why would you ask me something like that? Are you some secretary Daddy and Mommy sent over to manage me? I annoyed the last secretary until he quit. You're new, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm new."
Ivan said heavily, his gut wrenching.
"I'll say this first. If you want to manage me as a secretary, you have to play games with me and take me to theme parks. Otherwise, I'll tell Daddy and Mommy you're bullying me and have them chase you out."
Emilia up and started giving Ivan commands, and Ivan smiled gently.
"Of course I'll play with you. What games do you want to play? I'll prepare them for you..."
Georgia and Robert waited outside for several hours.
Emilia's parents came in and started waiting outside as well. It was almost midnight when Ivan came out.
His expression was glum.
"There's been a new issue with Emilia's mental condition. She's developed a split personality. When I went in there, she had the personality of back when she was ten years old and a child. I don't know why she split that personality off to protect herself. People can develop split personalities because of unbearable agony, so they let another personality shoulder the burden. She's already showing the first signs of developing a split personality, but we can't tell if there are any other personalities for now."
Georgia's heart sank as well.
She looked consciously at Emilia's father and mother. Oscar's expression was heavy, and he looked sorrowful.
Margie, though, wore an expression Georgia didn't understand. She couldn't tell if the woman was forcing calm or feeling sad.
"How do we treat this?"
Georgia set aside her doubts and turned back to Ivan.
Ivan spoke, depressed.
"Unless we cure her mental trauma completely, she won't be able to stay in a normal state. Other personalities might emerge and take over her body and do what she wants. We can only ask professionals to check over her again. My knowledge in this field isn't deep. Before I came out, she was in the state of a child. She had me play games with her. That personality alone is not dangerous, and we'll have to see how the other personalities go."
"when will your experts arrive?"
Oscar asked.
Ivan answered straight away.
"Two of them will arrive tomorrow morning. Another's attending a talk right now, and might arrive the day after. They're peak experts in this field and have treated similar cases. The main thing before was to look for people to treat mental trauma, but with Emilia's split personality, I need a few more professionals who specialize in that area. Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Powell. I know folks, and I'll ask them over to treat Emilia.
"She needs to be stabilized right now. Unless it's a dangerous personality or a suicidal one, her other personalities need to be satisfied as well as possible. It could be that she won't develop more, but I've seen people with several or even dozens of personalities. That's when they've been left for too long. For now, we can tamp down on it with medication, then observe the situation going forward."
Emilia's situation came to a lull for the moment. Georgia wasn't an expert in psychiatry, so she could only listen to Ivan.
Thankfully, Emilia's parents seemed to trust Ivan, so they left finding doctors and going forward all to Ivan.
That night, because there was something urgent in the company that Oscar needed to deal with, he flew off. Only Margie remained.
Georgia and Robert were resting for the evening when Wilson suddenly came up to them.