A Rose's Hope
The question slipped out lightly. “Don’t you want to live?”
Immediately after, a heavy silence settled over the room. I watched her dazed, blinking eyes and lifted the corners of my mouth as gently as I could. It was a tender smile.
‘An opportunity… Can I really see it that way?’ I muttered inwardly.
Wiping away the tears that had pooled in her eyes was an act laced with a touch of calculation. Elise. The girl had far too many thorns. Her unfortunate background had been enough to drag her down, and the rose had gradually withered into a pessimist who no longer held any expectations for life. That was the reason behind her subtly twisted personality. Thanks to it, I too had been ignored more often than not. I had offered her goodwill several times, but the girl showed not even the slightest interest. She had simply plugged her ears so the voice of the world could no longer reach her. That was the most troublesome part. Because for treatment, willpower was crucial.
‘But.’
Now it was different. Though her heart was armored in resignation, even that iron wall had begun to show tiny cracks. The more she wavered mentally, the weaker she became. A fissure slowly opening. I sensed it instinctively. Now is the time. It’s possible.
‘I can persuade her.’
This was my chance to deliver my voice. The wilted rose seemed to have lost even the will to raise her thorns, so I would use this gap to take one step closer to the true feelings she had hidden away. A petal stripped of its thorns could only helplessly surrender its bloom.
“Your Highness.”
I had no intention of missing this opportunity. The warmth lingering in my palm let me feel every tear sliding down her cheek.
“I want to hear your true heart.”
I whispered softly, careful not to wake the stars that had fallen asleep in the night.
“You said you had no lingering attachment to life, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“But I didn’t believe those words. Because even if only partially, I understand something of your life.”
“……You understand me?”
“Yes. It might sound arrogant, but—”
A limited lifespan. How could I not know the pain that came with such a life?
“I haven’t experienced it myself. However, I have lost something before.”
“What?”
“The person I cherished most in life.”
“…….”
“She was a child who shone like a star. At the same time, she was everything that made up my life.”
I paused for a moment, recalling the old memories that had left behind nothing but pain.
—Oppa!
A youthful voice rang in my ears. After a brief silence, I smiled at the girl before me.
“She was the same. She suffered from illness for years and eventually left my side.”
Perhaps the gods had been jealous of that brilliant light. The starlight that had completed my entire life had vanished beyond the night sky far too soon.
I continued, “Living each day with death looming ahead.”
“…….”
“That child told me just how painful it was.”
The end that flickered before my eyes was terrifying. The cruel fate felt unfair. The struggle against illness was lonely. The desperate flailing was agonizing. The approaching farewell was heartbreaking. Remembering each of those tearful words, I carefully brushed the rose’s petals.
The girl seemed to be listening now.
“That’s why I understand you.”
Even if not completely. Because I remembered that pain vividly, at least in part. I chewed over the memories I had buried deep in my chest and pronounced each sentence clearly. My tone was calm.
“I know what you desire, Your Highness.”
“What I… desire?”
“Aren’t you hoping for a miracle? Even while falling into endless despair, on the other side you’re waiting for salvation.”
“Sorry, but you’re wrong.”
“Oh dear.”
“I already gave up a long time ago. The word ‘miracle’ just feels like an illusion to me.”
“Those very words support the point I’m making.”
What the rose had spoken of was resignation. Not a fundamental absence.
“Resignation.”
Resignation meant abandoning hope. Put another way, it meant that once, she had possessed hope. If she had never held hope to begin with, the very concept of resignation couldn’t exist. The girl before me was no different.
“How could there be no lingering attachment?”
She had simply been crushed beneath continuous despair. That didn’t mean she had become indifferent to hope. On the contrary, the hope she had given up became even clearer. The more it remained unfulfilled, the stronger the lingering attachment grew. Though she had been sitting helplessly against the wall of reality until now, if a hand were extended to lift her up, she would surely grasp it. Once hope had been seized, it wasn’t easily let go.
“I believe the same must be true for you, Your Highness.”
“…….”
The rose remained silent. It was a silence that might as well have been affirmation. Normally she would have forced out a rebuttal, but her shaken heart seemed to leave her no room for that. She simply stared at me with trembling eyes.
“Your Highness.”
The fall was near. I filled her dark, lightless pupils with myself and carefully peeled away the despair that had wrapped around the flower. It was a single word of hope she had forgotten for so long.
“I will give you a miracle.”
My voice rang out dreamily. As if enchanted by a dream, as if submerged in gentle waves, the rose slowly seeped into the space between my sentences.
“I can promise you everything. I can fulfill the hope you had to abandon.”
I drew it out. The countless times she had repeated that she wanted to die. Beyond those words, I found the girl’s true heart. In the dust-covered blank space, only a short monologue remained.
I want to live.
A single line of monologue.
“All you have to do is take my hand.”
I gently extended my hand. As I waited quietly for an answer, I saw the red-haired girl frozen in a daze. Her green eyes were swirling wildly. Moisture gradually gathered in them, then thick tears began to fall one by one.
Elise’s head drooped toward the floor as if all strength had left her.
“Why on earth…”
A murmur that drifted off for a moment. It sounded like she was asking for a reason. Why was I clinging to her so persistently? She had clearly let everything go, yet why did I keep making her hold onto hope? It was a question that wasn’t quite a question.
“Because.”
I answered without hesitation.
I. You all. The world. The ending of this story.
“I want you to be happy.”
That single sentence rang out clearly. It contained nothing but sincerity. A faint smile curved my lips.
The rose, who had been unable to respond for a while, finally leaned her head against me as if collapsing. The body heat that touched my chest was dyed with belated warmth.
“……You’re strange until the very end.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah.”
The quiet reply came back. I lightly stroked the head that leaned against me. Unlike before, she didn’t push me away. Over the hand that had offered her hope, a bandaged hand now rested atop it. I smiled softly.
“You don’t need to worry.”
I’ll take care of everything.
After whispering those words into her ear, the disheveled rose closed her eyes.
Elise. The girl knew her own misfortune. Because she was a child who had swallowed a curse.
A disease said to be incurable by any means—magic, medicine, or divine power. Having collided brutally with reality since childhood, the rose refused to carelessly harbor hopes for miracles. Instead, she had let go of everything. In the girl’s world, that was simply the natural thing to do.
—Starting today, I will be serving as Your Highness’s personal physician. My name is Yuda Snakers.
A strange person.
Elise did not like the boy. The way he had touched her while she was tied down. Setting aside that worst-possible first impression, the fact that he kept smiling at her was irritating. His mouth that kept babbling about not giving up on life annoyed her.
—I will help you.
He knew nothing. He couldn’t possibly understand. She didn’t want him arbitrarily giving her hope. Because her heart had already been trampled and torn apart. All that long time spent in pain, she had stopped every last struggle, preparing for everything to vanish meaninglessly. She didn’t want to be shaken by pointless hope now.
However.
—I want to hear your true heart.
She wavered. Whenever she heard those words, her chest stirred.
—I understand you.
The body heat that melted her cold body. The hand that wiped away her tears. The kindness that wrapped bandages around her wounds. The sense of peace she felt whenever she leaned against him, and the way the pain of the curse vanished from the world, even if only for a moment.
She had turned away from it all, calling it fleeting hope. But—
—I will give you a miracle.
Yes. She had no choice but to admit it. About hope. She had thought she had let it go completely, yet the broken fragments still remained at her fingertips. It was a lingering attachment she herself hadn’t even noticed.
—All you have to do is take my hand.
—Because I want you… to be happy.
In the end, Elise took the hand before her. As if possessed by something. Was there anyone who could resist collapsing before such an earnest hope? Though the rose had prepared for death every single day, deep inside she was still just a girl who had not yet reached adulthood.
In the end, she made a resolution. One last time, she would believe in hope.
“I lost.”
Elise, lying in bed, suddenly said that. Sitting close by was the snake. Using treatment as an excuse, he had settled down and was watching the rose buried beneath the blankets. Perhaps because of the strangely close body heat. Feeling the presence beside her, the girl spoke in a much more relaxed tone.
“I told you. I lost.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do whatever you want. From now on, even if you touch me roughly, cling to me stickily, or rummage through me violently, I won’t resist at all.”
“That’s quite a worrying statement.”
“Because you said you’d fulfill my hope.”
“If it’s for the sake of treatment, you’ll do anything… Is that the feeling?”
“Just do as you please.”
The rose declared she would refrain from resisting in the future. Perhaps pleased by that reaction, the boy gently stroked her red hair with a calm hand. Then he smiled at the lifeless petals.
“I have no intention of treating you carelessly. Anyone who enters my domain, I take care of with all my heart.”
“Well… I suppose I’ll find out with time.”
“You are correct.”
The two exchanged light conversation. As they passed the time like that, the rose suddenly asked a question.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Help… Now that you mention it, there is one thing I’d like to ask for your cooperation on.”
“What is it?”
Elise lifted her head slightly. She looked interested. Perhaps because her will to recover had revived, the girl was approaching the topic with unexpected enthusiasm. The rose had no idea what the future held.
“You’ll need to prepare to leave.”
“Leave?”
“I intend to escape this prison-like place.”
“Huh…?”
Elise was flustered by the sudden statement. On the other hand, the snake showed not the slightest tremor. The boy added with a bright smile,
“We’re going to the academy. All of us together.”
The cage that had confined the rose. It was a single sentence that would shatter ten years of loneliness.