The Red Flower Falls (11)
The red flower fell. For an instant, my heart plummeted as if the ground had vanished beneath me. If I hadn’t been wearing the mask, every trace of my panic would have been laid bare. It would have shown on my face.
“Who… did you say?” I managed to steady my voice and ask again, wondering if I had misheard.
“I said Yeon…” Yeon Minha repeated the name with even clearer pronunciation. I swallowed a sigh. How on earth had this girl learned that nickname?
“It’s nothing important, really… When you returned from the south, you kept murmuring that name in your sickbed.”
“What…”
“You kept saying you were sorry… and even cried…”
This was disastrous. Of all times, that cursed nightmare had returned then. Why couldn’t I have kept quiet instead of babbling in my sleep…
“So I wondered if something was bothering you…” Yeon Minha twisted a strand of hair around her finger, glancing at me repeatedly.
“It sounded like a woman’s name… Did you have some kind of trouble with a friend? A fight, maybe…? You called the name so affectionately…”
She tried to sound casual, but the pair of crimson eyes fixed on me burned with unmistakable curiosity. This wasn’t something I could brush off lightly. What was I supposed to do? I had never heard any advice from the sisters or the Captain about handling a situation like this.
Unlike her usual self, Yeon Minha kept rambling to herself. The way her eyes spun without focus made her look even more flustered than I was.
“I’m actually quite open-minded, you know? Not every successor of the Five Great Houses is that rigid… I’d say what matters more is who you meet from now on, rather than past experiences… And…”
I made up my mind. Before the conversation veered any further off course, I had to steer it back. At least it was fortunate that Yeon Minha had no idea who the owner of that nickname might be. After all, how many people could connect “Yeon” with me just from hearing the name? As she said, that person’s past had long since been thoroughly scrubbed clean…
“It’s nothing. I don’t remember it well, but it seems I had a nightmare about a quarrel I had with a friend when I was young.”
“…Is that all?” Yeon Minha clearly didn’t believe the explanation. There was no choice but to brazen it out.
“Yes. That’s everything.”
“…”
Even after my direct answer, Yeon Minha’s suspicious expression didn’t fade. If anything, her gaze grew sharper with deeper doubt.
“If you say so, then I suppose it is… but I feel a little down. Even though we’ve become this close, I thought we were closer and more intimate than most people realize…”
She murmured with a faintly hurt tone. It seemed my attempt had failed after all. There was some justification in her disappointment. I really did keep far too many secrets from her. She had always been curious about the true nature of my authority, and whenever I removed the mask, her eyes carefully traced the scar beneath my left eye. She didn’t even know my real name, yet through her I knew every hidden detail of the Red Flame family that outsiders were never meant to learn. She had always shared everything with me without reservation. If this imbalance continued, it wouldn’t bode well for a long-term relationship. Still, I couldn’t tell her the truth about the owner of the name “Yeon.” I couldn’t begin to imagine how she would react upon learning that her rival and I had once been deeply connected. The mere thought of that reaction filled me with a sliver of dread.
But… I clearly needed to ease at least some of her curiosity.
“…Then how about a secret that none of my other friends know?”
“What is it?”
“My real name, for instance…”
“Huh? Huh?”
This time it seemed to work. Yeon Minha, who had been cut off mid-sentence, straightened up with an eager expression.
“That wasn’t your real name?”
“No. It’s an alias I use for certain reasons.”
Come to think of it, why had the Captain given me a new name in the first place? He still called me Hyun just like before. Even after the identity laundering, only my origin and name had been altered—everything else remained the same. At the time I had let it pass, but now that I thought about it, there were more than a few things like that. Maybe I really should head east during the break and demand answers. I was starting to understand a little of the frustration Yeon Minha must feel…
Yeon Minha swallowed hard and asked, “Th-then what’s your real name…?”
“Lee Hyun. The surname is Lee, the given name Hyun. Not much different from the alias.”
“I see… It’s not bad… Your real name really…”
“My hometown isn’t in the south either. I originally lived in a pioneer village in the north.”
“Huh? Ah, right… If it had been the south, you wouldn’t have been attacked by the demonkin…”
“And the scar under my eye came from trying to help that friend I mentioned.”
“I-I see… Goodness…”
Yeon Minha nodded along with sparkling eyes at everything I said. I wondered if this was working. After giving her a few more brief stories, I wrapped up.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“Wh-what are you talking about… Anyone would think I forced your secrets out of you…”
Yeon Minha, looking slightly flustered, cleared her throat and returned to her usual cool demeanor.
“This is my past that I’ve never told anyone. Please keep it a secret.”
“…Don’t worry. My lips aren’t that loose.”
Yeon Minha nodded slightly. Her face, now sharing a secret, was filled with satisfaction. While we had been absorbed in conversation, the grandfather clock in the room had already reached three in the morning.
“Senior. You should go to sleep now.”
“Already…? I’m not sleepy yet…”
“If you stay up too late, you’ll be tired tomorrow. And you’ll have to wake up early and return to the main house before anyone sees you.”
“Th-that’s true… All right…”
Yet Yeon Minha remained seated primly, making no move to lie down. She kept glancing between the bed and me, and whenever our eyes met, she would suddenly whip her head away.
“What are you doing? Lie down already.”
“Wh-which side are you sleeping on…?”
Yeon Minha suddenly started saying strange things.
“Pardon?”
Only then did Yeon Minha stand up and approach the bed. She pulled one pillow from the headboard and placed it firmly in the middle of the wide bed.
“Just so you know, if you cross over this pillow in the middle of the night…”
“Senior. What are you saying? Obviously, you should sleep in the bed alone.”
“Huh…?”
At my words, Yeon Minha let out a deflated sound. Even though the bed was quite spacious, the fact that there was only one bed hadn’t changed. Naturally, only one person could sleep in it.
“Then you…?”
“I can sleep on the floor. Or stay up all night.”
“But you’re a guest in our house… We can’t make you sleep on the floor…”
“Then shall I take the bed and you sleep on the floor?”
“…Eek.”
Yeon Minha let out a small groan and shot me a sharp, displeased glare.
“Hmph. Fine. Sleep on the floor or wherever you like.”
With that single remark, she lay down and pulled the blanket over her head. Half the bed remained empty as before.
***
Soon, the sound of Yeon Minha’s soft breathing filled the room. I could tell immediately that she had fallen into a deep sleep. It was a sound I had grown far too accustomed to hearing lately. The room was in a separate annex, so I could have gone to sleep as well, but instead I chose a different path. Hearing that name from Yeon Minha’s lips so unexpectedly had left my mind in turmoil. Moreover, though I had momentarily forgotten while talking with her, everything about this mansion had been unsettling me since the moment I arrived. The suddenly altered layout, the servants who seemed to be hiding something, the anxious and tense mistress, the Red Flame family head who showed no interest in his daughter, Yeon Minha’s aunt who looked so much like her, and even this unnecessarily luxurious and antique guest room. Each one was a small snag, but when they tangled together in my head, they kept pricking at my senses for some reason. I felt that without a short night walk, I wouldn’t be able to calm this restless mind. The Captain had once said that composure was most important for a mage… yet composure remained one of the words farthest from me. Since Yeon Minha had said I could wander freely, it shouldn’t matter. I planned to simply walk along the path around the annex and return. Besides, as my body recovered, my resistance seemed to be increasing as well; the time Yeon Minha could sleep without my authority was rapidly lengthening. Now a couple of hours caused no real problem. Whether out of lingering concern or not, she herself strongly denied that her condition was improving…
Moving quietly so as not to wake Yeon Minha, I slightly opened the window and stepped outside without a sound. The moon was new, so the outside was very dark. Only the streetlights scattered throughout the garden emitted a faint glow. I spread my Blockade thinly around my body and followed the darkness along the path. Even if detection devices for particle fluctuations were installed, in this state I wouldn’t be caught and cause unnecessary commotion. The gravel path, well-trodden, made a crunching sound with every step, and the ancient trees lining it were so massive they looked centuries old. Meanwhile, something truly sparkling occasionally appeared and vanished in the surrounding air. Just as the butler had said, it seemed to be a phenomenon caused by spirits densely inhabiting the area, clashing over territory and being flung from the void into the material world.
Walking through that unreal scene, I thought about the owner of the nickname “Yeon.” Two years had already passed in the blink of an eye. Yet I was still trapped in the scenery of that time. While in the military, I could somewhat quell that sorrow and anger by heading to the battlefield… but unfortunately, the Cradle was not a very good place to regain such composure. Quite the opposite, in fact. Every time I encountered someone, the trigger of memory was pulled without warning. Was it really possible to carry out the Captain’s request to the end in an environment like this? And while helping Yeon Minha keep the Heavenly Breaker in check for him and the sisters…?
“Ah…”
Lost in thought, I realized I had already reached the end of the path surrounding the annex. No matter how well I concealed my presence, there was no need to step outside and create more problems.
“…Let’s go back…”
I let out a deep sigh. My mind was still in disarray, but there was nothing to be done. I couldn’t leave Yeon Minha alone for too long. Just as I turned to return to the room, my sense of smell—sharpened by the damp night air—detected something. In that instant, along with the dew, a faint, metallic scent of blood slipped into my nostrils.