The Black Moon's Invitation
The message inside the black envelope was short. If you wish to save Edan Gray, come alone to the Rose Garden tonight.
I read the sentence again. Once. Twice. Three times. The letters did not change. A black rose petal lay on the desk, slowly withering. At its tip clung a trace of mana black as ink. When Noel reached out to touch it, Rhea froze the petal with a thin layer of frost.
“Don’t touch it carelessly.”
“I know that much.”
“Then why were you about to?”
“I was curious.”
Noel shrugged, but she did not smile as lightly as usual. Her violet eyes moved between the envelope and the petal.
Aria was holding my hand. At first it had been my wrist, but at some point her fingers had slid down to intertwine with mine. She gripped me as though I might vanish with the letter at any moment—gentle, yet unyielding.
“You can’t go alone.”
Her words sounded like a plea, but her hand had already locked around my wrist. Her touch was soft, yet there was no intention of letting go.
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You had that look on your face, Kyle.”
“What look?”
“The look that says you’re thinking of going alone.”
I couldn’t answer. She was right. The thought had crossed my mind only moments ago. Wouldn’t it be better to go alone? The Black Moon was using Edan as a hostage—well, not yet, but the letter made the threat clear. If I didn’t come, they would destroy him. So what if I went by myself? At least the others wouldn’t be in danger.
Aria, Rhea, Siella, Noel, Edan. They might not be dragged into the Black Moon’s schemes again. The thought had flickered through my mind for only an instant, but Aria had caught it. Her grip tightened.
“Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“This time, I’ll speak first.”
Aria’s eyes were damp, but she wasn’t crying.
“Don’t go.”
The words were so simple that there was no escaping them. I looked at her hand. The saintess candidate was holding the fallen noble’s hand. It had been too long for a healer’s touch, too desperate for a simple check on a patient. She knew it too. Yet she did not let go.
“Aria.”
“Yes.”
“People will see if we stay like this.”
“Let them.”
I was momentarily speechless. Aria’s face flushed as she realized the weight of her own words, but strangely, she still did not release my hand.
“I-I didn’t mean it that way…”
“Then what did you mean?”
“It’s better for them to catch me holding your hand than for you to go alone.”
Her voice was quiet, but the stubbornness within it was unmistakable. After the vision in B-7’s chapel, Aria had changed. Her kindness remained, yet within that kindness now lived a will that refused to let go of the hand she had chosen.
Rhea stood silently in front of me. That alone was a command. She stared at the black envelope before slowly turning her gaze to me.
“Kyle Diaren.”
“Yes.”
“If you even considered moving alone, abandon the thought right here.”
“I already have.”
“Hard to believe.”
“Do you distrust me that much, Your Highness?”
“I trust you.”
The answer was unexpected. I paused. Rhea added coldly,
“But I also know you often fail to trust yourself.”
The words were sharp. And accurate. Rhea took one step closer.
“If you try to disappear again for everyone else’s sake, I will not accept that choice.”
“Is that a royal order?”
“No.”
Her blue eyes met mine directly.
“It is my choice.”
Short words, yet heavier than any command. Rhea was not one to explain her feelings at length. For her, this was the fullest disclosure she could offer. My choice. Within those words lay protection, trust, and perhaps a possessiveness she had yet to name.
Siella pushed her scabbard upward with her thumb. The blade peeked out for a moment before sliding back in.
“If you sneak out, I’ll knock you out with the flat of my blade and drag you back.”
I looked at her.
“Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“Better than you going alone.”
“Would you really hit me?”
“If necessary.”
Siella’s golden eyes did not waver.
“Kyle, you often misunderstand. Don’t call putting yourself in danger a sacrifice. To me, it’s just a bad habit of mistreating your own body.”
Her words were harsh, but difficult to deny.
“And one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“If you disappear, you’ll be stepping outside the reach of my sword. I’ve never allowed that.”
Siella’s voice lowered. Beside me, Aria’s hand twitched. Rhea’s gaze turned icy toward Siella, who did not back down. A strange tension filled the air.
Aria spoke softly.
“Kyle must stay within my healing range as well.”
Rhea said,
“He must also remain in my sight.”
Siella replied,
“Then we simply need to satisfy all three conditions.”
“Easier said than done,” Rhea remarked coldly.
Siella gave a small smile.
“Still, it isn’t impossible.”
Noel was smiling, but her eyes were not.
“Kyle, if you really do that this time, everyone will hate you.”
I couldn’t answer. Strangely, those words frightened me more than the Black Moon threatening to kill me, more than the original story calling me an error. The thought of being hated by everyone settled heavily upon me.
Noel leaned against the window, gazing at the envelope.
“The Black Moon wrote a sentence designed to make you want to go alone. If you want to save Edan, come by yourself. This isn’t a simple threat.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s a sentence meant to summon your guilt. Edan is in danger. That danger exists because you twisted the original story. So take responsibility. Come alone.”
Her voice was light, but the content was not.
“The Black Moon knows you well. At least their method of shaking you is becoming more precise.”
I looked down at the black envelope. Noel was right. This letter wasn’t just calling me to the Rose Garden—it was drawing out my guilt. Edan Gray. The original protagonist. The man whose place I might have stolen. Using him as bait would easily unsettle me.
Edan stood quietly. He had said nothing since reading the letter. His hand rested near his sword hilt, his expression harder than usual. I looked at him.
“Edan.”
He raised his head.
“Yes.”
“Don’t dwell too much on the letter’s contents.”
“That’s difficult to do.”
He was honest.
“The Black Moon is summoning you, Kyle, to shake me. In a way, I’m the cause.”
“You’re not.”
“You would say that.”
Edan gave a faint smile.
“But now I understand a little. Why you so often try to shoulder everything alone.”
At those words, Aria, Rhea, and Siella’s gazes all turned to me at once. I felt oddly like a sinner. Edan continued.
“The thought that someone might be endangered because of you easily isolates a person—under the name of responsibility.”
“That’s true.”
“Which is why you absolutely cannot go alone.”
He adjusted his grip on his sword.
“The Black Moon is using me as bait to call you, Kyle, but at the same time, they’re trying to shake me through you. So I must accompany you.”
Rhea spoke immediately.
“It’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
“And you still intend to go?”
“My choice right now is not to let Kyle go alone.”
His words were quiet yet firm. I looked at him. The vision of Edan I had seen in B-7 surfaced—holding a bloodied sword, cutting someone down in the name of saving everyone. The Black Moon kept forcing choices upon him. Sacrifice one to save all? Trust the villain or protect the academy? Yet Edan had chosen a third path once again. He would watch over me. He would stop me. And now, he would go with me. How very much like the protagonist. Annoyingly so.
Noel spread a sheet of paper across the table.
“All right. Enough sentiment. Let’s plan.”
“A plan?”
“You weren’t actually thinking of marching into the Rose Garden in a group and announcing ‘We’re here,’ were you?”
“Not exactly…”
“Kyle’s good at reading emotional cues sometimes, but his tactics are simple.”
Siella nodded.
“I agree.”
Rhea added,
“This time, Ignis is right.”
Noel smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Everyone’s finally acknowledging me.”
“That’s not it,” I said. Noel waved her hand dismissively.
“Kyle, be quiet. The letter’s condition is ‘come alone.’ But what the Black Moon truly wants isn’t just for you to come alone.”
Aria asked,
“Then what do they want?”
“They want the fact that you considered going alone. In other words, if you show even the slightest intention of going by yourself, they can use that scene as evidence or distort it. They’re trying to recreate the flow of the villain’s isolation.”
I frowned.
“So the moment I move secretly, the Black Moon will use it as proof?”
“Exactly. ‘Look, Kyle Diaren moves alone after all. He deceives those around him. He’s a dangerous variable.’ Something like that.”
Rhea spoke coldly.
“Then what we must do is the opposite. We make Kyle publicly declare that he will not go alone.”
“Publicly?”
“At the very least, he’s already declared it to everyone in this room.”
“Are you planning to record this?”
Rhea produced a small imperial recording stone from her robes.
“I already am.”
I was at a loss for words.
“Since when?”
“From the moment you said you wouldn’t go alone.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“A necessary measure.”
Aria gave a small laugh.
“Still, this is a good record for once.”
With that, I had nothing left to say. Noel began drawing up the operation plan.
“The Rose Garden has already been used twice by the Black Moon. They chose it again for its symbolism. Kyle’s first death flag, Aria’s false accusation incident, the first clash with the Black Moon. In other words, the place where the first crack in the original story appeared.”
Edan said,
“They’ll try to sever the relationships there again.”
“Yes. And this time they’ve used Edan as bait.”
Noel looked at him.
“So we need both of you. Kyle and Edan.”
Siella folded her arms.
“What’s the formation?”
“On the surface, it must look as though Kyle came alone.”
Aria’s face hardened.
“No.”
“Hear me out.”
Noel raised a finger.
“Only on the surface. In reality, we’ll connect Aria’s holy threads to Kyle, and Rhea will conceal the perimeter with a veil of frost. Siella will wait in the western corridor of the garden. Edan will move within a certain distance of Kyle, but in a position difficult for the Black Moon to detect.”
“And me?”
Noel pointed to herself with a grin.
“I’ll watch from above.”
“As always.”
“Because I’m the observer.”
Rhea asked,
“What if the Black Moon detects Kyle’s companions?”
Noel’s smile faded.
“Then it becomes a battlefield immediately.”
Siella gripped her sword hilt.
“Sounds good.”
It didn’t sound good at all. Aria still looked anxious.
“So Kyle has to stand alone in the center of the garden?”
“Yes,” Noel answered.
Aria’s hand tightened around my wrist again. I looked at her.
“It’ll be fine.”
“I hate that word the most.”
“Then what should I say?”
“Tell me you’re scared.”
I hesitated. Aria’s eyes were serious.
“If you only say you’re fine, it feels like you’re enduring everything alone again. So this time, please say you’re scared. Then I can hold on to you better.”
Strangely, my throat tightened. After a moment of silence, I spoke.
“I’m scared.”
Aria’s hand grew warmer.
“Yes. Then I’ll hold on to you.”
Rhea looked away without a word. Siella gave a small cough. Edan quietly lowered his head. Noel watched us with amusement but, for once, did not tease. Yet Aria did not stop there.
“Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“When I connect the holy threads this time, don’t try to sever them by force.”
“I have no intention of doing so.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“If you’re lying…”
She paused. The usual Aria would have said “I’ll scold you” here. But this time was different.
“I’ll come get you myself.”
Her words were so quiet that they rang loudly.
“Whether the Black Moon is there or we’re in the middle of the Rose Garden, if you try to disappear alone again, I’ll find you first.”
Rhea said in a low voice,
“The saintess candidate won’t be going alone either.”
Siella nodded.
“I’ll go before that.”
Noel laughed.
“Wow. The Kyle search party has been formed.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
“Am I scheduled to go missing?”
“Something like that,” Noel replied. But there was more than laughter in her words. Everyone knew it. The Black Moon kept trying to isolate me. And there were times when I truly wavered toward that isolation. So they were trying to hold on to me—each in their own way.
As the meeting drew to a close, the window had already darkened. The time to head to the Rose Garden was drawing near. I folded the black envelope once more. Inside lingered the scent of the black rose petal. A smell of blood, roses, and ink. The scent the Black Moon favored.
Then, from beyond the door, High Priestess Eline spoke quietly.
“Kyle Diaren.”
I looked up.
“There is one more thing I must tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Among the books that vanished from the Holy Church’s forbidden archives, one titled The Genealogy of the Villain Who Must Die repeats a certain record.”
Eline’s gaze darkened.
“If the villain does not die, he will always return to the place he first changed.”
I looked down at the letter in my hand. The place he first changed. The Rose Garden. Where everything began. Eline continued.
“And there, the scene in which he was originally meant to die will be reenacted.”
Aria’s hand stiffened. Edan’s face also grew cold. I drew a slow breath. In the end, the Black Moon’s goal was not a simple threat. Tonight, in the Rose Garden—they were trying to drag out the first death I had avoided.