Return to the Rose Garden
The rose garden transforms into an entirely different place once night falls. By day, it serves as a stage for confessions and leisurely strolls, where noble students exchange subtle whispers. Red roses, white roses, and blue roses bloom in a perfect circle around an ancient angel statue at its center. Beneath the sunlight, it is a rather beautiful spot. But under moonlight, everything changes. The crimson petals darken until they resemble fresh blood. The wind carries the faint, grating sound of thorns scraping against one another, and the angel statue's face becomes impossible to read—neither clearly smiling nor weeping. For me, this garden was where it all began. Kyle Diaren's first death flag. The place where Aria Elowen was framed. The first site where the Black Moon attempted to kill me. The location where I first deviated from the original story.
In that same rose garden, I stood once more. Alone—at least, that was how it appeared.
"Status?" Noel's voice brushed against my ear through a compact communication spell. Her words resonated from the thin mana stone she had affixed inside my collar.
I answered without moving my lips. "I've reached the center of the garden."
"Good. The mana flow remains stable. Traces of the Black Moon linger faintly near the northern section and around the angel statue."
"Only faintly?"
"Yes. It's so weak that it's suspicious. They didn't simply fail to conceal it—they deliberately left it this faint."
"Meaning it's bait."
"Our Kyle's gotten quite sharp."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Half of one."
Still only half. I stopped before the angel statue. It looked exactly as it had before—worn wings, broken fingertips, shadows pooling across its face. A small stone step lay beneath it, encircled by crimson roses. Memories surfaced of the desperate struggle after I first awoke, fighting to avoid the death flag. Back then, I truly had been alone. Aside from Marian, there had been no one I could trust. Rhea had despised me, Siella had treated me like trash, and Aria had been the victim of the false accusation I supposedly made. Edan had still been far away, and Noel hadn't spared me a single thought.
But now everything was different.
Behind the northern fountain stood Rhea. Her frost magic spread so thinly through the night air that it was nearly indistinguishable from the chill itself. Though invisible, I could sense it—if danger struck, that cold would freeze the entire garden in an instant.
Within the shadows of the western corridor waited Siella. Her sword remained sheathed, yet I could easily picture her hand resting on the hilt, ready to be the first to charge at the slightest sign of trouble.
Near the eastern cathedral entrance lingered Aria. Though she had suppressed the light of her holy arts to the utmost, the mark on my wrist still connected us. She would notice even the slightest irregularity in my breathing.
Somewhere high among the trees along the garden's edge was Noel. She was probably smiling.
And finally, Edan Gray stood a short distance behind me. Considering the Black Moon had summoned me alone, he remained just far enough to avoid triggering their detection spells, yet close enough to reach me within five seconds once combat began. Five seconds. Longer than it sounds. I had recently learned exactly how many times one could die in five seconds.
"Lord Kyle." This time it was Aria's voice, not through the communication spell but through the holy mark. More a vibration felt in the heart than spoken words.
"If it hurts, please tell me right away."
"I'm still fine."
"I don't like that answer."
"I'm still afraid."
A brief silence followed. Then Aria's voice returned, barely audible. "……All right. Please keep saying that."
The scent of roses grew thicker. I drew out the black envelope. The letter had instructed me to come alone to the rose garden tonight. I had come—not truly alone, but appearing so. Would the Black Moon fail to notice the difference? They would notice. Still, this was the approach we had chosen. If they sought to isolate me, then I had to prove I was not isolated. Revealing that proof too soon, however, might prevent the trap from activating. So bait was necessary. And that bait was me. It always was.
I placed the black envelope beneath the angel statue.
"I'm here," I said, my voice low across the garden. "Kyle Diaren has arrived."
The wind died. Every rose petal bowed at once. A familiar sensation—the world itself seemed to hold its breath whenever the Black Moon's spell activated. The angel statue's shadow lengthened. Even though moonlight bathed the center of the garden, the darkness beneath the statue grew deeper still. From within that shadow, someone stepped forward.
A black priest's robe. A silver mask. A single black rose held in one hand. It was Priest Rowen—or, more likely, a projection of him. He smiled softly as always.
"You truly came."
"I received your invitation."
"You read the part about coming alone, I assume."
"I came alone."
Rowen regarded me through the mask. "Is that what you wish to believe?"
"No." I rested my hand on my sword hilt. "It's what I want you to believe."
Rowen fell silent for a moment, then gave a quiet laugh. "An interesting way to put it. Not something the old Kyle Diaren would have said."
"I've heard that quite often."
"Then let us move to the main point." He set the black rose before the angel statue. "Do you wish to save Edan Gray?"
"Is Edan in danger?"
"Of course."
"Where? How?"
"By your side."
I narrowed my eyes. Rowen spoke quietly. "Edan Gray is the protagonist. In the original story, he was meant to resolve incidents, form bonds with the heroines, and rise to the center of the academy. Yet now he stands beside you."
"And that is a problem?"
"How could it not be?"
Rowen began to walk slowly, black rose petals scattering beneath his feet. "The protagonist must stand at the center. But you have stolen that center—the princess's trust, the saintess candidate's hand, the knight's acknowledgment, the observer's attention. Even Edan Gray's choice."
He tilted his head toward me. "Now Edan is no longer the protagonist. He is becoming the villain's partner."
"You dislike that?"
"It is less a matter of dislike and more a matter of danger."
"To whom?"
"To the story."
Again, the same words. I let out a small sigh. "I'm tired of hearing that the story matters more than people."
"I thought you would say that." Rowen smiled. "So today, I will show you something different."
The garden's roses began to darken. Crimson turned black, white turned gray, blue deepened to ink. Cracks spread across the angel statue's face, leaking black light.
"Kyle Diaren." Rowen's voice dropped. "In exchange for your survival, what has Edan Gray lost?"
A scene unfolded across the garden floor—an illusion, yet different from the one in B-7. This was not meant to wound me, but to reveal Edan.
Edan Gray stood alone in the academy's central plaza. Students surrounded him, yet none looked his way. Rhea passed by my side. Aria held my hand. Siella smiled while pointing her sword at me. Noel observed me. Edan remained silent in their midst, gripping an unnamed sword whose blade slowly cracked.
Rowen spoke. "Do you see?"
"An illusion."
"A possibility."
"A possibility created by the Black Moon."
"No. A possibility created by you."
I clenched my teeth. Rowen continued gently. "Edan Gray is a good person. That is why he will try not to resent you. He will even attempt to understand your desire to survive. But a protagonist who loses the center will eventually break."
In the vision, Edan raised his head. His eyes were empty.
"A protagonist robbed of his path can no longer remain a protagonist."
At that moment, I felt a faint mana reaction behind me. Edan. He was watching too. The Black Moon had not created this illusion for me to see—it was meant for Edan.
"Edan, don't listen," I said quietly through the communication spell. There was no response.
Rowen laughed. "He is already listening."
The darkness at the back of the garden split open. Edan Gray stepped through. He should have remained hidden, yet he walked into the garden as though drawn by the Black Moon's spell.
"Edan!" I shouted.
He did not look at me. His gaze remained fixed on the illusion spread across the ground—his lost place, the path he could not take, the stage where he should have stood as protagonist.
"Lord Kyle." Edan's voice was low. "Is this…… a possibility?"
"An illusion created by the Black Moon."
"But it isn't entirely false, is it?"
I could not answer. Rowen seized the silence.
"Correct, Edan Gray." He extended a hand toward Edan. "You have been robbed, yet you continue to smile. You try to understand, to accept, to remain just. How very protagonist-like."
Edan's hand touched his sword hilt.
"But how long can that last?" Rowen's voice turned sweet. "The people you should protect are already looking at him. He stands where you should stand. At every moment you should choose, he moves first."
"Stop," I said.
Rowen ignored me. "Edan Gray. Choose today." Black roses bloomed at Edan's feet. "Will you acknowledge Kyle Diaren as the protagonist and become a supporting character?"
Edan's eyes wavered.
"Or," Rowen smiled, "will you return the villain to his proper place and reclaim your story?"
The air in the garden split. A sword rose from Rowen's black rose—an unnamed blade, yet its edge was black. Edan's hand moved toward it.
"Edan!" I ran forward, but rose vines wrapped around my ankles. Black thorns bit into flesh.
"Damn it." I drew my sword to cut them away, but faster still, azure frost swept across the garden. Rhea.
"Stop your hand, Edan Gray."
Rhea emerged from behind the northern fountain, her eyes cold as ice. From the western corridor, Siella charged out.
"Touch the Black Moon's sword and I'll sever your wrist first."
From the east, Aria's holy arts bloomed. "Lord Edan, that is not a choice. It is coercion."
Noel's violet magic circle unfurled across the sky. "Well, everyone's here. Rowen, this staging of yours is rather blatant, isn't it?"
Rowen slowly raised his head. "So all the hidden connection lines have finally been revealed."
"Yes." I cut through the rose vines. "They have."
Blood trickled from my ankle. Aria's eyes wavered, yet she did not run to me. Instead, she linked her holy arts between my ankle and Edan's wrist. Rhea froze the entire garden. Siella positioned herself between Edan and the black sword. Noel seized the spell in the sky. Edan continued staring at the black blade.
I spoke to him. "Edan."
He slowly turned to look at me.
"I still don't know whether you are the protagonist or I am the villain."
"……"
"But the moment you grasp that sword, the choice will no longer be yours."
Edan's hand stopped. Rowen's gaze darkened.
I steadied my breath. "You haven't lost your place to me. I may have taken yours—I can admit that. But the choice you must make here and now is not to reclaim it."
"Then what is it?" Edan's voice trembled.
I met his eyes. "It is to decide what kind of person you will become."
The garden fell silent. Edan's hand moved away from the black sword. The smile vanished from Rowen's face. At that instant, the black rose twisted.
Edan drew his own sword—the unnamed blade, its edge still unblackened. He spoke quietly.
"I will find my own story."
The tip of his sword pointed at Rowen.
"But I will not find it upon someone else's death."
The black sword shattered into pieces. Rowen's projection wavered. Noel shouted.
"Now! The spell core is exposed!"
Rhea's frost bound Rowen's feet. Siella's blade flash severed the black rose vines. Aria's holy arts purified the ground beneath Edan. And I charged toward Rowen.
"Kyle Diaren!" Rowen cried. "Do you truly intend to remain an error until the very end?"
I swung my sword. "At least until graduation."
The blade cleaved through Rowen's mask. The silver mask split in two. Beneath it, there was no face—only black void.
Rowen laughed. "Then I shall see you in the next act."
His body scattered into black rose petals. Moonlight returned to the rose garden. Black petals drifted to the ground.
Edan stared at his sword for a long time. Then he spoke quietly.
"Lord Kyle."
"Yes."
"I still don't know what my story is."
"Neither do I."
Edan looked at me. "Then we both must find them."
"Indeed."
At those words, Rhea spoke softly. "Don't speak as though you're the only ones searching."
Aria added while treating my ankle, "That's right. You tried to go alone again."
Siella tapped her scabbard. "You'll be punished for this too."
Noel laughed while gazing at the sky. "Excellent. The protagonist's choice fails a second time."
I looked up at the sky with tired eyes. Wind stirred once more through the rose garden. Yet at its edge lingered Rowen's final words.
— The next act will be the ball.
I closed my eyes. The ball. The stage where noble politics, rumors, jealousy, and connection lines would be laid bare most explicitly. Quietly graduating was, it seemed, truly impossible.