Chapter 136 |
The outskirts of a domain shrouded in thick fog.
The girl's days began earlier than most.
All the girl had was a sturdy body. She woke before dawn, at the hour when the air was coldest. In the early morning forest she'd entered to gather firewood, she saw her.
In the blue-tinged darkness, someone was walking among the red poppies.
"......"
Hair as if moonlight had been transplanted and rooted, skin so translucent the veins showed through. A slender woman draped in a black cloak held an armful of red blossoms. A figure like a witch, or a devil.
Those red eyes the villagers spat at and shunned turned toward the girl through the fog.
Thud.
"......"
"......"
When sunlight finally wedged through the fog, the woman frowned as if displeased and vanished into the darkness of the manor. The girl stood as though nailed to the spot.
It was a dawn in which a lifelong longing pierced clean through her heart.
***
When day broke, the girl seized the villagers like one stricken with fever and cried out in an excited voice.
"Heut inn der Morgenroth hab ich im Magsamenfeldt die Gottin des Mondes erblicket! Ein gar edel Frawenbildt, weis gleichwie der Schnee vnnd mit rothen Augen!"
Today in the red dawn, I saw the Goddess of the Moon in the poppy field! A truly noble figure of a woman, with skin white as snow and red eyes!
"Schweig still vnnd red kein Wahnwitz! Was fur ein Gottin! Es ist ein vermaledeyt Vngehewer, welchs vnser Herr aus Schandt verborgen helt. Ein garstig vnnd sieches Frewlein ist's, so das Liecht der Sonnen nit erdulden mag, vnnd vmb jrer blutrothen Augen willen nimmermehr an den Tag kumen darff!"
Hold your tongue and stop spouting madness! Goddess--what are you even saying! That is a cursed monster our Lord keeps hidden out of shame. A hideous, sickly young lady who cannot endure the light of the sun, and because of her blood-red eyes, can never step out into the daylit world!
"Kein Gottin, sunder ein sterblich Mensch...?"
Not a goddess, but a mortal human destined to die?
The girl could not understand. That a being who had shone so brightly was despised merely for an illness and confined to a cold stone chamber.
The girl looked down at her own rough, sturdy legs and her sun-browned, healthy skin. All she had was this vitality. If that was so, she thought, she would gladly devote this body and become her lady's hands and feet.
When they met again, a faint smile hung at the woman's lips.
"So bistu jenes Magdlein, dem ich inn der Morgenroth begegnet bin."
Then you are that little girl I encountered in the red dawn.
"Du schawest gar... gsundt aus."
"......"
You look so very... healthy.
The girl, seized by yearning, was overwhelmed by that gaze alone. Drunk on the fact that she could stay by her side, she clutched her skirt and bowed her head.
Indeed, her lady was a true witch.
......
......
***
Rawi tore at his short hair.
"Fuck, where the hell did she go!!"
His instincts weren't entirely blank. The plain sword Seome always carried was lying abandoned in the room. For some reason, the blade had turned pitch black.
Black Magic. If Blood Magic was something to be avoided, Black Magic was a calamity to be hunted down at the risk of one's life the instant it was discovered. The energy rippling from the blade matched exactly the 'example' his uncle had shown him long ago.
'No way. Surely not.'
Rawi forced himself into denial and swallowed a silent scream.
Black Magic was like a cancer cell that introduced fatal errors into the laws of the world. A grotesque distortion of causality that overwrote existence and usurped outcomes. No matter how he thought about it, the situation was the worst possible.
'Should I call someone? Or should I go to Room 444 and find Mr. Yeon-woo?'
He couldn't make a decision.
"......"
That was when the dangling receiver caught Rawi's eye.
A phone with its line pulled. What on earth had Seome heard through a machine that wasn't even connected? This hotel was fine when it came to meals, but everything else defied common sense from start to finish.
Rawi paced the room. But he couldn't bring himself to go outside. Yeon-woo had always warned that 'your assigned room is the safest place.'
'If I go out for nothing and can't find Sunbae-nim and end up falling to my death....'
That would truly be the end.
"Hah,"
When he happened to look out the window, Rawi's face went pale.
The sky was grotesquely warped, bearing an eerie three-dimensionality as though oil paint had been kneaded and smeared on. Beyond the spiraling clouds, an inverted, burning cross was visible. It was the ceiling of a labyrinth made of Black Magic.
"...This is insane."
A plea for help rose to the very top of his throat.
***
"Black Magic certainly is a nuisance."
In the tidy Operator's Quarters, Yeon-woo murmured in his usual calm voice.
"The Lover of Dawn will be waiting for Seome to come of her own accord. She's already close. Looks like she's been bewitched--it's going to get dangerous soon."
He adjusted his shirt in front of the mirror. White shirt, dress trousers. Nothing better for coaxing someone's guard down.
"Part of me thinks I should have had her sign the contract sooner...."
But he would have made the same choice even if he could go back. He'd have wanted to find a way not to bind Seome to this hotel. But in the end, he'd failed.
All that remained now was to execute the existing plan without a hitch.
"Hire. Hire. Hire."
Coco buzzed beside him, apparently delighted at the prospect of new staff.
"Seome. Hire."
"Honestly, what a terrible thing to do."
"No?"
"Bringing a kid into this godforsaken place. Isn't this illegal employment of a minor?"
"No?"
Whatever Seome's true form might be, her outward appearance was barely sixteen. The guilt that appearance imposed clung to his ankles with more tenacity than expected.
Before long, Yeon-woo stood in the middle of an empty hotel corridor.
His objective was clear.
"I should arrive before Seome, shouldn't I?"
"Eing."
"Don't worry."
He placed his hand on the hotel wall. Beyond the smooth surface, a strange pulsation like that of a living thing traveled through.
"The method has changed, that's all. The 'General Manager' will still be 'me.'"
A 'bug' he hadn't pulled out in a long time. A Glitch, as it were.
He pressed his body through the gap in the rippling wall.
***
....
....
My lady, my beautiful lady.
The eyes that matched the color of the flowers those slender fingers held were red. White hair that had glowed sacred in the darkness of a lightless stone chamber cascaded softly....
"Greta."
The voice that called my name was so gentle, smoother than a brook's stream. Whenever those faintly drawn pale lips parted in a smile, I could never help but lose myself in her gaze.
Are all blue-blooded nobles like this? As perfect as you?
"Warumb seind deine Wangen so roth...? Du bist gleichwie ein reiffer Gifftapffel, der alle Augenblick zerspringen mocht...."
Whenever she traced my cheeks with those cloud-soft fingers, there was always a bittersweet scent and an acrid smell. A secret fragrance known only to my lady and me.
Lost in it, the girl felt she could do anything for her snow-white mistress.
"Kom her vnnd setze dich zu meinen Fussen. So nahe, das ich deines Hertzens klopffen horen mag."
"......"
"Es ist kein Sund, so es aus Lieb geschicht. Reich mir deine Handt, vnnd las vns dise Finsternuss miteinander theilen...."
What would she look like if she recovered those colors she said she'd lost?
When the girl laid her head upon that lap, the lady clasped her hand in return. Pale fingertips traced the girl's wrist or cheek. A smile, soft, perfect, and cold all at once, eclipsed her sky.
Whether my eyes were open or closed, it was always you.
"......"
I remember you.
Beautiful face. Deceitful smile. Noble bearing. A controller who practiced dangerous alchemy, yet a germaphobe who could not bear filth. Even as she spilled her own blood, she cherished the young.
There were many things she loved, but the girl was not among them.
"......"
...Look at me.
Please look at me--not at my uselessly healthy body or my sun-browned skin. Hold my soul in those red eyes. You always treat me with that cold indifference, and then deceive me.
Please, just once, look at me....
***
No. Don't look.
"You're still a coward."
Don't look at me with those eyes.
"Afraid of a love that won't last forever,"
"......"
"you can't even muster the courage to recognize who I am."
There is no eternal love in this world, and you exist beneath this sky but do not love me.
"Greta."
That sweet voice bewitched me.
"......"
"How your cheeks burn so red. You are like a ripe poison-apple that might burst at any moment."
Whenever she traced my cheeks with those cloud-soft fingers, there was always a bittersweet scent and an acrid smell. A secret fragrance known only to ■■■ and me.
"Come here and sit at my feet. So close that I might hear the beating of your heart."
"......"
"It is no sin, if it is born of love. Offer me your hand, and let us share this darkness together...."
Pale fingertips traced my wrist or cheek. A smile, soft, perfect, and cold all at once, eclipsed my sky. Whether my eyes were open or closed, it was always you. I remember you.
Beautiful face. Deceitful smile. Noble bearing. A controller who practiced dangerous alchemy, yet a germaphobe who could not bear filth. Even as he spilled his own blood, he cherished the young.
There were many things he loved, but
"...Ah...."
the girl
"Ah, aah."
was not among them.
"Aaaaaaaaah...."
Don't look at me like that.
Why are you so cruel to me?
Why do you make it so I can't even look away? Why do you eclipse my sky, steal my body, trample my yearning and dreams and future? You've never given me a single drop of that overflowing compassion.
My lady, my beautiful lady.
I... you....
"You are not my guest."
"......"
"......"
Noble golden eyes curved, and a sweet whisper fell.
"...I love you, Margareta."
I resent you.
"--■■■■■■■■■■■■--!!!!!"