“There’s no need for you to consider my feelings.”

You won’t be seeing me anymore anyway.

Harchen spoke calmly and leaned on the railing, looking down.

He imagined a girl with her blonde hair neatly tied up in two braids jumping down into the green vegetation below.

She would have looked like a fairy.

He was certain that despite being confined to the tower, Patricia had grown up with a bright and unyielding personality due to the special affection and efforts of her strict lady-in-waiting, Eva.

Instead of deciding to warn the lady-in-waiting about forcing rigid sex education, he thought about rewarding her as he turned around.

Eden picked up the flower scissors he had dropped on the garden soil and pruned the branches of the flowering shrubs. Whenever he had a moment to spare, he would come to the west tower, open the windows wide, and tend to the garden.

He weeded out the wild grass and trimmed the flowering shrubs. Patrick had said that when he became emperor, Eva and Annie would like to stay here. Someday, Patricia might visit to look around.

“Sir, do you happen to have any poems?”

“No, I don’t.”

Eden unconsciously put his hands on his waist and stretched, then his eyes met the emperor’s as he turned to look at him.

It was awkward. As he tried to avert his gaze, the emperor chuckled and nimbly climbed onto the railing. Then, grabbing the leather rope connected to the stone wall, he swiftly jumped down.

‘What, what is he doing? It’s not necessary to jump down.’

Eden turned away and pushed aside the stem of a purple hydrangea with its small petals fully bloomed, pulling out weeds around its roots.

The emperor was troublesome.

Despite having a long-time lover, the black-haired princess consort, he came all the way here at dawn to be jealous of him. Yet it seemed quite sincere, which was confusing.

When the emperor’s knights threw him into the sea of Torun, he struggled and came out onto the beach, trembling with shame all over his body. He almost grabbed the emperor by the collar and punched him in the jaw when he saw him laughing as his own knights immediately picked up Patricia and jumped into the sea.

But instead of dunking Patricia in the sea, they put her in a wooden box and let her ride the waves, gliding over the sea’s currents.

It was the first time he had seen Patricia laugh so loudly. Seeing her made to laugh so brightly, his shame and anger disappeared in an instant.

There were times when he wished for the emperor to die or be seriously injured, but then he worried that his lord, Patricia, would be heartbroken if that happened.

Eden stopped throwing the weeds he had pulled out and reflexively walked quickly towards the railing.

He leaned on the railing and looked down. He couldn’t see anything. He leaned out further.

With a rustling sound, the emperor on a black horse swiftly passed by. The emperor rode his horse towards the lake.

Yes, arrogant and beautiful emperor. Return safely to Karsik. And make your empress happy without making her cry.

I will live here in fantasy, imagining my thirteen-year-old lady jumping down while holding the rope and touching the wall, my fifteen-year-old lady laughing like sunshine while riding a horse, and my twenty-year-old lord dancing a waltz with Prince Patrick in this garden.

*

They entered the forest.

Bark walked in front, and Patricia followed behind. White birds flew chaotically between them.

At first, Patricia was dizzy from the white birds obstructing her view, but as she got used to it, she brushed away the birds’ wings with her fingers as if pushing aside hair blown by the wind.

Whenever they had to climb a steep path, Bark would invariably turn around and offer his hand.

“Shall I hold your hand?”

“No.”

Patricia grabbed the exposed thick tree roots and climbed up, keeping her body as low as possible. When she grasped the muddy stems, she involuntarily gritted her teeth due to the pain in her shoulders and back.

“Your stubborn look is cute.”

Bark smiled and brushed back the bangs that had fallen onto his forehead.

When she saw him like that, Patricia was inwardly surprised. The way he looked up from just below, his pointed chin and facial contours, his overall impression. It seemed familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before or he resembled someone. But she couldn’t recall clearly.

Should I ask? But what should I say? Have we met somewhere before?

Patricia shook her head. Just then, she heard the sound of water gushing near her ear.

“It’s really steep here, so there’s no choice.”

Bark came behind Patricia and lifted her by the waist, raising her up.

“What are you doing… Wow!”

It was a spectacular view. To the left, a nearby mountain had a waterfall that shattered its fierce stream of water into white spray as it fell, and in front, low mountain peaks stretched out in layers.

The place where Patricia stood was a flat hillside area that seemed as if the top of a high mountain slope had been deliberately cut off.

“How is it?”

“It’s nice.”

“This is a place I had in mind for the grave of an old wandering Heun woman I knew. But it turns out she wasn’t actually old. It seems she still has many days left to live, so I’m giving it up.”

“Are there palm trees?”

“Why do you ask?”

Patricia couldn’t remember, but Annie had told her about Eva in the carriage returning to the capital from their honeymoon.

Eva had a special belief about sleep, dreams, and the afterlife. So when she came for the royal wedding, she made a mattress from palm trees and took it to the temple of Herperos to receive Amir’s blessing.

“I want to make a coffin out of palm wood for her.”

“We are Heun people. Heun people originally make coffins out of palm wood.”

“Let’s go down.”

“We need to hurry, so you’ll have to bear with it.”

Bark swiftly picked up Patricia sideways.

“Put me down.”

“Heun people traditionally hold funerals within a day after death. Otherwise, it’s believed that the soul will dwell in an unwanted place.”

In truth, Patricia was in unbearable pain all over her body from forcefully climbing the steep mountain path. Bark carried her effortlessly and descended the steep path as if rolling down.

“Close your eyes if you’re scared.”

She didn’t close her eyes. Patricia looked at all the greenery quickly passing by and the white birds flying between Bark’s shoulder and head.

She was a woman who had resolved to remember everything from now on because she regretted her lost memories.

Patricia watched as three Heun hunters cut palm wood boards to fit Eva’s body and wove the joints with wooden pieces.

They handled the wood as skillfully as carpenters who had worked together many times. The coffin was long and narrow, like the slender Eva.

Despite having few memories of Eva, Patricia’s heart ached with fondness. If her memories of Eva had remained intact, would she have been able to bear the sadness? Still, Patricia wanted to recall all her memories of Eva.

After making the palm wood coffin, the hunters placed yellow flowers inside it. They were the flowers Patricia had picked for Eva, with long petals that spread out like a fluttering skirt, emitting a sweet fragrance.

At that moment, Bern, who had returned from White Palace after retrieving Eva’s dress, entered the yard. He dismounted and approached, peering into the coffin.

‘Oh, oh. Those flowers…?’

They were flowers with a unique shape that bloomed in the burnt brushwood forest behind the main palace of Karsik. Bern recalled seeing Princess Alesia, the third princess, picking those flowers in a basket.

“My lord, you’re here?”

Patricia took the wrapped bundle containing Eva’s clothes from Bern’s hand as he tilted his head in confusion, and went to Eva’s bedroom. A Heun woman received the bundle from Patricia and entered the bedroom, then came out again.

“My lady, please come in for a moment.”

Eva’s bedroom was dark. It seemed even darker due to Patricia’s emotional sadness.

The Heun women had washed Eva’s body and dressed her in a thin shroud made of papyrus bark. They had not yet put on the dark green dress that Eva used to wear often.

One of the Heun women led Patricia to the bed where Eva lay neatly.

Patricia gritted her teeth.

She had decided not to say anything or shed a single tear.

“This came out of her body. What should we do with it?”

What she held out was Blue Dawn, with a platinum body featuring multiple diamonds spread out in a flower shape, and a large, intricately set blue-green diamond in the center.

Patricia took the necklace and approached Eva.

Avoiding Eva’s face, she lifted her small head. She put Blue Dawn around her neck.

And then…

Forgetting her resolution, she unknowingly reached out to touch Eva’s cheek, which was dark and emaciated with only bones remaining. Like an electric current, sadness rapidly rose up her spine. Patricia let out the breath she had been holding back with a wail.

“Huu-huu-huuk… Eva, Eva.”

How could I have no memories of this pitiful woman? Yet why am I so deeply sad and hurt?

On the way to Aster Palace after returning from the honeymoon, there was a woman standing by a poplar tree near the water. The voice of the woman who greeted them with a slender and elegant figure, holding up the hem of her dress.

“The rising morning sun, Empress, Eva Tenesi greets Your Majesty.”

Even now I can feel enough affection for you, but I will definitely remember you completely, Eva. Thank you for raising me and watching over me, Eva.

“Eva Tenesi. Don’t write the years of birth and death. I’ll inquire directly to the Tenesi family of Tane.”

The funeral was held according to Heun customs and procedures.

Countless white birds filled the air. After settling Eva’s coffin in the place they had prepared in advance, they scattered alcohol and pieces of hunted animal meat into the air.

One of the Heun women pointed to a black bird flying in the distant sky, explaining that it was to lure away eagles, hawks, and crows so they wouldn’t dig up the grave.

When they came down the darkening mountain path, Bark carried Patricia again. Bern offered his opinion to carry her and stretched out his arms, but Bark pointed out his limping leg.

“What if you both roll down together?”

Bark, disliking Bern following closely behind, went down an unfamiliar rocky path.

Only after the distance widened did he hold Patricia more leisurely. She was lighter than a small white bird.

“You know what?”

“…”

“When people are alive, they commemorate their birth date, but after death, they commemorate the day they died.”

“…”

“The last day of August, today is the end of summer. Come here every year at this time.”

Then, at least we’ll meet once a year.

“I will.”

“You listen well sometimes.”

Bark extended his arms to hold Patricia more comfortably.

When Bark, carrying Patricia, and the Heun people who had helped with the funeral came down to the courtyard, the door of the imperial carriage opened.

“Your Majesty…”

Annie, her face and eyes swollen from crying, ran out. Behind her, Carolina, wearing a white parasol, stepped down holding the hem of her dress.