I looked around the room.
The room I had been using since I was called a duke from an illegitimate child.
I didn’t like it that much, but I had no will to change it, so I lived in a small birdcage.
The rose vines stretched out like green and bright red paint on the colorless scenery that I had seen.
“And when I look at it, this room resembles my room.”
The woman smiled brightly at my words.
Her smile looked as bright as a child who had finally heard the praise she had been waiting for for a long time.
Her purple eyes sparkled even more, and her cheeks were pleasantly flushed.
She leaned forward slightly, met my gaze, and whispered in a voice that could not hide her joy.
“Do you really think so, Peridot?”
A voice as soft as sweet honey.
The presence of the woman who was getting closer and closer filled the room with the scent of roses.
The scent was subtle yet strangely sweet, creating the illusion that sweetness lingered on the tip of my tongue.
She lightly grabbed the staff in my hand and let go, and gently ran her fingers down the surface of the staff to touch the wrist holding the staff.
Every time my hand touched it, a strange sensation, as if electricity was flowing, was transmitted through my fingertips.
“I hoped that Peridot would be comfortable here.”
The woman leaned lightly on my shoulder before I knew it.
The feeling of her soft hair tickling my cheek was not bad.
Rather, the tickling strangely tickled my nerves.
I felt my shoulders shrinking and heard her whisper.
“I remember everything in Peridot’s room, the arrangement of the furniture, the color of the wallpaper,
and even the small decorations on the desk.”
Every time her breath reached my ear, I felt like I could feel someone’s heartbeat.
“I’m not good at it, but… I tried to decorate it as similarly as possible.”
The corners of her lips rose softly.
The smile was beautiful, with a sweet yet dangerous feeling, like the whisper of a devil.
“I would be really happy if you liked it. To be honest, at first I thought I wanted to move Peridot’s room as it was.”
The woman’s hand lightly held the tip of the staff, and her fingers stroked it carefully, as if she were petting a pet.
“But… no matter how much I try to make it exactly the same, it can’t be exactly the same as the real thing, right?”
Her voice was filled with a bit of regret, along with a strange affection and obsession.
“More than anything, I thought Peridot needed new memories in a new space.”
The woman’s breath tickled the back of her neck.
I felt a strange feeling flowing through my whole body at the soft touch.
“Forget the past, Peridot.”
An even softer voice rang out as if whispering the sweetest honey in my ear.
“From now on, let’s make warmer, and sweeter memories together here.”
Her purple eyes stared at me.
As if she was holding me and would never let me go.
“…Thank goodness it’s not too much the same.”
She whispered quietly, slightly raising the corners of her lips.
The cold floor where I slept while being treated as an illegitimate child, The servants who looked at me with contempt and ridicule, and the people of the duke’s house who treated me as a mere guinea pig.
There were no remnants of that past in this room.
So, I thought it was fortunate.
“I hated the duke’s mansion. The hard floors, the old furniture, the expensive paintings and decorations. The servants, the cooks, I hated them all.”
The familiar weight of the cane in my hand and the warmth of the woman leaning on my shoulder
seemed to momentarily take me away from that past.
“Then how about me?”
Hands were covered.
I felt a slight warmth from her soft hands, as if basking in the warm sunlight.
“You…”
What was it that I felt for her?
She was a kidnapper.
A kidnapper who had captured me and imprisoned me here.
She whispered her love in a sticky, sweet voice, regardless of my will, and made me feel kind.
I didn’t hate her.
I don’t know what her intentions are, but at least so far…
Greed, jealousy, desire, contempt, disgust.
I felt that she was a little different from those who held invisible knives in their hearts, who had been called by different names, and who had hurt me as they pleased with their eyes and tongues.
“You, don’t hate me.”
The woman smiled slightly, as if satisfied with my answer.
Her fingertips gently stroked my jawline, and our faces came closer.
A sweet rose scent wafted faintly.
From a distance where their breaths could barely reach, her gaze lingered on my lips for a moment.
In her purple eyes, longing, obsession, and…
a faint sense of anxiety.
I could see a whirlpool of unfamiliar emotions.
Conflict, regret, and resignation.
The woman opened her mouth, smiling with a look of resignation.
“Thank goodness.”
Her voice was soft, as if whispering in my ear.
A soft light was falling on the window sill covered with rose vines.
The red sunset poured out of the window, coloring the room.
The shadows of the forest in the distance were long.
I could hear the sound of the wind rustling the leaves, but even that sound sounded soft and peaceful.
I looked down at the cane in my hand with its familiar weight.
The feeling of her hand brushing against the cold surface of the staff came back to me.
It was as if something old was being covered with new warmth.
The red light outside the window gradually faded and darkness began to rise.
The last traces of the sunset disappeared beyond the window, and the stars began to faintly reveal their shapes.
“Good night, Peridot.”
When I turned around, the woman was smiling softly.
How long had it been since I had received such a greeting from someone before going to bed?
The attendants who only said cold things and left.
Even the butler, who only saw me as a ‘moneymaker,’ had never even said good night.
That’s why I thought the sound was warm.
“Good night.”
After I greeted her, the woman turned and disappeared outside the door.
I stared blankly at the closing door.
Only the faint scent of roses remained in the quiet room.
The moonlight poured through the window, coloring the room.
The room, left alone, once again had a familiar atmosphere.
The cold emptiness that rushed in where the warmth had left seemed to have been with me my whole life, seeping into the hole in my heart and creating the illusion of coldness, so that I felt warmth from the shackles that weighed heavily on my ankles.
I looked around the room carefully.
The atmosphere was gorgeous, yet somewhat oppressive.
I felt a strange sense of stability rather than discomfort.
A small vase of bright red roses was placed on the bedside table.
They were fresh flowers.
Did she think of this place as a cage to confine me?
Or…did she really think of this space as my own?
I thought it might be better if it was a cage.
If she had locked me up for her own selfishness, at least I could understand.
Decorating the room for me, Putting roses in it for me, Smiling and greeting me warmly was an unknown and difficult thing to understand, so it was unfamiliar.
Maybe……
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
I noticed a thin shawl that seemed to have been left behind by a woman.
It was soft white silk.
I lifted the shawl and gently placed it on my cheek.
The faint scent of roses tickled my nose.
It was a strange thing.
In the darkness where I was always alone, this night I thought of someone’s warmth.
I carefully folded the shawl and placed it under the bed.
And quietly held my hands together.
The darkness was getting darker.
What kind of dream will I have tonight?
Will it be a familiar nightmare that resembles reality?
The rough hands that didn’t stop even when I pleaded against it, the stench of disinfectant.
The blades and needles that tore through my body, the excruciating pain of my heart being ripped out.
The greedy and contemptuous gazes directed at me, and the cold, hard floor.
Days when no one saved me.
The endless nightmare didn’t end even when I woke up and followed me forever.
The names of the test subject and illegitimate child changed to the Duke, and those who hurt me changed from the Duke’s family to others.
So, in order not to get hurt, I forgot the pain, and fooled myself into thinking that it didn’t hurt even when it hurt, I just dyed the world as cold and dry as ash.
Is it just because it was a strong memory from my childhood?
When I closed my eyes, it would come to me sometimes.
I thought it didn’t matter.
Since reality was just like a nightmare, I wasn’t afraid.
But I didn’t want to fall asleep like this.
Is it because I felt warmth?
I didn’t want to go back to the place I had been, the place that weighed me down, cold and heavy like the bottom of the sea.
I got out of bed and walked with my cane.
The sound of the chain being dragged echoed hollowly.
When I looked up outside the window, the stars were shining like the Milky Way that stretched on endlessly.
I saw the positions of the stars that were somehow unfamiliar, different from the night sky of the royal capital.
How far away was this place?
The distance seemed to separate reality from the past, but it brought back memories of the past.
The nobles who despised me with sharp eyes, the servants who only defined my existence as a label from the past and gossiped, and even the members of the royal family who treated me indifferently and coldly even though I had the same blood flowing through me.
Only the Knight Commander, the Sage, and Sister Fiora reached out to me, but they could not save me from that desolate world.
Ironically, I was feeling at peace for the first time in this kidnapped space.
My mouth felt strangely bitter and bitter.
The cold night air brushed past my ears and I heard the song of an unknown bird.
The scent of the roses faded, and the warmth also faded.
Slowly, I raised my head and looked at the sky.
The golden full moon was shining brightly.