Ch.98Rose (10)

A cool temperature.

Only pitch-black darkness remained in the room.

Until recently, it had been a space teeming with vitality, but as dawn approached, it was now completely enveloped in silence.

Through the hazy darkness, only a candle flickered precariously.

Perhaps like the autumn outside the window.

It resembled a landscape of a dying season.

On the ground where not even starlight reached, a single rose bloomed desolately.

Its petals looked as though they might wither at any moment.

“……”

After the treatment ended.

The girl left alone had been tossing and turning in bed for a while.

Even though a long time had passed since silence enveloped the surroundings, the voice still lingered in the rose’s ears.

It was a few words dropped by the snake.

-You’re afraid, aren’t you?

The cool voice dug into her wounds.

Her heart stirred noisily.

She slowly raised her body that had been lying on the bed.

Standing on weak legs, a momentary dizziness struck her head forcefully.

The girl seemed to stagger without any resistance.

-Is that enough for you?

Words that had pierced particularly deep.

Like thorns, they wouldn’t fall away, constantly offering irritating pain.

But the auditory hallucination stuck in her consciousness only grew worse.

-Lady Sharlotte will be sad.

-Because she cares about you.

-What will you do if she really leaves?

The cunning tongue speaks.

Of the lonely fate that would ultimately leave her all alone.

-If that happens, truly no one will remain by your side.

When she heard those words.

Elise felt as if her breath had stopped for a moment.

‘Sister… is leaving?’

The only person who sought her out on this lonely star.

The person who hid tenderness behind sleepy eyes.

The foolish person who never gave up on her sick sister despite being hurt by sharp thorns every time.

To think such a person would leave.

‘……That’s what I wanted.’

She muttered to herself with effort.

As if it didn’t matter.

Because this was the result she had wanted from the beginning.

Elise knew.

How devoted her sister was to her.

In her heart, she wanted to act spoiled, but she knew that couldn’t be allowed.

Because reality was cruel.

-At most, you have 1 year left.

Five years ago.

The terminal diagnosis she received at a young age.

Despite the young prince’s every effort, the rose’s short life was as good as a predetermined ending.

That day, the younger sister saw her older sister’s tears for the first time.

-Sister… is suffering because of me.

The girl realized belatedly.

How much of a burden her existence, always on the receiving end, was to her sister.

The sight of her crying silently from behind was particularly painful.

Because it felt like she had ruined her sister who had always shone so brightly.

Feeling guilty about the tears her sister shed, the rose could no longer stay by the little prince’s side.

She had run away.

-I need to distance myself from sister.

So that her sister wouldn’t hurt.

So that she would hate her instead.

So that even if she closed her eyes tomorrow, no ugly marks would remain on her kind heart.

The rose decided to push the little prince away.

-It’s all… my fault.

It was foolish.

Because she was young.

She chose to sever the relationship to avoid causing pain.

That was the reason behind the rose’s thorns.

However, what she overlooked was that her sister’s devotion couldn’t be stopped by such means.

The little prince approached again and again, even as her fingertips were cut.

-Please leave me alone.

A sister trying to push away.

A sister trying to hold on.

This terrible relationship worsened over time, eventually continuing to the present.

It had already been well past the one year the doctor had mentioned.

But.

It never sounded like hope.

Rather, it had only extended her hell.

The rose was like a flower with gradually withering petals.

Once her condition started deteriorating, it never improved, and with each passing day, the pain of the curse tormented her more viciously.

She was barely hanging on day by day.

-Cough, cough…!

The curse made everyone suffer.

The younger sister screamed in terrible pain every day.

The older sister’s eyes welled up with tears, unable to do anything.

Even so, neither would yield their stubbornness.

The girl, ruminating on these passing old thoughts, soon muttered to herself self-deprecatingly.

“I tried… everything to push her away.”

It should have been a relief.

As the snake had said.

If he could persuade her sister to turn her back, the rose would feel much more at ease.

Yes.

That’s definitely how it should have been.

“Why.”

Why did it hurt so much now?

Though she had pushed this person away for years, the thought of her truly disappearing made her head throb.

Her aching chest made it difficult to breathe.

“Haa… ugh.”

The reason was simple.

Like the rose in the fairy tale, it was because what she hid behind her thorns was love.

Just as not everything pointed is hatred.

Not everything round is love, and sometimes even hatred can be round.

In the girl’s case, it was pointed love.

So how could she be happy?

The current situation was far from the true feelings she had hidden between her petals.

She could only bite her lip at the discrepancy.

‘My head hurts.’

She felt suffocated.

As she clutched her tight chest, her thoughts drifted in an even deeper direction.

It was a fundamental question.

‘Why.’

Why did it have to be her?

A curse bestowed by God.

An incurable disease that afflicts perhaps two or three people in a century.

What sin had she been born with to bear such a heavy punishment?

A deep shadow asks.

‘Did it have to be me…?’

Simultaneously, memories of her unfortunate life and feelings of disgust began to creep up.

It was pointed hatred.

Ten years spent neither living nor dying.

Abandoned by her father, losing her place in the world, and enduring a terrible life of illness.

It had been terribly lonely.

‘All alone.’

She had no intention of denying it.

No.

Rather, she agreed.

Because that’s how her life had been from the beginning.

Looking back on the past years, no one had stood by her side.

The girl often thought.

Perhaps.

She should never have been born.

“Cough…!”

A sudden fit of coughing.

Her vision blurred.

She thought it had been quiet for a while, but it seemed an attack was inevitably coming.

Elise rummaged through a nearby shelf.

Clack-.

What her fingertips found was none other than a pocket knife.

The girl unwrapped the bandage around her wrist and immediately pressed the blade against the exposed skin.

The flesh was cut immediately.

Scrape-.

A new mark was etched over countless scars.

A stinging pain colored her entire arm, and soon after, the pain of the attack subsided.

It was an instantaneous measure.

Drip, drip.

Red life falling.

A dark red rose bloomed on the floor.

“……”

The girl was silent for a moment, then began to move the knife again.

She calmly cut across the soft skin.

An indescribable sense of liberation.

The wound burned with pain, but the analgesic effect was sweet enough to endure it.

As if entranced, she piled line upon line.

-Is that truly the ending you desire?

The auditory hallucination resumed at that moment.

She bit her lip tightly.

Soon, the rose unwrapped the bandage on the opposite side as well.

As she relentlessly drew flower-blood, transparent droplets fell on top of it.

They were tears.

‘When will it end?’

When would this wretched breath finally cease?

With such thoughts, she recklessly applied the knife.

Drawing long lines on the white canvas, and when droplets of blood formed between the split gaps, she felt as if the attack momentarily stopped.

That’s why she couldn’t escape this addictive pain.

Because it seemed to grant a moment’s respite in this garbage life.

Thud-.

Her legs gave out.

Elise, who had collapsed, blankly repeated the same action.

Petals falling in a steady rhythm.

By now, the surrounding floor was covered with beautiful roses.

The girl looked at the garden she had created and shed tears as if her emotions were welling up even more.

Yet her eyes remained lifeless.

“Sob… ugh, uugh.”

Drowning in a distant fragrance.

Her vision was blurry.

-I don’t want to live.

In truth.

She didn’t want to die.

She hated the pain of her insides being torn apart, the attacks that came every dawn, and the bloody coughs that stained her sleeves.

She wanted the pain to stop.

But she knew it was impossible.

Once burdened with this curse, there was no escape until death.

Droplets of dew fell one by one.

Scrape, scrape-.

The noise continued for a while.

Her appearance was a mess.

Perhaps thinking she had damaged her arms enough, she now reached for the bandage around her neck.

Just as she was about to touch her nape, covered in blood.

“Your Highness.”

Grab-.

Arms embraced her from behind.

She struggled in bewilderment, but the rigid body kept Elise confined.

A gentle voice whispered in her ear.

“Shh… it’s alright.”

A familiar hand.

The boy who had been teasing her and throwing various taunts for the past few days.

When she turned her head, dull golden hair came into view.

“Everything will be fine. Because I’m here……”

The warmth that gently wrapped around her shoulders.

The rose, which had been full of coldness, gradually lost strength as if melting into his embrace.

Clang-!

She finally dropped the knife.

“That’s good. Just like this.”

The snake continued to stroke her head.

He seemed to be waiting for her to calm down.

As if accepting his intention, Elise soon stopped resisting.

Only then did the boy smile.

“Be at ease.”

The two remained sitting like that for a while.

Leaning against each other’s warmth, gradually removing the chilly air.

***

After some time had passed, when the intense atmosphere had subsided.

We sat facing each other.

We were close enough that our breaths intertwined, but there was no particularly awkward atmosphere.

It was merely contact for treatment.

I was in the middle of applying bandages to her arm covered in wounds.

“……”

Elise silently extended her arm.

Her wrist was in terrible condition.

I couldn’t tell how many years she had been repeating this behavior, but besides the marks made today, numerous traces remained.

In areas where scars were concentrated, even the texture of the skin had changed.

I swallowed with a bitter taste.

I carefully wiped away the red blood that had spread and applied disinfectant over the countless cuts.

Despite what must have been quite painful, the rose didn’t even blink.

Having lived with the curse for nearly her entire life, perhaps ordinary pain no longer affected her.

She was like a doll with broken strings.

“Your Highness.”

“……”

Green eyes were looking at me.

Although they seemed out of focus, I persisted in speaking to her without minding.

Because she was surely listening.

“As your attending physician, I must tell you.”

There was much to discuss.

“Didn’t I tell you not to harm yourself?”

“……”

“I understand your reliance on the analgesic effect. But it’s not good for your mental health, and it negatively impacts your body’s recovery.”

Words delivered like admonishments.

As I counted each piece of nagging, it wasn’t long before I brought up the main point I had been postponing.

Our gazes appropriately crossed in the empty space.

Blinking green eyes.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, her usual venom wasn’t visible, only deeply sunken eyes remained.

I could see through the longing beyond those pupils.

“Your Highness.”

I needed just such an opportunity.

A moment when she was mentally shaken and had lowered her sharp thorns.

“I’ll ask you one last time.”

A face drawing closer.

After briefly exchanging glances, I lifted her chin.

A distance where I could feel the other’s breath.

Breaths that couldn’t be uttered mixed between our lips.

As I positioned myself almost touching but not quite, suddenly a smile bloomed on my lips.

I asked right then.

“Don’t you want to live?”

An offer she couldn’t refuse this time.