“Damn it…….”
Left alone in the garden, I continued my labor while chewing curses under my breath. My status had originally been incomparably high, but now I was reduced to a wretched state stuck to the ground. However, for the sake of the future, I endured and endured again.
But the more I held back, the more rage wreaked havoc inside me. I wanted to rip out all the trees I’d been tending to right this instant. I wanted to violently set them on fire and turn everything to wasteland. Fury boiled up from my lower abdomen. Rising from my intestines through my bloodstream, the anger tried to dominate my brain.
“Hold on…… Hold on…….”
As I repeated “hold on” countless times, I felt like a madman talking to myself, and a hollow laugh squeezed its way out.
While continuously suppressing my rage and laboring without rest, as I was nearly finished, my mind settled down somewhat. However, it had only settled—it hadn’t disappeared. Like muddy water that clears when settled but becomes a mess when stirred, my heart was the same way.
This is how an ordinary C-rank student’s day at Connubium would pass. A day more wretched and painful than others.
However, once the day passes, everything changes.
In a corridor so quiet there wasn’t even the sound of breathing, there was a woman running after a red butterfly. This was something that could never happen in this Connubium where one must always walk modestly.
“Be quiet!”
The woman shouted, but the butterfly only clung close. It was Jin Chung’s doing. It seemed to be extremely rare for her to pull me to her side, as usually she hunted in this manner. She would drive weakened beasts until they collapsed from exhaustion, then go to snatch them up.
Even now, the butterfly was testing that student’s emotions. It continuously whispered like hallucinations at every moment, provoking her. To confirm whether she was the talent Jin Chung desired.
What that woman hoped for was the sight of tears streaming down, teeth clenched, erupting in fury. She wanted someone who would fight to seize life somehow, not someone who waited helplessly for death.
Whether I should call it fortunate or not—the student passed the test. Jin Chung, who had appeared at some point, extended her hand before the student whose eyes were bloodshot red while shedding tears and snot. It was a sacred appearance, like a prophet wrapped in radiant light.
“Welcome, new comrade.”
The fluttering red butterfly that had awakened anger was by Jin Chung’s side. One could easily recognize that it was originally her ability. However, the sacred atmosphere she wore made one feel awe rather than anger at being manipulated. The students would have felt that the voices that tormented them were the voice of a god giving them trials.
Jin Chung was excellent at such staging. The student seemed to finally recognize Jin Chung, as her pupils were colored with shock.
“J-Jin Chung?”
“Yes, that’s right. I am Jin Chung. You know of me.”
The student stared blankly at Jin Chung, who smiled as brightly as sunlight. Through the gradually relaxing eyes, I could feel her becoming enchanted by Jin Chung as if under a spell.
“I-is this a test from Connubium?”
“As if. Now! Take my hand and stand up.”
The surroundings rippled and the true form of the barrier Jin Chung had constructed was revealed. The space where the student had been making a fuss was not the original corridor but inside Jin Chung’s barrier. If it hadn’t been a barrier, she would have been caught by a professor long ago.
Inside the barrier whose true form was revealed, there were many people. Some were studying, moving their pens, and some were swinging swords. They were honing the learning that Connubium prohibited with their eyes dyed bright red. They were Jin Chung’s collaborators, like me. However, unlike me, they were no different from Jin Chung’s fanatics.
“I-i-if this is discovered…….”
“We’ll all be purged and killed, right?”
Jin Chung spoke gently, but what we were doing now was clearly problematic behavior. What the victors so desperately wanted to prevent. Learning that was not the talents desired in the marriage market, but the studies they themselves wanted to pursue. Acts of rebellion as defined by the professors. We were now committing those acts.
If she reported this fact, A-rank would be guaranteed. The student swallowed hard. Without realizing it, she calculated the benefits that could come to her. As if knowing that thought, Jin Chung said:
“If you report all of this, you’ll receive a good grade and marry into a good family.”
“Knowing that—”
“But then, what good does it do?”
In an instant, Jin Chung closed the distance with the student and faced her up close, close enough to kiss. Her blood-red eyes must have shone luminously like pomegranates. Jin Chung smiled softly while facing the student’s pupils that had collapsed in resignation.
“The heir who will grow up as a golden child, unable to do anything after being sold off, will still mock you.”
“…….”
Jin Chung’s words were like a poker. She was trying to stir up the dying anger and set it ablaze.
“I can be of help to you. I can help you not to be sold off like livestock.”
Could the voice of a serpent tempting one to sin be this soft? A sharp light was dwelling in the student’s eyes. It was both fanaticism toward Jin Chung before her eyes and rage at the same time. The object of rage was not Jin Chung, but the existence that had oppressed her.
Except for me, the others were enchanted by Jin Chung in this way. The only existence who acknowledged them when they were always oppressed and ignored. A comrade who held their lonely hands. Jin Chung’s acts of fulfilling what had been lacking were so very sweet to them.
The fluttering red butterfly flew around the student as if tempting her. What had been an existence of fear would now seem like a divine being.
“Come with me to bring down this Connubium, to bring down the family that oppresses you.”
The hand Jin Chung extended was white as if it were light itself. How could a student of this school refuse that hand? No matter how oppressed they’d been, raised like livestock…… they too were human, and they too had desires.
As expected, the student took Jin Chung’s hand as if entranced. Thus Jin Chung’s recruitment ended successfully today as well.
She personally supported the student and handed her over to another student. It was a student from Garan Kingdom who assisted by Jin Chung’s side. I didn’t remember the name, but judging by how she was always nearby, Jin Chung clearly cherished her. She would now inform the new comrade what to do.
I quietly turned my gaze to the side. Where my gaze reached, there was Jin Chung. The appearance of Jin Chung standing gracefully among the students had something that enchanted people. Though she was clearly royalty, she had the aspect of a religious leader.
I approached her side and spoke.
“Truly, you have excellent skill.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
We didn’t speak for a moment and just looked at each other. It was a silent battle of wills. Unlike those fanatics who were loyal to Jin Chung, I didn’t devote all my strength to her. As a result, battles of wills over who would hold the initiative in this relationship often occurred.
And…… I always turned my head first. In such battles, turning one’s head was tantamount to defeat. Even knowing this clearly, I had no choice but to lower my tail first.
‘My little sun.’
My mother, who was always beautiful. Though Jin Chung and my mother were different in gender and appearance, I came to think of them overlapping.
Jin Chung usually had an elegant appearance like a lotus flower, but when revealing her abilities, she was beautiful like a rose in full bloom. That appearance was similar to when my mother displayed her schemes. The more the butterfly she controlled fluttered, memories flickered to life like candles being lit.
“……You really resemble her.”
When immersed in that, my mouth loosened and I would say things I hadn’t intended to say. Though I closed my mouth in belated surprise, it was natural that what I said had entered Jin Chung’s ears.
“What do I resemble?”
Jin Chung asked with an enchanting eye-smile. It was a fresh smile like a rose. As if entranced, I smiled back at that smile and said:
“You…… resemble my mother.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. She too…….”
I closed my mouth again, but I couldn’t stop being immersed in memories.
The most brilliant time of my life. My father adored me, and my mother worked tirelessly for me. The sight of my mother generously earning her husband’s love…… was my happiness. I must have grown up receiving the love of both parents more abundantly than anyone else at this school.
Back then, I exercised my rights while running around without any worries whatsoever.
‘My little sun.’
Like the pet name for me that my mother always said, I was the little sun of my homeland. Everyone knelt at my procession and naturally worshipped me. A magnanimous and shadowless Sulurta. Since I didn’t oppress commoners, I couldn’t help but be popular. Of course, my mother must have also spread my good image to public opinion.
I believed all that time would last forever. It was a story from my naive days.
The memories rolled on without stopping like a wheel, heading toward the most hellish period. The darkness was as deep as the brilliance had been dazzling. Dyed with pain and blood, it was wretched.
‘I didn’t know your mother was such a horrific being!’
My father, who had stroked my head and given me affection, transformed into a cruel Sultan. With the touch that had warmly caressed me, he struck my cheek, and with the mouth that had whispered love, he spewed curses. My mother stood in front of me to protect me and was kicked by my father.
After that day, my father disappeared. There was only a shabby man colored by betrayal.
The existence of the children his lover had killed and the schemes that were deadly like poison were the kind the Sultan couldn’t endure. Though he was at the pinnacle of power, he was unbearably weak.
