The bond was getting stronger and stronger. The man’s emotions were felt more vividly, and the man’s voice that had been echoing in his head grew louder. He could see the man in the mirror flinch and touch the wall with surprised eyes.
Moisture appeared on the man’s hand, and he could feel his confusion. The hesitant hand wiped away the wall’s tears.
“I want to touch you.”
Rosetta, who had murmured quietly, cried even louder. Seeing the man wipe away his tears, even from a distance, made him cry harder.
Pay more attention to me, I’m here. Recognize me quickly.
‘Come meet me.’
It was a longer and more desperate cry than usual.
The more Rosetta cried, the more the man’s sadness subsided. And now his heart was filled with feelings about Rosetta.
He was flustered, troubled, and distressed.
Knowing the man was focused on him, he couldn’t stop the tears even more. It was the beginning of an unstoppable, long crying spell.
Rosetta couldn’t stop crying all night long.
***
Seoho was flustered. Suddenly, crying sounds were echoing. Out of nowhere. The momentary sadness from the inexplicable heaviness was brief. He was troubled about what to do in this sudden situation.
“It’s the first time I’m hearing crying when I’m not even sleeping.”
Wondering if it might be a dream, he pinched his cheek, but it hurt. He tried moving his body this way and that, but he was definitely awake right now.
Yet he was hearing crying.
Even as Seoho was figuring out the situation, the sound didn’t get quieter but only grew louder and louder.
Could only he hear it? If so, that might actually be fortunate.
“But what if other people can hear it too?”
What would he do if the neighbors came over?
‘What should I do?’
Seoho anxiously looked at the wall again, wondering what to do. Water was dripping from the wall.
Tears welled up in the clear and beautiful eyes drawn on the wall, rolled down, and now overflowed without stopping.
“What do I do?”
What on earth was so sad? Why was it crying like this? He was curious what it wanted him to understand by making such loud sounds.
At the same time, ridiculously enough, sympathy for the existence within the wall washed over him. Yes, what came was sympathy, not fear.
‘I’m hopeless too.’
Seoho raised his hand and wiped away those tears. But no matter how much he wiped, the tears kept flowing, and only Seoho’s two hands became thoroughly soaked.
Unable to settle down, Seoho began speaking to the wall.
“What’s wrong? Hm? Why are you crying?”
Even while thinking it might be a foreigner, he tried somehow to soothe the unidentified existence.
“Don’t cry. Okay? Your throat will hurt.”
But the more Seoho comforted it, the louder the crying became.
Still, he couldn’t just let it cry. The crying was the kind that was too overwhelming to just ignore.
Seoho continued wiping the wall’s tears. As the long night and dawn passed and sunlight entered the room, the crying still hadn’t stopped.
With the crying lasting much longer than usual, Seoho began to have different concerns.
“Is it okay to cry this much? Don’t ghosts get exhausted?”
If one cried all day like this, an ordinary human would have already collapsed from exhaustion. Did ghosts have overflowing stamina? Was it okay to keep crying out loud like this for about half a day?
But to vaguely dismiss it as such, the sound was getting rougher and rougher.
“It sounds like its voice is hoarse.”
Good heavens, a ghost’s voice getting hoarse. But the voice really was hoarse.
It was an amazing discovery, but not something he could brag about anywhere. If the voice was hoarse, then the ghost must be tired too, but he didn’t know what to do.
“What should I do?”
Wiping the overflowing tears and awkwardly patting the wall to soothe it, Seoho laughed despite feeling sympathetic because it was so absurd.
“What am I even doing?”
To soothe an existence that might kill him like this. What a sucker he was.
***
The imperial palace of the Borealis Empire.
A group of maids glanced at the Emperor’s Palace, where people were being thoroughly controlled by the maids, then opened their mouths.
“Did you hear the rumor? A few days ago, crying sounds were heard from the Emperor’s Palace for half a day straight.”
Starting with one maid’s words, other maids began to speak.
“Ah, I heard that too!”
“Right. They said crying sounds were heard?”
“It’s really scary. They said it sounded like a monster crying.”
“Yeah. I heard it was a scary sound.”
Once the maids had responded sufficiently, the maid who had spoken first lowered her voice and whispered.
“Then did you guys also hear the reason?”
“Reason?”
The maid paused for a moment, then said with a meaningful smile.
“His Majesty’s head is…”
At that moment, one maid among the group who usually had deep loyalty to the Emperor raised her voice.
“Where are you saying such things?!”
The maid who had spoken first flinched and looked around at the group of maids and their empty surroundings, answering.
“W-we’re the only ones here.”
The loyal maid usually had a stiff face that made her difficult to approach, but now that she was angry, she looked even fiercer.
The maid approached the one who had spoken first, pointing at her as if warning.
“His Majesty is the person God loves most. Try saying that one more time!”
When the maid who had spoken first shut her mouth tightly in fear, other maids began mediating between the two one by one.
“Stop it.”
“Right. Let’s not go too far. You be careful with your words too.”
“If we talk this loudly, we’ll really be in big trouble.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
As the surrounding maids wedged themselves between the two, the loyal maid sneered and walked away first with her close group.
The maid left behind looked at the maids who usually got along with her and opened her mouth again.
“I heard one more rumor.”
Then the remaining maid laughed hollowly and asked.
“You want to talk about that kind of thing again after what just happened?”
The maid shrugged. She was interested in imperial rumors and was loose-lipped. She looked around once more and opened her mouth.
“This one has some credibility.”
“Hm?”
“You know the Saintess was summoned to the imperial palace again this time?”
Then another maid nodded and answered.
“Yeah, I know.”
“The Saintess has been coming to the imperial palace frequently lately.”
That was certainly true. Originally, Saintess Angel would occasionally drop by the imperial palace to visit Emperor Rosetta, who received God’s love, but recently the frequency had increased even more.
“She did.”
“Right, she’s been coming often lately.”
The talkative maid who had spoken first whispered quietly with a face full of amusement.
“They say the crying sounds started after Saintess Angel left.”
Then one maid exclaimed in surprise.
“What?”
The talkative maid covered her mouth with her index finger as if to say be quiet and said.
“There’s been a rumor for a while now.”
Then the surprised maid asked as if hearing it for the first time.
“Between the Saintess and His Majesty?”
“Yeah.”
“Could that really be true?”
The talkative maid glanced at the palace and answered.
“But if not, what else would make crying sounds like that?”
“No, but is it even His Majesty’s crying in the first place?”
When another person asked, the talkative maid narrowed her eyes and said.
“But if not His Majesty, could crying sounds continue all night? It’s the Emperor’s Palace.”
Those words had quite a bit of credibility. It was the palace where the great Emperor Rosetta Borealis resided. No one other than the Emperor would dare cry until the palace shook. Then one maid carefully opened her mouth.
“Isn’t the story about hearing crying sounds a false rumor in the first place?”
The talkative maid shook her head firmly and answered.
“No, my roommate heard it directly.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Once she presented evidence of sorts, the maids got excited and their voices grew louder.
“Then was our Majesty rejected by the Saintess?”
“No way.”
“If it’s true, then…”
As the maids exchanged glances and whispered about why the Emperor was rejected by the Saintess, an angry shout fell from behind them.
“You girls there!”
The maids jumped in surprise, their bodies flinching. Once again, a voice came from behind.
“Come here!”
One of the maids turned pale after confirming who had called them.
“…We’re screwed.”
It was Puti, the Emperor’s only direct attendant and rumored to become the next head butler of the Emperor’s Palace. The other maids also realized it was Puti who had heard their conversation and their faces turned white.
Puti usually had a harmless face and was someone who nodded at everything, and among the maids, he was quite popular for his cute and kind face.
However, they said that if he caught you spreading rumors about the Emperor or saying bad things, he would fly into a rage.
There were also rumors that he held grudges, and once you were caught, your future became uncertain. As the maids were terrified, Puti raised his voice once more.
“Come here, I said?!”
The maids glanced at each other nervously and approached Puti hesitantly. Puti looked at them with cold eyes and said.
“State your affiliation and names.”
At those words, one maid hesitantly opened her mouth.
“Th-that is…”
When the maids didn’t open their mouths easily, Puti got even angrier.
“Quickly!”
“P-Puti-nim.”
“We’re sorry!”
“We were wrong.”
The maids apologized, but Puti coldly cut off their words and asked.
“Affiliation, names.”
