The Song of Flowers - Chapter 1: The Girl Who Never Grew Up (5)

Jack had his companions continue exploring the village while he questioned Old Jeto about why the place had fallen into such ruin.

“They all left,” the old man replied. “No one could bear scraping by like we used to anymore.”

“But this village was a goldmine, wasn’t it?” Jack said, confused.

“That’s ancient history now.”

Old Jeto explained that, one day, the mountain stopped providing the abundance it once had. The precious herbs that used to grow thickly had disappeared, crops in the fields stopped sprouting, and the trees bore fruit that was mostly infested with worms, making them inedible.

“Everyone said the village was cursed, but when we first settled here, that’s how it was. I guess people forgot how hard it was in the beginning.”

Jack couldn’t help but sneer inwardly. He didn’t care what had happened to his old village. In fact, he felt a bit of schadenfreude.

Serves them right for what they did to me, he thought.

But Old Jeto’s words about everyone having left posed a serious problem. If the village really was deserted, Jack would have come all this way for nothing. Worse, he would lose the money he had been promised for leading the merchants here—money he had already started to think of as his own.

“Did the people in that house leave too? The ones with the strange girl who never grew up?” Jack asked, pressing for more information.

At the mention of the girl, Old Jeto’s eyes widened in fear, and his body trembled. His lips clamped shut, refusing to speak. Jack prodded him several more times before the old man finally muttered to himself, barely audible.

“I know… It was all because of that. The mountain got angry because of the horrible things that were done.”

“Old man, are you messing with me?” Jack snapped, growing frustrated. “What in the hell are you talking about? Tell me what happened!”

***

Jack’s head throbbed with a splitting pain. Was it a hangover? As soon as he regained consciousness, he recoiled from the strong, metallic smell of blood right under his nose.

“What… what the hell…”

His hands felt sticky. Though it was too dark to see clearly, the wetness on his hands was unmistakably blood. Jack looked around, disoriented. Nothing was visible in the darkness. Suddenly, the moon emerged from behind a cloud, casting light through a broken window.

“Aaagh!” Jack screamed and collapsed to the ground, his legs trembling uncontrollably as he scrambled backward until he hit a wall.

In the moonlight, the horrific scene became clear. He didn’t need to check to know that they were all dead. Blood poured from their throats, and their glassy eyes were wide open. He recognized every face—they were the men who had traveled with him to his hometown.

“W-Who could have done this…?”

A voice echoed inside his head.

― You did.

“Me…? I did this?”

Memories flashed through Jack’s mind—drinking heavily with the group. In the abandoned village, they had found a stash of old, well-aged alcohol. Jack had laced the drinks. It was only supposed to make them sleep.

“No… No way!” Jack clutched his head, screaming in denial. His screams grew louder until, all at once, they stopped. After a long moment, Jack raised his head. A flicker of red light appeared in his eyes before fading.

“…I had no choice. I couldn’t let all that money go to waste. It was my money,” Jack muttered, standing up slowly.

“Money… It’s all mine…”

He moved from body to body, rifling through their pockets, his eyes filled with a wild gleam. The advance payment he had given to convince the men to come with him—money that should have been his—was in their pockets. If everything had gone smoothly, they would have received even more.

“No point in them keeping it now,” he muttered, giggling as he pocketed their money. Those who had little were kicked aside in frustration.

“The job was simple. All I had to do was bring the girl back.”

It had been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune.

“Bring me the girl you spoke of, the one who doesn’t grow, and I’ll give you ten times what I’ve already paid.”

“Ugh!”

Jack clutched his head again as a sharp pain tore through his skull.

Who was it?

Someone had offered him a fortune for the girl, but every time he tried to remember who it was, the pain grew unbearable.

Does it matter?

It didn’t. All that mattered was getting the money. The headache vanished the moment he stopped trying to think.

It had been his one chance at a fortune he’d never even dreamed of. Jack had brought the group to his hometown, planning to kidnap the girl. But she wasn’t there. The only person left was the old man, Jeto, who had told him that a group of sorcerers had taken the girl away long ago.

“Damn those sorcerers!” Jack cursed. On the continent, the sorcerers of Haran were feared and revered. People talked about them for days if they so much as caught a glimpse. But Jack cursed them without hesitation.

― They interfere at every turn.

Jack’s jaw clenched tightly, grinding his teeth. The voice that came from within him was too eerie to belong to a human. His expression went blank for a moment, and when awareness returned to his eyes, he screamed in terror, staring at the corpses around him.

Jack’s behavior became erratic, as though multiple personalities fought for control. One moment he was laughing maniacally while looting the bodies, the next he was wailing in horror. His face grew gaunt, his cheekbones becoming more prominent as if he were wasting away before his own eyes.

“We have to get out of here. No one knows I came to this place,” Jack muttered to himself, his pale face betraying the remnants of his rational thought. He packed his things and left the house. But just as he was about to leave the village, his eyes flashed dangerously, and he turned back.

“…I can’t leave any witnesses.”

Jack drew a knife from his belt and headed toward Old Jeto’s house.

The next morning, a gaunt figure could be seen struggling through the mountains, not far from the village. It was Jack. His body was so emaciated that he looked like a man who hadn’t eaten in weeks. His face and hands were smeared with dried blood.

Panting heavily, Jack collapsed to the ground. A faint red glow flickered in his eyes before fading away. A dark, purplish mist seeped out of his body, circling around him before dissolving into the air.

Jack lay still.

He was no longer breathing

***

It was a room with nothing but a single table in the center. Sitting in front of it, cloaked in black robes that seemed to blend into the darkness, was a figure with a hood pulled low over their face. As the figure slowly lifted their head, two glowing red eyes flickered ominously from within the hood.

― Haran.

The voice echoed, filled with cold rage. Around the clenched fist of the figure, a black, shadowy energy swirled, distorting the air itself with a heavy, suffocating presence.

Kabal seethed with anger. The trail he had painstakingly uncovered led directly to Haran, and the reality that he could not follow it at once frustrated him deeply.

Haran’s borders were protected by a massive, enchanted barrier. The complex magic seal was Kabal’s natural enemy. While he could force his way through, doing so would drain a significant portion of his power, and the mages of Haran would immediately detect his presence and track him down. He wasn’t yet strong enough to face them head-on.

But there was another way. If he couldn’t go himself, he could send others. He had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

The red glow inside the hood flared again, burning more brightly for a moment. Then the door creaked open, and someone stepped into the dimly lit room.

“You called for me, Master?” a voice said.

― Find her. The girl who does not grow. She is in Haran.

The man who had entered, Malcolm, stiffened at the command. He nervously licked his dry lips before speaking.

“We… haven’t been able to send enough agents yet. As I mentioned, Haran’s entry procedures are extremely strict. We need more time…”

― Now! Focus all your resources on finding the girl!

The voice boomed through the room, shaking the air with its intensity. Malcolm’s face paled, fear flashing in his eyes. He swallowed hard, his throat dry.

“…Yes, Master. I will see to it immediately.”

***

『…They’re searching. Be careful!』

Adele opened her eyes. A soft breeze brushed against her face. She had fallen asleep while lying in the shade, leaning against a tree, after reading a book. The pleasant wind must have lulled her into a nap.

It was the same dream again, but this time, there was a small change. One sentence stuck clearly in her mind.

“They’re searching? For what…?”

She still couldn’t understand its meaning. Adele stood up and brushed the leaves and petals off her clothes.

“Maybe I should go see Grandmother…”

Shima made sure to have at least one meal a day with Adele, and if not, they would share tea.

But for the past few days, Adele hadn’t seen her grandmother. Shima hadn’t sent anyone to invite her for a meal, and when Adele sent Sonya with a request to visit, the response was to wait unless it was urgent. Not wanting to disturb her grandmother, Adele had waited.

It had been five days now. Adele thought she might try sending Sonya again. She headed back inside the tower and saw Sonya approaching.

“Miss.”

“I was just going to ask you to… what’s wrong?”

Only when Sonya got closer did Adele notice how pale her face was. It was unlike her to show so much emotion.

“Something terrible has happened, miss.”

A sinking feeling gripped Adele. She could almost hear her heart pounding in her ears.

“We just received word from the continent… the young master’s carriage was caught in a landslide… he passed away….”

The world spun around her. Adele felt as though her body was sinking into a deep abyss.

“And when Lady Shima heard the news, she collapsed from the shock.”

Adele clenched her skirt tightly with both hands. Despite the warm weather, she shivered uncontrollably. She slowly opened her eyes, which had been tightly shut.

‘I need to see Grandmother. Right now.’

But her legs refused to move. After a few steps, her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground.

“Miss!” Sonya’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears as she rushed to help her.

“Please… help me. I need to see Grandmother.”

“Yes, miss.”

Clutching Sonya’s hand tightly, Adele made her way toward the central tower. She wanted to run, to rush there as fast as she could, but her legs felt like lead. The path to the central tower seemed impossibly long. Sonya’s sobs echoed distantly in her ears.

‘Oh… Uncle Paul.’

Paul Levas, Shima’s only son and the heir to the Levas family.

Paul was the one who was supposed to succeed Shima and lead the eastern territories. As the clear next-in-line, he had gradually taken over more of his mother’s responsibilities in recent years. His frequent trips to the continent were part of that.

No matter how accomplished he was, to Adele, he was just a kind uncle. He was away from the estate more often than not, but whenever they met, he treated Adele like a daughter, or sometimes like a beloved younger sister.

‘Will I really never see Uncle Paul again?’

She couldn’t believe it. It was too much to take in.

***