However, no matter how much he hid, no one would come looking for him anymore, so Enoch had no choice but to leave the room on his own.
Once outside, he began wandering around the imperial palace.
It wasn’t that he had a purpose or destination. Enoch just walked and walked and walked again. A few attendants followed him, but they disappeared on their own when he said he wanted to be alone.
The reason he stopped walking mindlessly was because one of the attendants called out to him.
“Your Highness.”
A brown-haired attendant, whose face Enoch had never seen before, handed him something as he called him. Then, just as quickly as he had appeared, the attendant vanished, leaving Enoch quite bewildered.
“What is this…?”
Blinking, Enoch stared after him, then looked down at his hand. In it was a crumpled piece of paper sealed with wax.
He had never received anything like it before, so he hesitated for a moment before breaking the seal.
What was revealed was a sloppily written note.
– Behind the broken angel statue, near the rose bush.
The handwriting was so bad that it was hard to read, and the grammar was awkward. There was only one person who could write like that.
His heart began to race. Enoch carefully unfolded the ink-stained paper.
“…Bertina.”
It was something she had left behind.
As soon as he realized that, he felt a surge of excitement. Enoch quickly rummaged through his memories. The rose bush and the angel statue with one broken hand were both in the garden where he used to meet Bertina.
Bertina must have hidden something there and was telling him about it.
I should have come out sooner, he thought, as he hurried toward the location mentioned in the note. Any sadness he had felt for being left behind had already melted away.
As soon as he arrived at the abandoned garden, Enoch looked behind the half-rotted tree and the statue. Behind it were two bottles.
The bottle filled with golden liquid was familiar to him as well. It was the same kind of bottle the attendants would carry during imperial events.
However, Enoch had never tasted what was inside. That was to be expected.
The bottle contained alcohol, and in the palace, children under fifteen were not allowed to drink.
How Bertina, who was only eleven, managed to get her hands on these was a mystery, but Enoch immediately realized that the two bottles of alcohol were the “precious things” she had mentioned.
Bertina had likely planned to drink it with him.
When she couldn’t keep her promise, she must have left the note with an attendant.
With slightly trembling hands, Enoch picked up one of the bottles. The cold touch of the glass felt so vivid that he feared he might drop it.
The bottle was sealed tightly with a wooden cork. After contemplating how to open it for a moment, Enoch pulled off the ornament pinned to his chest.
He used the pointed end to pry open the stopper, and after struggling for a while, he finally opened the bottle, releasing a sweet fragrance that was familiar to him. It was the same scent that Letina had.
Suddenly, Enoch realized it had been nearly a month since he last saw her, and he shook his head briefly. Anyway, by now, Letina was likely getting along well with his stepbrother, who resembled the emperor so closely.
So, all he had to do was focus on the situation in front of him.
He looked nervously at the shimmering golden liquid inside the bottle, then, all at once, he gulped it down. In hindsight, it was a reckless move, considering he had never tasted alcohol before.
A wave of heat swept through his mouth and throat in an instant. Enoch, who had never experienced this before, let out a cough and doubled over, his face burning.
What followed was a strange surge of excitement. Unaware that it was the onset of intoxication, Enoch brought the bottle back to his lips. He drank again and promptly fell backward.
The world flipped upside down and his stomach churned. The things around him seemed to warp slightly, and the sky took on a strangely vivid color. Enoch blinked slowly, unable to grasp what was happening.
Then laughter bubbled up from within him. So he laughed. Or at least, he thought he did. The memory was hazy, and his judgment was clouded.
He just felt the urge to laugh, so he did.
By the time he realized something was wrong, his eyes were already burning hot.
Before he had time to collect himself, his vision began to blur. Enoch realized he was crying.
Oddly enough, he didn’t feel the need to pull himself together. So he lay down carelessly on the grass and wept. He couldn’t recall whether it was more like a sob or a full-blown wail.
After a while, he picked up the bottle again and took another sip. At first, the liquor had burned his throat, but as time passed, it went down smoothly.
Naturally, the bottle emptied quickly. So Enoch fumbled around for the other one.
His hands, now weak, struggled to open the new cork, but he didn’t give up.
Once he had opened the new bottle, Enoch brought it to his lips again. The more he drank, the more his mind felt strange, but he didn’t care.
Did Bertina know that drinking would make someone feel like this? He wondered briefly.
But there was no one to ask. So Enoch just laughed and cried by himself.
At some point, he drifted off to sleep, and for the first time, he dreamed ‘that’ dream.
It was a dream bathed in a golden light more dazzling than the liquid he had consumed.
In the dream, Enoch saw an unfamiliar girl.
She had hair darker than the darkest shadows. She was smaller than him, even smaller than Bertina.
The girl’s cheeks were as lovely as a blossoming peach flower, and her eyes were a deep, brilliant green.
That alone was enough to fill him with awe, but what struck him most was the radiant smile spread across her small face.
It was the most beautiful smile Enoch had ever seen. Tiny teeth, even smaller dimples, and a small chin that glowed faintly with the color of honey as it reflected the light. Every feature on her face was perfect.
Immersed in the vivid illusion, Enoch felt a sense of satisfaction he couldn’t explain. The misery that had clung to his heart only moments before had vanished, replaced by something warm and bright.
He wanted to touch her.
He seemed to have reached out his hand with that thought. In truth, he had always longed for such things. Warm, soft, and pure. Something like the sunlight of spring or autumn.
But what landed on his face was a cold drop of water.
The wetness snapped Enoch out of his dream. He looked up at the darkened sky.
He had no idea how much time had passed. Staring blankly, Enoch gazed at the sky above.
“It’s raining.”
Yet the thought of avoiding the rain didn’t occur to him. Enoch continued lying there.
Soon, he was soaked to the bone, and his head began to throb. But even then, he felt no urge to get up.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there when he heard a rustling sound. Something was approaching him.
Before he could figure out what it was, a head of red hair appeared before his eyes. For a moment, Enoch wondered if it was Bertina, but when he saw the eyes filled with disdain, he realized it wasn’t her.
It was Kinas.
Kinas looked thoroughly displeased, his face twisted in annoyance. Enoch, not wanting to be outdone, frowned back, thinking how a person could look that irritable.
He hated Kinas. He didn’t care if that emotion seemed petty or shallow.
The man looked down at him with a frustrated expression and muttered, “…And you’re even drinking.”
Though the words were cut off and muffled, the contempt in them was unmistakable.
In response to that disdain, Enoch tried to furrow his brow even more.
But for some reason, he couldn’t muster the strength in his face, so instead, he put the emotion into his words.
“Get lost.”
It was something he had heard Bertina say a few times, but he had never used the phrase himself. He didn’t know how it came out so smoothly at that moment.
Kinas tilted his head and asked, “What?”
The surprise on his face was clear, but Enoch didn’t care.
He repeated, “I said, get lost.”
I can’t stand the sight of you. Just disappear.
It was probably the first time Enoch had ever spoken so harshly to anyone.
But he had no reservations about saying it to Kinas. It all felt strangely unreal, and besides, he truly disliked him.
And then, just like that, the man disappeared.
As the face, which had looked even more irritating than when it first appeared, vanished, Enoch felt a small sense of satisfaction.
But that feeling didn’t last long. Before much time had passed, other people showed up.
“Your Highness, Your Highness.”
Ignoring the loud, buzzing voices around him, Enoch closed his eyes. Sleep was overtaking him.
