I passed the entrance of the northern forest and walked along the forest path. A tall tower could be seen through the dense trees.
My heart was pounding. Alan was there, right on top.
I greeted the guards and entered the tower. The endless spiral staircase that was like climbing a tower seemed short these days.
In the blink of an eye, I arrived in front of Alan’s door.
I clenched my fists and knocked on the door wrapped in chains.
“It’s me.”
No answer came back. I tried to knock once more and looked closely at the door.
The lock was unlocked. After loosening the chain and pulling the handle, the door opened with ease.
“…Dad?”
I stepped lightly through the crack in the door.
It was still a cozy bedroom. Sunlight from the small window scattered grains of light on the worn-out furniture.
I looked around the room and approached an empty chair in front of the window.
The drawbridge was seen in the distance. It was the place where the Duchess’ funeral was held.
Alan said that he lived on top of the tower so that he could see my return at a glance, but there still seemed to be another reason for using this room.
All the old furniture in the top room was Natalia’s. Of the few household items, none of them belonged to Alan.
“Dad…”
I carefully lifted the blanket, and all that showed up was a white bed linen.
Apparently, Alan was not in the room.
‘I didn’t hear that he returned to the castle… Did he get stuck in the middle?’
As I was about to go down the tower, I heard the sound of something soft being crushed under my feet.
I lifted my heel and ripped off what was attached to the heel. It was a white and thick lump.
‘Lily petals?’
Three or four petals with a refreshing scent were scattered along the hard stone floor. I followed the petals and raised my head.
My eyes met Natalia’s portrait.
In the picture, she was boasting a lively smile, alone in a room as desolate as a ruin.
There was no dust on the old-fashioned picture frame. Among the furniture, it seemed to be particularly well taken care of.
A single white petal fell from the cabinet in front of the painting.
Suddenly, the evil spirit I had seen in my past memories came to mind. Behind this portrait was a space where it was hiding.
‘No way…’
I gently pushed the frame to the side.
Even without much force, the portrait leaned gently. The edge of the hole was visible in the place where it was pushed.
“…….”
I got on my knees and climbed onto the cabinet. The moment I held the frame with both hands and turned it upside down, there was a ‘click’, the sound of metal matching.
Squeak.
The frame that went back opened like a door.
Behind the painting was a secret passage. As I put my head into the dark empty space, I could see a spiral staircase going down to the depths.
“Dad!”
I shouted towards the black darkness. My voice echoed, but this time there was no answer.
I pondered and stepped into the hole. Alan might be down there.
‘I don’t know when Natalia started using this room, but it’s her room, so there’s no way he’s unaware of this passage all the time.’
The stairs behind the painting were steep enough to be called a slide. If I stumbled even once, I would slide as it was.
But I didn’t need a lamp.
I closed my eyes and bit the tip of my thumb. Drops of blood dripped down my fingertips.
After waiting for a while, when I opened my eyes, the vision in my left eye was lit up in darkness. The wound on the finger also quickly regenerated.
After several successes, it was not difficult to express the power of the demons.
I went down the stairs carefully, relying on my left eye, which had become a reverse eye.
Down, down… No matter how much I went down, there was no end.
It felt like I had descended below the dungeon where Michael was.
The feeling of falling to the bottom of hell was a little scary.
‘Should I go back up?’
As I was thinking about it, the stairs ended. For a moment, I lifted my trembling body and looked around.
“This is…”
A fairly wide hallway appeared. The smell of fresh flowers mixed with the musty smell of the basement.
It was the scent of lilies.
I slowly moved towards the scent. There was something big at the end of the hallway.
When I took about five steps closer, I could tell what it was.
It was a huge pile of lilies.
Flowers, as if they had just been brought, were piled up on the floor. The tip of my nose hurt from the strong smell.
‘Is there something inside?’
The center of the pile of pure white flowers bulged up like it was covering something.
I carefully pulled out the lilies that had piled up on top. The flowers rolled down and something hard touched my fingertips.
Inside the myriads of flowers was a small box. As if made of ebony, the black box was a pentagon with one side elongated.
It looked familiar.
I realized the identity of the box and backed away. An ominous feeling swarmed my chest.
I thought I should go back now, but it was too late.
My left eye caught the little text on the box.
「Lilietta Von Bauner」
The box was actually a coffin. It was also a coffin for a newborn baby the size of a forearm.
Lily’s body was definitely here, but in front of me was Lily’s coffin.
I was at a loss for words and grabbed the coffin. And I lifted the whole thing.
The coffin surrounded by fresh flowers was lifted so easily by my hands.
Thud.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
I looked back slowly, hugging Lily’s coffin. The person I wanted to see the most, but yet did not want to meet, raised a whitish magic stone lamp.
“…Lily.”
Alan’s hand was full of white lilies.
My legs shook, still clenching the coffin. Alan’s white bouquet twirled and overlapped with the pile of mourning flowers on Natalia’s coffin.
‘Why?’
Lily died as a baby. But there was no reason for Alan to make Lily’s coffin this way.
He had been looking for his daughter for 10 years without even knowing that she was dead.
…Was that really the case?
“You don’t know?”
Then Alan murmured lowly.
I stared blankly, cold sweat started to form, then I belatedly uttered,
“Pardon?”
“You didn’t know at all? You…”
The man’s jade-colored eyes fluttered anxiously. He murmured as he touched my face.
“That you were dead…”
Thud!
I dropped the coffin.
There was a hollow crash. The sound had no weight at all.
No wonder the baby’s coffin was so light. There was obviously nothing in it.
Nevertheless, dozens of nails were firmly etched to the lid of the coffin as if no one was allowed to open it.
The outer glass of the lamp shattered with a loud noise.
Alan dropped everything he had in his hands and ran to me.
He sat down like a beast guarding his young and embraced the little coffin. Even if there was no baby in it.
The scent of lilies scattered everywhere made my head dizzy.
“…Did you…”
Imaginations I never had before popped into my head. The words that had been running around my throat came out to nothing.
“Did you, by any case… see it?”
Alan turned his back on me, so I couldn’t see his expression.
I stepped back slowly. A cold stone wall touched my spine.
“Before being kidnapped…”
I swallowed dry saliva.
“Lily’s, corpse…”
Alan put the coffin back in place and stood up slowly. His jade eyes gleamed in the darkness.
Even though it was cold enough to make my throat numb… It was a lonely expression.
The memories of meeting those eyes for the first time flowed like a waterfall.
The day we first met, Alan tried to kill me.
The future in which he cut my head off was a reality that could happen.
“…Ah.”
I covered my mouth with both hands. Now everything made sense.
‘He knew it from the beginning.’
Alan knew from the moment we first met. This body was the real Lily’s.
He did not intend to kill the living, but to bring the dead back to where it should be.
To give rest to the daughter who had not closed her eyes for 10 years.
But the future had changed. Instead of burying her daughter and letting her go from his heart, Alan let me live.
“Father.”
Because I said that.
“Are you leaving?”
His hoarse voice echoed in the gloomy basement.
Alan’s silhouette, slowly approaching me, shimmered in my vision blurred by tear drops.
I reflexively swallowed my breath. Alan then stood still.
As if I was going to disappear forever just by him touching me.
He stretched out his hands in the air and knelt down in place.
“Don’t go.”
The man’s face contorted. He clenched and opened his fist several times before finally grabbing my sleeve.
“Please… don’t go back. Stay in this world.”
That was why Alan kept his distance from me.
Because his dead daughter came back alive, he was just pouring out unconditional love without trying to get to know me.
When I thought it was a dream, I was bound to wake up.
“I know that being by my side is worse than heaven.”
Alan repeated those words like a broken pendulum, and hugged my legs.
“But, please…”
The force pulling my skirt was strong. It felt like being tugged by his hand and being sucked into the ground.
“Please live a little longer.”
The sentences that came out one at a time were like screams.
I stared blankly at the man’s face. He was clinging to his daughter who died once and came back alive.
At least it seemed so.
“No… No…”
I shook my head wildly. What do you mean a daughter who came back alive?
Alan wasn’t stupid enough to believe such a fortune. It was his tragedy that he was not a fool.
“…Did you know the whole truth?”
I put a trembling hand on Alan’s cheek.
