CH 13

It was the day Citrina had promised to meet Desian in the garden.

She thought. You can change your future just as easily as you can change your style of dress.

Citrina opened the door to the garden.

‘Will Desian be here already?”

By the time she arrived, it was a little bit past the hour.

The garden was still beautiful even though no one would have been here to care for it in the past few days. No, it wasn’t quite right to say it was still beautiful.

Even the trail to the garden and the bushes along the trail remained perfectly unchanged.

‘I left my book here last time.’

<The Book of Spirits> had been left on a garden chair by a tree, right next to where they had previously sat . She decided to retrieve the book later.

“We’re meeting at the cabana in the garden.”

Citrina crossed the path and reflected on the details of the promise.

Citrina turned her gaze around. The only thing that caught her eye was the bushes.

No, they weren’t bushes.

Was it because of the hot weather in summer? Was that why there was a haze blooming from the ground?

The mist surrounding the spring looked like a mirage. All together, it was as beautiful as a fairy spring.

On the first day she met Desian, she hadn’t seen the cabana. It was a place she had heard of in snippets of conversation from the servants, but it was more beautiful than expected.

Citrina stepped into a magical space that looked like it was hidden by the bushes. And then Citrina saw Desian.

‘Found him.’

He was standing in front of the water. He was standing with his back to her like on that first day.

Citrina took a step towards him.

‘Let’s talk to him now.’

It was a sticky, loud noise that was easy to hear.

It was strange. She had a hunch that it was something in the water, especially since it was a windless day.

‘What was that? Ghosts? A corpse? A person?’

A few possibilities flashed through Citrina’s mind.

After coming up with a number of scenarios, Citrina laughed quietly. She doubted it could be any of those things. Apparently, she’d watched too many gory movies.

Citrina didn’t know that Desian was looking at her closely.

‘If I’m curious, I can check it out.’

She was turning her back to look at the water.

“Citrina.”

However, as she turned her head, Desian called her.

Desian was looking at her with a painted smile. It was a little decadent, but the smile on his drowsy face was beautiful.

But at that moment, Citrina felt a sense of discomfort.

“Desian nim, by any chance…did you hear a sound?”

“Nothing.”