A Rose Wrapped Around A Broken Blade

The carriage swayed along the incline and rattled. The shock made the boxes covered with paper thump, and the bodies of those sitting on either side swayed to and fro.

The carriage with luggage and people was heading to the eastern province with their stories.

The long war ended in great victory. In the capital, a festival to celebrate the triumph continued, and the season when the sunlight began to leak out doubled the blessing.

However, the loss of the war was too great to be drunk with the joy of victory.

The skirt of the woman, who was crouching in the carriage, gradually climbed up whenever the carriage rattled, revealing a half-cut leg. She had headed to a far village to make a living, but lost one leg as she was swept away by the war. The man sitting next to her had one arm cut off in the war, and his face was covered with bandages except for his right eye.

The old man, who had lost both his sons in the war and was left alone, sat vainly with a wooden cane more bent than his crouched body. His hands were skinner than the dry wooden cane. Next to him, the woman who had lost her husband and became a widow was tenderly stroking the back of her young son’s head, who was lying on her lap, but her face contained a sense of hopelessness about how to live on.

There was only silence in the carriage. They didn’t pay attention to each other, and they didn’t care. The same was true of the woman sitting at the end of the carriage.

Unlike others, she didn’t lose her limbs, get her body shot, or go blind. The woman stared blankly at the passing scenery with her normal eyes. The day’s sunlight lit up her red hair more brightly.

Her short hair, her stout build, and the black thing in one hand made her look like a mercenary at first glance. 

It makes no sense to say that a woman is a mercenary, but it was not unusual for a woman to lose her head in the war or steal with knives because people who were already poor could not even catch and eat mice.

The more they went into the eastern province, the bumpier the road became, and there was no separate route, so the carriage ran non-stop. The carriage, which had been running for three days, came to a stop at the mouth of the mountain road.

The red-haired woman lifted her sword and got out of the carriage with her luggage bag wrapped around her shoulders. The woman climbed the mountain road far away from the grass, without any sign of hesitation. A mansion soon appeared in her sight, as she stepped effortlessly onto the high hill.

About a dozen people were standing in front of it.

The woman stopped her steps and lowered her luggage. 

She stared at the faces in front of her one by one. Each of their faces had deep, light cuts, or old burn scars covering one side of their face. Even those without such scars will have long stab wounds on their arms, legs, stomachs, and backs.

The middle-aged man, who was standing in front of her, approached her and took her hand carefully. The tide of time had passed on his face. The man, who was just young and sharp, now looked gentle with a strong white head and a beard. The faces behind him were similar. It was a calmer atmosphere than the day she had left this place, but the way they looked at each other was clearly different.

“Good to see you, Miss. It’s really nice of you to come back.”

“…John.”

At that little call, the Alfreds’ butler, John, wept. The servants of the Alfreds, who stood behind him, embraced her and sobbed. It was a mixture of worries and relief that shattered them at that moment.

Buried in their arms, Adora could feel that she had truly returned to her homeland.

* * *

It is said that people look back on life before death. One colleague said he felt most alive when he was about to die. He was criticized for saying something like nonsense, but Adora thought that, to some extent, it was true.

Adora was reminiscing about her life every moment. Her recollection was a time, long ago, full of happiness.

A father who was gentle and friendly, and a mother who was only happy for her family. Adora was a cute girl who grew up being loved by them.

She shook her rich red hair that came down to her chest, and always had a smile on her face. The sight of walking with a small wave of hands was lovely enough to melt the hearts of the couple and the users around her.

Mrs Alfred smiled happily as she held her daughter in her arms, who looked exactly like her childhood self. As usual, Adora would grin and dig into her mother’s arms.

“Adora, I heard that she skipped your embroidery lessons and went to the swordsmanship training camp. Is that true?”

Adora’s eyes widened at the words. Her big eyes, which had been shaking for a moment, slowly avoided her mother’s gaze.

“It’s…”

Adora rolled her eyes to the sides and wiggled her hands. When Mrs Alfred saw it, she realized that what she had said was true. A sigh flowed out.

“Just this once! I will never do that again!”

Flapping her little hands, Adora calmed her mother’s heart. Seeing such a sight, Mrs Alfred smiled sadly.

“This mother wants Adora to hold flowers, not swords.”

Her daughter was born of strong ancestry to the Alfred family. Unlike children of her age who liked cute and pretty things, Adora was interested in swordsmanship, and her abilities seemed to be outstanding.

But in the end, she was a girl. There was a boy in the family to take over, and it was impossible for a girl to live with a sword. What’s more, no parent would want their children to wield a sword and roam around the battlefield, never knowing when death would follow them.

Someday, there will be a time when she will have to give up what she loves. She wanted to turn her daughter’s attention early, knowing the grief her daughter would go through eventually.

“Why can’t I do what I like?”

“There are things in the world that you cannot do even if you like.”

“It’s too hard.”

“You won’t know now, but I’m sure you’ll know what this mother said later. Please understand that whatever I’m saying is only for Adora.”

Adora didn’t quite understand, but when she saw her mother’s sad face, she just nodded. Mrs Alfred took Adora back into her arms and rubbed her cheeks.

What a peaceful world it was. The time of suffering from the war was only one of the past. Although the Alfred family was a martial arts family, she thought that it was not necessary to become knights, not only for her daughter but also for her son, who was still a newborn baby.

But her wind deflected in the most brutal way.

It was a night when the scenery she saw every day felt exceptionally scary. On the night when the warm air was mixed with the smell of blood, Adora woke up to her mother’s call on the strange night when the lonely mansion felt noisy. Her mother, who was wearing only an overcoat and pyjamas, was waving at Adora in the air.

“Baby, wake up. Hurry.”

“Mother…”

Adora rose, half asleep. Her mother didn’t tell her why she woke her up or what happened. Just hastily pulled Adora out of bed. Still asleep, Adora had to force herself out of bed at the rough and desperate touch of her mother.

Her mother, who led Adora into the next room, searched for a wooden cabinet attached to one wall. Adora watched her mother, rubbing her eyes to shake off the sleepiness. Her mother did not say anything to Adora that day, even though she looked unsightly with her messy hair, loose pyjama, and not even a single pair of shoes on.

Mrs Alfred, who was pressing the stones on the wall next to the cabinet, soon pressed a certain part, and the cabinet clicked open, revealing a hidden space.

And before Adora was surprised, her mother pushed her little daughter into it. It was too small for an adult to enter, but it was perfect for Adora, a child.

“Adora, you must never get out of here. Do you understand?”

“Mother, mother-”

Adora looked up at her mother in confusion and fear. The moonlight flashed across my mother’s stiff face. However, Mrs Alfred kept a friendly smile on her face as usual, which might have calmed Adora a little.

“You’re my good girl, my baby…” A gentle whisper followed.

Soon after, the door clicked, and her beloved mother disappeared.

After a brief silence, the sound of her mother’s footsteps faded away. At the same time, there was the sound of someone entering the room.

Was it her father?

Adora fumbled for the closed door. It didn’t budge, as if the only way to open it was from the outside. She couldn’t know who had come in.

Her mother’s footsteps stopped, and only the footsteps of a stranger continued.

Adora, who was fumbling in frustration, noticed the gap in the door, which was a very thin line. Adora brought her eyes closer to the gap. Through the crevice, she could see her mother standing with her back towards the closed door. Beyond that, a stranger was seen.

He was a man, taller than her mother. The man’s face was half-covered with a black mask. He was dressed in black. It was dark all over, like the darkness of the night.

Her mother got mad at the man. The man’s voice was calm. Adora thought it looked weird. Why was her mother angry, and who the hell was that man? Adora felt pure curiosity. But the question didn’t last long.

The man took a step closer to her mother. Something flashed in the moonlight.

Adora blinked her eyes.

It was a sword.

As soon as she realized that, the blade moved without hesitation. A strange sound followed. At the same time, her mother’s body shook once. Her mother’s beautiful red hair danced in the night as well.

As if trying to hold a rope, she felt her mother’s hand floundering around the man’s shoulder, trying to trace the mask that covered his face. It looked like her hand was still struggling to get a hold of it. Then her mother’s body collapsed, and the mask covering the man’s face was peeled off.

His face was young and bare. It was Adora’s first time seeing this face. The man looked down, not embarrassed or shocked, even though his mask was taken off. Adora lowered her eyes and looked at her mother, who had fallen to the ground.

Her mother’s red hair was scattered on the clean floor. She held her stomach with one hand, and her chest rose and fell unnaturally.

The face of the man, who looked at her mother, did not show any emotion. Rather, as if he knew it would happen, he just slapped her hand that was reaching out towards him with the tip of his sword as if it was annoying. Then he raised his sword once more.

Adora pursed her lips slightly. 

“Mother…”

Her mother did not answer Adora’s call. The man’s sword pierced her mother’s chest without hesitation. Her mother’s body twitched and then subsided. The man who had been watching her mother until she was dead, soon drew the knife. Blood spurted out and splashed in all directions, leaving no trace on the man’s black clothes.

The man bent over and picked up the mask his mother was holding. Then he looked around the room carelessly. The man who didn’t know if a little girl was hiding inside a space in n the wall looked around the room once and then turned around. Before he left, he didn’t forget to put on his mask again.

Adora couldn’t take her eyes off her mother, who was seen through the narrow crevice. Her mother’s face was not visible. She laid still, as if sleeping.

Adora wanted to go out and wake her mother right away. It seemed like her mother would hug her and smile as tenderly as always.

But that didn’t happen.

The locked door creaked and shook. A sound was heard beyond that. The sound of someone’s urgent running, the noise of bumping into something and falling, and the desperate cry for help. The whole world was filled with screams. It was a night like hell that seemed to never end.

So, Adora survived.

Only Adora survived.

The events of that day spread widely, calling it the “tragedy of the Alfreds.” Everyone who heard the tragedy cried in unison.

Who in the world had harmed such a happy family?

However, few survived, and most were unconscious. Even those who remained unconscious could not tell the exact appearance because the criminal had his face covered. There was no trace of whether he was an expert in murder, so it was difficult to find the culprit.

And fortunately, among the misfortunes, there were rumours that the Alfred’s daughter was the only survivor. It was said that while searching the inside of the mansion, they heard a strange noise from a cabinet in a room, and when they opened it, they found the little girl fainting inside.

Adora was rescued from the closet, and she woke up after two full days. The people who waited for her body to recover and in consideration for the child, who must have been shocked, asked her about what happened that day when Adora woke up.

Adora, of course, remembered that day. The face of the man who killed his mother also came to her mind clearly. But Adora couldn’t say this.

It was like a warning she felt instinctively. 

You shouldn’t say it. It might go wrong.

Adora didn’t really know what she had witnessed, but she was aware that it was unusual, even as a child.

“I don’t remember anything.” 

In the end, Adora chose to lie. Because she was scared, and she thought he might come to kill her if she told the truth. Adora gave in to an unknown fear.

People comforted Adora. 

It was understandable if she had lost her memory as a result of the shock because she had been so terrified. Maybe it was better not to remember. 

No one noticed that Adora had lied.