The lights in the convenience store were still trembling faintly.
Sethiel's words—"Your name has finally returned."—felt like an invisible switch being pressed lightly by his fingertip.
The stone in my chest cracked open a little more, and from the fissure seeped a heat I couldn't describe. It didn't hurt— it felt like being forced awake.
"You—" Silent Man was still gripping Sethiel by the collar. He turned his head toward me. "If you leave now, it's still not too—"
Before he could finish, the lights went out with a sharp snap.
The world fell into instant darkness.
Right after, a gust of wind blew from nowhere.
It couldn't have been the AC. This wind was too cold, like it had crawled up from some deep hole underground, carrying the smell of something that hadn't seen light for a very, very long time.
The glass windows began to rattle. Snack bags on the shelves rustled in a wave.
Instinctively, I tried to grab onto something, but my fingers closed around nothing but air.
In the dark, someone laughed quietly.
Sethiel.
"Now that your name's been called awake," his voice drifted around us, directionless, "we can skip the foreplay."
The next second, the floor under my feet vanished.
I didn't even have time to scream before I felt myself falling.
**
When I hit the ground, there was no bone-cracking impact— it was like landing on something soft.
Petals.
An endless field of dark petals.
My eyes flew open.
The convenience store was gone.
In its place was a place that didn't belong to reality at all:
Above us, there was no ceiling—only a sky so high you couldn't see an end to it. It wasn't blue or black, but a deep violet somewhere in between, like ink slowly bleeding through paper.
Far away, chunks of stone steps floated in midair, like stairways leading to exits that didn't exist.
Beneath our feet were rings of stone platforms spreading outward. The edges were carved with patterns I didn't recognize— creeping vines, abstract wings, and a flower that kept repeating—
The Wei flower.
Its petals were thinner and longer than a rose's, but its outline was sharper, as if it had grown specifically to cut whoever touched it.
Wind rose from under the platform, bringing with it a mix of cold metal and damp soil.
I stood there, dazed in the center of the platform. It took me a few seconds to realize I wasn't alone.
Silent Man was standing not far from me. He was still wearing the same convenience store uniform, but the name tag on his chest was gone. Only two small pin holes remained.
He froze for a heartbeat, then snapped back to himself. His first reaction was to look at me. "Are you hurt?"
I shook my head, my voice trembling a little. "Where… is this?"
"The Rose Court."
A third voice cut in.
Sethiel stood a few steps away from us.
He looked like he belonged here—his long hair lifted slightly by the wind, the patterns beneath his feet glowing faintly in dark gold.
He lifted his face toward the violet sky, as if confirming something, then slowly lowered his gaze back to us.
"This is a place your world will never record," he said calmly. "It was used to settle everything that couldn't be dealt with in the light."
His eyes lingered on me for a moment. The curve of his lips was faint, neither warm nor cold.
"The stage of the Rose Duel."
Rose Duel.
The moment those words hit my ears, the hairs on the back of my neck rose. Some part of my body remembered that name.
"Send her back," Silent Man said coldly. "This is between you and me."
"She's already involved," Sethiel replied, like stating the obvious. "Did you really think the Rose would accept a duel between two empty shells?"
When he said "empty shells," he was looking at Silent Man.
Silent Man's jaw tightened. "I'm not—"
"What do you think you are?" Sethiel's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Human? An esper? Some kind of undying anomaly?"
He pronounced each word slowly, like peeling away a ridiculous excuse.
"Do you really believe you're just 'lucky' enough to never die?"
Silent Man didn't answer.
It was the first time I'd seen that look on his face—
Not fear. Not anger. But the stunned panic of someone whose cover has just been ripped away before they can grab it back.
"You've been telling yourself that all along, haven't you?" Sethiel took a step forward.
"Better to believe you're just a 'special human'—"
He glanced at me.
"—just like her."
The way he looked at me made my skin crawl.
"What are you talking about?" I couldn't help cutting in. "What rose? What duel? I'm just a convenience store clerk. I don't want any part of your—"
"You think you're 'just' that," Sethiel said softly, like correcting a child.
"Your name didn't come from me. It came from your blood."
He raised his hand, palm up.
The patterns on the platform suddenly grew sharper, lines brightening as if filled with light. All of them flowed in the same direction—toward my feet.
Like roots that had grown a long time ago, now awakened by some signal, converging on the "center" they remembered.
A sting shot through my soles.
I sucked in a sharp breath. "W–wait—"
Silent Man rushed over instantly, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to his side.
His palm was hot—too hot, almost feverish.
"Don't touch her!" he snarled at Sethiel.
Sethiel looked at our joined hands, his expression somewhere between amused and indifferent. "How rare. You actually remember how to stand in front of her."
"I don't remember anything," Silent Man gritted out. "But I know this—if you hurt her, you go through me first."
Sethiel tilted his head, genuinely intrigued.
"Good," he said. "A Rose Duel ought to have some sincerity."
He raised his right hand and drew a circle in the air.
Something invisible answered him. The whole space shivered.
The outer edge of the platform split like a cake cut by a sharp knife. Thin cracks spread outward— and beyond the edge, instead of an abyss, there were countless dark Wei flowers, surging layer upon layer like they were waiting for blood to spill.
"Sethiel," Silent Man said suddenly.
"Didn't you say the Rose Duel was just—"
"Just a game?" Sethiel finished for him, smiling faintly.
"You're lucky. You got to forget your own death that cleanly."
For a moment, the air dropped several degrees.
My fingers tightened on Silent Man's sleeve.
Death.
This was where he'd died?
But he was standing in front of me right now—
"Non-humans can die a lot," Sethiel said lightly, as if answering my unspoken question. "But every time they do, they have to pay something."
He watched Silent Man, his tone gentle to the point of mockery. "What are you paying this time?"
Silent Man hesitated for a heartbeat.
"I told you," he said quietly. "You can go after anyone you want—"
He glanced at me, and in his eyes was something that looked like it was about to overflow.
"Just not her."
**
—— [Male Lead's POV] ——
When I said "not her," something inside my chest hurt with it.
Not the heart.
Deeper.
As if a hand had reached inside, grabbed something, and yanked.
I don't know who I am.
At least, that's what I believed before I met her.
What I do know is that I don't die.
Cars, knives, falls from high places— the hospital records are full of words like "miracle," "unknown cause," "spontaneous recovery."
I read those words and can only laugh dryly: a mutant, maybe—if that term still means anything.
I made myself a rule:
I am human. Just a bug in the system.
It makes living easier.
Sethiel never corrected me.
He only smiled and kept all those strange terms, those fairy-tale-old words, to himself. Sometimes, when I almost died, he'd say, "There goes another life."
I thought he was being dramatic.
Until now.
Standing here— in this place I shouldn't recognize, yet whose ground makes my feet numb—
Watching those Wei flowers creep like blood to the edge of the stone platform, I feel a cold that makes me want to retch.
"Rose Duel," Sethiel says slowly, tasting the word.
"An old rule—made for 'ownership.'"
Ownership.
The word detonates in my ears.
I know what he'll say next.
"The winner takes everything from the target," he continues with a smile. "Name, memories, blood, and—"
He looks at her.
"Her future."
My knuckles tighten.
"And the loser?" I hear my own voice, low and unfamiliar. "What does the loser lose?"
Sethiel looks at me. The amusement in his eyes thins, turning into a faint chill.
"The last time you lost here," he says, "you lost your name, your memories—"
"And her."
A white blank explodes in my head.
—— [Female Lead's POV] ——
Name, memories, and—her.
For a few seconds, standing between the two of them, I'm convinced the "her" they're talking about isn't me, but someone long dead, or someone who never existed.
Because that weight shouldn't land on me.
Convenience store night-shift clerk. Bedroom window facing other people's drying racks. Chased by bill reminders at the end of the month.
Put that kind of person next to words like "ownership," "duel," "lose her"— it sounds like bad drama dialogue.
But the way Sethiel is looking at me carries no sign of mistaken identity.
His gaze is too clear.
Too clear to hide from.
"I told you, this is between us," Silent Man says again, stepping in front of me.
"Send her back."
"Do you really think she can leave?" Sethiel asks mildly.
He snaps his fingers.
The edge of the platform shrinks in sharply.
The Wei flowers flare up like they've been touched by flame, petals curling back to reveal layers of fine thorns.
I instinctively step back and my heel hits the circular stone slab in the center.
There's a mark there I hadn't noticed— like something split open on this exact spot a long time ago.
In the middle of the crack is a color darker than the stone around it. Dried blood.
My stomach flips.
"Stop this… whatever duel," I manage. "I'm not whoever you think I am, and I don't want any part of—"
"A Rose Duel doesn't need the target's consent," Sethiel says calmly.
"Only the Rose's."
As his words fall, the platform trembles.
Patterns under our feet light up.
It isn't electric light. It's something older— like sap moving through a trunk, like blood being forced to run faster through veins.
The light crawls along the carvings and climbs up my ankles.
Cold floods into my skin.
I let out a quick, sharp breath.
Silent Man whips around to look at me.
In that moment, whatever restraint he'd been holding snaps.
"Sethiel!" he roars. "If you want a duel, take it up with me!"
Sethiel watches him for a moment, then nods slightly.
"As you wish."
He raises his hand.
Wind surges toward him, his long hair whipping up behind him like a black wave.
The next second, he vanishes.
I barely have time to blink.
The space in front of Silent Man distorts— Sethiel appears at his back, fingers almost brushing his neck.
"Too slow."
The words are barely out when Silent Man drops, body reacting before thought. He dives to the side in a low roll.
Sethiel's fingertips rake across the stone where he'd just stood.
No sparks—just the sound of lines being carved into rock.
When Silent Man lands, his footing wavers, but his body still angles instinctively toward me, as if to shield me.
"This is the 'esper' you thought you were?" Sethiel stands on the new crack. "Instinct outruns intellect."
"Still enough to interrupt you," Silent Man pants. Sweat beads at his temple.
Sethiel doesn't argue. He just smiles.
He takes another step.
The Wei pattern under his feet flares again.
This time, I clearly see them—
Fine, hair-thin black shadows stretching out from the carvings like vines, reaching for Silent Man's ankles.
"Watch out!" I shout.
He glances down, instantly lifting his foot—but just a fraction too late.
The shadow coils around his lower leg, cold as chains.
A faint tearing sound.
From the knee down, a thin line splits open, like something has sliced through.
No spray of blood. It just seeps out quietly, sliding down his shin and soaking into his shoe.
My vision tunnels. My heart clenches. "You're bleeding—"
He doesn't seem to hear. He raises an arm and blocks Sethiel's next strike.
It's not a fist, not a blade— more like a chunk of condensed air slamming into his shoulder.
There's a heavy thud. He's driven back several steps, his back hitting the edge of the platform.
His shoulder seam splits; beneath the torn fabric, his skin is a dark, unnatural violet.
That's not a normal bruise.
For a moment, I forget where we are, forget the stone platform and the impossible flowers, and just want to run to him.
"Don't come!" he snaps. "Stay there!"
There's anger in his voice— and panic.
I freeze. My feet feel glued to the stone.
"You've always believed you can't die," Sethiel says, advancing.
"So you take every wound, every burden, onto yourself."
With each step he takes, another Wei blossom blooms on the platform.
"You think that's courage."
He lets out a small laugh. "But it's just another way of running away."
"Shut up." Silent Man's voice is so low it's almost a growl. "I stopped caring about whether I die a long time ago."
"Is that so?" Sethiel glances at me, then back at him.
"Then what if the price of this Rose Duel is—"
He lifts a hand and points at me.
"Her memories?"
Silent Man's pupils shrink.
For a heartbeat, what I see in his face isn't fear, but something deeper— the last struggle before despair.
His lips are pale, like someone who has just broken the surface of the water and hasn't had time to breathe.
"…Don't touch her."
He drags the words out like they're tearing his throat.
Sethiel watches him quietly for a few seconds, then turns away and looks up at the deep violet sky.
"Rose," he calls softly, like naming an old acquaintance.
"The witnesses are all here."
Wind surges inward from every direction.
High above, something slowly splits open.
Not a cloud.
A vast crack, stretching into a distance you can't see.
From within it, a thin beam of light spills out.
It isn't warm. If anything, it's faintly cold. But it falls straight on the stone beneath my feet.
The circle I'm standing on feels suddenly scalding. Not my skin—my blood.
My heart slams against my ribs. At a certain rhythm, something in my blood slams with it.
"By the Rose Duel—" Sethiel declares softly, "let it begin."
In that instant, something inside me is yanked out.
Not my soul— more like a sealed-off part of me being ripped open at the edge.
The scene in front of me wavers.
The stone, the flowers, the two men's silhouettes stretch, then snap back into focus—
And for a split second, what I see isn't this place.
It's a forest.
Towering trees. Evening light. The smell of grass carried on the wind.
And a figure standing at the tree line, holding a strangely-shaped sword.
His shoulders, his profile, even the way he breathes—so familiar it hurts.
"—Hanna!"
Someone calls my name.
The image shatters. The Rose Court snaps back into place.
Silent Man's voice is right beside my ear. Only then do I realize my body has pitched forward.
He's blocking Sethiel's attack with one arm, and with the other, he reaches back, gripping my arm tightly and dragging me behind him.
In that moment, I see clearly—
His irises, which should be pure black, are being eaten away at the edges by red.
Not normal bloodshot lines— a glow, seeping out, sharp with hunger.
My breath catches.
"Your… eyes—"
He squeezes them shut hard. When he opens them again, the red is forced back, leaving only endless dark.
"Don't look," he rasps. "Don't look at me."
"Why?" The question leaves my mouth before I can stop it.
He doesn't answer.
Sethiel laughs.
"He's afraid you'll see what you really are."
The next second, Sethiel lifts a hand.
A crushing force slams toward us.
No time to react.
The air around us feels sucked dry. My chest compresses like something's pressing on it from all sides. I can't breathe.
Just before my consciousness snaps, I throw out a hand—
Not to grab anyone. Just a reflexive shove.
Just that one push—
A surge of power that is absolutely not mine rips out from my palm.
No special effects. No glow. No spectacle.
Just something simple and brutally direct—
No.
"—Don't."
The moment those two words tear out of my throat, the central rose sigil on the platform bursts into a blinding light.
A shockwave ripples out from under our feet, like a ring of water.
Sethiel's attack hits the wave and breaks, knocked aside. He staggers back half a step.
The wind reverses.
My fingers go numb, my palm stinging like it's full of needles.
I glance down.
At some point, a faint mark has appeared in my hand—
A tiny Wei flower, like someone burned it onto my skin with light.
Sethiel stares for a moment, then laughs softly.
"Looks like the Rose is more impatient than I am."
He lifts his eyes to me. This time, he doesn't bother hiding his interest.
"Jiang Hanna, you awakened earlier than I expected."
My ears are still ringing. I can't say anything. All I can do is clutch Silent Man's sleeve.
His breathing is rough. The blood from his shoulder has soaked half his uniform, and he still raises an arm, pulling me further behind him.
"…Enough, Sethiel." His voice is low and hoarse.
"The Rose Duel was never meant for testing your blade on her."
Sethiel goes quiet for a moment. Then the smile fades from his face.
"Fine."
He takes a step back and draws his hand through the air.
The crack in the sky slowly closes. The light on the platform dims, bit by bit.
"We'll stop here for today," he says.
"Consider it the opening act of the Rose Duel."
His gaze falls once more on the mark in my palm. The corner of his mouth lifts in a smile I can't read.
"You'll come back."
As soon as the words leave his mouth, the ground drops away again.
The world flips.
**
My eyes snap open.
The hum of the AC in the convenience store is back.
The fluorescent lights are harsh and white. The fridges buzz. Snack bags line up neatly on the shelves, as if nothing happened.
I'm standing behind the register in my same old uniform. The store is empty.
Except for—
Silent Man, leaning on the counter, breathing shallowly.
There's a dark ring of half-dried blood around his shoes.
I look down at my hand.
My palm is clean.
No mark. Nothing.
Like everything that just happened was only a dream that felt too real.
But the cracked stone in my chest is still there, heavy and dull, telling me—
The Rose Duel really has begun.