________________________________________
Mourners gathered quietly. Some stood in confusion, others whispered with curiosity. Most, however, were afraid.
The news that Mr. Kazumi's eldest son and Mr. Yamihara's only son had gone missing the previous evening spread through the eerie, quiet village like wildfire. The two wealthy families who had come to spend their holiday there had suddenly lost their sons.
"How ironic," one woman muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm leaving this village with my children soon. I can't stay here any longer. Who knows who will go missing next?"
"They were said to have left yesterday evening and never returned," another villager whispered. "Who would have imagined something like this?"
A frail old man sighed deeply.
"If the Flower of this Village were still here, none of these strange events would be happening. I never supported the idea of banishing her."
"What a curse," someone murmured grimly.
"A terrible curse."
Nearby, a woman hurriedly gathered her things.
"If you're picking rice from my grain field, let's hurry while the sun is still out," she said nervously, grabbing her friend's wrist. "Our children are home alone. I don't want them missing—or worse."
The two women quickly left the gathering.
At the center of the scene stood the two grieving families, mourning their lost sons. Around them, villagers gathered in uneasy silence. The village itself was unusually still that early morning—as it always seemed to be.
Unseen by them all, high above the gathering, an ethereal figure hovered silently in the darkened sky.
A presence with long, tousled golden-blond hair and delicate, almost fragile features drifted within the vast emptiness above. Enormous white wings stretched behind him, their sharp, jagged feathered edges forming a dramatic cocoon around his slender figure. A faint glow radiated softly from the wings.
His pale skin carried a gentle luminescence, his bare shoulders and upper chest partially hidden beneath layers of soft feathers. His green, low-lidded eyes calmly observed the villagers below, scanning the scene with quiet detachment. His lips remained slightly parted, his expression wistful and distant.
There was something hauntingly beautiful about him—an otherworldly grace wrapped in quiet melancholy.
His voice drifted softly through the air, unheard by the humans below.
"What a strange twist humans are."
"I clearly died trying to save that pitiful soul… yet they declare us both missing."
His gaze fell upon the grieving Yamihara family.
"That beautiful boy… with such a rare and gentle soul. He swallowed pain so that others would never taste it."
A faint sadness crossed his eyes.
"And yet his own parents are too blind to see how fortunate they were to have him."
He let out a quiet breath.
"The human world is quick to judge… and far too late to understand."
"I do not understand why they are so determined to destroy that poor soul… to isolate him until there is nothing left."
His gaze drifted toward his so-called younger brother, Ren. His face was fixed on nothing in particular, but the tightness in his expression betrayed him. Somewhere, deep down, he regretted what he had done.
That boy…
The one my real mother had once been so desperate to save. She had done everything she could for him. At the time, I never understood why.
Until the day I first met him.
My eyes had widened slowly as I watched him stand there, his hand gently outstretched toward me. A sincere, painful smile rested on his lips. The evening breeze moved softly through the air, brushing his black hair aside.
He looked… beautiful.
And in that moment, I fell in love.
Yet that love quickly twisted into something quieter—something far more bitter—when I realized he loved my little brother, not me. Somehow, I became jealous.
My entire existence on earth had been for him, yet he always felt impossibly distant whenever I stepped closer.
He was a loner.
A boy starved of affection, longing desperately for love from the very people who refused to give it to him.
Oh, what a small tragedy he was.
I want to be with you.
It is as simple—and as complicated—as that.
I think you are my person.
But I know I am not yours.
I should have held you tighter the last time I saw you. I should have hugged you longer.
Where are you now, Shiharu?
You carry your pain so gently that people mistake it for peace.
I imagine you in every empty seat beside me, never realizing that somewhere there is someone reading books simply because you love them… someone quietly admiring you, always wishing to stand a little closer.
I long for our souls to become so deeply intertwined that even death itself would hesitate before daring to separate us.
You will never be unloved by me.
You are far too entangled within my soul.
I still remember the moment I held your lifeless body in that lake.
Your spirit had already drifted far away.
And yet… even in death, you still looked beautiful.
Like the most delicate bouquet of dying flowers.
Beneath the dark waves, we drowned together in words neither of us had spoken.
I gave you life in that water.
But it demanded something in return.
My life.
My death.
I never loved humans. Existing among them had always felt like a slow form of torture. The seats were empty, the theater dark—yet I kept performing, pretending to be human for the sake of one person. Just so he would never feel alone. Just so he would believe he was loved.
But fate had other plans.
He fell in love with the wrong person.
Someone who wished only for his disappearance.
What a disaster.
Humans are such strange puzzles. After countless years as both mortal and immortal, I have never understood them.
So tell me…
Where should I go now?
To the left, where there is nothing right?
Or to the right, where nothing left?
A society of sinners, judging other sinners simply for sinning differently.
I owe this world nothing.
And yet this freedom tastes like ashes.
Still… there is one good thing about it.
I can finally return to my true family.
My identity as Kazumi Hoshiyuki, the eldest son of the Kazumi family, has been marked as missing.
Soon enough, it will be changed to deceased.
Part of me wishes this village would slowly vanish from existence.
But well… baby steps.
"How long are you going to stare at them, Liriel?"
"You're a ghost now. They can't see you. No human can—no matter how hard you try."
I turned slowly toward the voice.
Not far from me stood a striking figure—regal yet hauntingly solitary.
His hair was extraordinarily long, jet black, cascading like rivers of dark silk down his back. He wore an opulent robe of pale cream and soft gold, the flowing sleeves wide and layered, the fabric parting slightly at the chest to reveal porcelain-pale skin.
His posture was poised, yet strangely submissive as he knelt in the air, hands resting lightly before him, head tilted just slightly—his expression distant, melancholic.
His eyes burned with a faint golden-amber glow, like embers beneath the night. They stood out sharply against his elegant features—high cheekbones, a straight nose, and full lips drawn into a faint, sorrowful line. Dark eyeliner emphasized the sharp, feline intensity of his gaze.
My second elder brother.
Corvael.
_____
Status : Missing
Character : Dead ─ Immortal