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Chapter 01
01. Fallen Flowers (落花)
“I will raise her as the flower of Molbian.”
When the youngest princess was born, the king of Molbian made this declaration.
Radiant golden hair and shimmering green eyes.
As the king had proclaimed, the youngest princess grew into a flower that gleamed beautifully beneath the sunlight.
She had no dissatisfaction with her life.
Under the king’s protection, she could possess and enjoy the most precious and beautiful things.
She thought she would live such a life forever.
But her world collapsed in an instant.
The first prince died, and then the king died.
The first princess fled to the Empire carrying the royal seal, and the second prince ascended the throne as a half-king.
And the youngest princess had no choice but to run from her once-beautiful, sheltered garden in order to survive.
Hiding among filthy, foul-smelling commoners, she watched from afar as the queen ascended the execution platform—and instinctively realized that would soon be her own fate.
So the youngest princess left the kingdom and fled to the lowest place in the Empire.
She smeared ash over her beautiful face and cut her glossy golden hair short, staining it with mud.
She abandoned dresses made of soft fabric and wore rough, worn clothes scavenged from the streets.
She took off the luxurious shoes that once covered her feet and walked barefoot through the mire.
No one recognized her as the youngest princess.
As she drifted through the lowest, most wretched places and began to forget she had once been a flower in a greenhouse, the kingdom fell.
Everyone claimed it was due to luxury, indulgence, and reckless wars of conquest against barbarian tribes—but in truth, everyone knew.
Everything had unfolded exactly as the Empire desired.
And by then, the youngest princess had already been captured.
They believed no one had noticed her escape, but in truth, eyes had followed her from the very moment she fled the royal capital.
It was already a fallen kingdom.
So why had the Empire captured the youngest princess?
“Probably as an example—or because they needed someone to take responsibility. I must have been the right scapegoat to justify swallowing an entire kingdom.”
In the deep underground prison, thick with the stench of death, in a cell so deep even torches could not reach it—
A woman crouched within the pitch-black bars, hugging her knees with thin arms, murmuring in a low voice.
“What did they say my crime was?”
“…They said you ruined Molbian with luxury and indulgence.”
“Oh, thank you. Luxury and indulgence, was it? That’s what destroyed Molbian?”
A man’s voice came from the opposite cell.
The youngest princess of Molbian, Ariana Clayton, nodded.
Her hair, once brilliant, was now unevenly cut and faded. She wore a coarse white prison garment. Her body was gaunt and pitiful.
Having lived among the lowest of society, she had lost all traces of the beauty once called “the Flower of Molbian.”
But one thing remained.
Unlike her ragged appearance, her green eyes still shimmered even in the darkness, carrying the freshness of summer.
“So you want to deny it?”
“Of course I do. That was my stupid older sister’s doing.”
Ariana let out a faint laugh, thinking of her elder sister who had always envied her, and rose to her feet.
Her unsteady movement made the watcher uneasy, but the shadow beyond the bars only silently observed her from the darkness.
“I didn’t do anything. The fall of Molbian is the fault of His Majesty the King and his children.”
She staggered forward and gripped the bars with bony hands.
Was someone watching her?
As Ariana denied her crimes, the man spoke again.
“The crime of the Clayton family. And your name is Ariana Clayton.”
“So you came to kill me? Before someone else does?”
A faint smile appeared on her face as she asked.
As if provoked by her words, a figure slowly stepped out from the shadows beyond the opposite cell.
White hair that shone even under the prison’s dim torchlight.
A striking face that clearly marked him as a foreigner.
Tall stature, broad shoulders, strong arms, and large scarred hands beneath them.
Rashan—the slave soldier who once made the first princess jealous beyond reason.
“Hello. Long time no see.”
“…You say that?”
“You coming here means my sister is dead. When did she die?”
“…A little while ago.”
“That’s really… good news.”
She wasn’t joking.
Ariana genuinely laughed in delight upon hearing she was the last of the Claytons.
The white-haired man frowned slightly.
He had thrown everything away for revenge for his family, so he could not understand why she was smiling now.
Ariana, who could not stop laughing until tears formed, steadied her breath against the bars and spoke.
“Arsalan Taya Shan.”
“….”
“What? Surprised that I know your real name?”
“How did you know?”
His killing intent sharpened instantly.
Ariana trembled, but answered in a cheerful voice as if unfazed.
“I was curious. The barbarian who once pointed a sword at the second prince’s throat twice—right in front of His Majesty the King.”
“….”
“Oh, or should I call you the sole survivor of the Blue Mountain tribe instead of a barbarian?”
The man did not answer.
Not that she expected him to.
“Rashan is easier to call anyway. Is that okay?”
“….”
“Names don’t matter? So when will you answer me?”
He seemed to understand what she truly wanted.
“If I say I came to kill you, would you die quietly?”
“Hmm?”
Perhaps exhausted from even standing, Ariana sat back down and leaned her forehead against the cold iron bars.
“Honestly, I’m tired. I want everything to end. Being a fugitive is exhausting. If I die, everything ends, so I could finally rest… but still, I want to live.”
At dawn, she would be taken to the execution platform.
She would hear every kind of insult, kneel like her mother had, stretch out her neck for a crime she did not commit, and pray that the blade would be sharp enough.
A death without pain would be a blessing.
“Rashan. If you kill me now… could you make it painless?”
He did not answer.
“I’m unfairly accused. I did nothing wrong… you know? Flowers in a garden cannot survive outside it.”
The King of Molbian had raised her as a flower.
Literally—a flower in a garden.
A life that could only grow beautifully by drinking water and nutrients given by its master.
A flower that could do nothing on its own, not even breathe without permission.
Only after leaving that greenhouse called Molbian did she realize how horrifying that life had been.
“I want to die, but I also don’t want to die. Rashan, what do you think?”
Her final question slipped out softer than breath.
She had noticed that the one watching her had disappeared.
So she allowed herself to say something she would never have said in front of him.
“Congratulations on your revenge, Rashan. All the Claytons of Molbian died just a moment ago.”
After how long she sat there, leaning against the bars?
Soldiers came to take her to the execution platform.
Dragged forward, covered in filth thrown by the crowd, Ariana was forced to kneel.
She raised her head.
She saw the Empire’s crown prince and second prince on the platform.
But they were not who she was looking for.
How long did she take in the curses and hateful fingers pointed at her?
At last, she found him.
Hidden beneath a worn traveler’s robe, black eyes stared directly at her.
Ariana smiled faintly at him and looked up at the sky.
If she had known she would die like this, she would have lived not as a fragrant flower in a garden, but as a poisonous herb in the field.
Perhaps then she could have seen a different ending.
If she had not been the executed princess of a fallen kingdom… but the kingdom’s last queen, perhaps she would not have met such a miserable end.
As regret arrived too late and pressed on her chest, the executioner forced her head down.
Her pale neck was exposed beneath the cold blade.
“Rather… if I had become a queen…”
The crowd roared.
The executioner raised the axe high.
And then came the sharp sound of falling steel.
Fallen Flowers (落花)—the flower of Molbian had fallen.
Amid the cheering crowd that celebrated the fall of a fruitless flower, a man with black eyes watched in silence.
