He spent the rest of the day taking care of Ezra. Together with Madam Hilda, they changed his clothes and cleaned him up. Unlike yesterday, he wasn't groaning in pain today. The injections the professor had given him helped him for now.
Afterward, he went out into the garden and joined Juan, who was wandering around aimlessly. They hadn't had much of a chance to talk since he arrived.
"They told me you'd arrive tomorrow," Arsh said as he and Juan entered the glasshouse.
"We got lucky. The wind was on our side, and the ship came straight here without stopping anywhere else, so we arrived much faster than expected."
"What about the others? Flora, Tedor... where are they?"
Juan laughed.
"They're not like us. Only lifelong bachelors and those with no families stay here. Tedor got married last year, and Ray has a fiancée. Flora lives with her parents. As for Eliz, she usually prefers staying at the orphanage. You could say that's her home."
Arsh didn't know much about the others' lives, but he had never felt the need to ask. Still, there was something comforting about knowing that everyone had a family—or at least a place to return to.
For a moment, he felt that he and Juan were the only ones who didn't truly belong anywhere.
"By the way, they told me to give you their regards. You'll probably see them soon," Juan added.
Arsh nodded quietly.
"By the way, could you tell me what exactly we're doing here? Since when do you have an interest in flowers?" Juan grumbled.
Ever since they stepped inside, Arsh had been walking up to every single flower in the glasshouse, sniffing them carefully, while Juan simply trailed behind him.
"Ah, there's a flower I'm curious about," he said, leaning down toward another flower. He had been inside the glasshouse many times before, but he had never really looked around it. Usually, when he came here, he would just speak with Professor Reiner and leave.
Now that he was actually walking through it, he was surprised by how large it was. There was no way he could smell every flower in a single day. His nose was already starting to itch from all the pollen.
"What are you doing with the flowers... or did you find yourself a girlfriend too?"
"No! It's not like that. I'm just curious... Anyway, do you know of a flower that looks like this," he said, gesturing toward the lilies he had just smelled, "but emits a faint white glow? It also has an incredibly beautiful, sweet scent."
"Hmm... I don't know much about flowers, but I'm sure there's no flower that glows. You should ask Professor Reiner or Mes. Where did you even see that kind of flower?" Juan said, but since it didn't really feel like a question, Arsh didn't feel obligated to answer.
They spent some more time in the glasshouse, then went home for dinner. As a result of sniffing far too many flowers, he had a headache, his eyes started watering, and he couldn't stop sneezing. After being scolded by Madam Hilda and forced to take some medicine, he gave up and went to bed.
Although he had spent most of the day sleeping, Arsh collapsed back onto his bed the moment he returned to his room. But there was still something he needed to do before falling asleep.
He cleared his mind and tried to calm himself. He tried every possible way to establish contact with the girl, calling out to her repeatedly within his mind, telling her to appear. Yet, no matter what he did, nothing worked.
As he lay there on the bed, he eventually drifted off to sleep, while a single thought kept repeating itself in his mind:
"I want to see her again."
Without him realizing, golden threads slowly wrapped around his body like a cocoon… as he sank into sleep.
...
"It smells really good. It's the same scent," he muttered with a smile.
But as he slowly understood what that scent meant, he tried to sit up quickly. However, it took time for his body to regain sensation; he couldn't even open his eyes. As his feelings slowly returned, he realized this time that he wasn't lying on grass.
'A bed? Am I still in my bed...? But this is much softer than mine,' he thought, running his fingertips over the fabric beneath him, trying to figure out where he was.
When his senses finally fully returned, he sat up in bed.
As he had thought, this was neither his bed nor his room. It was a spacious, windowless room. Instead of a window, a large, double-winged door opened up to a wide terrace, where Arsh could see it was still night. Candles placed all around the room illuminated the space with a dim light. The gold-embroidered rugs hanging on the walls, the furniture that looked expensive in every detail, and the soft bed all told him that this place belonged to someone wealthy.
And in a vase right by the head of the bed were those beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers.
He was still examining his surroundings when the girl stepped inside through the door that led to the terrace.
"Ah, you're here again. You found your way back faster than I expected," she said with a smile. Then, she quickly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Now that you've opened the path, I can finally talk to you properly. From now on, I won't invade your dreams or give you headaches anymore. I promise," she said with a laugh. "I haven't talked to anyone in such a long time. I won't be lonely anymore."
Ignoring her words, Arsh asked with a serious expression,
"Who are you?"
"Who am I?" she repeated softly. "I'm not sure. I can't say I remember. I only have a few scattered fragments of memory."
"And this room? Is this also one of your memories?"
The girl nodded silently.
"Is it because I was the one who opened the sarcophagus that you're inside my mind? Is there a way out of here?"
"Hmm, yes, there is. But now is not the time. After you've finished your business in these lands, we can talk about it."
"You know how to get here, but you don't have your memories?"
"Right."
"There's one more thing I'm curious about. Can you read my thoughts?"
"No, I can't. But of course, I understand them to a certain degree. You know, no one can read another person's thoughts completely. It is forbidden."
Arsh felt relieved when he heard that. He was not sure what it meant for it to be forbidden, but it did not matter. The girl kept talking.
"But sometimes I can see what you see. I'm not strong enough for it to always work yet. For example, that man—Ezra. Do you remember? The first time you saw him, you couldn't remember his face. But I helped you recall it."
Arsh suddenly remembered something Ezra had once said—that he wasn't powerful enough to see her, but he had somehow sensed her presence. Now he understood why.
If it hadn't been for her, Ezra might have simply walked past him that day at the Belowich Mansion without Arsh ever noticing him.
"Also, your siuni..." she said, taking Arsh's left hand into her palm. As she held his hand, golden lights began to scatter around. "I was the one who showed it to you. When you first opened the sarcophagus, I was a bit stronger, and I had to use that to manipulate your mind."
"What do you mean? Is that why it's different from the one in the notebook...? Now I understand," Arsh muttered to himself.
"Want me to tell you a secret? But I want something in return."
"What do you want?"
"Would you chat with me like this from time to time? It's so boring," she said with a pitiful expression on her face. After seeing that expression, it was impossible for him to refuse.
"Sure, we can talk like this at night. But how do I get here?"
"Just do whatever you did tonight. You were probably thinking about talking to me," the girl said happily. Arsh nodded in agreement. He would figure it out later.
"The secret is, the siuni I gave you isn't that simple. Its purpose isn't just to find directions. Nor is it just a guide like you think. It is an ability whose limits will be set by you. Figure out the rest yourself... but for now, it's time for you to go. I'll be waiting for you," the girl said cheerfully, just before vanishing from his eyes.