“Ah! The letters?”

“What? Letters? Oh, yes. I’m that—”

“You’re the captain’s fiancée, right?”

“……What?”

Fiancée, what? Her scarred lips kept opening and closing. While Perry fixated on that specific word, the other person smiled warmly and ushered the guest into the hospital room.

“Please come in. I’ve kept someone who’s come from far away standing too long.”

“Um……”

“If I’d known you were coming, I would have gone to meet you. How did you hear about this? Through his cousin?”

“Well,”

“Anyway, it must have been tough getting here. Oh! Did you come all this way wearing just that?”

Gone was his previously cautious attitude; he looked as excited as a child who had actually seen Witch Isobel.

Perry was only able to satisfy her curiosity after setting down her bag and coat at the man’s insistence.

“Um, what do you mean by fiancée?”

“You’re the one who’s been exchanging letters with our captain all this time, right? It’s been two years? Though it seems you haven’t been doing it lately.”

“No, did…… Yuan say that?”

I thought he didn’t talk much about himself, but is he different with colleagues? Just as she was about to feel a bit dejected, a refreshing answer came back.

“Haha, no? The captain didn’t say a word!”

“Then how……”

“I live in the company housing too. Coming and going, you get to know who exchanges letters with whom. Besides, if it happens that often, you can’t help but notice.”

“Ah……”

“Plus, since around this time two years ago, the captain started taking interest in the strangest things. Bookstores, dolls—I’ve been watching since I joined, and it was the first time. Once, he even tried to properly learn cooking……”

The image of the man recreated through someone else’s words was interesting, but Perry couldn’t focus properly. Since entering the hospital room, her gaze had remained fixed on one spot.

The indistinct outline in the hospital bed.

“Excuse me, Jin— ……that is Yuan, right? Over there.”

“I’ve been talking too much. Yes, that’s him.”

She couldn’t be certain unless she went right up to him. Perry moved in a straight line, heedless of bumping into tables and chairs. A more subdued voice followed behind.

“There’s no need to worry too much. He’s breathing on his own, and the reason he hasn’t woken up—”

“Is because he crossed the sky during the feast day. He was affected when the flow of stars realigned.”

The person who completed the sentence was wearing a white coat. The woman who had entered silently extended her hand to Perry, her black hair fluttering.

“Mire Moon, attending physician. I’m a witch.”

“I’m Perry Humble. You speak…… the kingdom’s language.”

“It’s a hospital near the airport, so to some extent.”

The doctor, with her hands deeply thr*st into her coat pockets, stared blankly at the patient. That was all. She didn’t measure his pulse or temperature, nor did she even open his eyelids to check his pupils. She was beyond relaxed—openly perfunctory.

“I came to examine the patient. He seems fine.”

“Is that enough of an examination?”

“He’s different from ordinary patients.”

The chestnut-colored eyes looked at Perry quietly. It was a strangely absorbing gaze.

“He won’t keep you waiting long.”

Her tone resembled an incantation more than optimism. The doctor, looking alternately at the visitor and the patient, opened her mouth again as if doing a favor.

“What kind of witch is Isobel?”

“Guardian of truth and romance……”

“He’ll be fine.”

With that enigmatic prophecy, the doctor swiftly turned and left. It happened so quickly that Perry couldn’t stop her or ask more questions. The fellow pilot also excused himself, saying he would give them privacy. In an instant, Perry was left alone with the man.

“What’s fine about this……”

She sank into the chair with no strength left in her body. Perry, who hadn’t slept a wink from the moment she heard the news until she reached the airport, buried her face in her hands and bent forward. His jet-black hair covered his forehead, just like the last time she had seen him.

Though not soaked by rain like that time.

Her pale fingertips slowly traced his neat features. The straight forehead, deep-set eyes, eyelashes that seemed immeasurable by mere imagination, colorless cheeks and stubborn chin.

The hand caressing his face—neither wet nor sticky—withdrew.

The clothing beneath her touch felt different from usual. Perry quietly looked down at the patient gown, without tie or jacket, then pressed her hand just below his left collarbone. The regular heartbeat of someone who didn’t know a person had flown all this way was leisurely enough to hear clearly.

“Yuan.”

Liar, stubborn fool, idiot, dummy, smarty-pants.

The hand that had pulled out its hangnail finally stung. Perry focused on his still-steady heartbeat and bit the inside of her mouth. Her pale eyelids trembled faintly. Her cheeks, flushed from the cold, hadn’t cooled despite being indoors for several minutes.

“Yuan.”

Perry thought her own voice sounded strange. Her lips, which had called the same name a few more times, pressed into a straight line. Her unthawed hand covered the back of his hand. His temperature was surprisingly warm for a patient. Just like when he once asked if she needed help.

“You said it yourself.”

Ah, the place where she’d pulled out the hangnail hurt too much.

“You promised…… you wouldn’t go anywhere.”

Because your friend isn’t going anywhere, the white letters pressed firmly onto dark stationery were clear. Perry gripped his hand and squeezed it childishly. Though she finally held the hand that had always avoided unnecessary contact, it gave her no satisfaction.

“You said you were my first fan.”

The words that burst out sounded like a sulking child.

“It’s my first lead role, you should have come.”

The extended finger joints, hard knuckles, prominent veins…… Perry held his hand firmly and shook it playfully as if teasing.

“You should have come by any means necessary. You should have flown here. Aren’t you a pilot? Can’t you even do that?”

His motionless lips were vexing. Perry stared intently at those stubborn lips that remained silent.

“I really did so well……”

She felt like a little girl sniffling at the bottom of the stairs. The young aspiring actress hiding in the shadowless shade, desperately trying to smooth out her crumpled pride.

The woman—no longer an unknown aspiring actress or an innocent girl—slowly stood up. Not to leave. To better hear the man’s heartbeat.

Her dry cheeks, thin earlobes, and temples lightly pressed against the man’s chest. Her light brown hair spread like waves over the white patient gown.

Thump, thump, thump. Heat rose from where they touched closely. Her black eyes blurred with moisture. But she didn’t shed tears.

※※※

Until the day she hurriedly boarded the plane to Radam, Perry Humble hadn’t known.

“I heard someone was looking for me, but who……”

“Are you Mr. Basen Hyer? Yuan Bellium’s direct—”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“He asked me to deliver this.”

That she would end up at the man’s company housing.

Perry handed over the letter written by the person who had been watching over the man in Radam and slowly looked around. Perhaps due to the accident’s aftermath, the lounge where employees gathered in small groups had a strangely unsettled atmosphere. Just as a slight dizziness began to rise from the unfamiliar environment, the other person shouted loudly.

“Ah, ah……! The captain’s fiancée!”

……Perry seriously wanted to ask how such rumors had spread through the airline, but the situation didn’t allow it. As soon as the other person realized the purpose of the outsider’s visit, he hurriedly moved.

“Thank you for coming all this way during such a distressing time.”

“It’s fine. ……Though I’m not sure if I can be of help.”

The reason Perry came to Priton’s old villa, declining even the car Bria Sol had arranged, was simple.

‘Why those documents?’

To find the pilot’s report kept in the man’s residence.

‘I don’t know if you’ve heard, but pilots write reports for each other. Documents that summarize precautions for each route…… The flight in four days is a route only the captain has flown. Only he has the relevant information. We couldn’t find it at the office, so it’s probably at his residence.’

‘That’s,’

‘I know it’s shameless, but I’d like to ask if possible. It’s a newly established route, so we’re trying to minimize variables.’

‘It’s not that I refuse…… but couldn’t your colleagues go instead of me? They’d know better what it looks like.’

‘No, no, no. That’s not the issue.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We can’t enter.’

The cause was simple. The mistletoe decoration the man had hung at the door.

‘I’ve heard mistletoe can repel outsiders…… A friend who knows about these things told me. He said we’d need the owner’s permission to enter. But as you know, the situation has become, well, complicated.’

‘If permission is required, then I don’t particularly……’

‘It’s ultimately a matter of the owner’s mind, so if the owner doesn’t consider someone an “outsider,” they can enter.’