“Where is this…? Sister, are you sick? Shouldn’t we take you to the hospital?”

“Doctor Gaion is probably having lunch right about now…”

Riman muttered something under his breath, then remembered that he had just told her it was still morning and that she should get some more sleep. He snapped his mouth shut. Haila shot him a sharp look.

Aillen stared at them both.

They looked as though they had committed a grave offence, even though they hadn’t done anything.

“Where is this, you ask… It’s not like you’re sleep-talking or anything. Fine, fine. Where else would it be? This is our inn’s cabin.”

“And what was that about not telling me?”

“That… that’s…”

Riman attempted to respond, but recoiled under Haila’s glare and his voice trailed off. When Aillen raised an eyebrow, Haila sighed and finally spoke.

“He said he’ll be waiting at the edge of the forest.”

Riman added in a small, miserable voice.

“…I think he’s going to propose.”

Ah.

The sound slipped from Aillen before she realized it.

“What’s today’s date?”

“Sister, seriously, why are you acting so scary since earlier? Did you drink yesterday?”

“It’s the twenty-third.”

Lost in thought, Aillen fell silent beneath Riman’s timid and frightened gaze.

It was impossible.

Yet, no matter how many times she tried to think her way through it, she always came to the same conclusion.

Birdsong drifted softly through the open window. Aillen let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh and turned her eyes towards the light outside.

There stood the inn, its pale blue walls faded and peeling in places. White sheets fluttered gently on the washing line in the breeze.

She did not know why.

But she had not died.

She had returned.

She had come back to the day she had been proposed to.

She could not yet tell whether she should feel gratitude or fear.

***

Whatever the reason, it was undoubtedly another opportunity.

Aillen splashed cool water on her face, roughly combed her hair, and stepped out of the cabin.

The sun poured across the sky like crushed strawberries, casting a vivid red glow over the afternoon. The light was so intense that she had to raise her hand to shield her eyes, squinting as the world shimmered in the glare.

Yes.

That day had been just like this.

Calix had proposed at dusk, sweating heavily as though he had searched everywhere for the perfect spot. She took his hand, pretending not to notice his damp hair or the darkened collar of his shirt.

His soaked palm felt like proof of a passion meant only for her.

How painfully naïve she had been!

Aillen clicked her tongue softly and stretched her arms above her head.

It was still hard to believe, but what else could it be? Heaven would not look like this. The timing, the details, the circumstances — everything had aligned far too perfectly.

This was an opportunity.

A chance to avoid making the same mistake again.

Her siblings trailed behind her, dragging their feet as though weighed down by unspoken questions. They circled her cautiously, stealing sideways glances. Though she had noticed, Aillen deliberately pretended not to. Their slumped shoulders were far too endearing.

Unable to bear the suspense any longer, Haila finally slipped her arm through Aillen’s. On the other side, Riman clutched at her sleeve, wearing the pitiful expression of a rain-soaked puppy.

“So… are you going to marry him?”

“Are you?”

“Who knows.”

She lifted the corner of her mouth and shrugged teasingly. At once, Haila and Riman leaned their weight against her, clinging to her arms.

“Come on! You can at least tell us what you’re going to say!”

“You don’t have to leave so quickly…We can still stay together a little longer.”

Ailen laughed softly.

“Let go of me. What are you two? Do you still think you’re little kids? I’m going to fall.”

“We won’t let go until you tell us!”

“Me neither!”

When she shook her shoulders hard in an attempt to free herself, the twins let out exaggerated whining noises and continued to hover around her. Truth be told, she let them linger because she found them adorable.

She had missed this scene so much.

For far too long, she had been locked away in that dark, cold, lonely mansion in the north.

Just as she let out a quiet laugh, thinking that she should finally give them an answer—

“Haila! Riman! Stop bothering Aillen over there and come help with this! Ailen, you gather up those sheets!”

“I’ll gather them with Sister!”

“Me too!”

“Enough nonsense—hurry up!”

In the end, she practically dragged the two of them towards the inn by the scruffs of their necks. They kept glancing back at her, their faces showing their disappointment. Amused, Aillen waved at them, intending to tease them for a little while longer.

Only after they had disappeared through the white back door did she slowly lower her hand.

The playful smile faded from her lips.

Her time in the North had lasted only a few months — a mere fragment of her life. She had spent the rest of her years here. By any measure, that brief period should have been overshadowed by everything that had come before.

And yet—

Why did certain emotions, once sharp enough to feel eternal, now seem dulled? Sanded down? Blunted? Or erased altogether?

In their place lingered a hollowness, as though the cold darkness of the north had quietly settled inside her.

It was as though the slightest shift in light could alter the shape of a shadow.

She had lost something.

Something within her had changed — irreversibly.

No matter how she swallowed it down, the bitterness would not fade.

***

Calix appeared before her as the sun began to sink, his expression carefully composed, as though nothing were amiss.

“If it’s all right with you, would you come with me?”

She wiped her damp hands on her apron and nodded slightly.

As she turned away to untie it, she avoided the bright smile that was spreading across his face.

When he had first proposed, she had admired his courtesy. But perhaps she had only wanted to believe that she liked him.

She clicked her tongue softly.

When she turned her head again, his shadow had already stretched across the ground at her feet. For reasons she could not fully explain, she did not want to step into it.

Instead, she shifted slightly and walked beside it.

“Aillen, you may have already sensed this… but I fell for you at first sight. I believe we’ve shared wonderful moments together. I want to spend the rest of my time as we have until now—with you.”

He paused, as though aiming for dramatic effect.

Aillen nearly laughed.

A sharp laugh she had never worn before.

“Please marry me.”

Calix lowered himself to one knee and held out his hand. In his palm was a simple ring that he had bought from the village general store. Hadn’t he once promised to buy her something far finer once they reached the North?

But she knew that she would never wear anything other than that ring.

Aillen blinked slowly.

Beneath the setting sun, her hair glowed like a field of wheat bathed in crimson light. Noticing the way Calix was staring at her, dazed, she finally parted her lips.

“I’m sorry, Calix. It seems you’ll have to return to the North alone.”

“Why?”

He stared at her as if he had never imagined she would refuse.

Aillen turned her answer over in her mouth, searching for the most fitting words.

‘Just as I never truly loved you, you never truly loved me. You were merely intoxicated by the vitality and freshness of the South.’

It wasn’t a reckless assumption about his feelings for her. He had once muttered it himself while sitting beside her bed, reeking faintly of alcohol and believing her to be asleep.

“Perhaps I was only drunk on the vitality and freshness of the South, Aillen.”

He had thought she was asleep. But during those days, she often pretended to nap out of sheer boredom, meaning she was wide awake at night.

She bit her tongue, swallowing the words she wanted to say.

She knew she would cry if she spoke.

‘Me too. I was only intoxicated by the thought of travel and the promise of a new future.’

No one had the right to treat her like that.

Yet knowing that did nothing to stop the humiliation sinking deep inside her.

Those words had come from a future Calix — the one who had hurt her — but they meant nothing to the man standing before her now. Nevertheless, the memory burned, and her expression hardened against her will.

“For now, I want to stay here. I may inherit the inn someday.”

Once the words left her lips, the idea felt unexpectedly real. She could save more money working at the inn, find a small house nearby, and eventually take it over herself.

If she lived frugally, it might truly be possible.

However, even if she became the innkeeper, she didn’t want to spend her life drifting endlessly between the cabin and the inn.

“You have other siblings.”

“I want to.”

Did she truly? Even after answering, she felt uncertain. But the words sounded convincing enough.

Faced with her sudden coolness, Calix seemed at a loss. Aillen forced her lips upward into a polite smile and gave him a small bow.

“This will be better for you as well. Calix, trust me.”

“I have work waiting, so… I’ll be going.”

With that, she turned.

“Aillen! Aillen!”

His bewildered voice called out behind her, but she walked on without faltering—not toward the inn, but toward the forest.

Pushing gently through the grass, she found her siblings crouched there like startled rabbits. They toppled backward in surprise.

“H-how did you know?”

“Shh. Stay quiet and crawl further inside. We’ll talk there.”

The twins nodded blankly. Watching their dazed expressions, Aillen added with a faint smile,

“Oh, and you’ll be washing those dirty clothes yourselves. Consider it punishment for spying.”

The twins drooped at once.

Even so, they could not quite conceal their relief.

“Really? You’re really going to stay and inherit the inn?”

“You’re going to stay with us?”

“Yes.”

Once Calix had disappeared from view, the twins lowered their voices and asked her a series of questions quickly.

There was an unmistakable note of hope in their voices.

Aillen answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world. And yet, for some reason, she could not shake off the feeling that she was lying.

“Really? Truly?”

“Really?”

“Why? Is it that strange for me to stay here?”

“But… you always acted like you’d leave someday.”

“Yeah. Even if we cried, it felt like we wouldn’t be able to stop you.”

She hoped her face did not betray her.

Fortunately, the shadows of the forest—cast long by the setting sun—blurred her expression.

“…What are you talking about? Where would I go?”

The reply came a moment too late. She prayed that the twins wouldn’t read too much into the pause.

When she saw that their bright smiles remained undimmed, she felt a quiet sense of relief.

They laughed just as she had done as a child, their whole bodies shaking with it, and took her hands without hesitation.

They laughed like children drinking freshly squeezed orange juice: bright, bursting and unrestrained.

And in that moment, Aillen felt a sense of loss settle inside her.