Prologue

“Johannes Meyer.”

The ticklish spring breeze brushed her cheeks and carried that sweet call far away. Pressing down her trembling heart, she bit the tender flesh inside her mouth.

She went over the confession she had prepared all night. It had to be different from usual. It must not look like a joke. She would convey her feelings seriously.

The fifteen-year-old girl looked at the boy smiling brightly at her and made a vow. She would cut away at once the dragging relationship that had remained that of childhood friends until now, and transform it into that of lovers. She would make that beautiful jewel named Johannes Meyer hers.

Judith Loewe let out a small breath, then another, as she watched Johannes walking toward her with a smile as sweet as candy.

‘Johannes must feel the same way I do. He is only putting off the chance to confess because he is timid. Right. Johannes has always been like that. Like a sensitive and insignificant baby kitten. It hurts my pride as a lady, but what can I do. I have to catch that baby kitten before it runs away.’

Yes. What was so great about a confession anyway. Rather than waiting until she burst from frustration and died, it was better to do it first. Lately, the looks in the eyes of the girls stealing glances at Johannes had seemed suspicious.

The young Johannes who used to come play at the Meyer estate every summer had been small and only cute. But from around the age of twelve, he had shot up in height, and his shoulders had broadened as well. He was still immature, but Johannes was outwardly a splendid man. No. Splendid was not enough. More like a beautiful sculpture so breathtaking that it drew a gasp? Judith smiled with the corners of her lips lifting as she recalled the sculpture hidden in her room.

Before some other girl stole Johannes away, she had to make him hers. There was nothing more unpleasant than having something taken away.

Without even considering Johannes’s true feelings, Judith dreamed only of a radiant future. All the while thinking, of course, that Johannes belonged to her alone. There were many reasons she could not help misunderstanding. Judith was the only person to whom the sensitive and prickly Johannes allowed closeness. His kindness and smiles belonged solely to Judith.

Thus Judith was mistaken, and when it came to Johannes, she was arrogant.

“I like you, Johannes. I’ve liked you from the very first moment I saw you. I truly mean it. So you, how should I put it, are like a sculpture raised from the bottom of the sea……? Yes. Like ruins that have not faded. That’s why I could never take my eyes off you for even a moment.”

She could not possibly say it while looking at Johannes’s face. She twisted her body as she poked at the dirt with the tip of her shoe. She had not known confession could be this hard. What kind of expression was Johannes making? He was probably blushing red like a turnip, just like she was. Had he fainted because he was so happy? Was he even breathing properly?

“So, Johannes…… would you like to seriously date me?”

The confession lasted only an instant, and her heart pounded like mad. Heat rushed to her face, and she could not properly look at Johannes. Judith let out a deep breath and, summoning courage, lifted her face.

Huh? Strange. She had expected Johannes to be flushed red like her, but he still wore that impassive face like a sculpture raised from the sea.

Had he…… not heard my confession?

Judith bit down on her trembling lips. The answer that should have come back was, ‘I liked you too.’ But Johannes only looked at Judith and smiled without saying a word.

And then.

“Johannes!”

When someone in the distance raised a hand and called out to him, the confession became as though it had never happened. To the confession she had managed with such difficulty to bring out, there was neither acceptance nor rejection. Johannes set a hand on Judith’s shoulder, then lowered it, and simply brushed past her side. She should have called him back and asked whether he had heard her properly, whether he would accept her confession or not……. But young Judith, afraid of Johannes’s rejection, hid herself. She had the courage to confess, but not the courage to be rejected. It was the worst. Wiping away the tears that had burst out against her will with the back of her hand, she sank down. Not wanting to be discovered by people, she burrowed into the bushes.

And so Judith Loewe had been hiding in the bushes for thirteen years because her first love had ignored her.