Saiunkoku Monogatari:Volume 1 Chapter2

Chapter 2: The events in a country

In the midst of pitch darkness, cherry blossom petals continued to fall without end.

A figure approached. When he realized I was there, he smiled.

Like a small ripple, a warm feeling spread through my heart. So happy…

When I tried to approach, that person went back the way they came.

---……brother…?

Chasing after the figure that distances itself. But regardless of how much I run, the gap continues to widen.

The hand that reaches out so desperately is so small, like a maple leaf.

--Why……

I felt like crying. That was the only person there for me.

Don’t go. Don’t go.

Don’t leave me alone.

The cherry blossoms blew away. They became wisterias, they became sweet osmanthus…… they became snowflakes.

The figure blended in with the snow, and vanished.

I kept waiting. Through spring, through summer, through autumn, through winter. Always.

--Don’t go.

I don’t even dare to say those words.

--Don’t go.

Just as I felt I was about to fall to my knees in despair, someone grabbed my hand firmly from behind.

Surprised. ……I turned around slowly.

--Waking with a start, the familiar face of a guard was right beside him.

“……Sei-ran……?”

“Forgive me for presuming to enter without our permission. You were crying out in your sleep……”

The emperor slowly sat up on his bed. After taking the evening meal together with Shuurei and returning to his chambers, he’d apparently fell asleep.

He was covered in cold sweat. When he thought to wipe the sweat from his bow, the emperor finally realized that he was holding Seiran’s hand.

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