[4] Chapter 1. Reversing the Pendulum of Time
Fernciana blankly raised her body. The sound of chirping birds and the sunlight pouring through the window were boisterous. It was close to noon. Lightly touching her eyes, they were swollen again. She must have shed tears even while half-asleep.
‘I need to arrange for a carriage first…’
Whether it’s information merchants or whatever, it’s difficult to procure anything in this remote countryside. For now, going up was the best plan.
Fernciana, who had been sitting blankly and basking in the sunlight for a long while, finally felt hunger. Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten properly since burying Seollim.
Washing up moderately and going down to order food, Fernciana rubbed her shortened hair and looked around. It was a bit early for lunch and past breakfast time, so there weren’t many people.
“Brother? Are you looking for something?”
At that moment, a boy who seemed about a span smaller than her asked Fernciana, setting food in front of her. It was a small child who seemed barely ten years old. Fernciana touched her cheek. Brother, with her hair cut short and clothes bundled up, she certainly seemed to look like a man.
“Ah, well, just someone who knows a lot about this and that? Do you happen to know?”
“Huh? Yeah!”
The boy clearly meant something material by “looking for something”, and Fernciana, who thought of course there wouldn’t be such a person in a place like this, was startled and raised her head while tearing bread. The boy pointed his finger outside the inn.
“He’s out there now… What was his name…”
“There is? What kind of person is he?”
“He said he knows the most in the capital!”
“Aha…”
What is someone who knows the most in the capital doing here in this corner of Ronen, Fernciana thought as she tore off bread. Thinking she should at least see his face if the errand boy would say his name.
“Ugh, his name is too difficult…”
“Can’t remember well?”
“Mu…”
“Mu?”
“Mujeong…”
“Mujeong?”
“Mujeongchwi!”
“A person’s name is Mujeongchwi?”
With such an eccentric name, it would be difficult to remember. Fernciana dipped bread in soup and put it in her mouth while looking at the child with a proud face.
“So, what does he look like?”
“His hair is milk cream-colored… And his eyes are black.”
“I see…”
Fernciana, pondering for a moment, rummaged through her pockets and handed the coins that came out to the child. The child ran off with a bright smile. Fernciana repeated the story that he was outside while drinking soup and rolling up a pancake, gripping it in her hand so the syrup wouldn’t touch. She picked up the teacup while getting up from her seat.
Although the tea splashed a little, Fernciana finished the teacup as well, pushed the plate aside, and headed outside.
“Mujeongchwi…?”
Fernciana looked around. She believed the child’s words at face value, but no matter how she thought about it, it was a strange name. And Fernciana found the person the child spoke of after walking a few more steps. The name definitely wasn’t Mujeongchwi.
“…”
“…”
It was a man with soft beige hair and pitch-black eyes. He looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. He was tall, so Fernciana had to crane her neck and look up. The man only stood there blankly with an expression as if he had lost the world. In a coffin he had set up. With a sign reading “Free food”.
“Mujeongchwi…”
“…What?”
The child must have seen that sign. As she rolled the name the child had called on her tongue, the man finally glanced at her. The sharply raised eye line was chilly. And the moment their gazes finally met like that, Fernciana didn’t hide her startled face.
“The person who knows the most in the capital… is you?”
“…Well, yes.”
The man turned his head but didn’t deny it.
Fernciana suddenly felt her throat burning and took a deep breath as calmly as possible. It was a face in her memory. Although it was a much younger face than in her memory, it was definitely a face she knew.
The man who had reached out his hand to her until the moment she fell from the balcony was right here. That bright cream-colored hair and pitch-black eyes were undoubtedly rare, and even rarer than that was what lay beyond those eyes of his.
‘Ilyas Seyran!’
In the “dream,” he was the man who had appeared in his mid-twenties as if he had fallen from the sky, gained merit and received a title, becoming the crown prince’s closest aide. He wielded overwhelming information power to the point where it seemed like a joke or serious remark that he might know everything about the empire, and became the strength of the crown prince whose foundation was weak after losing his mother.
He was also the man who had repeatedly become an obstacle to her infiltration of the imperial palace in the “dream”. In the end, he had even grabbed her…
‘Why is this guy here?!’
What in the world does one have to do to end up in this remote countryside village with a “Free food” sign around their neck, standing in a coffin?
As Fernciana’s face turned blank and she couldn’t continue speaking, the man’s eyes grew sharper and sharper. Fernciana hurriedly cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“The person who knows the most is offering free food…?”
“…I know too much, so in the capital, I only win at card games, and it’s no fun, he said.”
“So you came down to this remote countryside, played card games, lost everything, and can’t even throw up what you ate, so you’re doing this?”
“…”
It seemed to hit home more than expected. The man was silent. Fernciana, hesitating for a moment, straightened her back and looked at the man before opening her mouth.
“Do you know when I can take a carriage from here to the capital?”
“You can’t go to the capital in one go. Two days from now, there’s a commercial carriage that goes to the nearby city once a week. From there, there’s a carriage that goes up once every five days, so you’ll have to transfer to that.”
“Oh, you really do know…”
“…This… Don’t tell me, you tried?”
It’s real!
Fernciana swallowed dry saliva. No matter how she looked at it, this was the real Ilyas Seyran.
“Do you really do something like an information guild?”
“You? Calling me informally…”
“Do you or not?”
“It’s true.”
“Then I’ll get you out of this, so find out some things I need.”
“Stalking specific individuals, murder requests, bribery by proxy, tracking, academic research are uncontractable clauses.”
Fernciana’s eyes widened. As Fernciana only stared with a surprised face, the man let out a deep sigh and lightly banged his head against the wall of the coffin he was in.
“What is it? Don’t tell me one of those items was it?”
“No, it’s not that… Well then, let’s say we have a contract.”
Fernciana reflected on what she wanted to know and headed to the store that had clearly set the man up.
The restaurant owner ranted for a long time that city people couldn’t be trusted, then took money from her and released the man. As soon as the man came out, he flashed a brazen smile and stretched.
“Ah, that was close to being really embarrassing.”
“Isn’t it already embarrassing?”
“Shut up. So what do you want to know? This brother will be precise with the bill.”
“Ah, well… I want to know the imperial family tree. All of it, even if there are illegitimate children. And about the Emerald Tabula.”
“Why? Planning treason or something?”
The man asked in a nonchalant voice, putting his arm around his neck. It was a calm tone as if asking if she had eaten. Fernciana frowned and looked at the man, then shook her head. The man shrugged his shoulders as he walked with Fernciana to the inn.
“As far as I know, there are no hidden illegitimate children in the imperial family now… There are bastards?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”
“I can tell you about the current family tree, but investigating illegitimate children is a bit- Is it unfeasible?”
“Is it impossible? Then never mind.”
Fernciana spoke indifferently while opening the inn door. At those words, the man’s eyebrows twitched.
“Who said it’s impossible?”
“Really?”
“Hey, I’m really… No, but how long do I have to say hey? What’s your name?”
The man casually sat at the inn’s bar and ordered food, then asked her name. Fernciana, handing over a teacup, looked at the man with an absurd face.
“What’s your name then? And how are you ordering food when you were just caught for free food?”
“You have to treat me. I’m Ilyas.”
“What? After I just saved you, you’re telling me to buy you a meal again?”
“The price doesn’t match the cost, you know? To find illegitimate children that may or may not exist. A meal is getting off cheap.”
It really is Ilyas Seyran…
Fernciana focused on his name rather than the cost of a meal, thinking frantically about how to accept this while trying her best to pass it off naturally.
He was a man who would be nicknamed as having all the information of the empire in his grasp in the future. If that hadn’t sprung up from dry ground, he would undoubtedly be able to find everything she wanted even now.
“So what’s your name?”
“Fern… Peirun.”
Fernciana, who tried to say her name, paused for a moment and uttered her nickname instead. In the dream, the one who said he was the second prince had clearly revealed his name to be “Terenciana”. Her name felt strongly connected to that prince no matter how she looked at it, so hiding it seemed better.
“Peirun?”
The very moment she thought, ‘Ah, it’s been so long since I pronounced this name,’ Ilyas abruptly called her name. Fernciana blinked and looked at Ilyas. And when Ilyas made a startled expression, she finally realized she had shed tears.
“Ah, no… Hey. Peirun. Hey… Why, why are you crying?”
After her mother disappeared like that and Seollim died, there was no one left to call her Peirun while she lived solely for revenge. In all the time after that, her name only drifted among meaningless aliases.
It seemed her heart was surprised to hear her nickname for the first time in several years. Fernciana hurriedly wiped away her tears. Fortunately, only a few drops fell and she could quickly collect herself.
“I suddenly remembered the past…”
“There are all sorts of ways to give me looks for ordering food, really. Such a little thing, remembering the past…”
“Th-That’s not it! I’ll treat you, so stuff yourself and spit out the information.”
Fernciana wiped her tears and glared at Ilyas. Ilyas answered with a teasing tone, saying yes, yes, but as soon as the food came out, he cut off his voice and focused only on eating.
Although his posture was cleaner than expected, the sound of food disappearing was remarkable enough for Fernciana’s eyes to widen. In the blink of an eye, he emptied half and moistened his throat with soup, then Ilyas glanced at her.
“I’ve been starving since last night.”
And before she could say anything, he began focusing on the meal again. Fernciana let out a sigh and ordered one more serving before the food in front of Ilyas was all gone.