The sky began to darken as Areum stepped out from the secret door on the eastern wing of the palace. Carrying only a leather-bound journal, an old map from the Seol Hwa manuscript, and a letter from Ji Seok mysteriously left beneath her pillow, she rode her horse northward — toward the forbidden forest long linked with myths and tragedies.
"Seek the root before the last blossom falls," Raena's whisper from the mirror still echoed in her mind. Areum didn't fully understand the phrase, but her instincts had led her here.
The Enchanted Forest, true to its name, welcomed her with thick mist and the scent of damp earth. Old branches stretched out like ghostly hands, and trees whispered in an unknown language. No moonlight pierced the dark sky above.
Areum tethered her horse near a massive tree carved with the symbol of the Three-Season Flower. Her heart pounded faster. She studied the map, following the narrow trail that nature had nearly swallowed.
The deeper she ventured, the more she realized... she was being watched. Every step echoed with the sound of snapping twigs that weren't hers. Her breath slowed. Her hand gripped the handle of a small dagger at her waist — a relic from Seol Hwa.
A shadow darted quickly behind a tree.
"Who's there?!" Areum turned, her voice uncertain but loud enough to shatter the silence.
No response.
She pressed on. And finally, deep within the forest, she found the ruins of an ancient temple, overrun with moss and tangled roots. At its center stood a statue of a woman, her face bowed, stone tears streaming from her eyes.
Areum stepped closer. At the base of the statue were faded words: Raena, Guardian of Two Times. The inscription was nearly erased, but clear enough to shake Areum to her core.
"Raena... you really existed here," she whispered.
Her fingers touched the statue.
Suddenly, a blue light burst from the ground, shooting into the sky. Wind swirled into a vortex. The voice she had once heard in the mirror now echoed loudly around her:
"You must break the bonds of time, or all will be lost..."
Areum staggered backward, nearly knocked down by the force of the wind.
And when silence returned, a figure appeared at the edge of the ruins. A man dressed in black, wearing a half-mask. His voice was deep and clear:
"Areum. I've been waiting for you... for two centuries."
Areum froze. "Who are you?!"
The man stepped closer. From beneath his cloak hung a pendant — the three-petal flower.
"I am the Keeper of the Third Bloom," he replied.
"What does all this mean? Why me? Why Raena?" Areum asked, her voice trembling.
He didn't answer. Instead, he raised a hand and pulled down part of his mask.
Areum gasped.
That half of his face… it looked almost identical to Prince Ji Seok. But older. Marked by time. A scar by his eye matched the face of the man in Areum's recurring dreams — the one who always wept in the shadows of time.
"No…"
"This is no coincidence, Areum. Time is breaking. And you… are the final key."
Thunder cracked across the sky. The mist thickened. And the man vanished like a shadow.
Areum stood frozen in the ruins, a burning question taking root in her heart:
"Who is Prince Ji Seok really? And… what has he been hiding from me all this time?"
The chapter ends with the wind howling through the trees, as if time itself had begun to speak — demanding a truth long buried.