Chapter 60
The first person we met upon arriving at Messios Island was the administrator stationed there under the lord’s orders.
He was a middle-aged man with neatly swept light brown hair and a striking, well-groomed mustache. Placing his right hand over his chest, he gave a courteous bow.
“Thank you ever so much for making this long journey. I am Cosmos Lotte, the steward of this island.”
His voice was light, his laughter hearty.
After greeting us, he spread his arms wide and continued cheerfully, “I couldn’t sleep a wink after hearing the news that the new Flower of Rosatia was coming!”
The Flower of Rosatia?
I blinked, puzzled, until Lorey leaned in to whisper an explanation.
“‘The Flower of Rosatia’ refers to the master of Messios Island. It’s a title unique to this place. The flower itself doesn’t actually exist.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s all for show,” Lorey murmured with a wry smile, as if that was all the explanation needed.
How unnecessarily extravagant. I let the name roll off my back, sensing it held no deeper meaning.
“This mansion is for you, Lady Rosatia. You are free to use anything as you please and may come and go anywhere.”
The grand doors opened, revealing the lavish interior. As expected from an island estate, the stairs and walls were adorned with seashells, coral, and conch decorations.
Cosmos led the way up the broad staircase at the center, gesturing dramatically as he spoke to me nonstop.
“It was my idea to offer this island as the prize for the hunting tournament! I wished to welcome someone new! Strong! Beautiful! That’s why I urged the lord to put the island up as the grand prize.”
“….”
“But then—what a surprise! Out of nowhere, someone appears and inherits the name of the Roberti family, and she ends up owning the island! Every paper was talking about it! Articles filled with nothing but stories about the new young lady of the Robertis!”
Listening to this, Payton finally had enough of the empty chatter and whispered under his breath to me,
“He talks more than I do.”
“Shh.”
I hushed him gently, worried the gossip might be overheard. Payton pouted but fell silent.
Without once looking back at us, Cosmos stopped in front of a room and grabbed the door handle with a grin.
“To think such a young Rosatia would visit the island—it’s simply delightful!”
He seemed to emphasize the word young.
“Here is your room, Lady Rosatia!”
“Thank you.”
“Haha, no need for thanks. Now then, let me show the young masters to their rooms as well!”
After showing me in, he turned to Benjamin and Joshua, flashing a wide grin that felt overly practiced. Watching this, Payton suddenly raised his arm and spoke up.
“What about me? Where’s my room? Preferably as close to Sophia’s as possible.”
“That side…”
That side? Did he not know Payton’s name?
Apparently, Payton thought the same thing. Smiling innocently, he corrected him.
“Not ‘that side.’ I’m Payton.”
“Yes, of course. Payton. Your room is just next door.”
Cosmos kept smiling, but it was easy to see the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Payton seemed to pick up on that as well. With a quiet “got it,” he didn’t speak to him again.
I was used to seeing reactions like that—people who disliked or rejected me simply because I was a mage.
Sophia must’ve furrowed her brows slightly, displeased with the treatment. Joshua stepped forward toward Cosmos.
“You talk too much.”
“…Ah. Apologies.”
Irritated and fed up with Cosmos’s constant babbling, Joshua absently stroked the hilt of the sword at his waist as he spoke. Cosmos clamped his mouth shut immediately.
Benjamin, on the other hand, gave Sophia a warm smile—his way of saying next time something bothers you, just do this.
As expected from someone who knew how to wield his power and position effectively.
“Well then, Sophia, finish settling in and meet us downstairs.”
Time to go explore.
I nodded at Benjamin’s suggestion and watched them disappear down the hall with Cosmos.
We stepped outside and wandered around the island, sampling delicious foods as we went.
Benjamin and Joshua broke off midway, saying they had someplace to visit. Even with fewer people, Payton’s chatter never waned, so it remained just as noisy.
Just as I was beginning to genuinely enjoy myself, Payton suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He was staring at a wall painting that looked like a child’s scribble.
A crescent moon, partially obscured by clouds… Ah.
I’d seen it before.
It looked just like the necklace a child had dropped before we boarded the ship.
I pulled the necklace out and compared it to the mural. As I was doing so, a voice interjected from nearby.
“Oh, it’s the evil god.”
Evil god?
I turned toward the voice, puzzled, and saw three children younger than me huddled together, staring.
One boy in a straw hat was pointing directly at me.
He’s calling me the evil god?
I was still confused when another child swatted the boy’s hand down.
“Idiot. The evil god’s a man, remember? And way bigger than this.”
“But it looks just like them.”
“Still, that’s not—”
Curiosity getting the better of me, I walked up to them.
“Evil god?”
“The evil god spoke! Run!”
With that, the kids screamed and scattered.
I tilted my head, baffled by their reactions and words.
Looking at Lorey didn’t help—she shook her head as if even she didn’t know. The only one who might…
Payton.
When I turned to ask him, I found him frozen, staring blankly at the mural.
“Grandpa? Payton?”
I called his name and even tugged at his sleeve before he finally blinked and looked away.
“Huh? Oh. What’s up?”
“You spaced out.”
“Ah…”
“Tired?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, no.”
Then, he looked at the mural again and began pointing at its images one by one.
The moon, half-hidden behind clouds. The clouds darkening until the sky turned pitch-black. Rain beginning to fall.
“There should be a sun and rainbow next.”
But no such picture could be found.
“It’s not there… Wait, how do you know what’s next?”
“Because my friend and I painted this.”
Payton painted it?
That meant he’d been here before.
“You’ve been to this island?”
“No…?”
What?
Payton looked just as puzzled, staring at me with confusion.
“This is my first time here.”
“Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Anyone could’ve painted something like this.”
“No. Come here.”
He led me to a corner of the mural wall, where there was a squiggly, worm-like drawing.
“What is this?”
“Old Script. My name.”
“Your name?”
“Yeah. Payton Sel Meria. ‘You and the salvation of the world.’”
“But if this mural is that old, wouldn’t everyone have used Old Script at the time?”
I touched the weathered wall, feeling the years etched into its surface. If it was drawn back then, of course Old Script would’ve been the norm.
“You don’t get it! Back then, I used a style of writing no one else could read.”
Payton puffed his chest out with a weird kind of pride, grabbed a stick, and began writing in the dirt.
The letters were the same sleek, elegant ones I’d seen in his medical book.
“See? It’s the same writing as what’s on the wall.”
“…Liar. It’s totally different.”
“It’s the same!”
The mural’s script looked completely different. Which meant that even someone who knew Old Script wouldn’t be able to understand it.
“This is definitely my handwriting! I know my own stupid-looking writing better than anyone!”
“If you’re that adamant… then maybe it is. But didn’t you say you’ve never been here?”
“Exactly! That’s what I don’t understand!”
Payton raised his voice, just as frustrated as I was.
It wasn’t like someone had taken the mural from elsewhere and stuck it here. And yet somehow, a mural he’d drawn was on a place he’d never visited.
“When did you paint this?”
“Uh… let’s see. Around the time I ran away from home… so, about three hundred years ago?”
At that rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if the original continent had split into islands by now.
