However, after what happened to him, he did not do anything. Instead, he stood up silently and pulled up his crippled clothes because of the fight and slowly walked towards the shabby little yard.

He lived in the courtyard for already five years… alone.

Closing the door of the courtyard, he went to the only room in there where the Red Lantern was hung. It was last year New Year"s Eve when an old woman gave it to him and said that the Red Lantern was auspicious.

He closed the door of his room and silently pulled out the thing from his left sleeve - the food that the young man threw into him, the two-oiled paper wrapped and steamed.

He swallowed his saliva and carefully re-wrapped the remaining one and placed it under the pillow even though he wanted to eat it already, but he didn"t want to tolerate his hunger. That night, he should eat nothing.

Not every day was of good luck for him.

After he cleaned himself and packed up all the things he needed, he walked up towards the side of the window of his room.

There was a pot with a Peony with almost the same height as him.

That was his most precious thing because that was the only thing that his mother left before she died.

Everyone in the palace knew that the first queen raised a Peony that n.o.body ever saw before - until it already became a joke in Harem.

The year after the catastrophe of the Imperial Palace, the first queen carefully uprooted the Peony and threw on the ground like a waste.

After several days, he had to sneak around the palace to find out where the waste materials were disposed because he always looked for some things that can still be recycled or re-used. But he saw the dying Peony in the place where the wastes were disposed.

He did not like the Peonies much, but he still brought it with him because this was his mother"s favorite once.

He found a broken flower pot. He also brought and kept it and added some soil. He planted the Peony and poured some water on it - even if he didn"t think that the Peony will survive.

For the past four years, the flower was still with him. This accompanied him every day when he counted the hours. And even if the Peony did not bloom, he had a real feeling about it from the beginning.

"Probably, this Peony will be the one to accompany me for the rest of my life. Perhaps, this will still live longer than I will." He thought.

Then suddenly, he began to feel a little sleepy.

Sitting comfortably at the table, he was ready to sleep on the edge of the window when suddenly there"s a sting of light that forced him to open his eyes.

He was surprised.

The flower Peony that was placed on the edge of the window gave out a bright light from the branches up to the leaves.

Then, on the topmost part of the Peony, the petals suddenly slowly opened and bloomed; the bud was like the size of a fist.

It was like a dream to him.

"The Peony… blooms?"

Even if he was already 10 years old and in precocious p.u.b.erty, seeing such a thing beyond cognition, his first reaction was to run.

 "I never heard any of the Peony blooming! How could that be?" He was surprised.

The little bud was like a magical charm, gripped on his gaze that he wanted to see what it was.