Year 627 of the Caelest Imperial Calendar.

Behind the most glamorous downtown area of the Empire.

Under the golden lanterns, in a high-end tavern where laughter and music flowed every night, there was a boy who caught people's eyes exceptionally well.

Silver hair and blue eyes, with a face so beautiful it was hard to believe his age.

His nonchalant wit, as if reading people's minds, and his excellent eloquence that drew people in made even adults marvel.

Customers used to visit this place just to see his witty speech and performances.

There was someone who took notice of Jade's talent.

It was an official dispatched from the Imperial Palace. The official recognized not only the boy's beautiful appearance but also his innate talent for capturing people's hearts and leading the atmosphere.

It wasn't just simple eloquence. It was a special sense for observing people's expressions and reactions and quickly realizing what they wanted.

Before long, Jade left the tavern where he had lived and entered the Imperial Palace. The palace, which the child who had known nothing but the mud all his life faced for the first time, was dazzlingly brilliant.

But even all that splendor lost its light in an instant.

A garden where sunlight poured down.

In the middle of it, where flower petals fluttered in the wind, a person was standing.

Guest.

Jade caught his breath.

He learned for the first time that day that such a person could exist in the world.

It was from that moment.

The Imperial Palace was no longer a strange prison, and every landscape of the Empire became a path leading toward that one single person.

The boy's first love began just like that, so very quietly.

---

And 10 years later, the present—

Late at night, after the performance ended and everyone was asleep.

Before returning to the building where the imperial servants stayed, Jade stood alone in a secluded area where few people passed.

From the cigarette held between his fingertips, gray smoke slowly scattered into the night air.

His gaze was fixed on the distant Imperial Castle.

Numerous windows were submerged in darkness, but there was one.

One window where the light had not yet gone out.

A familiar window.

He knew whose room it was even with his eyes closed.

"...They aren't sleeping yet."

The voice that flowed out low was buried in the wind and disappeared.

Taking a deep drag of the cigarette, he wore a bitter smile.

"I should stop."

"...I have to let go."

"This feeling."

For a moment, his eyes were closed, and his face lacked the nonchalant smile he showed on stage or the playful expression that enchanted people.

All that remained was the emptiness of a man trying hard to bury the emotions he had harbored for a long time.

After smoking the cigarette to the end, he crushed the embers with his toe.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he put that familiar smile back on his face and walked toward the imperial servants' building.