The Season of Blooms

To save the novel’s dark, brooding villain, I volunteered for a mission to enter his world. Seven years later, I was declared a failure and sentenced to death.
As punishment, the System forced me to watch, as a spirit, while someone else tried to win his heart.
She was vibrant, radiant, impossibly beautiful. She took him bungee jumping, playfully poured hot water on his numb legs out of curiosity, and snuck him out to eat at greasy food stalls near the old campus. She never, ever treated him like he was disabled.
This was the same man who kept me at arm's length for years, who would disinfect his skin with alcohol if I so much as brushed against him.
Yet the first time she touched him, the tips of his ears flushed a deep crimson.
And for the first time, I heard the System let out a shriek of pure excitement:
【Affection level just shot up from 0 to 30!】
It was a far cry from the usual exasperated roar:
【A single point in a whole month? Are you an idiot?!】
It was only then that I understood. He wasn't a cold, unfeeling statue.
His heart was just never meant to bloom for me.

1
On the day I learned my mission had failed and I was going to die, I didn't tell Alistair a thing.
I quietly made his favorite braised short ribs and laid out the clothes he liked to wear. I placed his antidepressants on the nightstand, right where he could easily reach them.
He watched me with a frown, his gaze as cold as ever. I knelt before his wheelchair, meeting his eyes with a calm smile.
“Alistair, something’s come up back home. I might be gone for a while.”
He wheeled past me without a word, his voice a shard of ice. “That has nothing to do with me.”
He was right. It had nothing to do with him. All he needed was someone else to come and serve him, someone who could withstand his dark moods and violent temper. It didn’t matter that we had spent seven years together. In the end, I was no different to him than a stranger.
Martha, the housekeeper, looked at me with a pained, worried expression. I gave her a slight shake of my head, signaling that it was okay. I’d endured far worse than his cold words, even his insults. Martha had my detailed notes on all his preferences and habits; she would take care of him. Besides, he never cared about me. My disappearance wouldn’t make a ripple in his life. Someone else would just have to get used to his temper.
…
The System’s voice echoed in my mind, dripping with sarcasm.
【Seven years. You gave everything—your energy, your life. Was it worth it?】
At that moment, Alistair was sitting in the garden, staring blankly at the flame tree I had planted just for him. His features were sharp and cool, his thin lips pressed into a line, his eyes holding an endless, chilling indifference.
He barely flickered an eyelid as I draped a small, soft blanket over his legs. I sat quietly beside him.
The tree was a blaze of crimson against the fading sunset, casting dappled shadows across the lawn. He grew drowsy and leaned his head against my shoulder. I gazed calmly into the distance, silent.
Was it worth it?
I asked myself the same question.
In my original world, my parents had died in a car crash. I was in a coma, a vegetable, and my relatives saw me as nothing but a burden. When I entered this world, I felt a deep empathy for Alistair, who was just as trapped, just as hopeless as I had been. I thought that by saving him, by preventing his fiery end in the novel, I could somehow save the helpless girl I used to be.
You can’t live your entire life with cold, calculated clarity. And love… love never follows logic. My feelings for Alistair were about me, not him. It wasn’t his fault.
I had no regrets.
It was worth it.
【Ten… nine… eight…】
The System began my final countdown. My fingers started to turn transparent.
I took one last look at the man to whom I had given everything. He was sleeping against my shoulder, his breathing soft and shallow. His long lashes trembled, and beneath his pale skin, I could see the faint blue of his veins. He looked as if he would shatter at the slightest touch.
【Five… four…】
I gently lifted his head and rested it against the other side of his wheelchair. I brushed a speck of dust from his forehead. And then, for the very last time, I leaned in and whispered with a soft, warm smile, “Alistair… you have to live well from now on.”
【One.】
With a soft pop, my body dissolved into motes of light, scattering on the wind and fading into nothing.

2
When I opened my eyes, I never expected to see Alistair again.
A girl was hovering around him, chattering endlessly. She was sweet and adorable. More importantly, they were standing so close, and Alistair was actually smiling, not rejecting her in the slightest.
The System was still in my head. Its tone was that of a gleeful spectator.
【The Agency sent in another Player. Look and learn. She had him in three months. His affection level for her is already at 98.】
【I wondered what would happen to him after you failed and died.】
【Turns out, he just looked for you for two days, threw a massive tantrum, burned everything you owned, and then accepted someone new without a second thought. Your seven years of one-sided devotion meant nothing!】

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