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“It is said that the eyes are the mirror reflecting the heart. Depending on the cultural context, they may be described as windows, mirrors, or surfaces. But one commonality remains: the heart will inevitably reveal itself through the eyes.”

Jinseong gazed into the crimson irises.

“A person’s heart is like water. When the moon rises, it will reflect the moon’s form on the surface, and when the sun rises, it becomes clear as the light shines down. Sometimes it flows and changes shape depending on the direction one wishes to take, shimmering and darkening as it goes in and out of shadow. This is why people have regarded the eyes as the passageway reflecting the heart.”

Jinseong spoke to Ella in a gentle tone.

“However, water cannot always be clear and clean. Just as water can be clear or muddy, the heart resembles the nature of water. Although pure, that clarity does not last, and while clean, it can be easily tainted with just a little impurity. That is the nature of the heart. Indeed, the heart easily becomes muddied.”

“Really? Yes….”

“As seen in the character for ‘muddled’ (混), if the water abruptly increases, it becomes clouded. Water that was once clear can be turned into murky sludge, obscuring its depths, while the rising water level invades even the ground that was once dry, devouring the landscape. And at the end, what we see is a world consumed by chaos, devoid of familiar sights.”

“When water increases, it becomes muddied….”

“The same goes for the heart. If thoughts suddenly swell beyond control, they cloud it, and when that happens, the heart wanders aimlessly, unaware of its condition. This overflowing heart then begins to invade areas it had never touched before, rendering coherent thought impossible and narrowing one’s vision as it becomes obsessively fixated.”

Having no thoughts is not a good thing.

But too much is also not good.

At this moment, Ella was overwhelmed with excessive thoughts.

And most of those thoughts were trivial.

Things that could be cut off without hesitation and must be discarded for the sake of peace of mind.

“Thoughts are good, and using your head is beneficial too. But simply shoving things indiscriminately without determining direction and being swayed by them is excessive. Right now Frau Winter is being tossed about by her thoughts. She is suffering needlessly by worrying over things that she need not think about or care for.”

She was indeed suffering needlessly.

Most of the struggles that people carry are the burdens of excess.

As fear feeds off prey and grows into an intangible phantom, worries grow like an accumulating snowball, pressing down on people.

Yet, when one clears away that excess, all that is left to see is the trivial essence.

The fear that relentlessly weighed on the person would reveal itself as a phantom sprouted from the seeds of past events, and the massive snowball of worry would be recognized as something that started rolling from a tiny pebble.

Jinseong smiled at Ella.

A smile meant to reassure her.

“To resolve your worries, you must look at the essence. When you see that essence, you will be taken aback by its true nature. The worries that pressed down on you mercilessly, forcing you to crawl, began from something so insignificant, it may astonish you.”

“….”

“But it’s also true that worries layered thick with excess are not easy to discern at a glance. The source buried deep within an avalanche of worries is hard to recognize, just like the spark that ignites a burning mountain remains obscured by time. I shall offer you some advice.”

Jinseong stepped closer to Ella.

Then he spoke firmly.

“Frau Winter, what is currently clouding your mind is not about William.”

“Pardon? Hair Park, right now….”

Ella was startled by the mention of ‘William’ from Jinseong’s lips.

It felt as though he had pierced through her heart.

But Jinseong denied her words.

No, he declared her worries false from the root.

What was clouding her mind was not about William; he cut it off by saying there was another reason.

“Frau Winter, the muddled thoughts you are currently facing are not from that troublesome matter that has been bothering you lately, but rather for another reason.”

“Really? That can’t be… I am currently….”

“Frau Winter.”

Jinseong interrupted Ella mid-sentence.

And with eyes that seemed to see through her soul, he looked directly at her and spoke.

“You are not troubled because you despise that person, William. You are worrying because you fear that he may cause harm to Frau Lentz, your mentor, and the people in this mansion. These two may seem similar but there is a clear distinction between them.”

“….”

“Frau Winter, you are a kind person. Though you wear a prickly exterior like armor, I can see that your heart is filled with warmth. No, I am not the only one who knows this.”

There’s the person who followed around Ella, calling her a rabbit.

Somewhat lenient at times, a bit wild with a strange instinct-driven personality.

Yet due to that instinct, they see through the essence of people very well.

“You likely did not want to easily share your worries with your family since you care for them, thus suffering alone with your burdens. But you do not only have family, Frau Winter. You have friends who recognize your kindness and cherish you, don’t you?”

“Friends….”

“After your walk, go to them. Just by voicing your worries, that burden will be alleviated more than halfway, and you will find that as you vent together, the weight will become as light as a feather.”

Jinseong spoke kindly, gently placing a hand on Ella’s shoulder and guiding her.

As she walked away, a slightly dazed expression crossed Ella’s face as she recalled someone, and with Jinseong’s gentle escort, she began walking toward the mansion, away from the garden’s corner.

While Ella was moving further away, something nestled in her arms peeked out and chirped at Jinseong.

Chirp.

Could it be a gesture of gratitude?

Or perhaps it held no particular meaning?

It was impossible to tell, for it was merely the sound of a bird.

“In that age, children usually get disturbed merely by watching falling leaves. It’s only natural.”

As Ella vanished from sight, Jinseong returned to wearing his mask.

“I have shown the lost sheep the way, which is good; it’s also good that there will be no one troubled by seeing her suffer, and it’s beneficial that the ritual can proceed without difficulty.”

Jinseong headed back toward the wood he was fashioning with a golden axe.

Then he drew up a chill into his hand, projecting it outward and condensing it.

As a result, ice began to spread outwards, wrapping around his hand as if it were centered on his palm.

The chill quickly became frost, and the frost turned into icy particles. The particles started to extend and reach outwards, forming pillars.

Thus, the ice took shape and began to grow sharply at his fingertips until it transformed into the form of a spear.

Thud!

Jinseong drove the spear into the wood.

Crack!

The firmly hardened spear dug deep into the wood, easily splitting the surface cut by the axe. It made an opening not too small, as if a stake had been driven into the wood, revealing a darkness harboring the chill as cold as the spear itself.

Jinseong began to pry the gap open with both hands, and when it became wide enough for one hand, he inserted his left arm to pull out what was inside.

It was a collection of dolls, each with rough stitching marks scattered about.

The doll’s mouth was stitched closed with multiple layers of thread, and the belly area was marked by a long vertical seam. It looked as if it had been poorly stitched after being cut open, appearing grotesque, perhaps due to the thick thread weaving it together.

Moreover, something bulged from its belly, as if ready to burst open, tightly held by the thread.

Gently, Jinseong placed the dolls on the ground, then summoned Samādhi True Fire in his right hand.

A flame that burns both material and immaterial.

A flame of purification charged with the power of the spirit.

He let the flame rise from his hand and dropped it on the dolls.

Whoosh!

The moment the flames touched the dolls, they blazed up.

Like oil had been poured over them, it burned furiously.

Crack.

Crack-crack.

The flames consumed the dolls.

Burning their fur, scorching their clothes, and incinerating the stuffing.

The thread that sewed up the doll’s belly was also burned away.

As the thread sizzled in the flames and popped, the contents inside the doll’s belly began to spill out.

Once revealed, the insides contained the carcasses of animals.

Very tiny creatures.

Rats, birds, snakes, spiders, centipedes….

They were all small enough to be crammed into the doll’s belly, common creatures seen everywhere.

The spilled bodies emerged, willingly accepting the flames and sacrificing themselves to the Samādhi flame, turning into a handful of ash. The empty space left by their disappearance filled with flames, burning from within, as the flames moved toward the doll’s head.

Whoosh!

The flames that reached the head of the doll incinerated it thoroughly, as if burning its lungs and esophagus. The stuffing inside was forced out, causing the doll to collapse inward, while its exterior slowly burned away, erasing all traces.

Thus, the doll was reduced to ash.

“It burned cleanly.”

Jinseong tended to the ashes left by the doll, carefully collecting them in his palms.

Then, he poured that ash at the base of the wood after making sure it would seep in well, pouring water over it and mixing it well with the soil.

He repeatedly buried and mixed the earth until he deemed it adequate, then picked up the axe again.

Thud!

Bang!

How long did he keep pounding the earth?

An eerie energy began to emanate from the soil.

It was a chilling energy that stimulated one’s primal senses.

As if it contained the chill of winter, it lingered in the earth.

It sought a vessel to inhabit.

The chill slowly spread out like mold, reaching out in all directions as it began to rise into the air like steam.

But no place could accommodate the chill.

Being born from evil spirits, the cold desired to linger among humans but could affect no one. The being in front of it bore both dreadful yin and yang energies, making it unsuitable for residence, while the vessel that had recently hosted it had mysteriously disappeared.

Moreover, unable to leave due to being mixed with the soil, it could not move to a place crowded with people.

Thus, the chill struggled to find a place to reside, unable to locate a suitable vessel, it slowly returned to the earth, beginning to seep underground.

As it descended, the chill met the deep roots of the tree.

Sluuurp….

Upon connecting with the roots, the chill let out an ominous sound as it gradually diminished.

That sound resembled the final moans of an evil spirit or perhaps the chilling rustle of autumn leaves brushed by the winter wind.

“It’s done.”

Jinseong nodded, satisfied, as the chill disappeared.

“The roots have absorbed the yin and malice emanating from the evil spirit, extending like a serpent to establish the mansion as its territory. Having acted upon the towering tree, it will now possess the properties of a protective tree, guarding its domain while repelling external intruders.”

The guardian tree that would protect the mansion had been completed.

 

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