[Three-Part Dialogue] Rose of Dawn

I began serving in this mansion when I was fifteen.

At first, my job was cleaning all the toilets in the mansion and incinerating the trash. Seeing my diligent work, the previous master allowed me to take charge of the rose garden on the estate. It was a major promotion.

Around that time, the young lady, who was coming of age, began to frequently show her face at my small hut on the outskirts of the property. I was still young, and since the young lady was very proactive, we ended up in that kind of relationship.

When the young lady turned seventeen, she discovered she was pregnant.

I was prepared to be kicked out of the mansion and left to wander the streets, but that did not happen.
It seems the young lady had been involved with several male schoolmates, so it was unclear whose child it was, and because I was of a different social standing, it was as if I had never even had a relationship with her.

Since it was my first love, I felt conflicted.

The young lady incurred the master's wrath, was kicked out of the mansion, and subsequently lost all contact.

Several years later, following the orders of the master, whose anger had subsided, I began secretly searching for the young lady's whereabouts. While tending to the rose garden, I followed every lead and searched various cities.

Eventually, I received information to check a certain hot springtown in the Tohoku region.

—

I arrived at that hot spring town in the evening as the snow began to fall.
The town nestled in the mountains smelled of hot water and soot-stained wood; it was somewhat nostalgic and somewhat lonely.

A small inn along the river as I had been told. A detached building in the back.
When I knocked on the door, the sliding door opened quietly.

Standing there was not the girl who used to run through the rose garden. Her cheeks were thin, and deep in her eyes, the strength of the past was gone.
However, the smile that appeared the moment she saw me was undoubtedly the young lady.

“...It’s been a while.”

Beside her stood a young boy in pajamas.
Distinctive cheekbones.
They were the contours of my own face, which I had seen in the mirror every morning.
The young lady said nothing.

The next morning, I sent a letter to the mansion.
After a moment of silence, the previous master granted his forgiveness.
“Bring them back. I will not ask about the past.”

—

Not long after returning to the mansion.

I was growing a new variety of rose.
A deep crimson with a slight bluish tint. It was a strong color that would never retreat.

When I mentioned that I intended to enter it into a competition, the young lady asked to go out to the garden.

She stood before the rose and touched the petals.

“...It’s beautiful.”

“What is its name?”

I bowed.

“I would like to take one character from your name, my lady.”

She was surprised for a moment, then laughed.
It was the way she used to laugh back then.

“Akatsuki (Dawn), then.”

She stared at the rose and lifted her chin slightly.

“Yes, it suits this color as well.”

Then, the young lady said in that free-spirited tone of hers,
“That’s good.”
Lifting her chin a little more,
“The competition... this is the only one that can win.”

For that moment only, the seventeen-year-old girl was there.


Before the end of that year,
the young lady quietly passed away.
It was when the roses were in their most beautiful bloom.

I placed the rose named “Akatsuki,” which had won an award at the competition, in her coffin.


—

Thirty years have passed since then.

I stand in the rose garden again this morning.
Deep crimson. A flower with a slight tinge of blue.

A voice came from behind me.
“That is a magnificent rose.”

When I turned around, the current master was standing there.
His cheekbones spoke of a strong will.
He had succeeded the previous master and was supporting the mansion admirably.

“Yes. My mother also loved this rose very much.”

The master stared at the flower.

“...I like it, too. This color.”

I bowed.

Morning dew ran down the petals and fell to the soil.

The roses are blooming again this year.

I am watering them again today.