SBCSM | Chapter 1 Part 2 – Purple Butterfly in the Scarlet Sky

“Mother, please tie my hair.”

Li An could still remember the gentle hands of her mother combing her hair.

Seeing Li An sitting neatly in front of the dressing table, her mother let out a cheerful exclamation.

“You shouldn’t just tie your hair up simply. Look, Li An’s hair is so beautiful. If you just let it flow down your back like this, it will look better.”

“You only tie your hair up on special occasions, right?”

“That’s right. You only tie your hair up when you get married or when you have a wish that you absolutely want to come true.”

“I know, that’s why…”

Li An blushed at that moment.

“I want to become Lan Shou’s bride…”

“Oh my, Li An.”

Her mother in the mirror looked at Li An with a smile as soft as gentle sunlight, accompanied by a light-hearted voice.

“… In that case.”

Her mother picked up a comb that was on the dressing table and began to comb Li An’s hair. With each movement of her skillful hands, Li An’s delicate, silky hair unraveled, becoming more lustrous with a pleasant sound like flowing water.

Her mother took the strands of hair from behind Li An’s left ear and divided it into five equal parts. The five equal parts represented the five countries established by God on this continent. The five strands of hair were braided alternately. Watching her mother’s movements through the mirror, Li An gave herself over to the comfort and gently closed her eyes.

“Look, it’s done.”

Her mother’s gentle voice in her ear made Li An slowly open her eyes. On the other side of the mirror, her mother was smiling at Li An, who now had an unfamiliar hairstyle. Li An quietly reached up to touch her own head. The hair that had been braided from behind her ear extended into three sections on each side, and these were gathered into one at the high position of the back of her head. The delicate braids were as beautiful as the scales of a snake.

In the ancient times of the creation of the land, the Soriku Era, it is said that when the gods first appeared before humans, they took the form of serpents. Because of this legend, even today in the Sui Kingdom, snakes are revered as sacred. This hair-braiding technique known as “Wish Binding” is a manifestation of this deep reverence and awe for the gods.

As Li An gazed intently at her reflection in the mirror, her mother, smiling at her, placed the comb back onto the dressing table.

At that moment, the front door was knocked loudly. Startled by the sudden noise, Li An instinctively leaned closer to her mother.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a guest.”

Her mother lightly put an arm around Li An’s shoulders to reassure her, telling her to wait there, she headed towards the front door.

Li An sat quietly in the chair for a while, just as her mother had told her, but there was no sign of her mother returning. As she swung her legs restlessly from the chair, Li An couldn’t help but worry about her mother, and, without hesitation, she lowered her legs to the ground and jumped down from the chair.

Many people have been visiting her mother for a long time. They were people who have known her mother since her days as a civil servant. Most of them were guests who stopped by on their way somewhere, just had tea with her mother, and talked for a moment before leaving. However, occasionally, men dressed in black garments would come to visit. And after those visits, her mother would always be absent from home for several days.

Who was today’s guest?

As Li An approached the corner of the hallway where the front door was, she could hear the sound of a man’s voice speaking. Carefully, she peeked her face around the corner, and saw two men dressed in black garments standing at the entrance. Both men had stern expressions, and one of them seemed to be persistently speaking to her mother, as if trying to convince her of something. Her mother, facing them, no longer had her usual calm demeanor. She repeatedly shook her head, as if rejecting the man’s words.

Curious, Li An leaned out from behind a corner. Noticing Li An leaning out from behind the shadows, the man who had been speaking suddenly fell silent. The conversation was abruptly cut off, and her mother looked at him with a questioning gaze. In response, the man silently gestured toward the direction where Li An was hiding with his eyes.

“Li An…”

Li An instinctively shrank back, fearing she might be scolded for eavesdropping, but when her mother turned to look at her, there was an unexpected sadness in her eyes. However, her mother quickly masked it with a smile, as if trying to cover up the emotion.

“I’m going to finish talking, so will you wait for me over there?”

“… Are you going out again?”

At Li An’s question, her mother’s smile faltered ever so slightly. There was a brief pause, as if she were considering her response.

“Yes, I have to go to work.”

Li An quickly ran to her mother and clung tightly to her leg.

“Promise me you’ll come back soon, okay?”

“Oh, come now. What’s wrong all of a sudden? I’ve always come back properly, haven’t I?”

Li An desperately stretched up, as if wanting to ask her more questions. Her mother knelt in front of her. She wrapped her arms around Li An’s back and tightly hugged her small body. Even after a while, her mother remained still, not moving at all, and then whispered in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.

“Yes…. I’ll definitely come back, so wait for me.”

On the fourth day after her mother had left home, Li An visited a hill at the foot of Mount Shi Hou, located on the northern side of the Kagu District. There was a beautiful butterfly that only emerged at this time of year, the beginning of autumn. Li An wanted to show this purple-winged butterfly to her mother when she returned home.

As she was engrossed in chasing the butterflies, Li An suddenly realized that it was dusk. From the top of the hill, she could see the entire cityscape dyed in crimson. The streets of Kagu District, which had been developed as an administrative district of the country, had a uniform landscape, and Li An immediately recognized where her house was. Smoke was rising from the stove of her house, as dinner was being prepared.

Her mother must have returned home. Li An couldn’t help but smile with joy. She hurried to head back home. When she opened the front door, her mother would surely greet her with a smile.

She ran down the hill, avoiding the small stones and hopping around, the insect cage she had been carrying at her side tumbled, making a soft clinking sound. Li An hurriedly stopped, pulled the cage closer, and looked inside. Inside the cage, the butterfly she had just caught earlier was gently fluttering its wings. Li An let out a relieved sigh. She wanted to show this beautiful butterfly to her mother as soon as possible.

However, as Li An drew closer to her home, her expression gradually clouded over, and her once-light steps gradually grew heavier. A crowd of unfamiliar people she had never seen before had gathered in front of her house. Li An stopped for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Ahead of her was the entrance to her home, where her mother was supposed to be waiting for her.

She was eager to see her mother, but the crowd of people blocked her path, making her anxious. Li An weaved her way between the adults’ legs and headed toward the entrance of her home.

“Father…?”

As her view suddenly cleared, Li An couldn’t help but voice her confusion. In the center of the crowd was, for some reason, the back of her father. Normally, at this hour, he would still be working. Why was he here?

Even in the midst of the crowd, her father seemed to instantly recognize Li An’s voice. He turned around, his face more tense than Li An had ever seen before.

“Li An, don’t come any closer!”

The loudness of her father’s shout made Li An’s legs instinctively freeze. The intensity of his tone caused those around them to turn their attention toward her. When they realized that the one he was shouting at was Li An, a look of sympathy appeared in their eyes.

Her father pushed his way through the crowd, rushing toward Li An. Amidst the commotion, incomprehensible whispers pierced Li An’s ears one after another.

“She was killed,” “Attacked by a beast,” “That’s terrible,” “What a pity.”

The hand her father reached out toward Li An seemed to move in a painfully slow manner. The setting sun stung her eyes, making it difficult to see clearly. At the edge of her narrowed vision, she noticed a kimono with a floral pattern of morning glories, scattered carelessly onto the street. From it, limbs in a muddy, earthy color were stretching out.

[T/N: I suppose the author envisioned a kingdom that has a mixture of Chinese and Japanese culture. That’s why people wear kimono but the country has ancient Chinese government system.]

It was as if she were looking at a monochrome drawing on a piece of paper, Li An couldn’t grasp the reality of what she was seeing. She stood frozen in place for a moment, dazed, unable to fully comprehend the scene before her.

The crimson hue of the setting sun, streaming from the mountain’s edge, bathing the scene before Li An in a deep, pure red, as if painting everything in shades of vivid scarlet.

The only thing Li An could clearly recognize was that the floral pattern on the kimono was one her mother favored to wear.

“…Mother?”

Finally, her father’s hand reached out and grabbed Li An’s shoulder, pulling her forcefully in his embrace. In an instant, Li An’s feet left the ground, and before she knew it, she was tightly embraced in her father’s chest, so tightly that she could hardly breathe.

“….Um, Father.”

With her vision blocked, struggling to endure the suffocating pressure, Li An desperately raised her voice from her father’s chest.

“What happened to Mother?”

The yellow floral pattern, resembling a peony amongst the winding vines, was distinctive, and Li An, who had always seen it up close, couldn’t possibly mistake it. However, as far as her memory went, her mother’s kimono had always been a pale celadon color.

“Li An, it’s nothing.”

Her father let out a voice filled with more pain than Li An had ever heard before. The strength with which he held her was so overpowering that she could barely breathe.

“Mother…”

“….Forget everything.”

Her father interrupted the words Li An was about to say.

The insect cage, which Li An had been tightly holding onto, slipped from her hands. It made a dry, hollow sound as it hit the ground, rolling across the dirt. The force caused the mouth of the cage to break open.

The insect cage bounced once more before coming to a stop. From the open mouth of the cage, the butterfly she had just caught today fluttered its wings slightly and peeked out.

The butterfly gazed up at the sky. The mountain’s ridge, bathed in a reddish-orange hue, stretched out before it.

“……..Ah.”

A sound escaped from Li An’s lips.

It was the butterfly Li An had brought home to show her mother. Seeing it, her mother was supposed to give Li An a beaming, joyful smile. But that mother…

As the butterfly fluttered its wings, its body lifted into the air. With a graceful movement, it left the insect cage and gently ascended, heading toward the deep red sky.

“Don’t…”

Li An instinctively reached out her hand toward the butterfly. But in the blink of an eye, the butterfly’s shadow faded, and the long purple tail quickly blended with the colors of the setting sun. Soon, its outline blurred into the crimson sky.

The hand Li An had stretched out would never reach the butterfly again…

* * *

What Li An saw before her eyes was the familiar ceiling of her room.

That night, after her father had told her about the arranged marriage, Li An quietly lay in bed, unable to fall asleep.

“You decide.”

The words her father had told her kept resurfacing in her mind, each time weighing heavily on Li An’s heart. It was as if a thin veil was clinging to her, and the sense of fatigue that stuck to her body wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard she tried to shake it off.

Li An stretched both her hands toward the ceiling, her palms facing upwards as if to gently trace the flower patterns painted there.

At this moment, Li An’s hands held two different futures. On one hand was the arranged marriage with the Royal Family, and on the other, the path of a civil servant. Neither choice promised an easy road. But, Li An knew that right now she had to choose one with her own hands.

Li An had no power. What could she possibly do with these hands? The hands that had been reaching toward the ceiling slowly slid down to her sides, lacking any strength.

Feeling listless, Li An slowly rose from the bed. She sat before the dressing table in the corner of the room and opened its three-fold doors. It was the same dressing table her mother had once used.

In the mirror, a face strikingly similar to her mother’s reflected back at her. Yet, the expression on that face was one of sorrow. The captivating, glamorous presence her mother once had was nowhere to be seen.

Li An picked up the comb from the dressing table and took the strands of her long black hair that fell over her shoulder. She divided it into five parts and, with unfamiliar hands, began to braid it, just as her mother had done for her back then.

The “Wish Binding” is only woven when there is a wish that one desperately wants to come true. Li An only had one wish. She wanted to be shown the path she should take moving forward.

Li An counted the knots in her braided hair, starting from the top. If the number of knots was odd, she would accept the arranged marriage; if it was even, she would take the civil servant exam.

After counting the last knot, Li An paused for a moment. She stood up and approached the chest of drawers beside her bed, retrieving a small box made of purple sandalwood from within.

The next morning. Li An appeared in her father’s office, and her father only gave her a quick glance. Without saying a word, Li An walked over to the desk where her father sat and gently placed what she was holding in front of him. It was snow-white box with a black handle and gold leaf pressed into it. The brush, with its black handle and gold-foil design of a snowy swallow, was something her mother had cherished during her time as a civil servant.

When her father saw the brush, no emotion seemed to appear on his face. He simply nodded lightly, his expression remaining as calm and serene as always, as if silently asking, “Have you decided?”

Li An never exchanged words directly with her father. She thought to herself that it was fine this way. Both she and her father were likely not very good at conveying things through words.

When Li An left her father’s office, the clear autumn sky stretched out beyond the window in the hallway. She gazed at the pale, delicate scattering of scale-like clouds in the pure blue sky and pressed her clenched hand against her chest.

There were only six months left until the civil servant exam.