Vol 1 Chapter 2: Peaceful Life in the Rose Valley

The morning wind caresses the rose fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Here, at the edge of a forgotten world, a simple cottage stands amidst deceptive beauty—for behind this serenity once lived an executioner who made the world tremble at the mere mention of her name.

Marry el Rose was washing clothes in a small stream. Her hands moved nimbly, but her eyes kept watching Caelan, who was playing not far away in the rose fields, surrounded by pink petals that swayed gently in the wind.

“Watch out for the thorns, Caelan,” she called out softly but firmly.

“Yes, Mom!” Caelan answered cheerfully as she jumped to avoid the thorny rose stems.

Marry smiled. Her face, once known as a mask of sternness and death, was now gentle like a mother in general. She picked up the washed clothes and hung them to dry on a rattan rope that stretched between two young apple trees.

“Mom, look! Caelan is making a crown of roses!” Caelan exclaimed, showing off the circle of petals she had painstakingly assembled from a number of wild flowers.

Marry walked over, crouched down, and put the crown on her daughter's head.

"My daughter is the little queen of the Rose Valley."

Caelan blushed, then hugged her mother. "And Mom is the great queen!"

Marry fell silent. The great queen... That innocent sentence brought back memories. In the past, she was indeed the queen of the blood roses who executed tyrants at any time. But now?

Now she was just an ordinary mother.

—

Go to Market...

In the afternoon, Marry and Caelan went to the small village market at the foot of the hill. The village was simple—a place where farmers, shepherds, and weavers lived honestly and hard.

"Good morning, Mrs. Marry! Caelan is coming today too?" greeted a grandmother selling fruit.

"Good morning, Grandma Dora!" replied Caelan as she ran towards the apple basket.

Grandma Dora handed him a red apple. "For you, dear."

Marry wanted to spend money, but the grandmother refused. “You’ve helped me quite a lot. Yesterday, the farmers said that their fields were cured of soil disease. You must have secretly used that ‘power,’ huh?”

Marry just smiled. She never revealed who she was, but small acts of help like purifying the land, healing livestock, or marking the land with blood roses to keep pests away… slowly made the villagers believe she was “blessed.”

“Mom,” Caelan whispered as they walked home carrying a basket of vegetables. “When Caelan grows up, can she help people like Mom?”

Marry looked up at the twilight sky. “If Caelan does it with a sincere heart, Mom will be very proud.”

“Caelan will study well so that when Caelan grows up, Caelan can be a kind girl who likes to help like Mom.” Caelan said innocently.

“Good! Caelan is indeed Mom’s daughter.” Marry said while patting her little daughter’s head.

"Don't grow up like Mama, Caelan must grow up to be a good girl," Marry muttered to herself sincerely while remembering the bloody days when she was Blood Rose.