Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 150: Blessed on a Doomed Day

As the sky turned dark, the day losing its warmth, Darian and Zoe left, leaving the mansion filled with love and belonging.

That night, as Leon lay on his bed, the same Longwei dream popped into his head. But this time, Longwei didn’t speak. He simply stared at the boy, like staring into the eyes of the ocean.

When morning came, Lily dragged Leon out of the mansion and into the gardens, just to see a bird’s nest.

She moved him toward a lizard she had named after Darian because it also had a black dot on its forehead.

When the afternoon sun brightened the mansion, Min-seo kept the house in order, clearing where it needed to be cleared and arranging every single place that she found unarranged.

For Min-ji, she stopped everything and neared Leon when she found him standing alone and staring at the sky.

"You should wear lighter clothes in the afternoon," she said softly, so soft that Leon had to turn his head before he could hear her words.

She pulled a fabric that she had hidden at her back, then tried to cover Leon’s shoulder with it.

"I can dress myself." Leon pushed her hand back, then moved two steps away from her.

Min-ji closed the gap, her hand lowered by her side. "I know."

She turned and left the moment she noticed her plans weren’t working, leaving Leon alone by the glass wall.

At the end of the second week, Zoe and Darian visited again. This time, Lily dragged Zoe upstairs for her to see Leon’s room.

Laughter blasted at every angle of the mansion. Darian spoke only when needed, filling spaces without pressing too hard, and Zoe did all the talking.

But where Min-ji stood, heat whirled around her like a restless soul, her face reddened as if thrown in hellfire.

Back in the sitting room, Zoe sat in the same lotus posture as Lily on the rug, both of them sorting through ribbons and pieces of cloth.

Li Mei’s face glistened with joy as she listened from her chair, while Min-seo folded laundry at the opposite angle, where the kitchen was.

As the first month began to thin, no vehicle entered through the gate, and no vehicle also went out.

The voices in the mansion remained the same—Lily’s voice, Li Mei’s lightened but sorrowful tune, Min-seo’s movement, and Min-ji’s glances that had now been seen by everyone.

On the fourth day of the second month, Lily walked slowly in the hallway, then pushed Leon’s door open.

She peeked inside first, then her full body followed. She threw herself beside Leon on the bed, then stared at the outside gate through the open window.

Leon tried tickling her, but Lily gave a different tone of laugh. "You seem a bit sad. What’s bothering you?" Leon’s left arm remained in the loop of brushing Lily’s hair.

She turned her gaze from the window, then blinked, clearing the tiny tear from her eyes. "Are they busy?"

Leon adjusted himself, then sat upright. "Who, the Qings?"

Lily nodded, then turned her gaze back to the window.

On their way to the dining table, Lily kept her gaze on the entrance of the mansion as if waiting for the door to be pushed open.

When Leon went and threw himself on his bed after making sure Lily was asleep, he could hear the room breathing around him.

As sleep took over, he saw the lizard-lady, the old woman, and the sentinel all staring at him with blood dripping down their faces. A single statement escaped from their mouths: Grade B! Before twenty-five!

Leon jerked up, gasping for breath before the first light of the morning could enter his room.

For a fleeting second, he remained still, staring at the dim ceiling, trying to force the chorus of voices out of his head.

Chilled air escaped him as he swung his legs off the bed and cupped his face in his hands.

’Twenty-five years?’ The thoughts reeled in Leon’s head until he raised his face from his palms.

He turned his gaze toward the window and focused all his attention on the dove flying high in the sky.

The curtains shifted lightly with the early air in the same precision as the bird moved.

After minutes of staring, he stood up, walked to his bathroom, and washed himself, hoping the dream and the dawning time would also flee.

Faint footsteps echoed from the other side of his door, but this time no one entered—only the silent whistling sound that sounded like that of a dying man. Longwei’s.

When Leon stepped out of his room and sat on the couches in the hall, he felt alive again.

Faint clinks of plates and cups came from the kitchen, followed by the smell of warm butter and tea drifting and settling in his lungs.

Lily joined Leon on his couch after not finding him in his room when she went to visit in her usual style.

After a while, Leon got up and exited the mansion itself.

The sweet floral scent from the garden and the trees flew into his nose as he inhaled deeply, slightly clearing the lizard-lady’s voice from his head.

Inside the hall, Lily kept turning in circles with ribbons in both hands while Min-seo tried to catch one end before it tangled around a chair’s leg.

"No, not there," Lily ducked away from Min-seo. "It should stay where brother will see it when he comes inside."

"Little madam, if you keep running like this, he will see you first and the ribbon on the floor later," Min-seo stated in a voice that carried her warmth.

At the dining table, Min-ji arranged flowers in a shallow glass bowl, then looked up toward the stairs. She turned and glanced at the entrance door, which was being opened.

"You went outside? When?!" she whispered to herself more than to anyone, then lowered her head slightly, a sarcastic smile drawing on her face.

Lily spun sharply, then stopped when she saw Leon entering. "Brother!" She dropped the ribbon and dashed toward the hallway. "Why did you come inside now? We were still making things beautiful."

Leon brushed his fingers on the walls as he walked by Lily’s side. "Making the place beautiful, for what?"

Lily paused, then stared at Leon in shock.

Leon placed a soft hand on Lily’s left shoulder, then smiled. "So, should I go back outside?"

"Yes," Lily answered at once, then frowned. "No. Wait. You’ve already seen everything."

Min-seo grabbed the fallen ribbon, gave an exhausted exhale, then shook her head. She placed the ribbon behind her and closed in with Leon, then bowed. "Good morning, sir."

"Morning." Leon smiled at her but kept trying to figure out why they needed to make the place beautiful.

Just as Min-seo moved toward the staircase, Min-ji picked up a rose and adjusted it carefully. She closed in when Leon neared the couch, ready to sit.

"Happy birthday."

’Happy birthday?’ Shocked thoughts looped in Leon’s head as he turned a confused expression at Lily.

"Have you forgotten today is your birthday?" Lily scolded Leon.

"No, but—" Leon paused, scraping his own hair. ’I know my birthday is near, but I didn’t realise it’s today.’ He said low in his thoughts, then grabbed the rose calmly. "Thank you."

As soon as Min-ji turned to walk away, Li Mei appeared descending on the wheelchair path, Min-seo behind, guiding her.

"Leon," Li Mei’s voice echoed in the hallway the moment the tyres of the wheelchair began to roll on the floor of the sitting room.

Dressed in a more glorious queen’s gown, her hair smoothed back, and her palms folded over the red and gold cloth on her lap. "Happy birthday, son."

Leon hurried forward and crouched down beside Li Mei. He remained still as Li Mei’s fingers brushed through his hair. She traced the thin line of Leon’s chin, then squeezed his cheeks just lightly.

"Son,"

Leon adjusted himself just to see the smiling face of his mother.

"I prayed to live to touch this day with you."

Leon’s throat growled, but said no word.

Li Mei’s fingers moved back to his hair and began smoothing it back from his forehead as she used to do when he was little.

"You were born stubborn. Cried as though you came here already angry with the world."

A short laugh escaped from behind Leon as Lily lowered her head, her hands covering her mouth.

"You have carried too much before your time, but this day is still yours." She paused, then lowered her voice. "May what is hunting you from behind never reach what is waiting for you."

A deep silence hit the room.

Leon dropped his gaze to the floorboards. "Mom..."

Lily clapped, breaking the stillness in everyone’s face. "Now he has been blessed, so we can finally eat."

Min-seo laughed softly.

Just as Leon stood up and turned, the front door of the building got pushed open. Lily’s face glistened with joy, but Min-ji’s jaw tightened, the ceramic cup cracking under her grip.