That morning, the hospital's back garden felt like an isolated fragment of a broken world. The distant roar of the highway was nothing more than a hollow, meaningless hum. Beneath the canopy of a weeping willow—its branches draping down like a shroud of green—tension coiled between two souls bound by the frayed threads of a violent past.
"H-how... how do you know that name?"
Ren didn't answer immediately. His tongue felt leaden, his mind a labyrinth of agonizing memories. How could he confess that he was a spark in the fire that razed the Marble Kingdom? That he was one of the reasons Rena's world collapsed after her mother's death?
For years, Ren had carried this truth as his private penance. He was both witness and executioner in the tragedy that claimed Riko. He could still feel the phantom heat of the ruins where Riko—with her dying breath—had whispered the name 'Rena' to him. A final testament, along with a birthday gift that now felt like a searing coal in Ren's hand.
Ren looked at Rena, his expression a hollow mask. He was trapped in a cruel irony: he was the monster responsible for her mother's death, yet he was the only one who held her final words. To tell her now would shatter her resolve just as she was about to enter the wolf-pit of CLOVER. He couldn't let hatred consume her before she found her own strength.
Seeing the dead-end in Ren's eyes, Rena lunged forward. Social graces and boundaries were gone. She closed the distance, shoving Ren's shoulder until his back collided with a cold stone pillar with a dull, sickening thud.
White-hot pain flared through Ren's body. The wound in his abdomen felt like it was being unzipped, sending a jolt of agony straight up his spine. But Ren only held his breath, remaining a statue of stone.
"Answer me! You know something!" Rena demanded. Her ragged breath fanned across his face—a sweet, soft scent that stood in jarring contrast to the violence between them.
"Not now…" Ren managed, his voice a hoarse grating of metal on metal. He lifted his free left hand, touching Rena's shoulder with gloved fingertips—a gesture that was impossibly gentle yet unyielding as he tried to push her back.
"You want the truth about Riko? Then climb to the top," Ren said, locking onto her gaze with a terrifying clarity. "Claim that number one spot. Use it as a clean weapon. The filthy parts... leave those to me."
He paused, his voice dropping to a low, authoritative rasp. "Don't stain your hands with Rich City. Just be the idol they want."
Rena's fists clenched at her sides. Days ago, in that room with Zero, 'Number One' was just a figure—a business transaction to buy political leverage. She had hoped Ren was part of the Royalist Faction, a shortcut to the victory Zero promised.
But Ren had burned that hope to the ground. His denial of the Royalists, combined with her mother's name falling from his lips, felt like a death sentence for her original plan.
But he has something bigger, Rena thought, staring into Ren's amber eyes.
Before she could place her faith in this stranger, she needed one more thing. "Why...?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Why should I trust a ghost like you? Why do you care?"
Her gaze didn't soften. She was hunting for the lie.
Ren exhaled—a long, heavy sound weighted by a decade of ghosts. He looked through her, as if seeing into her very soul. "The Overture frequency—"
Rena recoiled as if struck by a live wire. That melody was a secret—a fragment of the warmth they once shared in a home that no longer existed. "You... you weren't just her patient, were you?" Her voice trembled, her demand turning into a desperate plea. "Stop hiding! Tell me who the hell you are!"
As Ren weighed his answer, his peripheral vision caught a flicker of movement in the shadows of the garden wall. His instincts screamed. They weren't alone. The truth about Riko was too dangerous for eavesdroppers.
Instantly, Ren slammed his emotional gates shut. He shifted his tone to something cold, clinical, and commanding—a shield to bar her entry.
"Riko and I are the past, and that's more than you can stomach right now," Ren cut her off. He leaned in, narrowing the gap until his voice was for her ears only. "If you want answers, you stay alive in CLOVER. And to do that, you need something to hold onto."
Rena started to protest, but Ren snatched her right hand. She felt the rough texture of the bandages wrapping his palm—a tactile reminder that this man had just crawled out of his own grave.
Ren stared intensely into her eyes, gauging if she was strong enough to carry the weight of his name.
"I'm going to give you a name," he whispered, his voice cold but heavy with significance. "But no one—absolutely no one—can know you have it."
Once he was sure she wouldn't look away, he turned her palm upward. His thumb pressed firmly against her wrist, steadying their trembling hands. Then, slowly, his gloved index finger began to trace invisible letters onto her soft skin.
R — E — N.
The movement was agonizingly slow, as if he were carving his name into an eternal monument. Rena felt every slide of his fingertip, a strange sensation blooming in her chest and radiating outward.
Ren... she breathed internally. A name so short, yet it felt monumental. She had expected the name of a Great House, a sprawling noble title. Instead, it was a single syllable—only one letter removed from her own name—as if it were the piece of herself she had been missing.
"That's my name," Ren said, breaking the spell. He released her hand, leaving a sudden, biting chill in its place.
Rena nodded slowly. That name was the first key to her mother's secrets—the first conscious bond she had forged with a man who was no longer a stranger.
The situation was far more precarious now. Without the Royalists, she would have to climb the idol ranks with nothing but her bare hands, betting everything on a public that Zero considered mere 'decoration.' But if Ren truly became her blade in the shadows, then the top spot was a price worth paying.
She looked at him differently now. He wasn't just a protector or a debt-collector. To Rena, Ren was the only variable Zero's system couldn't predict.
I'll do it my way, she vowed. I'll stand at the summit. And when I do, I'll have Zero's leverage in one hand and Ren's power in the other.
The silent pact was shattered by the shrill vibration of a phone. Ren glanced at the screen: Manager Giovanni.
Rena answered quickly, her face snapping back into the professional mask of an idol. On the other end, Giovanni's voice was urgent and demanding, telling her the transport was ready for the next quarantine location.
Seeing that name, Ren remembered the scout who had tried to drag Ciel into the corporate abyss. Fate was a sadistic playwright; he had saved Ciel, only for the same man to snare Rena. Fucking ironic, Ren thought bitterly. And irritating.
Rena lowered her phone, her eyes lingering on his, reluctant to break the connection. She gripped her phone, her fingers hovering over the screen as if she wanted to ask for something more tangible than a name written in air.
"Not yet," Ren interrupted, reading her mind. "We act as strangers. The world you're entering has eyes everywhere. If you truly need me, tell your manager to contact Clarissa."
Rena swallowed hard, disappointed but understanding the logic. She looked at him one last time, then slowly closed her right hand, clenching it tight as if locking the name 'Ren' inside her palm so it wouldn't evaporate in the morning air.
"I'm going," she whispered.
She turned and began to jog toward the hospital's glass doors. Her pink hair caught the wind, fluttering like cherry blossom petals drifting away. Ren remained there, leaning against the cold stone pillar, watching her silhouette until it vanished.
Who would have guessed? Along with his own mother, Luna—Riko was also a victim of the Marble Kingdom's rot. He had a path now. He would exterminate the rats nesting in the palace that killed his mother.
But he had to be careful. The puzzle was becoming a storm. He was certain this was all tied to the disappearance of the King and Queen on the night of the terror. A secret buried so deep it was meant to stay under the ruins forever.