The Peony Field

'BEYOND THE PEONY Field' was a heart-wrenching tragedy that centered around a young noble boy. Spade told the story with gusto, reciting the storyline from his memory, often displaying looks of melancholy as he went through the highs and lows of the plot.

Like all good stories, this one, too, started with a classic 'once upon a time'.

The young noble boy, Silas, was more of a servant than a master in his own family. He was born into riches, the son of a powerful and respected duke in a make-believe world. However, although Silas had an influential father that knew how to work his way around the royal court, Silas's mother was less than remarkable. She was a mere barmaid that had wormed her way into the duke's bed one winter night and was lucky enough to birth a healthy baby boy.

Silas grew to the age of ten without seeing his father even once. He was kept by his mother's side, helping around the busy pub even as a child. His mother, of course, often told him tall tales about how his father was a distinguished figure in high society and would one day bring both mother and son back to live with him. Alas, that was never meant to be.

As a decade rolled by, Silas nor his mother had received any news from the duke. In fact, the only word that went around the street when Silas was just three-years-old was that the duke had apparently gotten married to the kingdom's princess and together, they welcomed a baby boy who was dearly loved by both their parents. Even after hearing that news, Silas's mother refused to give up hope.

Until one day, the duchess herself strolled onto the streets and stopped right outside the pub, demanding for Silas's mother to be forcefully dragged out. Somehow, the duchess had caught wind of the duke's illegitimate son from prior to their wedding. Enraged, she demanded the woman be banished from the kingdom, using her position as a favored princess to convince the king to make such a ridiculous command.

The poor peasant woman was called names, publicly humiliated, and eventually driven out of her workplace and onto the road. She was about to leave with nothing more than the clothes on her back, her young child, and a few coins in her pockets when the duke had suddenly arrived at the scene. At the sight of his son, the duke paid Silas's mother a few pieces of gold in exchange for her child, much to the vehemence of the duchess. With the exchange complete, Silas's mother was exiled from the kingdom due to one small mistake and a child was separated from his mother.

Perhaps in some fairytales, Silas would've gone from rags to riches overnight. However, although he was the duke's flesh and blood, he was treated no more than a servant. He was tasked with the duty of waiting on the duke and duchess's son and official heir, Hayes, and the two brothers grew up with a status imbalance.

Hayes grew up with the best his parents could provide. He was fed good food every single day and offered the best tutors to ensure his bright future. The clothing that hung from his physique was made with the finest silks and furs, some of which were brought back from hunts that his father attended with the rest of the royal court.

On the other hand, Silas wore cotton, the very same four pieces that he owned for the last couple of years. He was only ever bought ready-made clothes from the market and even at that, new clothing pieces were only supplied to him whenever his old ones got torn beyond salvation or if he had grown too much out of it. Whatever food he was fed was always cold, the leftovers of Hayes's sumptuous dinner. Occasionally, he wouldn't even have dinner at all if it weren't for the kind servant girl Silas had befriended.

Peony, a young servant that was the same age as Hayes, worked diligently in the kitchens day and night. She had been Silas's first and only friend in the large mansion, his only safe haven in hell's vast territory. On more than one occasion, she snuck food to him — still warm and hearty despite being nothing more than a few slices of bread and soup — and had risked facing punishment just to do so. Against all odds and almost like the fairytale Silas should've had, love blossomed between the two friends as they grew into adulthood.

On Silas's twentieth birthday, he and Peony had planned to escape the duke's mansion in search of his mother. He wasn't sure if she was even alive still but the land was vast and the heavens are said to be forgiving. As such, Silas believed that his mother, wherever she may be, was still alive. The duchess had ruled with an iron fist, often waving a horsewhip around to punish any servant that had acted out of place. Silas himself had been a victim of his whip more than once, often pushed to carry the burden of whatever mistake Hayes had committed.

He could bear no longer. Those mistakes were not his to be punished for.

Regrettably, on the night that the two leading characters were to escape, their plans were found out by Hayes. Under his mother's instructions, Hayes led a group of men to apprehend his older half-brother and the servant girl that had escaped.

The two were eventually cornered with nowhere else to run. In the end, Peony sacrificed herself to serve as a distraction to lead the men away from Silas, allowing him to run. He had refused to leave her behind but upon her insistence, he reluctantly slinked away into the night and out of the kingdom's borders on a stolen horse. Peony, on the other hand, was never heard from again.

Many years soon passed and Silas lived as an ordinary peasant in a neighboring country. His house was nothing more than a simple cottage that had seen better days and the only sign of vibrancy was the sprawling peony field he had planted right behind his cottage as a tribute to the girl that had sold her life to buy his freedom. Silas had never found his mother, living alone for almost a decade before his nightmare soon caught up to him.

Afraid that he might stake a claim to the title as an heir, Hayes eventually tracked his half-brother down. Brutally, he brought down his sword as Silas worked in the peony field, not knowing of his attacker behind him. Seriously wounded, Silas laid in the middle of the flowers, bleeding out as Hayes walked away knowing that the former would not be able to survive those fatal injuries.

"In Silas's final moments, the pink petals from the peonies took the shape of a familiar woman which Silas was indebted to. He saw the servant girl he was in love with standing a short distance away with her arms stretched open as if waiting for him to return to her embrace. At the sight of her, he finally genuinely smiled for the first time in nearly ten years before passing away. His body might've been left in the grass but his spirit was able to reunite with someone he had longed to see for what felt like a lifetime," Spade narrated.

Alice, who had been listening to Spade's summary intently, felt a bead of tears slowly trickling down from the corner of her eye. Although the world around them was still loud and lively, her heart felt heavy with melancholy. She hadn't fathomed that such a delicate-looking and inconspicuous book would have such a tragic ending.

Wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, Alice took in a deep breath, blowing out the air and allowing it to send the hair that had fallen over her eyes flying.

"That was beautiful and utterly heartbreaking at the same time." She hiccuped, sniffling. "Do you know who the author of the book is by any chance?"

Spade only offered a cryptic smile. Lifting the mug to his lips, he quickly finished whatever was left of his drink, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. When he was done, he set it back down to the table, his fingers still gripping the handle of the mug.

"Perhaps," he started, staring at the table as his words paused. Then, he looked up. "Perhaps the name isn't written on the cover of the book because the author doesn't wish to be identified. It is difficult to find the people who do not wish to be found, just like how Hayes took nearly a decade to locate Silas."

Alice wrinkled her nose, a prenomination in her mind as she stared at Spade apprehensively.

"Will there be a sequel? Maybe a story that tells Silas's happily-ever-after with Peony in another life?" she asked.

Spade let out a short bark of laughter. "There is no other life. There is only reality and then there are useless daydreams. People simply choose the one they prefer and they live in that version of the world. I, for one, would prefer to live in reality." His eyes almost seemed to glow in the dim amber light as he slightly tilted his head, smirking ambiguously. "Wouldn't you?"