The Night Belongs to the Moon | Taeyong

20 | Winter Garden Whimsy

The setting sun was glowing a faint orange through the mist covered sky. Doyoung had been around the Night Mansion twice in search of Taeyong but the Lord was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was about to give up, he found one of the gardeners strolling leisurely down the corridor and was then informed of Taeyong's whereabouts – the gardeners of the Winter Garden were dismissed early that evening and Taeyong had been inside since then.

The Winter Garden was the most alluring part of the Night Mansion. The flowers that grew there were nourished not by water and sunlight but by powerful and rare ancient magic that required the most skilled workers. The trees that stood there could be traced back to centuries ago with varieties unseen and unheard of.

Located on the roof towards the back of the Mansion, it took Doyoung a long while before he reached the wrought iron doors of the Winter Garden. Behind those doors lay a land of an undisturbed white sleeping soundly away from the eyes of the others in its glass enclosure. In the purple light of twilight, the tall white trees lined the sides, their branches arching above from which hung snow white wisteria. There was no soil but only snow stretching far beyond the eyes could see. Flowers of varying shades of white lay quietly in this enclosure, translucent and soft. A few metres ahead in the middle a waterfall cascaded from the ceiling with no source of water except the glass above it, falling into a small pond surrounded by statues of the colour ivory.

Behind this sheet of water, Doyoung finally found Taeyong. Dressed in overalls, he was sitting at the end of a long row of glittering flower pods, digging a new hole in the ground.

'My Lord,' Doyoung greeted and waited.

'Mn,' Taeyong replied, without looking.

'What are you doing?'

'Gardening, of course,' Taeyong said.

'I can see that but why are you gardening when there are people for it?'

'Are you questioning my skills?'

'Not at all,' Doyoung replied.

'You don't have to talk so formally to me when it's just us two.'

'I know.'

'Yet you insist on doing so.'

'Mhm.'

Taeyong chuckled then placed the small shovel on the snowy ground next to the hole he had just dug and from the front pocket of his overalls took out a tiny seed. Gently, he set the seed down in the hole and buried it in the snow.

'I am planting flowers for Dal-ae,' Taeyong said and moved to the next spot in the row. The seed which was just planted, rose from the ground into a white stem and leaves with a small bud on the top.

'I heard that humans wait for flowers when the winter ends,' he said.

Doyoung bent over and took a closer look at the bud. 'It's a Moonflower.'

'Hm, only blooms at night. I think she will like it,' Taeyong said and whipped his hand around the flower. A shimmering light encircled the small bud until it solidified itself into a crystal enclosure around it. 'This will protect it till it blooms in spring.'

Doyoung watched him carefully – the glee in his voice, the softness in his eyes and all the magic that he put into the flower crystals which were now upwards of hundred.

'You should stop drinking her blood,' Doyoung blurted out.

'I don't want to,' Taeyong replied, evenly.

'You are the Vampire Lord.'

'I am aware of that.'

'Are you?'