Little Pink Starfish

The garden, of course, was far too large for one person to remove all the weeds by hand. From the start, Nyne had only given the order intending to make Gwen work hard and then punish him. But before the priest even had time to step into the garden to fetch him, Gwen was already walking out. Though Nyne hadn’t planned to make him work all night, Gwen’s confident return before being summoned made Nyne frown.

“Why are you already coming out? Have you finished pulling all the weeds?”

Gwen, with the linen cloth he’d tied foolishly around his head now draped over his shoulder, knelt before Nyne. Smiling brightly, he answered in an unbothered tone:

“Yes, Sha. I’ve removed all the weeds from the garden.”

“…What?”

Nyne was so surprised by the unexpected answer that he sat upright. Now that he looked, Gwen’s basket was indeed brimming with weeds. Even the priest who oversaw the garden’s maintenance widened his eyes at the sight.

“T-That’s not possible…”

The priest rummaged through the basket, then hurried into the garden. In the meantime, Nyne carefully examined Gwen. No matter how he looked, Gwen didn’t seem worn out. His skin, still slick with ointment, was barely tanned, and he wasn’t even sweating. He didn’t seem thirsty after labor, either.

Since it was clear no one had helped him, he must have done the task alone. But even Nyne, who had never pulled weeds before, knew it was unthinkable for one person to have cleaned the entire garden by himself. Surely he must have missed at least one or two weeds.

But when the garden priest returned, the report was quite different from Nyne’s expectations.

“Sha Nyne, in the garden… not a single weed could be found.”

He really did it all by himself? But how? Nyne looked at Gwen in disbelief. Gwen simply smiled and replied:

“I’m rather quick with my hands, Sha. And meticulous by nature.”

Only after a long pause did Nyne finally acknowledge his defeat. In a sour tone, he told Gwen to leave for the day. Watching Gwen retreat with light steps, Nyne asked the garden priest:

“Is it even possible for one person to pull all the weeds in the garden?”

“My apologies, Sha… In my personal opinion, I would say it’s nearly impossible.”

The priest broke out in a cold sweat as he answered. Nyne sighed deeply and rested his head on his hand, muttering:

“Indeed… Yiwu, it’s as you said. That’s what it means to do something outside the bounds of reason.”

“…Pardon? Ah—no, that’s not quite what I meant…”

Not that kind of unreasonable? Nyne turned to look at Yiwu, who seemed about to explain what kind of madness he’d truly meant—but then was silenced with another painful kick to the shin from Seinka Hoan.

With his first attempt at punishment thoroughly thwarted, Nyne summoned Gwen again the next day. Whether Gwen had used tricks for the weeding, Nyne now meant to test if the same would hold true for other tasks.

This time, Nyne locked Gwen in a remote chamber, ensuring he wouldn’t receive any help. Under the pretense of “learning proper knowledge,” he gave Gwen ten thick books and ordered him to copy them all by hand before the day’s end. With both door and window shut tight, not even a mouse could enter or leave. And, like the previous task, copying ten entire volumes in one day was all but impossible.

From a spot where he could watch the closed door, Nyne spent his day being pampered by priests. As Lu fed him sweet fruits, the door suddenly opened—sooner than it had the day before. Eyes wide, Nyne turned to see Gwen smiling as he stepped out, presenting ten freshly transcribed books.

“Sha Nyne, I have completed all the copies.”

“You copied all ten volumes?”

“Yes, Sha. If you’d like, please check that I transcribed them correctly.”

Nyne took the books in a daze and flipped through them. Each page was neatly filled with not a single line missing. He even pointed randomly to a passage and told Gwen to rewrite it—his handwriting matched perfectly.

Nyne, who had done copying work himself before, immediately recognized that this was absurd. There must be some trick. Did he prepare the pages beforehand? But there was nowhere on his body where he could’ve hidden such things… With no flaw in the result, Nyne had no choice but to let him go again that day—unsatisfied, but with no excuse for punishment.

The next day, Nyne gave Gwen a new task: to clean an especially large area so thoroughly that not a speck of dust remained. He had already told the priests not to clean the space in advance. This time, Nyne personally watched from a chair to make sure Gwen wasn’t up to any tricks.

Gwen examined the cleaning tools, picked up a broom, and started sweeping in the laziest, most lackadaisical manner possible. He barely seemed to be making any effort, and Nyne, growing suspicious, called him over. Under Popo’s sharp gaze, Gwen put the broom down and walked over with a light step.

“Yes, Sha. Did you call for me?”

“Do you think it’ll really get clean if you sweep like that?”

“Of course, Sha. It’s my special cleaning method. Just as you commanded, I will make it spotless.”

But no matter how Nyne looked at it, it didn’t seem like cleaning at all. Still, he threatened that if even a speck of dust remained, Gwen would be punished. Gwen returned to work, lazily dragging the broom and half-heartedly wiping pillars and floors with a rag.

“Popo, is there such a thing as a ‘special cleaning method’ that actually works like that?”

Nyne asked, eyes narrowed. Popo, still glaring at Gwen, shook her head firmly.

“With all due respect, Sha—no, that sort of effort will only make things worse. Even with special tools, cleaning is cleaning.”

Special tools? Gwen’s equipment was identical to what the priests used every day. Nyne narrowed his eyes and watched. His gaze flicked to Gwen’s calves, where faint scars from past lashings still lingered.

Reclined with a sweet palm wine in hand, Nyne sipped and read. After every page he turned, he’d glance over to watch Gwen lazily wipe or sweep. Then suddenly, he sat bolt upright and looked around.

“Lord Nyne, is something the matter?”

Seinka Hoan reacted quickly, while Yiwu also scanned the area, following Nyne’s gaze. Nyne furrowed his brow and lay back down.

“Just now… something like an ant…”

“An ant, my lord?”

Hearing that word, the attending priests jumped up and began scanning the room. In such a hot climate, pests often followed—and one priest was even tasked specifically with pest control. Yet the polished alabaster floor was sparkling and spotless.

“…Gone now?”

Nyne tilted his head. He could’ve sworn he’d felt something crawling—a vague sensation of tiny creatures skittering everywhere. He didn’t know how he sensed it, but the feeling had been strangely real. Still, with nothing to show for it, the priests knelt apologetically.

“Our apologies, Sha. We will redouble our efforts to maintain order.”

With a halfhearted gesture of dismissal, Nyne waved them off. The priests bowed deeply in thanks and began watching for bugs with eagle eyes.

Gwen’s lazy cleaning ended just as the sun began to set. The area was massive and filled with furniture and decorations, so simply walking across it took time. After setting the broom and rag aside, Gwen approached Nyne with a cheerful smile.

“The cleaning is complete, Sha.”

“…Is that so?”

Nyne looked to his aide. Popo gave a subtle signal. The priests, clearly displeased with Gwen’s effort, took this as their chance and began inspecting the space. All of them were experts, cleaning Nyne’s sanctum every day. If even a speck of dust remained, they’d be the first to point it out.

But no matter how closely they searched, they found not a single spot of dirt. Even Popo joined in, only to discover something astonishing.

“Wait, wasn’t there a blemish here before?”

One priest murmured in disbelief. Not only was everything shining, but a scratch that had previously marred the floor had somehow been repaired. Popo, though maintaining composure, twitched an eyebrow in clear disbelief. Nyne pressed Gwen.

“Lesha Gwen, how exactly did you do it?”

“With my special cleaning method, Sha.”

Gwen replied sweetly, bowing his head. Nyne had seen him clean with his own eyes and still couldn’t make sense of it. In the end, the priests had no grounds for complaint, and Gwen returned to Yeonhwa Hall unscathed.

And the next day, Nyne witnessed a few priests attempting to mimic Gwen’s “cleaning method”—only to be scolded sharply by Popo.