“Hold on, Yuri. I’m coming up.”

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Unlike me, already in my pajamas and ready for bed, Yuri sat on the windowsill in his shirt and pants.

‘I thought he would be like this.’

It seemed he was expecting another restless night. Entering Yuri’s room, I tapped on the sleeping bag he used instead of a bed and said, “Lie down.”

“What?”

“I’m going to cast a spell so you won’t have nightmares.”

“A spell?”

Yuri chuckled at my words.

Talking about magic in front of a real mage might sound a bit silly, right? My cheeks nearly turned red, but I held my head high shamelessly.

“Hug the cushion and close your eyes.”

Yuri obediently lay down and hugged the cushion I placed on his stomach with both hands. I then set a warm water bag over his eyes.

“What’s this?”

“A warm water bag.”

This was my go-to method whenever I couldn’t sleep. Warming the eyes somehow released tension throughout the body and calmed frayed nerves.

I smiled and asked, “Doesn’t it make you feel relaxed?”

“…Yeah, it does.”

Thankfully, it seemed to work on Yuri too, as his voice sounded a bit slower.

‘Listening to music would make it perfect, but singing a lullaby might be too much.’

I chose to quietly stay by Yuri’s side. After sitting still for a while, just when I thought he might have fallen asleep, Yuri suddenly asked, “Do you have nightmares often, Titi?”

“Kind of.”

“What kind of nightmares do you usually have?”

“Sometimes they’re about past events repeating, or seeing my future self unhappy.”

A nightmare is a nightmare, right? I chuckled and added, “But it’s okay because I’m happy now.”

“…”

Maybe because I wasn’t looking him in the eye, I found myself speaking more honestly than usual.

“You say it’s a five-year contract relationship, but the reason I’m happy now is all thanks to you. So I want you to be happy too. In that sense, I hope you do what you love.”

After lying quietly for a long time, Yuri replied in a very soft voice, “Thank you, Titi.”

His voice was so gentle that I almost thought I misheard him.

***

Today was the day for the regular report from the Esrenche Trading Company. Yujin, who was visiting the main branch for the first time in a while, frowned as he saw two people arriving later than scheduled.

“Where have you been?”

“Sorry for being late, my lord.”

The two individuals, flustered, bowed their heads in the face of Yujin’s anger and explained their tardiness. During their explanation, they mentioned Yuri’s name, who had left the family long ago.

“We saw someone who looked like Young Master Yuri, so we followed them.”

“Someone similar?”

“There was a silver-haired woman with him…”

Though a particular person came to mind, Yujin dismissed their claim with a cold voice.

“Yuri wouldn’t be the type to wander around the market with someone.”

“We must have been mistaken.”

“We apologize!”

After that, the routine report continued. The retainers soon forgot about Yuri and returned to their work, but Yujin’s thoughts drifted elsewhere.

‘That woman.’

The small, pretty woman who had opened a flower shop in Yuri’s building came to mind.

“I don’t think I need to tell you who I’ve contracted with. Whoever the owner is, I’ve made the deal, so it’s none of your business.”

When he heard those words, Yujin scoffed at her. He didn’t believe Yuri would actually give her the building.

But was it not a lie?

If it wasn’t…

She might be someone special to Yuri.

“……”

The thought of Yuri being connected to her filled Yujin with a different kind of discomfort. It was a mix of guilt and self-reproach for hastily dismissing her words as lies, along with anger at his own rashness.

The retainers, unaware of what troubled Yujin, merely rolled their eyes at the chilly atmosphere. Meanwhile, the retainer in charge of imperial affairs suddenly presented a box.

“All the items to be sent to Princess Sabina are in here.”

“…You’ve worked hard.”

Now Yujin’s mind became tangled with thoughts of Sabina as well.

‘Princess Sabina is still obsessed with Yuri.’

Yujin let out a deep sigh and stood up.

‘I need to address this quickly.’

***

The method for creating blue roses spread throughout the capital faster than I had expected.

‘I thought it would last at least a month.’

Was it because the blue roses I made had become too famous? With the method of making blue roses quickly and widely known, the number of customers at the shop had halved.

‘At this rate, I can’t just work in the mornings.’

Even though we were the original sellers and some loyal customers continued to come, it wasn’t like before.

Anyway, I had gotten up early to sell blue roses with Yuri, but quite a few remained unsold. Noticing the significant drop in revenue, Yuri looked worried.

“What should we do?”

I shrugged.

“What do you mean, what should we do? That’s how business works. The trendier the product, the shorter the time you have to sell it.”

“But still…”

Had he genuinely become invested in the business? Seeing Yuri so different from before was both admirable and endearing.

“Think of this as your last break and enjoy it. We’ll be busy soon enough.”

Yuri still looked skeptical and gloomy, not entirely convinced by my confident assurance.

Since I wasn’t planning on making rainbow roses just yet, I decided to send him on an errand instead of explaining my next business idea.

“Yuri, could you run to the grocery store? We’re out of pasta. Please pick up pasta, eggs, butter, and milk.”

Being quite skilled in cooking, Yuri quickly deduced today’s menu from the ingredients.

“Is today’s lunch cream pasta?”

“Exactly! I’m tired of tomato pasta. Today, it’s cream pasta.”

I nodded enthusiastically. Hearing my spirited response, Yuri smiled softly and said, “Then I’ll need to buy some bacon too. You don’t like vegetables and only love meat, right, Titi?”

His words made me flinch. It was true that I was a picky eater, but I had been trying hard not to show it!

Cream pasta loaded with bacon! Just imagining it made my mouth water.

As I pictured the bacon drenched in cream sauce, Yuri chuckled, as if he had anticipated my reaction. Realizing he was teasing me, I nudged his back playfully.

“Th-that’s not true! Just go already!”

“Is that so? Then I guess I’ll just get a lot of cabbage instead of bacon…”

“…That won’t do.”

No way could cabbage replace bacon.

At my response, Yuri’s eyes curved into crescents as he lightly tapped my forehead with his index finger.

“Stop being so cute.”

Then he waved goodbye and left, promising to return from the grocery store soon.

I pouted and rubbed my forehead where he had tapped.

‘What does he even think of me?’

With Yuri gone, I picked up a broom.

‘Whew, maybe I’ll clean the shop until he gets back?’

But after sweeping and mopping, I couldn’t think of what else to do.

I had opened this flower shop with the grand ambition of growing rare flowers that would soon skyrocket in price and selling them at a premium, yet it wasn’t busy.

‘It’s not time for flower prices to spike yet.’

The initial rush with blue roses hadn’t been part of my original plan.

But humans were adaptable creatures. Suddenly having free time felt unsettling.

I shook my head.

“No need to rush. Let’s calmly do what I need to do.”

After all, I already knew the future.

‘I need to wait a bit longer for the rainbow roses. Until everyone gets tired of blue roses.’

Even though things had slowed down, by a little past noon, all the blue roses had sold. I needed to wait a bit longer to start a new trend.

‘I shouldn’t just say that to Yuri. I should think of this as my last break too.’

With that thought in mind, I slipped on my work gloves, and just then, the shop door swung open, letting in a gust of air that fluttered my pink hair. Reflexively, I greeted the customer with a bright smile, but the moment I met their gaze, my expression fell.

‘Why is this person here again?’

I had thought Yuri had returned, but it was Yujin who walked through the door, not Yuri.

He wore a sleek jacket that accentuated his physique, holding a small paper bag that seemed out of place with his outfit.

Meeting my gaze, he tilted his head slightly.

“It’s rare for someone to look at me like that…”

His self-esteem was through the roof.

“What is it? What brings you here?”

Instead of answering, Yujin strode into the shop. As he stood before me, a large shadow loomed over me.

‘Ugh, why am I so tense?’

Even though he was similar in height and appearance to Yuri, the aura he exuded was completely different. A sense of pressure I had never felt with Yuri weighed down on me.

Not wanting to show that I was intimidated, I glared back more intensely.

—

T/N: Okay, why do I honestly kind of ship it? 😳