“What do you mean? Are you saying those flowers are supposed to be a different color?”

Annette asked sharply. She took great pride in her gardening skills and often went to great lengths to beautify the garden at Müiget Castle to showcase her talents.

As Annette looked at Caitlin, who seemed frustrated, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. Caitlin sighed deeply, gazing at Annette with pity, and replied, “They’re golden.”

“What?”

“Those brown peonies are now shimmering gold inside Verdura Castle.”

“No way. There’s no such color for flowers. Maybe yellow, but not gold.”

“I’m serious. From a distance, the petals were so shiny that I thought the garden was filled with gold coins.”

“Ha!”

Golden, of all colors.

Annette thought Caitlin was joking to tease her. But even as she smiled, Caitlin remained serious.

Annette’s smile quickly faded. If Caitlin’s words were true, all the plans she had worked so hard on could be ruined.

With disbelief, Annette went to Verdura Castle with Caitlin. Upon seeing the golden peonies sparkling in the middle of the garden, she froze.

“There’s no peony with that color.”

Peonies were one of Annette’s favorite flowers. She couldn’t possibly be unaware of the existence of golden peonies.

Without further thought, Annette marched into Verdura Castle just as Caitlin had done earlier that morning. Her steps were confident, as if she were walking into her own front yard.

Everyone seemed to be inside the castle; the garden was empty.

“Princess Annette, wait for me.”

Caitlin, who had followed her, asked breathlessly, just as Annette had uprooted a Golden Bloom seedling.

Even though it hadn’t been long since it was brought from Müiget Castle, its roots had grown strong, and as Annette yanked it out, there was a tearing sound as the small roots were ripped away.

The stem was also quite sturdy, feeling thicker and tougher than when it was at Müiget Castle.

But what irritated Annette the most were the petals that shone like real gold, just as Caitlin had described. Under the sunlight, the petals glistened even more brilliantly.

“Why didn’t it bloom like this in my garden? Why here, of all places?”

Her voice was full of resentment, as if blaming the flower for everything. The old Verdura Castle didn’t seem like a place where such vibrant flowers should bloom.

“Who goes there?”

As Annette stood holding the Golden Bloom, a man’s voice suddenly interrupted.

Annoyed, Annette turned her head toward the sound and saw a gardener, clothes dirty with soil, approaching them. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be a gardener from Verdura Castle.

Annette casually tossed the Golden Bloom she was holding onto the ground as if she was discarding trash. The petals fluttered like butterflies before falling to the ground.

“No! That precious flower!”

Doodle noticed the Golden Bloom on the ground before he saw Princess Annette. He was horrified at the sight of the uprooted flower. Just as Doodle hurriedly picked up the Golden Bloom seedling at Annette’s feet,

Annette, watching his every move with disdain, stepped on Doodle’s broad back with her shoe, pressing down mercilessly.

“Aagh!”

Caitlin was startled by Doodle’s scream, but Annette didn’t even blink.

“Who are you to not show respect upon seeing me? Surely, you’re not claiming to be royalty or nobility in that state.”

Only then did Doodle realize his mistake, but Annette’s foot had already crushed his hand. He groaned in pain, not knowing what to do.

“Ugh! I-I’m sorry, Princess. I didn’t realize… I’m truly sorry. Ugh.”

Doodle tried to free his hand while crouched, but the princess wouldn’t budge. He feared that if he accidentally caused the princess to fall while trying to free his trapped hand, he would face severe punishment.

Thanks to the rumors he had picked up while frequenting the royal palace, Doodle concluded that he had to endure the pain.

As he was silently enduring, a white hand suddenly appeared and harshly pushed Annette’s foot away. Even in this situation, Doodle first checked that the princess hadn’t fallen after stepping on his hand.

“Doodle, are you alright?”

It was Princess Stella who had come to his rescue.

“I’m fine, Princess. Thank you.”

Doodle bowed repeatedly, clutching his injured hand. His hand was swollen and covered with scratches from being stomped on so hard.

Stella wrapped his hand with a handkerchief, then turned to Annette, who had caused this ridiculous scene, and shouted fiercely,

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

Annette was caught off guard when Stella suddenly raised her voice at her. For a moment, she appeared shocked, but she quickly regained her composure and responded coolly.

“I was simply teaching a lesson to someone who doesn’t know how to show respect.”

Annette’s voice was confident and unapologetic. Stella, noticing Doodle standing there nervously, decided to send him away first.

“Don’t worry about this and just step aside for now.”

“But, Princess…”

“Go inside.”

Reluctantly, Doodle backed away as Stella repeated her command. However, he couldn’t just ignore what was happening, even though Stella had instructed him to.

From a distance, he watched the three princesses with anxious eyes, feeling as if everything was his fault.

“You do realize this is my castle, don’t you?”

“Oh, can this even be called a castle? It’s so old and shabby that I didn’t recognize it as one.”

In response to Stella’s icy question, Annette replied childishly.

When Annette first arrived, she seemed like a wonderful and impressive princess who was loved in her homeland and recognized by other princesses here.

But now, it was clear that Annette was self-centered, believing she should always be the center of the world. She seemed no better, perhaps even worse, than Beatrice.

Stella’s voice became sharper than before.

“So what brings you to such an old and shabby place? And without the host’s invitation, no less. Since this morning, in turns.”

As Stella looked directly at her, Caitlin flinched in surprise.

“And you’ve even damaged the garden’s flowers.”

Her calm words were directed at Annette. Stella gritted her teeth upon seeing the discarded flower on the ground.

The Golden Bloom, uprooted and crushed under Annette’s shoe, lay there with its stem broken and petals shattered.

Despite being in ruins on the ground, the Golden Bloom’s petals still shone brilliantly in gold.

“I’ll just take my flower back.”

Annette said shamelessly, as if it was nothing.

“But this is the flower you gave me, Annette.”

Stella replied firmly, but the problem was that Annette was even more shameless than Stella had anticipated.

“No, what I gave you was a dull, lifeless brown peony. It wasn’t a flower that shone golden like this.”

Annette now forgot to be formal and insisted like a child.

“Exactly. What you gave me was indeed a dull brown peony. But anyone can see this isn’t a brown peony, right? So this is my flower in my garden.”

“You tricked me! You knew it would turn golden soon and took it on purpose!”

Annette, having lost her temper, raised her voice without any regard for formality.

“On that day, you clearly said you were going to uproot the peonies. I said I’d take them if you were going to throw them away. You gladly told me to take them, and you gave me not only the brown peonies but also the purple-tinged ones as a gift.”

Stella’s tone was very firm.

“That… that was!”

The more Annette talked with Stella, the more she found herself at a loss for words. But Annette wasn’t the type to back down easily.

She glared at Stella, who looked at her with disdain, and then she marched into the flower bed full of peonies.

“If I can’t have it, no one can.”

There was no time to stop her. Annette grabbed a bunch of peony flowers around her and tore them apart as if she were pulling out strands of hair.

“What are you doing!”

Stella rushed to stop her, but it was no use. Annette rampaged through Stella’s flower bed like a madwoman.

“Princess Annette!”

“Now do you see what you’ve done?”

Annette asked, pointing at the flowers she had trampled and ruined. Without waiting for Stella’s reply, she left Verdura and immediately sent for four servants. They were the same ones who had brought the seedlings from Müiget.

“We’re here on an errand for Princess Annette.”

The four servants bowed stiffly and then transplanted the Golden Bloom, roots and all, into a cart filled with soil.

“Ha!”

Stella could do nothing but clench her fists tightly as she watched the Golden Bloom being uprooted with a crunching sound.

Every time she heard the roots being torn out, the earth fairies gasped in shock.

Soon after, the servants, who had come in like a tide, quickly left with the uprooted Golden Bloom.

Looking at the empty spot where the flowers had been, Stella felt a hole not only in the middle of the garden but also in her heart.

She felt so pathetic for not being able to protect even a single flower and having it taken from her that she let out a hollow laugh.

Gazing at the empty garden with a dazed look, she shifted her eyes to the Golden Bloom she had set aside.

Before the servants arrived, Stella had moved it to the side to prevent further damage.

Though it was trampled and in ruins, the Golden Bloom’s petals still shone beautifully in gold. It seemed to be smiling despite its battered state, which made her heart ache.

It was then that the ground around the Golden Bloom began to bulge, and earth fairies popped out of the soil like sprouts.

The first fairy to emerge from the dirt ran over to the Golden Bloom, inspecting it closely, and exclaimed in a delighted voice.

“It’s not dead yet.”

The other fairies gathered around the Golden Bloom as well.

“You’re right! We can plant the new shoots!”

“Stella, we’ll help you. We’ll ensure the Golden Bloom thrives.”

Without any prompting from Stella, the earth fairies gently separated the new shoots from where they were connected to the roots.

That same day, the fairies planted the four separated shoots, while Ark spent the entire day moving around the area, bestowing blessings.