Selvia’s heart raced again. Her gaze couldn’t leave his smile.

Ratius extended his hand and asked her.

“Now that training is over, would you like to have some tea with me?”

“Should we? I have something to discuss too.”

Selvia took Ratius’s hand.

She also had things to ask. As her lessons were ending, they needed to start discussing her social debut.

She felt warmth again in their joined hands.

The two left the training ground and headed to the garden.

Though she thought they would talk in the garden, Ratius didn’t slow his steps.

While walking slowly to match Selvia’s pace, he continued deeper inside.

“Let’s go to the greenhouse prepared inside.”

“I think this is my first time going to the greenhouse.”

“I thought you might feel stuffy staying indoors all the time, so I had it prepared.”

“Thank you for being considerate.”

Ratius shrugged. Yet he didn’t take his eyes off Selvia as she looked around.

Her eyes widened whenever fragrant flower scents brushed past her nose in the breeze.

The path they walked was lined with trees proudly displaying green leaves and various flowers swaying in the wind.

“There seem to be many flowers.”

“Really? I thought there weren’t enough, so I’m planning to plant more.”

“Even more than this?”

Selvia’s eyes grew even larger.

Ratius controlled his expression, pulling down his constantly rising lips.

“Do you have a favorite flower?”

“Hmm……”

Selvia shifted her gaze and spotted delphiniums that resembled him.

“There is a flower I’ve recently come to like.”

Ratius’s gaze also turned to the delphiniums Selvia was looking at.

It seemed she liked the delphiniums he had placed as a welcome.

The corners of his mouth kept twitching with his improved mood.

The greenhouse they arrived at was also decorated with flowers alongside pre-prepared tea.

The waiting maid immediately poured tea into cups.

Selvia sat in the chair Ratius pulled out for her and stared at the flowers placed on the table.

‘It must not be easy to grow flowers with weak sunlight.’

The greenhouse was luxurious as if completely unaffected.

Moreover, being made of transparent domes, the surroundings were all visible.

“Don’t worry. They can’t see inside from outside, so no one will know what we discuss.”

“The Empire has many amazing things.”

Selvia’s gaze naturally turned to the maid.

“That child cannot hear. So you can feel at ease.”

“Ah……”

She nodded and withdrew her gaze.

“Oh right, we received contact from the Kingdom of Delpheron. You heard about it?”

Ratius nodded. It seemed his shadow was faithfully delivering news.

“I know. I was thinking we should start preparing too.”

“Won’t there be opposition from the nobles?”

“I don’t think so. Even if there is, they won’t be able to oppose much, so don’t worry.”

He smiled and handed her a pear pie.

“After you finish your tea, I’ll show you something interesting.”

Selvia cut a small piece of pie, put it in her mouth, and tilted her head.

“Just leave about one sip.”

“Hmm?”

Looking at the teacup, she saw unfiltered dregs mixed in.

Though curious, Selvia slowly savored the tea.

She added sugar to the well-steeped black tea and stirred.

“The High Priest will come tomorrow. Will you observe?”

“That’s the plan.”

Though she expected it, his immediate answer made her laugh.

Hahaha. Selvia laughed softly without realizing.

Ratius, undeterred, asked her with a serious expression.

“With the High Priest…… couldn’t you avoid direct transfer?”

“I think we need to check direct transfer too to know the difference.”

“Then I definitely need to observe.”

At Ratius’s words, Selvia shook her head and set down her teacup.

“One sip left.”

“I hear something interesting has become popular lately. It seems quite accurate.”

He took Selvia’s teacup, gathered the tea leaves, and turned it left a couple times before flipping it upside down on the saucer and tapping it.

Lifting the cup, Ratius showed her the dregs on the plate.

“What is this?”

“Tea leaf reading. They say it shows future events through the dregs.”

“The shape……”

It looked like a three-leaf clover, or perhaps shackles. The shape of the letter R also caught her eye.

“It says a man with the initial R brought luck, so hold tight to him.”

“Are you interpreting that correctly?”

“Doesn’t it look that way? I think it fits quite well.”

Ratius smiled and propped his chin. Though she felt somewhat tricked, the shapes were really there, so she dismissed her doubts.

“How fascinating. Let’s look at Your Majesty’s too.”

At her words, Ratius also left one sip and flipped his cup the same way.

Another pattern appeared on the saucer.

A heart shape, the initial S, and connected strings were visible.

“It says someone closeby has fallen in love with someone whose initial is S.”

“Hmm, that interpretation seems a bit biased.”

“That’s how fortune-telling works.”

Ratius played innocent. Seeing him, Selvia narrowed her eyes and looked at the tea leaves once more.

“Next time, I want to try reading.”

“You don’t trust me too much?”

Selvia mimicked his earlier action. She shrugged and smiled.

Her face heated up at their meeting gazes. If she kept looking like this, she felt she might be enchanted without realizing.

Feeling like she might nod at whatever he said, she smiled and stood up.

“Shall we go now? It seems late.”

“Somehow time seems to pass quickly when I’m with you.”

He felt regretful about every minute and second passing.

Whenever he was with her, he wished time would just stop.

Contrary to Ratius’s feelings, time flowed well.

“Then I’ll escort you to your room.”

She took his offered hand again. The two walked back through the garden in silence along the path they had come.

Standing before her room, he kissed her hand before stepping back.

She turned around without lingering and quietly watched Ratius heading to his room.

She thought he would look back once, but he didn’t look back at all.

“What was I expecting?”

Could it be that she hoped he would come into her room?

Selvia hurriedly entered her room while covering her cheeks with both hands.

* * *

As morning dawned, Selvia finished her grooming without fail.

‘I’m nervous.’

She regulated her breathing while clenching and unclenching her hands. For some reason, unlike with Ratius, training with the High Priest didn’t seem like it would go smoothly.

There would definitely be rejection reactions. Selvia took a sip of holy water dropped in her teacup before standing up.

She was conscious of Ratius observing, but there shouldn’t be any problems.

Selvia left the room with Mellin. She hurried a bit since Amon was coming in the afternoon.

At the training ground, Amon bowed his head to Selvia in greeting.

“You’ve come, Lady Selvia.”

“It feels like it’s been a while. I received the holy water well.”

She glanced around the training ground. It seemed Ratius hadn’t arrived yet.

“How was training with His Majesty?”

“There was no rejection reaction.”

“Then when you train with me today, you’ll clearly see the difference.”

“The comparison should be clear.”

Selvia nodded. Amon started training right away without wasting time.

He immediately extended his hand to Selvia.

“May I have your hand?”

“Aren’t you going to check with objects first?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Selvia showed confusion at Amon’s action to immediately transfer holy power directly.

She thought he would train step by step, but apparently not.

Of course, nothing was as certain as direct holy power transfer.

Amon carefully took the hand she offered.

As he slowly channeled holy power, Selvia’s expression immediately changed.

“Ugh……”

“You’re reacting right away. Can you feel the difference?”

She nodded.

The feeling of holy power flowing through her body wasn’t good. As the rejection reaction gradually strengthened, the shadow at her feet rippled violently.

Amon didn’t stop but infused even stronger power.

He needed to check how long she could endure.

“Kuhek……”

“Tell me when it becomes too hard to endure.”

Selvia bit her lip and endured.

‘Just a bit more, just a little more.’

She tried to discover differences while feeling the increasingly flowing holy power.

While Ratius’s power felt like her body was accepting it, this felt like it was being pushed away.

Though Selvia tried to endure tenaciously, she couldn’t last long either.

When she reached her limit, blood surged up in her throat again.

Amon supported Selvia as she collapsed, her strength giving out.

“……Selvia?”

Arriving at the training ground, Ratius furrowed his brow at the sight of the two.

His gaze moved from Selvia in Amon’s arms to the bright red blood scattered on the floor.