While it was delightful to find someone to discuss romance books with, Merrien suddenly worried that she might be leading Charlotte down the wrong path.

Though it felt a bit late for such concerns, the thought suddenly troubled her.

“Wow… The garden is so beautiful too.”

But seeing her attention quickly shift to admiring the garden, Merrien just smiled warmly.

She must have had no time for hobbies after leaving her kingdom for this unfamiliar place.

However, as Merrien looked around with her, something seemed odd.

‘The garden seems different somehow. Am I imagining it?’

I don’t think there were this many roses before. Yellow roses, pink roses, all sorts of roses were arranged by color.

It wasn’t how she remembered it at all.

“Come to think of it, there are so many roses. Someone must really love roses.”

It wasn’t just her imagination.

Charlotte, who had been continuously praising the outer garden’s beauty, specifically pointed out the ‘roses’ with an enchanted expression she couldn’t hide.

“Someone must really love roses.”

“Someone must really love roses.”

For some reason, those casually spoken words by Charlotte kept echoing in Merrien’s ears.

‘Could it be that he planted these after hearing me say the rose garden was pretty when we went to the salon?’

She had mentioned it casually then, wanting to change the awkward atmosphere and suggesting he look outside since he couldn’t go out much due to being sick.

Ariel hadn’t seemed to pay particular attention at the time.

And yet now…

She had promised herself just hours ago that she wouldn’t cry again, but here she was, getting emotional once more.

Merrien quickly blinked her eyes to clear them.

Then she slowly looked down at the roses.

She pictured the person who naturally came to mind.

“Yes, I love them.”

Both the roses. And Ariel.

Instead of speaking the words she couldn’t say, she gently touched a rose petal.

A slightly shy smile escaped her lips, one that Ariel would have surely teased her about. Her face was flushed red.

But then.

“…Huh?”

Merrien noticed something and instinctively raised a question in her mind.

Behind Charlotte, there was a space that seemed completely different from the outer garden, as if it belonged somewhere else entirely.

It looked bizarre, as if that section had been cut out from somewhere else and pasted there.

“What’s wrong, Merrien?”

Seeing Merrien, who had been smiling shyly just moments ago, freeze as if she’d seen something strange, Charlotte worriedly checked her expression.

There was no response, and even when she turned to follow Merrien’s gaze, she couldn’t find anything unusual.

‘There’s a bench and flower paths, so it’s definitely a garden…’

But it’s not the outer garden. It had a completely different atmosphere.

But why? It seemed familiar, like something she’d seen often…

Wait a minute.

‘…That’s the temple’s secret garden!’

Merrien stood frozen, her mouth agape, like a clockwork doll that had suddenly stopped working.

“Merrien? Merrien?”

Now Charlotte was even waving her hand in front of Merrien’s face.

It was natural to be concerned when someone who had been walking fine beside you suddenly stopped dead in their tracks.

But Merrien could only see the secret garden.

Not noticing the waving hand at all, she suddenly ran off somewhere.

“Merrien!”

To Charlotte’s eyes, she ran toward an unremarkable area with particularly abundant grass.

As soon as Merrien stepped into that isolated space without hesitation, she realized that everything, starting from the ground, had transformed instantly.

“!!!”

When she looked up startled to survey her surroundings, amazingly, she found herself standing in that garden she used to escape to whenever she wanted to flee the temple.

“…This really is the secret garden?”

So was this a portal connecting to this place?

There was also an out-of-place space here too. Inside it was the outer garden of House Hartez.

Come to think of it, the sensation she felt while crossing over wasn’t unfamiliar.

That peculiar feeling of floating – it was exactly the same as when she was kidnapped by Ariel in his Whitey form.

Merrien looked around as she slowly walked.

In the past, the garden had been immaculately maintained, showing clear signs of regular care.

Now the grass had grown wild and unruly vines had wrapped themselves around the bench.

“Then…”

She stopped still, seriously stroking her chin.

The temple’s secret garden is connected to House Hartez by a portal.

And there was only one person who used to visit this place every day.

Ah! She snapped her fingers.

“So that’s why you kept coming to the secret garden as Whitey!”

Because Ariel created this space himself!

It was the perfect answer.

She didn’t even have time to feel the joy of her discovery.

Merrien hurriedly returned to the original space.

Coming back was simple.

Stepping into the space where House Hartez’s outer garden was visible—like a window cut into reality itself—she found herself back at her original location.

She gestured immediately toward the white-haired figure and asked.

“Charlotte, can you see this?”

“What? What are you talking about? More importantly, Merrien, where were you?”

Charlotte had been pushing through the grass for a while.

Then, with grass leaves caught in her neatly arranged hair, she hurriedly ran toward Merrien.

She exhaled roughly, seemingly having been searching for Merrien who had suddenly disappeared. Even her flour-white cheeks had turned red.

Hmm? Merrien scratched the back of her head while pointing at the rectangular portal with her other hand.

“Um… Charlotte. You can’t see this?”

“It’s just grass, isn’t it?”

“……?”

Really? No, she can’t see this?

Blinking her eyes, she waited for Charlotte to say it was a joke, but she just maintained a puzzled expression as if she truly couldn’t see anything.

She even touched where Merrien was pointing and walked through the portal, but still couldn’t discover anything.

Her sweeping motions appeared to be just touching grass.

“……”

…What’s this? Charlotte can’t see it?

Merrien rolled her eyes.

The sun that had been illuminating the outer garden was already setting.

With dark shadows covering overhead, it was too late to think about anything right now. It would soon be six in the evening.

Finally, Merrien just waved both hands and smiled.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Come to think of it, it’s gotten quite late.”

She hurriedly wrapped things up and saw Charlotte off.

Making a hasty excuse about finding something she had lost in the grass.

***

Late in the night.

Though she had been lying in bed for quite a while, Merrien couldn’t easily fall asleep.

Turning to her side, her hand moved to her lips and gently traced them. Then she smiled broadly.

“With Ariel…”

The kiss from earlier kept coming to mind. Then she would lower her hand in embarrassment, only to repeat the cycle.

Time to sleep now.

When she adjusted her position to lie properly, of course, the ceiling was blue again.

“……”

She folded her hands neatly over her stomach and closed her eyes, but it seemed impossible to shake off these thoughts about him.

Finally, giving up, she decided to continue her previous thoughts.

Looking at the blue ceiling, she pictured Ariel in her mind.

“Now that he can go outside and seems fine, his condition must have improved a lot.”

Then should she… rush to heal him?

Selfish thoughts began creeping up. The fact that the healing capacity was almost full made her heart more anxious.

“We’re lovers now.”

Since they’ve confirmed their feelings for each other with a kiss, couldn’t she stay here a bit longer? Just a little longer.

“No, no.”

This wasn’t something to think about so lightly. As she shook her head from side to side, suddenly, a terrible thought struck her mind.

“…What if Ariel suddenly dies before being fully healed?”

It was chilling just to say it out loud. She didn’t even want to imagine it.

Haah, her hands slowly swept down her face before just covering her eyes.

Ariel had clearly mentioned ‘magical overload.’

An overload is like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

But why? He knew all this yet seemed very relaxed rather than anxious.

As if he had everything figured out.

“Why? Why is that?”

No, am I the only one suffering like this? It’s so unfair.

She kicked the innocent blanket repeatedly.

When she lowered her hands, seeing the blue ceiling again made her feel even more crazy.

She shook her head vigorously to clear away these thoughts that would endlessly spiral if not stopped.

It was already too late to reject Ariel now that things had come this far.

They’d kissed, her feelings had grown too much, and somehow she’d even acknowledged them as lovers.

Whatever her feelings are, that’s something to think about later after returning to reality.

Right now, pushing him away would be more poisonous for both of them.

But sleep still wouldn’t come.