I had been so absorbed in the beloved countryside scenery I was seeing for the first time in nearly a month that I had already forgotten Roned’s uncomfortable invitation, forgotten the unfamiliar gentleman who would be waiting for me at the greenhouse, and sunk completely into the dazzling green before my eyes.

“We’ve entered the Iledn duchy!”

An hour is far too short a time to take in something lovely. At the coachman’s call, I quickly pulled myself out of the pastoral reverie and returned to reality.

The Iledn family’s blue villa stood in the far distance, and all the land between here and there belonged to the family.

Owning this much land near the capital for a country villa alone told me that House Iledn’s standing was no mere rumor.

Roned was an only son, so he would inherit all of the family’s wealth and power regardless. Then why did he take any interest in Rodencia’s revival?

I had heard he led quite a busy life as a scholar. And on top of that, these strange obsessions of his. Remarkably industrious, I must say.

“Oh! Lady Lucian! Look over there!”

“?”

I had been clicking my tongue inwardly and thinking Roned quite peculiar when Hanna’s cry made me turn my head, and I immediately lost all words.

Stretching across the vast plain before my eyes, as far as the gaze could reach, red flowers bearing my name filled every corner.

“Ah…”

Hanna, whose eyes were already round, made them perfectly round and let her small mouth fall open as she stared out the window.

My expression, sitting across from her, was probably not much different from hers.

Roned had clearly said a greenhouse. So I had only imagined a few flowers blooming neatly in one corner of an indoor garden.

I had never anticipated that he would fill an entire private estate with a flower that was difficult to cultivate anywhere outside its native region.

I had accepted the invitation to put the rumors to rest, but I was growing increasingly uneasy.

Would the escort of an unfamiliar gentleman be enough to cool Roned’s interest and make the rumors disappear? Tomorrow’s gossip sheets wouldn’t be soaked entirely in expensive red ink, would they?

I made no effort to manage my expression and stepped out of the carriage with a plainly unsettled look on my face. Those who had arrived before me were gathered in small clusters in front of the greenhouse, and the moment I arrived, they all turned to look at me with eyes bright with curiosity.

Right. They’re all at an age when this sort of gossip is endlessly fascinating. And other people’s affairs are always more entertaining, aren’t they?

I had stepped out of the carriage with my mind somewhat emptied, but the moment I saw Roned approaching with a proud smile, the irritation surged right back up.

Why? What possible reason could there be for this incomprehensible behavior?

He had clearly seen my irritated expression, yet Roned paid it no mind and politely took my hand and pressed his lips to it.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation. You cannot imagine how much I have wanted to show you this sight.”

Come to think of it, he had always been like this. Roned was never a person who concerned himself with how I felt or what situation I was in. When he occasionally visited the Rodencian royal palace, he would trail around after Lewian and then appear from time to time to check on my condition. It made no difference to Roned how exhausted I was or how much pain I was in. He was fixated solely on the fact that I remained a non-ability user.

At the time, I thought he was afraid that Rodencia would fall because of me, but learning that he had actually been afraid I might undergo an awakening made it all the more unsettling.

Get a hold of yourself, Roned. What do you think I could possibly do? I am a woman with no family name left to use, ordinary to the point of being utterly broken.

His exceptional scholarly zeal giving rise to some strange fascination with divine beast lore was one thing, but from where I stood, being the object of that fixation was simply exhausting. I was done with prophecies and abilities and bloodlines. I just wanted to live as a simple art teacher.

I accepted Roned’s greeting distractedly, wondering when the gentleman Heliones was sending would arrive. When I turned away from Roned, Delmir approached me at once with both arms open, as though she had been waiting. She gave me a brief embrace in the manner of a close friend, then smiled brightly with an air of complete innocence and spoke.

“My goodness, Young Lord Roned must think very highly of you, Miss Lucian. What a breathtaking sight this is.”

In the meantime, I had asked Elren to look into the gossip sheet that had run articles about me. Sure enough, one of the publishers printing the gossip sheet was run by a collateral branch of House Balthar.

Even so, there was no direct evidence linking Delmir to the publisher, and there was no shortage of gossip sheets that printed baseless rumors, so I had no particular desire to press the matter.

“I wonder. Whether the Duke of Iledn will appreciate this sight as well.”

I received Delmir’s greeting with an attitude that was not rude but could not quite be called warm either.

“Who could possibly dislike such a beautiful sight! Such a new and magnificent flower, the Duke is sure to be pleased as well.”

Whatever Delmir said, I paid little attention. I only hoped the gentleman who would put the rumors about Roned and me to rest would arrive soon.

Just then, someone came sprinting from the Iledn family estate toward the greenhouse. At the same moment, an ornate carriage approached the greenhouse from the opposite direction with stately composure.

Everyone present, myself included, kept shifting their gaze back and forth between the two, unsure which to watch, when the middle-aged man who had run from the estate arrived at the greenhouse first.

“What is it?”

At Roned’s question, the somewhat heavyset middle-aged man gasped for breath and forced out his words with difficulty.

“It’s, it’s been sold.”

“?”

“…All of it… hah… it’s been sold!”

The man was panting so hard that no one could quite make out what he was saying.

Roned seemed equally frustrated, because a trace of irritation crept onto that infuriating face that always wore an easy smile.

“What happened? Speak clearly.”

Prompted by Roned, the man drew one deep breath and let the words pour out all at once.

“The Lucian columbines have all been sold!”

“Sold? On whose authority.”

“Why, the Duke…”

“Who bought all of this?”

Roned asked in a manner uncharacteristic of him, his brow knitting sharply, as he swept the silver hair that had fallen to the side roughly back into place. Before the man could answer, the carriage that had been making its way toward the greenhouse came to a stop with a rather loud whinny.

The gaze of everyone present, myself included, naturally turned toward the carriage, and the carriage door slid open with smooth ease.

My breath caught as I watched the gentleman step out of the carriage. Not only me, but every person present reflexively bowed their heads deeply, not daring to breathe too loudly.

We’re done for.

If I were to be honest, that was the very first thought that came to mind the moment I saw Heliones.

I had asked for an escort to put to rest a scandal involving the Emperor’s former wife, and the Emperor himself had shown up in person. If the person before me had been anyone other than the Emperor, I would have thrown propriety and everyone’s stares aside and marched straight up to demand what on earth he thought he was doing.

Aaagh! Close your mouth!

That was the next thought that came to mind the moment Heliones opened his.

“The Lucian columbines? I purchased every last one of them from the Duke of Iledn.”

The moment Heliones finished speaking, I bit my lip and looked around.

The guests and servants nearby were all eyes, their gazes sparkling at the enormous scandal that had just erupted right in front of them.

In the midst of it all, I glanced over at Roned and found him wearing an expression unlike his usual self, subdued and still, his eyes fixed on Heliones with a sharp look that could cut.

Heliones met Roned’s rather insolent gaze with a composed, faint smile, and to my eyes, he looked every bit as shameless as Roned.

He knew perfectly well why I had asked for an escort, and he blindsided me without a word of discussion?

While I barely managed to hold back the anger rising toward Heliones, my eyes drifted naturally toward Delmir.

It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding, and for someone who was clearly pursuing Heliones, it should have been infuriating, yet her expression looked perfectly calm. More than calm, she was even wearing a smile whose meaning I could not begin to read.

I hadn’t felt a chill at the sight of the field covered in red flowers, nor when Heliones appeared, but looking at Delmir’s smile, whose intent I could not fathom at all, I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise.

If she had been trembling with jealousy, that I could understand, but a smile? What was she preparing this time?

The mere thought of it brought a wave of exhaustion, and I was on the verge of giving up on rumors and everything else and simply going back to the lodgings, when Heliones stepped forward with an air of authority and came to stand at my side.

“For the past few days, a gossip sheet has been running articles about Miss Lucian and Young Lord Roned. Neither I nor Miss Lucian have any desire for scandal. So I came by in person to look into the matter.”

For someone who had done something rather reckless, the words that came out of Heliones’s mouth were, fortunately, entirely in keeping with what one might expect from him.

“Scandal? I simply developed a flower named after Miss Lucian. As Your Majesty can see for yourself, is it not a flower that suits Miss Lucian perfectly?”

Roned had already wiped the displeasure from his face and was addressing Heliones with a modest and courteous expression.

“You are a man of many talents, Young Lord. To have reproduced a variety so difficult to cultivate outside its native region, and so magnificently at that. I agree, it is indeed a flower that suits Miss Lucian perfectly. But, Miss Lucian?”

Heliones suddenly called my name, and I turned my head, a little unsteady but trying to hold onto some trust in him.

“Yes?”

“Are you pleased with it? Not the flower itself, but the flower’s name.”

“No. It feels like far too much.”

At my answer, Heliones did not laugh outright, but he turned his gaze back to Roned with a look of satisfaction, and Roned, working to keep his expression in check, developed a faint crease along his otherwise composed cheekbones.