Chapter 1 – Part 4

“Alright, I’m going stealthily!”

Did she really think she wouldn’t go after being told not to? In that moment, Mail decided to be a rebellious spirit. Rather than anxiously pacing alone in the room, it was better to sneak out and follow. Stealth techniques? She had never learned them, but she would give it a try.

“Just in case, I should prepare an excuse too…”

Mail took a bright red ruby hairpin out of the jewelry box. If she got caught and questioned by Riela about why she was there, she planned to say she had come to deliver this.

It was the perfect item to enhance the princess’s beauty; she would say she had almost forgotten to give it earlier.

Having finished her preparations, Mail cautiously grasped the doorknob and turned it. The hallway outside was wide and quiet.

“So… the Grand Banquet Hall, right?”

She recalled the location she had heard about. After deciding on her destination, she began to walk without a specific route.

If she walked around, she would surely bump into a servant. Then, she could just grab them and ask for guidance. In a completely unfamiliar place, that was the best plan.

How long had she walked? She had turned a couple of corners but hadn’t gone too far. At that moment, something caught Mail’s eye.

“…!”

That’s it!

Mail stopped dead in her tracks and covered her mouth, almost letting out a scream. Her dilated pupils trembled as if an earthquake had hit.

‘Surely…’

There was a path. In the middle of the marble corridor, there was an unexpected side path that veered off to the side. Mail knew from her past experiences that such paths were generally connected to something significant.

‘The garden! It must be about eight out of ten times a garden!’

A strange smile crept onto Mail’s lips.

Now, there was something she needed to clarify. Earlier, she had been introduced as an ordinary noblewoman, but that merely meant she didn’t have any supernatural powers. In truth, she possessed quite a few “different” qualities compared to the typical noble lady.

If we were to list them out, many would come to mind, but the most significant difference was that Mail Fonz Vizeart was a garden enthusiast.

‘Ugh, no!’

Mail shook her head frantically and took a step back. That was a huge step for her.

A garden enthusiast. Someone who loved gardens so much that they became a fanatic, and even after becoming a fanatic, their love for gardens didn’t stop, ultimately reaching an almost transcendent state.

Gardens were her happiness, meaning, light, and salt, and Mail bit her lip in distress.

“Endure. I can’t go in. I can’t look around! I have another mission now!”

Garden enthusiasts around the world shared a common trait. They all suffered from the same condition: the unshakeable urge to explore any garden they encountered, needing to investigate it to feel satisfied.

Symptoms experienced if they failed to do so included trembling hands and feet, a heavy chest, and dizziness.

“I want to see it. I want to know it all. But!”

Mail resisted desperately. If she fell into an unfamiliar garden like this, she would waste an unknown amount of time. She had a mission to follow Riela to the banquet hall, and that was something she couldn’t allow.

“It can’t be. Of course not. Absolutely not…”

“…… It can! Huh, how did I get here so quickly?!”

Mail snapped back to reality in shock. Her instincts had overwhelmed her reason. In the blink of an eye, her feet had bolted down the side path without her even realizing she had stepped back.

When she turned to check, she was already more than halfway in. It felt as if she had teleported.

“Why is it that… This is a wrong encounter.”

Mail considered herself relatively patient. She could endure things like eating, sleeping, and listening to other people’s nonsense when necessary.

Her father had been quick to throw a punch at nonsense during his younger days, so Mail’s patience could be considered quite extensive.

But what good was such a disposition? The moment she encountered a garden, her body disregarded her patience and will, moving on its own.

Mail swallowed her tears as she looked at the entrance of the garden before her. It was agonizing, but seeing it made her happy again.

“Well, since it’s come to this, let’s just take a quick look and leave.”

Mail changed her mind. Having come this far, going back without doing anything was no longer an option. With the garden just one step away, leaving without at least taking a glance would only fuel her cravings.

She decided to look around but agreed with herself to keep her time there as brief as possible.

“Two eyes, two plants at a time.”

Whether she was talking nonsense or making sense was unclear, but with that ambiguous remark, Mail stepped into the garden. Now that she’d made up her mind to enjoy the view, not a single second could be wasted. She sharpened her gaze, absorbing the scenery around her.

“…It’s beautiful.”

The scent of plants filled the air. Mixed in, like seasoning, was the delicate fragrance of flowers. She stopped after a few steps and took a deep breath. Even the air in the garden was sweet.

“Yes! This is it!”

It felt as if all the tension and stress that had piled up melted away in an instant. The scent of grass and trees, the occasional rustle of leaves carried by the breeze—everything was perfect.

Though Mail often considered herself devoid of sensitivity, at that moment, she thought she could wax poetic with ease.

The garden, bathed in daylight, was beautiful, but at night, under the moon’s gentle greeting, it was just as radiant.

“Perfect, absolutely perfect.”

Mumbling to herself, Mail’s gaze landed on a small purple flower nearby, standing as if demanding attention.

She bent closer to the familiar, delicate flower. Though small and easy to miss, this flower was one she knew well.

“I’m sure its name is…”

“Rash Marigold.”

“Oh! A hard-earned opportunity!”

As soon as she heard the name, the flower’s meaning came to mind. With a raised tone, she recited the meaning with glee, only to freeze and widen her eyes, quickly turning her head. The unfamiliar voice that had spoken came from behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

Mail straightened up and had to crane her neck to look at him properly. The man, who had appeared soundlessly while she was distracted—or perhaps had already been there—was tall enough to make looking up at him uncomfortable.

Since he stood directly under the moonlight, she could observe his attire quite clearly… A mask?

“Um… I’m just admiring the flowers.”

Though a polite greeting might have been more appropriate for a first meeting, the stranger’s question had been abrupt, so Mail simply answered as best she could.

Given that she’d just been looking at the Rash Marigold, she wasn’t lying. After responding, she took a closer look at him.

‘He’s not a gardener. At the very least, he’s a noble.’

His neat clothes certainly suggested wealth, but it was his demeanor that led her to this conclusion.

He spoke to her with a natural air of superiority. Even if she were a commoner working in the palace, no nobleman would take such a haughty tone with a stranger unless he was of much higher status.

Mail was almost certain. A nobleman, at the very least—possibly even royalty.

“Was I not supposed to be looking around here?”

Mail carefully adjusted her tone to sound as courteous as possible. It was always wise to tread carefully when dealing with someone whose identity and rank were uncertain. If there was even the slightest chance that he outranked her, she needed to be cautious.

The last thing she wanted was to provoke someone who might turn out to be royalty. The thought of getting herself into such a mess, let alone dragging her family into it, was not appealing.

“……”

The man remained silent for a while after hearing her question. The awkward tension hung in the air. Despite the situation, Mail resisted the urge to continue looking around the garden.

‘Stay calm! Stay still!’

“So you’re saying you entered here purely to look around.”

Mail almost rolled her eyes at the delayed response. Instead, she focused on his words. Was he really questioning her intent? What else would she be here for?

“What other reason could there be?”

Mail feigned innocence, even though she genuinely didn’t understand.

If not to admire the garden, then what? This wasn’t a graveyard, so why would anyone come here for anything else?

Once again, the man fell silent. The stillness returned. Mail, wanting to avoid further distractions, focused intently on him. If she could read his expression, she might better understand his intentions, but the mask made that impossible.

‘Why the mask?’

The thought crossed her mind belatedly. From the moment he’d appeared, he’d been wearing a mask that covered more than half of his face.

So well-covered, in fact, that the only visible part of his face was his firmly closed lips. As Mail looked at them, a curious thought popped into her mind. Were they… well-shaped? Now that she thought about it, perhaps they were.

Just then, the man broke the silence.

“Do you truly not know?”