17. The Flowers Look Just Like You  

Judy gave a light greeting with her eyes to Theo, who had arrived first and was waiting for her, then walked over to his side. She considered sitting down for a moment, but even the soft bed stung every time it touched her, so she could only imagine how much worse a flat, hard chair would be—and she could not bring herself to try.  

“Because it hurts?”  

Theo asked, noticing Judy’s hesitation at once.  

“Yeah. I guess I’m scared to sit. Can I eat standing up?”  

“I didn’t realize you were in pain to the point you can’t even sit down. Luke!”  

At Theo’s call, Luke, who had been waiting outside, ran in.  

“Yes. Did you call for me, Young Duke?”  

“Go bring a tall table. And move the food here onto it.”  

“Yes, understood.”  

The servants moved in perfect coordination and immediately followed Theo’s instructions. Not long after, a tall round table was set up just as Theo wanted, and the dishes were rearranged on top of it.  

“You’re going to eat standing too?”  

When Theo—whom Judy thought would go sit down—stood across from her, Judy felt sorry. She worried Theo would have to eat uncomfortably because of her.  

“Yeah. If we eat separately, there’s no point eating at the same time.”  

“Still, it’ll be uncomfortable if you stand and eat because of me.”  

“No. I actually like being able to face you like this while we eat.”  

He rested his arms on the table, propped his chin, and quietly looked at her—his eyes unfathomably deep. When Judy looked into those eyes, like the stillness of a night sky holding dense darkness, she grew endlessly drowsy. All pointless worries vanished, leaving only a wholly comfortable feeling, making her keep looking……  

“And when we go hunting, we eat even on horseback.”  

To Judy, who had been sinking into his eyes, he was still explaining that eating standing up did not bother him at all.  

The hunting competition……. Since that day, she had been living while violently colliding with an unbelievable reality like this.  

“Later, once my body gets a bit better, let’s go there again.”  

“Where?”  

“The place where you found me.”  

“……Okay.”  

Hearing something suspicious in Theo’s lukewarm reply, Judy tilted her head.  

“Why are you answering so half-heartedly?”  

“Actually, not long ago, I sent knights to look for it. That place where you said you got lost and saw a blue deer.”  

“And?”  

“Strangely…… the knights couldn’t find that space. No matter how they searched the area, they said they kept going around and around, ending up back where they started.”  

The place where Judy had been was vividly clear in her mind, but she did not distinctly remember the path out. Everything looked more or less the same there…….  

“Couldn’t grass that wasn’t there have grown thick or something? It’s not like a path that existed could just disappear.”  

“Right. And the paths were complicated to begin with. I only met you because I wandered in by chance.”  

“I mean, I fell and I don’t remember either.”  

“I’ll tell them to search it thoroughly once more.”  

“Okay.”  

While Judy scooped some salad from the table and ate it with a crisp crunch, she thought of the social gathering she would attend in two days.  

“They say the jewel Countess Yumelia has been completely obsessed with lately is a cameo. Her dresses have a lot of purple, which she likes, and rather than sweet desserts, she prefers simple ones that taste like flour in its natural form.”  

(T/N: Cameo is a piece of jewelry, typically oval in shape, consisting of a portrait in profile carved in relief on a background of a different color.)

Judy rattled off facts about Countess Yumelia without pause. She judged that going to the gathering knowing even one more thing about her would definitely be to her advantage. But Judy’s face soon darkened with disappointment.  

“But this level of information is something everyone knows.”  

So whether she bought a cameo, or got a purple-related dress or accessory, or prepared a plain dessert, it would not strike Countess Yumelia’s heart in a meaningful way.  

“I want to prepare something that’ll really move Countess Yumelia, something that’ll capture her heart instantly… But I don’t have enough info.”

Looking dejected, Judy brought a piece of meat from the plate to her mouth. Theo, noticing her gloomy aura creeping up, smiled faintly. He was impressed and touched by how much she’d learned in just one day.

When the Emperor gossiped, he did not hold back. People who talked a lot tended to let information slip easily, and Theo had often heard quite a bit about Countess Yumelia too.  

“They say Countess Yumelia seems to miss the Pyron Kingdom terribly. But she’s trying not to show it, because she wants to look like a ‘happy woman’ who mustn’t even express that longing.”  

“She misses her hometown.”  

Judy could understand that feeling well. It was not a hometown, but it felt similar to Judy, who missed her own house and family.  

“Yeah. When it’s this season, that kingdom gets covered in tulips. It’s a beautiful place.”  

“Right. I think I saw it once when I was little, following Father. The flower scent was incredible, and the colorful shades were so pretty.”  

“Do you like tulips?”  

“I like all flowers.”

“Because they resemble you, maybe.”  

He said it as if in passing, but Judy understood at once.  

“M-me? I resemble a flower?”  

“Yeah. So when I see flowers, I always think of you. Pretty and fragrant—just like you.”  

Maybe because she had been confessed to yesterday, she could not let that pass simply. Judy realized her body was heating up more and more, and knowing it would show plainly, she took a step back.  

“Let’s not get sidetracked. We were talking about Countess Yumelia.”  

“And she seems to like pickled herring dishes.”  

Fortunately, he did not add anything else and returned to the main topic. But pickled herring……  

“Pickled herring?”  

She had seen it in passing, but she had never actually eaten it. She did not particularly like fish dishes to begin with, and she was wary of foods she had never tried.  

“But in truth, herring is a slightly difficult food for nobles to eat. It could become a laughingstock.”  

“Herring and tulips……. It’s a very simple plan, but I should prepare at least those two things.”  

“I’ll tell Luke.”  

“Yeah. Please.”  

Replying like that, Judy moved her fork back toward the salad again.  

“Can you really get full eating just greens?”

This was practically a habit. She had lived while paying close attention to managing her body. As much as possible, she ate salad or something light in the morning, ate what she wanted at lunch but in small portions, and often skipped dinner altogether.  

“For body management.”

“Why bother? Just eat what you want.”

“Well, it’s not even my body, right?”

Now that she thought about it, that was true. She did not even want to entertain the miserable thought that this body would be hers for life. She firmly believed that one day she would return to her real body without fail.  

“Right. So eat everything you want. Either way, the one who gains weight is Asilly Leroni.”  

As he spoke, he cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and handed it to her. Judy speared it with her fork—poke—and put a mouthful in. The soft, savory meat filled her mouth pleasantly.  

***

Her stomach felt heavy after picking up and eating this and that all day. On top of that, since Judy had to sleep on her stomach because of her backside, she felt nauseated and could not lie down at all.  

“This body is really suffering too much…….”  

Poor me.  

Muttering that to herself, she decided a walk was best to soothe her churning stomach even a little, and left the room. In this mansion where a quiet night had settled, servants were still moving about here and there, and Judy—receiving their sidelong glances in full—arrived at the wide garden.  

“When will this darn b*tt finally heal?”  

She had always been the type to complain a lot, but it hurt far too much. Even though she applied ointment frequently, there was no sign of improvement, so she felt like ripping her backside off and throwing it away. Judy went up to the high gazebo overlooking the garden clearly, and, facing a breeze that was not merely cool but chilly, blankly—absently—lifted her eyes to the luminous moonlight. Just then, a warm blanket was draped over her shoulders.  

“It gets cold at night.”  

Theo stood behind her like a solid shadow.  

“Why did you come out instead of sleeping?”  

“Because I heard you came out.”  

It seemed the servants had been glancing at her in order to report to their master.  

“So why are you out? You’re someone who sleeps a lot.”  

Because I had absentmindedly stuffed endless food into my mouth, my overfull stomach was showing reflux symptoms……  

Because my b*tt hurt……  

“Secret.”  

She had brushed it off because she could not say it outright, but it seemed it did not work at all—since Theo said this bluntly.  

“Want me to carry you on my back?”