Saena carefully considered if there might be another reason why she would send an invitation. But even after thinking for a while, nothing came to mind within the limits of what she could imagine.

‘Hmm…. I don’t know.’

Since she was planning to attend Kirsten’s tea party, she definitely couldn’t accept Lady Barnes’s invitation. Even without Kirsten, she probably wouldn’t have wanted to go anyway.

She would have to send back a polite refusal.

‘Things were already awkward, and this will make them more so.’

Though it wasn’t a relationship she particularly wanted to cultivate, she felt a slight sting knowing she was unintentionally building up more hostility.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

She was past the age of naively thinking she could be friends with everyone.

Knock knock.

While she was examining the letters for a while, there was a knock at the door.

“Yes. Come in.”

“Saya.”

The visitor was Sage. He was holding a large bouquet in his arms.

“….What’s that?”

Sage sighed as soon as he entered and said to Saena.

“…What did you do at the last party?”

“Huh?”

As if suggesting it would be better to see for herself than hear a thousand words, Sage handed the bouquet to Saena. The lush bouquet filled both her arms, and the scent of roses wafted strongly.

“Oh my, this is… a Royal Rose, isn’t it?”

Martha examined the bouquet with surprise. Indeed, it was a Royal Rose. The blue rose seedlings that could only be grown in the imperial palace. The roses with sky-blue petals, the representative color of the imperial family, were fully bloomed with each flower as big as a fist, and they were very beautiful.

Saena tilted her head as she examined the bouquet and discovered an envelope tucked inside, which she pulled out.

‘A golden envelope…?’

Saena hesitated upon seeing the envelope’s color. She still couldn’t guess who had sent her these flowers.

“Why on earth would the prince send flowers to you, Saya? What happened back then?”

“…The prince?”

She looked at the sender on the back of the envelope, and sure enough, it was the prince’s name. The name ‘Gillian Macfeyden’ was written in elaborate cursive.

“I don’t know either…”

The roses that had looked pretty just moments ago suddenly became very burdensome. Saena frowned slightly as she passed the flowers to her nanny.

“Nanny, could you… put these in that room over there?”

“…That room?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

The room Saena pointed to was one of the dressing rooms, mainly used for storing accessories. Since it contained many valuable items, it was usually kept locked.

This meant that while she couldn’t simply throw away flowers sent by a member of the imperial family, she didn’t want to keep them close enough to look at them either.

Even if the prince found out later, she could say she placed them in the room where valuable items were kept because they were precious flowers.

It was almost a clever way of dealing with the situation.

‘…Our Miss has grown up.’

Martha looked at Saena with a strange expression before standing up with the flowers.

Meanwhile, Saena opened the golden envelope. Since it was a letter from a member of the imperial family, it seemed Sage hadn’t dared to open it beforehand. The seal was very firmly attached.

While she was breaking the seal, Yolly climbed onto her lap again and made itself comfortable.

“Woof!”

When she took out and unfolded the paper from the envelope, Yolly kept trying to grab it with its front paws, so Saena held it up high.

“Yolly, you can’t tear this one.”

Seemingly displeased with Saena’s warning, Yolly tapped its tail again.

“Ah, is this the one? Is its name Yolly?”

“Yes.”

Saena quietly observed Sage’s reaction to the name Yolly, turning her eyes to see if he would show any response, but there was no such indication.

Yuri seemed to have truly been forgotten.

Inwardly sighing, Saena turned her attention back to the letter.

[To you with noble purple eyes that hold dignity.]

“……”

From the very introduction of the letter… it left her speechless.

Saena shifted her grip from four fingers to just her thumb and index finger as she read the next sentence. It was because she got goosebumps.

Fortunately, the rest of the content was nothing special. It was just shallow greetings and compliments about Saena’s appearance, with no explanation of why it was sent.

‘Is this flirting…?’

Since there was absolutely no reason for the prince to send her such a letter, that thought occurred to her.

“This is flirting, isn’t it?”

In case it might be Saena’s misunderstanding due to excessive self-consciousness, she showed it to Sage, but seeing him become very indignant and huffing, it seemed it wasn’t just her imagination.

“Ha-! Has he lost his mind?”

“Brother! …That’s disrespectful.”

“Is he crazy? This bastard….”

Saena quickly looked around, startled by Sage who had started muttering curses toward the imperial family member.

Many of House Debov’s employees had worked for generations. While there were hardly any who would be loose-lipped enough to spread what they heard outside, she still felt the need to double-check since it concerned a member of the imperial family. Fortunately, no one besides the nanny had been admitted.

“Tell me everything that happened with the prince at the last banquet.”

“There really wasn’t much. We just danced once…?”

“Explain the conversations and situations from before the dance until you parted. The prince may be known for his interest in women, but he’s never done this with a central noble lady. If he’s approaching with such determination, there must be some reason.”

“Hmm…”

Finding his words plausible, Saena explained the situation from that time as she remembered it.

“Ah, come to think of it, he asked a lot about the Duke.”

“The Duke?”

“Yes. What kind of relationship I had with Duke Kramer, if we were going to marry, and so on.”

Sage’s already furrowed brow creased even more.

“And after finding out we weren’t that kind of relationship, he said he was glad.”

“What?! Ha… This seems like a serious situation, doesn’t it?”

Sage sat down with a grave expression and stared at the table, lost in thought. His index finger resting on the sofa armrest started tapping the floor with a steady tap, tap rhythm. It was one of Sage’s habits when he was deep in thought.

But meanwhile, Yolly’s tail started tapping the floor—tap, tap— in sync. The timing matched perfectly with Sage’s finger taps.

‘What’s up with this one now.’

As they made the tap, tap sound together as if keeping rhythm, Saena looked back and forth between Sage and Yolly.

Though they didn’t seem to be matching intentionally, watching them made Saena laugh somehow. Despite their serious expressions, she felt something cute, proud, and somehow warm?

“Hooh, Saya. This is no time to be laughing.”

“…Huh?”

“Above all, never laugh in front of the prince.”

“……”

Sage swore briefly while messing up his hair, seemingly unable to reach a conclusion, and warned her.

“If you receive any letters, gifts, or communications in the future, reject them all.”

“Okay.”

She readily agreed since she was planning to reject them anyway.

“And if there are any invitations that are difficult for you to decline on your own, make sure to tell me.”

“Got it.”

“Not just that, but any unexpected meetings or anything related to the Prince, tell me about it all.”

When Saena made a dubious expression, thinking if all that was really necessary, Sage spoke firmly.

“Saya. The Prince has an extremely persistent personality. It’s already difficult to refuse royalty, but if they become determined, it could lead to a very awkward situation.”

“……”

“I’m planning to tell Father about this too. That’s how serious it is.”

“…Hmm. Alright.”

Since Saena was still severely underestimating her own charm at this point, she thought Sage was just being overly dutiful in his role as her brother.

Not knowing that she would deeply regret taking Sage’s warning lightly later on.