“The castle walls.”

The crown prince answered indifferently while moderately matching his pace to mine.

Why are we suddenly going to the castle walls?

I glared with flounder eyes at the tall figure walking one step ahead, then asked in a voice that sounded as nonchalant as possible.

“May I ask what meaning you gave the flower to Lady Celsior?”

“I’ll tell you when we get up there.”

D*mn, I’m dying of curiosity.

I climbed the castle wall stairs two steps at a time because I wanted to hear quickly.

The crown prince who saw me like this let out a snicker as if he found it absurd.

When I finally reached the top of the castle walls and lifted my head, a quiet breeze brushed my face.

The endless panoramic view of the capital spread out under the open sky came into view.

“Wow……”

The capital bathed in midday sunlight was vibrantly beautiful.

The densely positioned buildings formed a colorful harmony, and the river crossing the capital sparkled silver.

The green belt that wrapped around the capital protectively along the castle walls created a lush yet peaceful atmosphere.

The crown prince approached beside me as I gazed down from the castle walls in admiration and said.

“When you come here, you can take in the capital’s scenery at a glance. How is it?”

“It’s so nice. It’s beautiful.”

“I thought it would be. That’s why I wanted to show it to you as well, Miss.”

When I looked at him with some emotion, he ran his hand through the back of his neck and spoke.

“You said you were curious about why I gave flowers to Lady Celsior.”

“Yes.”

“So that when I give this to you, the lady won’t retaliate or anything.”

The crown prince took something out from inside his jacket.

What he held in his hand sparkled as it caught the sunlight pouring over our heads.

It was a rose.

Not an ordinary fresh flower, but one carved from ruby.

“Here, take it. It’s yours, Miss.”

“How did you know I wanted to receive flowers? I haven’t directly told you yet……”

I let out a sigh of relief as I received it, having secretly worried that he wouldn’t give me one after giving one to Lady Celsior.

The crown prince put his hands in his pockets and replied with an amused voice.

“Right, you didn’t say it directly. But didn’t you keep talking about flowers when you sent replies to my letters asking how you were?”

I felt embarrassed and averted my gaze.

After the slave trader incident became known, he sent me several letters to check if I was okay.

I stopped him from struggling to squeeze time out of his schedule to visit me.

It felt awkward to make a busy person come and go, and as a former office worker, I knew well how busy it gets before events.

Instead, we exchanged letters diligently…… and I did drop hints that I wanted to receive flowers during the founding festival.

“You said no one gave you flowers as a get-well gift, so it seemed like your ribs wouldn’t heal properly.”

“Ahem, cough!”

I let out an embarrassed cough and shamelessly changed the subject.

“Anyway, you prepared flowers thinking of me?”

“Ignoring the request of someone who was hurt and even in pain from a bad incident would be too heartless.”

“So you gave me a flower carefully carved from gemstone?”

“……Acting stingy would damage my face as crown prince even more.”

Yet he gave Lady Celsior just one flower picked from the garden.

The crown prince sent his gaze into the air and his ears turned red.

I smiled pleasantly and held out what I had prepared.

“I also have something to give Your Highness.”

“……?”

The crown prince who received the handkerchief examined it closely.

“Did you embroider this yourself?”

“I bought it myself.”

At the honest answer, he burst into laughter.

“Just like the cookies last time. But buying it yourself isn’t bad either.”

While he had casually handed the lady’s handkerchief to an attendant on the way, he carefully folded mine and put it in his inner pocket.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for the flower too.”

We enjoyed the scenery for a while longer before coming down from the castle walls.

“The stairs are steep, so come down carefully.”

The crown prince who was going first looked back at me and spoke, but then stumbled when he stepped wrong on a protruding stone.

“……!”

I hurriedly reached out and caught his back and side area.

Ugh, heavy.

The crown prince looked up at me with a flustered expression. I was reflected quite handsomely in his pure gold-like clean eyes.

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

“……Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Then put some strength in your legs……”

My arms trembled as I supported the crown prince who was half a head taller than me.

My limit came immediately and my whole body shook, so the crown prince who quickly came to his senses straightened his body.

We almost rolled down together.

I was wiping the cold sweat from my forehead when the crown prince said in a calm voice.

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, Miss, something big could have happened.”

Unlike his voice that seemed to have no great emotion, the system window displayed content tinged with pink.

— Ding!

【Crown Prince Linus’s favorability has increased by 15P.

※ Current favorability 85】

Oh ho, this is the price for saving a life?

It was worth catching the muscular crown prince with my muscle-less arms.

The crown prince kindly escorted me to the entrance of the crown prince’s palace.

“See you again next time.”

“Yes, go in safely.”

When I bowed my head and turned around, I saw Carl leaning against the carriage and emitting a black aura.

Oh my, what a surprise.

“Why are you so angry? Because you waited long?”

“What’s that in your hand?”

Carl, who lightly ignored my question, stared intently at the gem rose in my hand.

“I received it from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

I showed it off proudly.

Hehe, I worked quite hard in my own way to receive this.

Carl, who narrowed his eyes and examined the rose, said curtly.

“Founding festival custom?”

“Oh, that’s right. You know about it too.”

“Give it to me, I’ll keep it safe.”

A large hand approached. Somehow I felt reluctant to entrust another man’s gift to him, so I refused.

“No, I’ll just keep it myself.”

“What if someone steals it again or you accidentally lose it? Leaving it with me is the safest.”

Is, is that so……?

As I hesitated because it was something I couldn’t completely deny, Carl curled his lips crookedly and said clearly.

“I’ll keep it safe, with care.”

“……Alright. I’ll ask you for now.”

Since it was a flower given by the crown prince himself, I eventually chose the safe storage method.

***

At the Crown Prince’s Palace office.

As soon as Linus returned here, he approached the window.

The aide who had been waiting for document approval sent a wistful look, but he was busy checking if Shailyn’s carriage departed safely.

When he saw the white wolf flag of House Diart hanging on the carriage, he thought of the silver hair that swayed while giving off a floral scent.

‘……This is driving me crazy.’

Linus placed his hand on his loudly pounding chest.

He had been in this state since Shailyn saved him on the castle wall stairs.

He desperately didn’t show it in front of her, but when he recalled that situation again, strength naturally entered his fingertips.

The sun seemed to shine only on Shailyn, casting a halo behind her small head, and her face that came close looked beautiful like a goddess in a famous painting.

Even her eyes that looked at him with concern were both cool and cute.

‘Unless I’ve really gone crazy, how could this be possible?’

Linus, who had never been interested in others’ appearances in his life, was flustered.

Of course, he had aesthetic sense and could distinguish beauty from ugliness, but this was the first time he felt such various impressions about one person.

Even though Shailyn’s carriage had left the imperial palace, Linus couldn’t easily take his gaze away from where she had been.

‘The biggest problem is…… this isn’t the first time this happened today.’

Today was particularly severe due to a small accident, but it had been consistently like this for a while.

Since the time she helped him complete his mother’s medicine.

“Your Highness, please check the documents. Please……”

Linus, awakened from his thoughts by the aide’s desperate voice, finally moved away from the window.

He picked up his pen while feeling the presence of the handkerchief carefully placed in his inner pocket.

A faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he read through the documents carefully.

***

The magic tower didn’t rest even during the founding festival.

The only benefit was that work hours started slightly later than usual.

On the second day of the founding festival, I headed to the magic tower to meet the tower master under the pretense of visiting Deborah.

‘It would be a bit awkward if I got caught wandering around to receive flowers.’

I deliberately brought along various desserts that Deborah liked.

So I arrived at the magic tower and was waiting for Deborah when a familiar face walked into the break room.

“Huh?”

“Ah, hello.”

The person who likewise recognized me walked over and suddenly held out a tulip bouquet.

“……?!”