Chapter 99

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah.”

“I packed plenty of batteries. I’ll give you some.”

She nodded in reply, then suddenly burst into giggles at a passing thought.

“You’re really going to give them all to me? Kabareta is so far away. If you sold something from there in Essen, you’d make a fortune.”

“Not interested.”

Yurik snorted. He was already well-off, so earning more money didn’t interest him at all.

Of course, there were batteries in Essen too. But imported goods were always priced based on the effort and time it took to bring them in.

So in Elvirtein, which was relatively closer to Kabareta, the price would naturally be much lower than in Essen.

“You should use them all.”

“When would I ever finish them?”

“Just live to be a hundred and use them.”

“That’s way too long.”

“You should live a long and healthy life.”

Then, out of nowhere, he boldly declared that he would live to be a hundred. But was that really up to him? She snorted playfully, mimicking his earlier gesture, and he laughed in disbelief.

A peaceful moment that would soon end was passing by.

The next day, the doctor finally declared she could move around again.

It was time to go to the place she had been waiting to visit. All attention was on Javier and the four nobles who sided with him, so now was the perfect moment.

Besides the luggage packed by the maids, she had a small bag she had prepared herself. Inside was a key believed to have been left by her mother, tucked inside the belly of a puppy doll.

With complicated feelings, she pulled out the key and fiddled with it a few times before finally clenching it in her fist.

“……”

She now knew exactly what the key opened.

When she first found it, her immediate thought was Dinua Garden, where she would soon be heading. But just in case, she had turned the mansion upside down. The staff suffered through an unexpected round of deep cleaning.

But just as she’d expected, the result was nothing.

It was at that moment she became certain the key was meant to open Dinua Garden.

She put on a wide-brimmed hat and a flowing dress, completely different from her usual style. Just in case, she told only Raihan and Yurik where she was going, and brought Mary along to Dinua Garden.

On the way by carriage, she recalled her mother’s voice as she made the doll.

“Someday, there will come a time when you’ll want to see this again.”

“When?”

“Hmm, maybe when someone appears who loves our Di so much they can’t help themselves?”

“What? What does that mean!”

Her mother’s laughter as she joined in with her own giggles was still vivid. The idea that she’d want to see the puppy doll if someone appeared who liked her—it was a ridiculous thing to say, but now, she couldn’t just laugh it off.

Someone who liked her had truly appeared, and inside that doll was, of all things, the only key that could open a legacy located in the country of the person who liked her.

‘……Did she have the ability to see the future?’

It was an absurd thought, but at this point, she couldn’t help but wonder. There are always things that surpass human understanding. Even though she didn’t believe in gods, there were stories of people being healed or not getting burned by fire thanks to divine power.

If a god really existed, maybe seeing the future wasn’t impossible……

But if that were the case, in her mother’s prophecy, there was nothing about a husband who would die following her.

Nor any worry about the daughter who would be left behind after losing both parents in an instant.

“I hope you… won’t pretend you’re okay.”

What cut off the gloomy memories was the sudden recollection of Raihan’s voice.

She couldn’t help but smile quietly. He had said he would be there for her in hard times. Just as he promised, the memory of his voice and strength brought her comfort, as if she was right by his side.

It was a strange feeling. She never thought she’d lean on someone like this, someone not related to her by blood.

The carriage rattled along, carrying a strange air, and finally arrived at Dinua Garden.

“The Madam left this for you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“How did she know you would come to Elvirtein…….”

“Good question.”

Did her mother foresee she’d come here as part of the treaty envoy? But if that was the case… Thirty years ago, her parents had gone from Essen to Elvirtein, so looking at the years, it was easy to see that in her case, she’d go from Elvirtein to Essen.

‘Guess I’ll know once I go inside the garden.’

Grasping the handle, she carefully stepped out and looked around.

Dinua Garden was an indoor garden. To be precise, it was structured like a giant glass greenhouse. Surrounded by thick trees, passersby would have a hard time finding this place.

It hadn’t been a short carriage ride, so it was probably on the outskirts of the capital.

The garden’s caretaker she was supposed to meet was waiting at the entrance.

The caretaker, a young man about her age, immediately recognized her and bowed his head. But even as he did, he seemed to doubt the authenticity of the letter she had sent.

‘Well, there are plenty of scammers out there.’

If that was the case, it was understandable why he was so suspicious. And since she was from Essen, not Elvirtein, even more so.

Still, being doubted didn’t feel good, so she quickly took out the key she’d brought. The caretaker’s face went blank when he saw the brown key, barely the length of her middle finger.

“This is……”

“You recognize it just by looking?”

If so, that was impressive. He had inherited the position, but how could he know a key he’d never actually seen?

As expected, the caretaker shook his head. Then he hurriedly pulled a wooden box from his pocket and clicked open the lid.

Inside was a delicate groove that looked like it would fit her key perfectly.

It looked rough at first glance, but the key itself was so complex that it would be nearly impossible to make a perfect copy.

She placed the key on the box he offered, and naturally, the size and shape matched exactly.

“……It fits.”

The caretaker murmured in a dazed voice, then handed the key back to her. All suspicion vanished, and he stepped aside to let her enter the garden.

“I don’t know what’s inside the garden.”

“Really?”

“Maybe my father knows, but I’ve only just taken over… I haven’t been inside yet.”

It sounded like his father had definitely been inside. When she asked, the caretaker nodded.

“There’s a spare key. We can’t just neglect the inside entirely.”

“Ah.”

She nodded out of habit, fiddled with the key in her right hand a few times, thanked him, and walked toward the garden.

Toward whatever unknown things were waiting for her.

She had wondered why no one had ever opened the lock, even though there was only one. But the lock was designed to be so complicated that it was hard to even figure out where to insert the key.

Of course, knowing what the key looked like, it was a simple problem for her.

She crouched down and pushed the key into the lowest hole. With a click, the door opened.

Creeeeak……

The door to the garden opened with a creepy sound. Apparently, it hadn’t been oiled in a long time.

She cautiously poked her head in, looked around once, then stepped inside. The size was impressive even from the outside, but it was even more so once she entered.

“Wow……”

The typical image of a garden was recreated inside the glass greenhouse. Neatly pruned trees, tidy stone paths, and a pure white fountain—not spraying water, perhaps due to maintenance issues. But why recreate all this inside a glass greenhouse?

Walking along the stone path, she arrived at what looked like the garden’s center. There, a statue of a woman stood, reaching one hand up toward the sky. There didn’t seem to be any gold or jewels, as Raihan had mentioned. So what was so special here? As she frowned in thought, something caught her eye.

“……A house?”