Episode 15
“Yes, please. Her Highness wants that pink flower.”
“As many as you wish.”
The gardener climbed the ladder with practiced movements and snapped off the flowers.
On his forearm, visible because his sleeve was rolled up, there were several rough scratch marks.
“Here you go, lady-in-waiting.”
He offered a few blossoms to Beatrice.
“Thank you.”
As Beatrice accepted the flowers, I unconsciously stepped forward.
“Here.”
I rolled up my sleeve and pointed to my wrist. The gardener blinked.
“Did you get hurt?”
“Oh dear…”
He quickly pulled his sleeve back down, hiding the wounds.
“I apologize for showing such an unsightly sight, Your Highness. I often get scratched by branches. This one is just—”
He stopped speaking and gave an awkward laugh.
“—It’s nothing, truly.”
“Why you hurt?”
Beatrice was just about to interrupt.
Suddenly, the gardener knelt down and bowed his head.
“In truth, it was the cat. But please, Your Highness, I swear I did not report it to His Highness. I truly didn’t…”
**So it *was* that gardener!**
*The gardener who was punished because the cat was chased away… the one Rosa resented for it!*
My eyes widened in realization, then I quickly lowered my gaze before he could notice.
*So the cat was only gentle toward Rosa, and vicious toward others, right?*
And Rosa—afraid that fact would be exposed—silenced everyone and clung to keeping the cat by her side.
*Just like she did in the past.*
Fearful that the gardener might discover the twins’ secret, I still couldn’t stop myself from asking aloud:
“Why kitty scratch?”
“In trying to stop it from digging up the soil again… it scratched me,” he answered wearily.
*So the cat ruined the garden.*
As I nodded in understanding, the gardener continued in a lowered voice:
“Merciful Princess, please… just one more favor. We need to seal the hole where the cat hides.”
Beatrice stepped in at the perfect moment.
“There’s a hiding hole?”
The gardener continued, glancing at me carefully.
“Ah—you didn’t know, my lady. Under the bushes on the path toward Say Palace, there is a burrow. I’ve seen the cat go in there many times.”
*Of all places, the path to Say Palace.*
*It could have gotten into the building!*
Beatrice grimaced.
“Seal it immediately. Such a vicious thing lurking near Her Highness—no need to seek permission.”
But the gardener looked only at me.
*Rosa must have stopped him from sealing it before.*
Realizing that, I nodded.
“He scratched me and tore my clothes.”
“…He finally went that far?”
“So now can block hole.”
Even though it wasn’t for himself, the gardener looked overjoyed and bowed deeply.
“Thank you, Your Highness. I’ll do it at once.”
—
“I’m gonna tell Mom, so she give gardener reward.”
As soon as he left, I announced it. Beatrice smiled and handed me one of the pink flowers.
“Our princess really is kind. I’ll speak with Her Majesty too.”
That way, Rosa wouldn’t be able to get him expelled.
Mother never allowed us to openly oppose one another.
“Twitz.”
Feeling cheerful, I giggled while examining the flowers.
“Thishy look like Icarus eye color.”
“Oh my, you picked them as a gift for the knight? Our little angel, Princess Rostel, how kind you are.”
I felt guilty—my motivation wasn’t kind at all.
So I confessed quickly.
“No… Icarus save Squeaker…”
“Regardless! I’m sure he’ll be delighted!”
I had never once seen Icarus “delighted” in my previous 22-year life, but I let her have her hope.
We placed the pink flowers in my room and headed to the banquet hall.
*What if Father avoids me again…?*
I stared down at the purple flower in my hand, worried—yet fortunately, Father was already seated.
*Judging by how he flinched when our eyes met, he planned to finish eating and escape early.*
I swallowed nervously and trotted toward him.
Without looking at me, Father asked,
“…You’re here?”
He avoided eye contact—probably afraid he’d cry.
I held out the flower and apologized for something I didn’t do.
“Sawy for cry a lot yeshterday.”
“Mm…?”
His violet eyes slowly lifted and turned to me—then to the flower in my hand.
Awkwardly, I explained,
“Mama pick flower… so I… give Papa too.”
The ever-stoic High Priest’s eyes wavered visibly.
“You… picked this for me?”
It was just a flower. Why was he so moved?
Father accepted it as if it were the most precious gift in the world.
“Thank you, Rostel… thank you.”
Dad, I actually have another name—Lirin.
And I didn’t cry because of you.
*I just wanted to be close to you.*
I swallowed the words I couldn’t say yet and smiled.
“Thank you too.”
Mother entered the hall and observed us quietly.
—
The next dawn, I woke with a start—worried about protecting Squeaker.
He was sitting beside my pillow in a strange little pose.
“Come hewe…”
I whispered, scooping him gently into both palms.
Soon Gabriella arrived with Rosa.
Rosa didn’t speak to me—she must have been warned yesterday. But she stared daggers at me. No—at Squeaker.
*You have got to be kidding me…*
Rosa had always been desperate to control me—even when I never stood in her way.
She never looked at me with hatred before, yet she had pulled schemes behind my back.
*And now that the obsessive cat is gone, we’ll never get along.*
Not that I ever planned to.
Still, it stung.
She only treated me nicely because I was weak and easy to manipulate.
*Because I was a fool she could use.*
I sighed and picked up the flower at my feet.
Gabriella saw me juggling both the flower and Squeaker and just sighed, then lifted me without a word.
In the shifting darkness, Say Palace grew closer.
“I—ICARUZZ!”
The moment we arrived, I shouted.
Every morning, Icarus escorted us between Say Palace and the main palace, but he always vanished like morning dew—I rarely saw him.
*He must have heard that.*
Footsteps approached. Then Icarus appeared and knelt—just as he would before my mother.
“Icarus Chenelly, answering the call of the Little Highness.”
…Okay, that was too much.
I’d never summoned him before, so this reaction startled me.
“I, uh… so… so…”
I looked down at the pink flower. It had wilted slightly around the edges.
*If only it still looked fresh…*
Embarrassed, I waddled toward him.
“Thish.”
I held out the flower. The emotionless knight just stared at it, puzzled.
After a long pause, he asked,
“…Would you like me to present this to His Majesty?”
I shook my head emphatically.
“No. For you. Look like… your eye color.”
“…It does?”
Actually, now that I thought about it—it didn’t.
Frustrated, I shook the flower aggressively.
“Yes! Look! Same! Same… and pretty…”
I had underestimated Icarus Chenelly.
He looked like he wanted to prove that the flower and his eyes were *not* the same color.
“My eyes… look like this? Pretty… you say?”
So you disagree?
Are you colorblind?
