Chapter 44
In the end, even by the time we arrived at the Diatri mansion, we still didn’t find out how Popo had managed to find us.
In a way, that was only natural.
Popo couldn’t speak human language, so it couldn’t explain how it had tracked us down.
“Well, it was a strange one to begin with.”
Thinking of Popo flying out through the window just a moment ago, I let out a small laugh.
At the slight movement, the bouquet in my hands rustled softly.
When I adjusted my grip on the flowers and lifted my head, my eyes met Felix’s, who had been looking at me.
Felix’s third habit.
When he was with me, Felix usually never took his eyes off me.
Whenever I turned my head to look for him, he was already watching me.
Not only meeting my gaze, but also checking whether I was uncomfortable, whether I might bump into something while walking, and what my eyes lingered on.
In every moment we were together, Felix kept his attention fully on me—never to the point of being burdensome.
Anyone could tell that he was focused on this time, and that he was paying just as much attention to me.
That sincerity, which I could clearly feel, made me embarrassed—but also happy.
“…I had a good time today.”
“I enjoyed it as well.”
At my sincere words, Felix returned them with a faint smile.
A short silence followed, not awkward at all, warmly settling between us.
Felix was the one who broke it.
“Lady Flora.”
“Yes?”
“…Will you be attending the victory celebration banquet in a few days?”
After calling my name, he spoke a little slowly.
It was a natural question.
It was a banquet with Felix as the main figure—there was no way I wouldn’t attend.
I nodded right away.
“Of course I will. It’s a banquet to celebrate your victory and honor your achievements.”
“Ah…”
Felix blinked at my quick reply and smiled shyly, saying, “So you already knew.”
Honestly. I was his fiancée—how could I not attend an event like that?
“You didn’t think I wouldn’t go, did you? I may look like this, but I’m surprisingly considerate.”
Of course, that was a lie.
If Father and Kyle heard that, they’d probably look at me like they had just bitten into rotten meat.
As I said it shamelessly, Felix smiled lightly.
His second habit I had noticed earlier—when he got a question he didn’t want to answer, or found difficult, he smiled faintly.
But this time, that wasn’t it.
“I heard that you don’t like large banquets very much… so I thought you might not attend.”
…Oh. So this wasn’t a deflecting smile.
It was true that I didn’t like banquets.
Places where wealthy, high-ranking nobles gathered were always the same.
Everyone dressed up to show off how superior they were.
Titled nobles would boast about how much income they had earned that year or how well their businesses were doing.
Noble ladies would talk about rare jewels they had acquired, mansion renovations, or their children.
And unmarried noble heirs—there was no need to even mention them.
In short, banquets were places full of self-praise and smiling insults toward others.
Of course, not everyone was like that—but seven out of ten were.
For all those reasons, I didn’t like banquets.
“…That’s true, but this one is different. You’re the main figure, Felix.”
A slightly sulky tone slipped out without me realizing it.
“I see. I didn’t think it through enough.”
Unlike me, Felix’s voice carried a faint smile.
Whenever I was with Felix, my stomach sometimes felt unsettled.
It happened when he got shy over my casual words but said even bolder things without hesitation, and when I became aware of the softness in his blue eyes as he looked at me.
All of it gently disturbed the calm surface of my heart.
So even now, today, I felt strange.
His deep eyes, gently curved like a ridge, turned toward me.
“Then, Flora, would you grant me the honor of escorting you as my lady that day?”
Inside the slowly moving carriage, he asked me for an escort.
At those words, my heart churned again.
Seriously, I needed to get a grip on myself.
Clack.
After passing through the mansion gate and slowing down, the carriage finally came to a complete stop in front of the main building.
Soon, the carriage door opened slowly.
The first to step out was a silver-haired man.
After firmly opening the door, he extended his hand inside.
“Please step down carefully.”
A woman then leaned slightly out of the carriage, took the man’s hand, and carefully stepped down.
“Thank you for bringing me home. I’ll treasure the bouquet.”
When Flora gestured to the flowers in her hands, Felix’s gaze wavered slightly.
“…Yes.”
His reply came half a beat late, but Flora didn’t mind.
She knew Felix—someone who could say embarrassingly sweet things so easily, yet got shy over small details like this.
“Like I said earlier, I’ll put them in my bedroom and think of you every time I see them.”
When Flora whispered teasingly, Felix’s ears turned red as if he had heard something indecent.
“…Thank you.”
Even so, his reply was gentle and obedient.
Flora burst into laughter.
If he disliked it, he could just say so—but if he did, he would probably answer with a sincere face, “I don’t dislike it.”
Thinking she might tease him even more if she kept looking at his red ears, Flora spoke first.
“Anyway, I had a great time today. I’ll write to you when I get inside.”
After the brief farewell, Felix got back into the carriage.
When Flora stepped back a few paces, the carriage slowly began to move.
Without making much noise, the carriage carrying Felix gradually grew distant, and soon disappeared from sight.
“….”
Only then did Flora turn around and walk up the low steps.
At that moment, a servant who had been waiting by the entrance since they arrived opened the heavy front door.
After greeting the servant briefly, Flora hummed lightly as she passed through the doorway.
“Flora.”
“Ah! You startled me!”
As Flora jumped in surprise, Kyle—who had been leaning against the wall in a crooked posture—furrowed his brow.
Both of their expressions were twisted: Flora from being startled by Kyle’s sudden presence, and Kyle for being looked at that way.
“…What?”
Flora looked at Kyle with disbelief.
Her cold gaze made Kyle flinch for a moment, but then he remembered that he was her older brother and stiffened his expression.
“What do you mean ‘what’? Do you know what time it is—”
Kyle always forgot one thing.
“First, stand properly before talking. And when you call someone, make some noise. Seriously, you scared me.”
Flora had never once been an easy younger sister to him—and that hadn’t changed, even now.
“What’s wrong with my posture—”
But people didn’t change easily, and Kyle—who Flora called a ‘young old man’—muttered a small protest.
If Flora had known what he was about to say, she might not have spoken.
“Why do you think? You’re standing like some street thug trying to scare passersby.”
Flora’s flat words hit Kyle like a punch to the face.
“A s-street thug…?”
Kyle had grown up properly from birth.
Put nicely, he was upright. Put bluntly, he was rigid.
To someone like him, being compared to a street thug was a huge shock.
Staggering slightly, Kyle finally uncrossed his legs and stood straight.
“…Is this better?”
“Yeah. Now talk. Quickly—within one minute. I need to go upstairs and put these flowers in a vase.”
He was given exactly one minute. And even that time was pushed aside by a bouquet from her fiancé.
Why was his little sister so cold-hearted…?
Earlier that day, Kyle had listened to a friend proudly talk about receiving flowers from his youngest sister at a social club.
Now, he wiped imaginary tears inside.
When they were younger, the only things Flora ever gave him were earthworms, spiders, centipedes, and unknown weeds.
And Kyle hated all of those.
“If you have nothing to say, I’m going upstairs.”
“N-no!”
There was no time for self-pity.
“Flora, you really—”
“What. What is it.”
“…Ahem. That’s not it. I was just going to say it seems like you came home too late.”
Flora looked at him as if he were ridiculous.
“It’s not even dark yet.”
“That’s only because the days are longer. It’s already past six.”
“You just got back too.”
“…It’s more dangerous for you than for me.”
At Kyle’s nonsense, Flora almost crossed her arms, then stopped when the bouquet rustled and lowered her hands again.
She was dumbfounded by his sudden curfew lecture.
“I’ve always come home late sometimes. When I went to parties, I usually came back after midnight.”
“…That’s—”
“And the Duke brought me right to the front. What’s dangerous about that? There’s no one safer around me than the Duke.”
Kyle fell silent.
Because everything she said was completely right.
