Chapter 114 …

The next morning, when Niles Honeycutt woke up, he clutched his pounding heart once again and finally admitted the truth.

“Ahhh, I can’t do it! I can’t find it!”

No matter how smart he was, how capable, decisive, and efficient he was—no matter that he had worked for years under the Duke of Blanchard as a highly competent secretary—impossible things were still impossible.

“There isn’t even one at a Tulisa specialty flower garden, so where the hell am I supposed to find it?!”

After weeks of relentless searching, Niles had finally discovered the existence of a place called the “Tulisa Specialty Garden” in the Kingdom of Velfa.

In a sense, it had been the capable secretary Niles’s last hope and final stronghold.

Tulisa specialty.

It was an incredibly reassuring name.

If it was a flower garden that specialized in tulisas, then surely they would have at least eighty-two different colors of tulisas.

Purple isn’t even that unusual a color… it must be among those eighty-two!

Thinking that, Niles had waited anxiously for the garden’s reply.

However, the letter that finally arrived yesterday was disappointing from the very first line.

“Hello, Mr. Honeycutt.

First of all, thank you for contacting our garden.

Before answering your inquiry, we would like to inform you that tulisas exist in a total of twelve colors.”

—Twelve? No, what good are twelve—… no, wait. Twelve still gives me a chance. Think carefully, Niles. Even the rainbow only has seven colors, and purple is one of them.

“The ‘purple’ tulisa you inquired about is currently believed not to exist.”

“….”

The hope Niles had been clinging to for the past several days after discovering the Tulisa Specialty Garden was officially declared dead.

And the rest of the letter didn’t just declare it dead—it opened the coffin and slapped the corpse for good measure.

“Perhaps you mistook a flower bed where pink and blue tulisas were blooming together? (laugh)”

The tone of the letter was polite.

But after years of exchanging letters with all sorts of twisted personalities as the Duke of Blanchard’s aide, Niles could clearly see the hidden meaning behind the words.

“Maybe your eyesight is just bad? (sneer)”

“….”

Crunch.

Niles crumpled the letter immediately—despite it ending with a line telling him to check the enclosed catalog—and that was how he finished yesterday’s work.

And now, today, after spending the night with his hair styled by magpies doing their absolute best, he had finally reached the point of declaring defeat.

Now there was only one problem left.

How on earth was he supposed to report this to the Duke?

—“I couldn’t find it!”

—“Die.”

Alright. ‘Boldly reporting it’ had failed.

—“It seems the ‘purple tulisa’ is a flower from legend!”

—“Ah, so I’m the idiot who told you to find it without knowing that? Die.”

Yes. ‘Carefully persuading him’ also failed.

—“What if the gardener lied?!”

—“You dare doubt Lizzie Atkins? Die twice.”

Finally, the ‘suggest the only logical hypothesis’ approach was a complete disaster.

“Damn it!”

After finishing his imaginary scenarios, Niles grabbed his blond hair and screamed.

“What did I say that was wrong?! Lizzie Atkins said she planted it, and Lizzie Atkins said it was purple, so then—!”

Niles, who was ranting as if he had been killed twice even though Cyrus hadn’t killed him even once, suddenly stopped speaking.

A powerful realization had just smacked the back of his head.

That’s right.

The person who said purple tulisas existed was Lizzie Atkins.

And the person who planted the purple tulisas was also Lizzie Atkins.

Of course, until now he hadn’t said anything because it looked so obviously like a gift meant for Lizzie—but if he was going to die anyway, that hardly mattered.

“Let’s go confront her.”

The only person who could resolve this matter was Lizzie Atkins.

“I’ll make her confess that the split tulisa bulb wasn’t actually purple but blue! Or make her reveal where she got that bulb from! One way or another, I’ll get an answer!”

I, Niles Honeycutt—

would protect my reputation as the Duke of Blanchard’s capable aide no matter what.

Even if I have to interrogate that carrot who’s still sleeping in that cabin!

Even if I’ll probably lose…!

* * *

And so, Niles stood in front of Lizzie’s cabin.

His blond hair—tamed with great effort into something more like a small sparrow’s nest than a magpie’s—swayed in the gentle spring breeze.

Knock knock.

“Lizzie Atkins!”

In a deliberately solemn voice, Niles called out.

She was definitely sleeping, so she probably wouldn’t come out right awa—

Bang.

“KYAAAH!”

“That’s quite a scream.”

Startled by Lizzie’s comment, Niles looked up—and was shocked.

Dark shadows hung under Lizzie’s large eyes.

“W-what? Did you stay up all night?”

“Yeah. I was a bit busy.”

“What on earth could be so busy—”

Niles’s gaze briefly moved past Lizzie.

Inside the hearth, a mouse was gripping a ladle and stirring something frantically.

Huh?

“Yawn. Anyway, what brings you here?”

Lizzie asked while yawning.

Niles stammered.

“Well… um… the mouse…”

“The mouse?”

“The mouse was just holding a ladle—”

At Niles’s words, Lizzie turned around.

“There’s nothing there.”

“What?”

Rubbing his eyes, Niles looked at the hearth again.

Only a lone ladle remained in the cast-iron pot.

What was that? A dream?

“So what did you need?”

“Well… that is….”

“If it’s nothing, I’m going back inside. I’m really busy today. Bye.”

As Lizzie was about to close the cabin door, Niles hurriedly shouted.

“T-Tulisa!”

“Huh?”

“The purple tulisa bulb! How did you get it? Does it really exist?!”

Lizzie asked with a slightly puzzled expression.

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Because I’ve been searching for it this whole time!”

“This whole time?”

“Yes! The Duke has been telling me to find a ‘purple tulisa bulb’ several times a day…! I searched every flower garden in the empire, and even went through Velfa and the Kingdom of Kainan….”

“And you couldn’t find it.”

“S-so it really doesn’t exist?!”

Lizzie gently patted the shoulders of the Niles who looked ready to cry.

Of course he couldn’t find it.

Purple tulisas could only be obtained from druids.

The reason was simple.

To bloom a purple tulisa, you needed a tulisa bulb that had been soaked in “bulb dye” for ten years.

Druids—who instinctively preferred nature’s original colors—didn’t usually do something like that.

So druids who possessed bulbs of such unusual colors were rarer than expected.

To begin with, even Lizzie would never have gotten one if a druid who had been obsessed with purple for seventy-one years hadn’t generously handed over the bulbs.

“Since the human I’m sponsoring has purple eyes, I want to see the scene where purple flowers are planted so those purple eyes can look at purple flowers. Could you send me some purple flower bulbs of each type? For reference, the eyes are very pretty. Verified by crow. —Lizzley Atkins of the Duke’s cabin.

P.S. I’m enclosing all the purple gems I have.”

“Afterward, you must paint that scene and send it to me. Colored version required. —Violet Purple of the Purple Gate Garden.

P.S. The crow that delivered your letter bragged endlessly. Are they really that pretty?”

“Yes. The more you look, the prettier they get. By the way, could you send one more purple tulisa bulb? The pretty purple-eyed one accidentally crushed one while spreading fertilizer. —Lizzley Atkins of the Duke’s cabin.”

“I’m sending it because you said they’re pretty. That’s the last tulisa. Take the hoe away from that pretty purple-eyed one. —Violet Purple of the Purple Gate Garden.”

“Sniff… sob…”

As Lizzie recalled the letters she had exchanged with the druid whose name alone screamed obsession with purple, a sorrowful sobbing sound came from above her head.

Niles, who had looked like he was about to cry, was now actually crying.

“Hmm…”

Lizzie wasn’t someone who paid much attention to appearances, but a handsome blond man with blue eyes shedding big tears looked a bit pitiful.

“Sigh.”

Letting out a helpless sigh, Lizzie spoke.

“Niles.”

“S-sob… y-yeah?”

“Wait here.”

Bang.

Before Niles could even answer, the cabin door shut coldly.

“….”

Niles stood there silently for a moment, unable to process what had just happened.

Then he burst into even more miserable sobbing.

“Waaah…!”

As the Duke of Blanchard’s capable aide, he tried not to cry—but it wasn’t easy.

Tears were the kind of thing that exploded even more uncontrollably the more you tried to hold them back.

“Sniff…”

Inside the mansion, the maids who witnessed the scene began whispering plausible theories like:

“Gasp, the aide is crying.”

“Really? Why? Did Lizzie hit him?”

Bang.

The cabin door suddenly opened again.

Lizzie came out holding something in both hands.

“…A field mouse is about to drown in your tears. Did Cyrus say he’d kill you if you couldn’t get the bulb?”

“Sob… he didn’t say that exactly… but… I wanted to be a capable and competent aide… waaah…”

“….”

Watching Niles bawl his eyes out, Lizzie suddenly thought:

Just how heartless must Count Honeycutt be to throw out a kid like this without giving him a single coin?

“Anyway, stop crying. I’ll give you this as a gift.”

She placed a round object into Niles’s hand.

Looking down, he saw a small onion-like bulb glowing faintly purple.

“Don’t tell me this is….”

“Yep. Purple tulisa.”

“….”

Is this a dream?

“It’s not a dream.”

Mind reading?

“Not mind reading either.”

Lizzie burst out laughing and said with certainty,

“Now I understand why Cyrus keeps you around.”

If there were a contest called “Say your emotions with your face,” Niles Honeycutt would definitely win first place.

As Niles stood there stunned by the sudden stroke of luck, Lizzie placed a glass bottle into his other hand.

“W-what’s this?”

“A calming potion.”

“….”

“Make sure to drink only one sip a day.”

“Lizzie.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re truly the greatest gardener.”

“I know.”

Lizzie replied calmly.

“An amazing gardener.”

“Yep.”

“A stylish gardener.”

“That’s right.”

Ignoring Lizzie’s half-hearted replies, Niles showered her with compliments while stuffing the calming potion into his pocket.

Then he carefully cradled the purple tulisa bulb like a newborn baby and headed toward the mansion.

A joyful smile spread across his entire face, as if he had never cried at all.

“How can someone be that happy?”

Lizzie watched him with a pleased expression.

Just moments ago she had felt exhausted to death, but now that Niles had left, her mood felt strangely good.

Or maybe she had started feeling good from the moment she heard that Cyrus had been searching for the purple tulisa bulb all this time.

“…This is troublesome.”

Lizzie muttered, rubbing her lips.

She didn’t realize that her face—full of smiles—didn’t look troubled at all.

Ah, but I should say this.

Suddenly remembering something, Lizzie turned around.

“Ratatouille, I told you not to stir the ladle when people are around.”

[But how can I just watch when it’s starting to burn?!]

“….”

What a responsible mouse.

Watching the mouse grab the ladle again and stir the pot like crazy, Lizzie thought.