Chapter 66
Hera went out with Jeff to buy flowers for the first time in a while.
The flowers decorating her room had withered, so they stopped by the Mumble Market.
Technically, she could have just picked flowers from the garden, but she mostly wanted an excuse to go outside for a walk.
Her mind had been restless with the royal ball approaching.
“Oh my, Miss Emilia!”
The florist, named Sarah, often supplied flowers for parties at the Tollinga estate.
Sarah immediately recognized Hera and greeted her with a bright smile.
“I heard the news! You’re announcing your engagement at the royal ball? Oh, I’m so jealous.”
“Jealous? Not at all.”
“But that Duke… I heard he’s quite the womanizer. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
Sarah asked with a worried expression. It seemed that, having seen Hera frequently at Tollinga, she had developed a kind of familiarity.
Hera smiled awkwardly and replied,
“The rumors are exaggerated. He’s not like that.”
“Well, even if he’s a duke, no one could marry a man who’s always chasing after women.”
“Sarah… someone might hear you.”
“Oh, marriage isn’t complicated. All a lady needs is a man who brings her beautiful flowers every day and loves her sincerely.”
Hera finally smiled after a long time at Sarah’s passionate words.
“Sarah, you’ve really improved your sales skills. Is that how you sell flowers to passing gentlemen?”
“Well, something like that.”
Hera and Sarah laughed together. Sarah was a cheerful person, and it felt worth coming all this way to buy flowers.
“Anyway, I hope the Duke will be that kind of husband.”
“He surely will be.”
Hera’s eyes darkened slightly as she answered. She quickly wiped the clouded expression from her face and went into the shop to pick out flowers.
While Hera was inside, Jeff awkwardly looked at the flowers displayed outside.
He didn’t know much about flowers, so they all looked the same to him.
Then his eyes landed on a flamboyant white flower.
“Hey, what’s this flower?”
“That’s a Casablanca.”
Sarah kindly told him the name of the flower.
“How much is one?”
“You want to buy it?”
Jeff awkwardly nodded.
“13 Lunas.”
It was an excessively high price for a single flower. Jeff secretly counted the money in his pocket.
One, two, three…
“At most, I only have 8 Lunas.”
He had earned some pocket money helping Butler Miles and Chef Chichi at the Tollin estate, but after saving for essential expenses, only 8 Lunas remained.
He couldn’t even buy a single flower with that.
“Will you buy it? Should I wrap it?”
“N-no, that’s fine.”
Jeff shook his head. He lowered his voice even more, afraid Hera might hear.
‘I can’t even give a flower to Emilia sister right now.’
With drooping shoulders, Jeff kicked the ground aimlessly with the tip of his shoes.
“Sarah, I’ll take a bunch of geraniums, please.”
“Yesss, Miss!”
At Hera’s call, Sarah hurried over.
There was an unbridgeable gap between Hera, buying flowers for a simple mood lift, and Jeff, whose entire budget was only 8 Lunas. Jeff was fully aware of it.
“Were you looking at the flowers?”
Hera came back outside and asked Jeff kindly.
Jeff fixed his gaze on Sarah’s skillful hands arranging the geraniums.
Was there really no way to handle everything smoothly in life?
Things like sudden feelings of inferiority or persistent jealousy—emotions that only settle if you display a sour face—how could one learn to manage them skillfully?
“Do you like flowers, sister?”
“I do. They’re pretty.”
“Then, sister… do you like that Duke too?”
“……”
Apparently, there was no answer for that. It seemed humans were destined to remain inexperienced forever.
Seeing Hera give no answer, Jeff forced a bitter smile.
“Just by looking at your expression, I can tell.”
He felt small and pathetic.
Until Sarah brought out the geraniums, Hera and Jeff stayed in silence.
When they left the flower shop and walked along Mumble Avenue, Merriott stood leaning against a wall near the shop.
“What was that expression?”
From Merriott’s viewpoint, he could only see Hera’s back, not her face. Unconfirmed emotions became even stronger in the imagination.
Merriott regretted following them.
His heart pounded violently with expectations that betrayed reason.
“What am I even doing…”
He could feel the rough thump of his heartbeat through his palm pressed to his chest. It didn’t seem like it would calm down anytime soon.
The next day, Julian received a shocking report.
After the tea party, he had ordered his most capable city guard to investigate Lina Baker’s parents.
The results were so astonishing they stopped Julian’s thoughts in their tracks.
“Lina Baker… is whose illegitimate child…?”
“Madam Mei Luiza’s daughter.”
Grand Duchess Mei Luiza. She was the matriarch of the Luiza family, a ducal house in eastern Aufisen, and the daughter of Duke Antoni.
The eastern region of the Ivy Empire had been independent city-states until just thirty years ago.
Five families, as prince-electors, elected a king and traded with the distant eastern continent, accumulating great wealth.
The region was incorporated into the Ivy Empire when Emperor Therion made a treaty with Faverte Mendel, the eastern king.
The Empire took over diplomacy, foreign trade, and declarations of war, and could participate in eastern tax councils.
Yet, the east preserved its independent culture—like electing their leaders through voting.
Mei Luiza had long been widowed, ruling Aufisen with her four sons. The Luiza family had the highest prestige among the five elector families, making her a figure even the Emperor couldn’t easily dismiss.
“The Grand Duchess disappeared mysteriously six years ago; we assume that’s when Lina Baker was born.”
“Who’s the father?”
“That’s unknown.”
Discovering the father of an illegitimate child was not easy. Even a skilled guard would struggle if a powerful person like the Grand Duchess deliberately erased all traces.
“Who knows this truth?”
“Only the Captain and I in the Guard.”
“Keep it secret forever. If you want to live.”
Julian’s subordinate likely thought the same from the moment they discovered the name Luiza Mei.
“What happened after the adoption?”
“The documents from the family that adopted Lina Baker state she died in an accident. However, all the children of that family are recorded as dead or missing… It’s extremely unusual, so there’s reason for suspicion.”
‘Could they have been killing adopted illegitimate children one by one? For fun? Paul Chelsning. What a lunatic!’
The outline became clear without hearing more. Julian had met Paul Chelsning several times.
With a flashy appearance and eloquence, he was popular in society, but Julian always found him repulsive. Perhaps he instinctively sensed Chelsning’s vile nature.
“They’re pressuring us to close the case quickly. What should we do?”
“Pressuring to ‘close’ it quickly?”
Julian immediately frowned.
The Chelsning Count was reputedly mild-tempered. Yet, it seemed the family excelled at hiding their true nature.
If the son were innocent, the Count would have fiercely defended him. It wasn’t impossible for the city guard to petition the Emperor and Crown Prince on a false case.
But ordering a quick closure implied the Count already knew his son’s guilt.
“The Count knows about his son’s misconduct, then.”
“Cough.”
The subordinate cleared his throat nervously before his superior. Julian bit his lip painfully.
‘Helpless. I despise how helpless I feel. Just because they’re nobles, just because they have power… even these scum…’
Life as a member of Tollinga was mostly painful. Over time, the pain deepened, sometimes unbearably.
“Tell them we’ll do as they wish.”
Gritting his teeth, Julian ordered his subordinate. After the subordinate agreed to inform Count Chelsning, he left the office.
‘I have to let go of these trash with my own hands…’
Alone, Julian crumpled the report in his hands. It looked worse than trash on the street, perfectly reflecting his despair.
Whenever Julian felt confused, Emilia had always been his support.
He missed Emilia before she lost her memories.
He still needed her. He wanted to share this pain with her.
His weak and wicked heart slowly gnawed at him.
‘Emilia… what should I do now…?’
