Chapter 44
Vivid Green
The Daymond household was always noisy and chaotic—it had been that way since I was young. So after the delegation left Owen, the area around me grew quiet again. I knew clearly that silence had once been my everyday life.
The first day after the Daymond group departed was filled entirely with regret. But from the following day on, for several days, I felt drained of energy.
My heart felt even emptier than it had when I left the Kingdom of Lundra.
Whenever I thought about how Daymond had come to see me whenever he had free time after the delegation arrived in Owen—and about how I didn’t know when I would see him again—my mood sank endlessly.
Even so, I told myself it had been my own choice, and that we could always communicate through magic.
After the doctor declared that my cold had completely healed, Cedric no longer came to the small sitting room to read. I thought that, as the owner of the house, he must have visited only to check on me, with no other intention.
I didn’t just think that—truthfully, I felt empty again.
It felt as though a draft was blowing through the center of my chest. I thought that losing something precious was harder than leaving a precious place. And then I wondered whether such things could even be compared.
In truth—though it was a secret I couldn’t tell anyone—whenever my spirits sank, I thought of Rachel.
From the moment we crossed the border of the Kingdom of Lundra, it seemed I had been relying on her. I couldn’t deny it.
Rachel had clearly been kind to me from Lundra to Owen and throughout my life in Owen. She had made time for me and shown me a new world.
I thought I should understand what was in her heart, but the Rachel I saw in Owen—that was all there was to her.
I thought I was being selfish.
I could no longer use a card to ask Rachel to meet. When Rachel and Daymond argued verbally, I remained silent.
That wasn’t neutrality—it was taking Daymond’s side.
As a citizen of the Kingdom of Lundra, I couldn’t forgive her threats. And as a member of the royal family of the Lundra palace, I had to be wary of her intimidation.
I didn’t even have an excuse to send Rachel a card.
I believed Cedric and Rachel had feelings for each other. Even now, that belief hadn’t changed much. But now that I knew I liked Cedric, I didn’t want to bring Rachel and Cedric together.
And yet, I kept returning to those scenes—sending Rachel a card, receiving a positive reply, and leaving the ducal residence. To the times I’d spent pleasantly with Rachel and Cedric, and the feelings we’d shared through laughter.
Some nights, I suddenly felt afraid, thinking that I wasn’t becoming a princess who could stand proudly before the people of the Kingdom of Lundra.
I felt sorry toward the people of the kingdom for thinking of Rachel, who had demanded the kingdom’s treasure. Having witnessed imperial supremacism several times in the Empire, I felt that even more strongly.
At other times, I wondered if I was deliberately pretending not to notice the feelings Cedric and Rachel had for each other.
I was someone who would eventually return anyway. Was it right to pretend not to know their feelings when I had no intention of being greedy for Cedric? Or if I did return, what would happen to the two of them then? I found myself wondering.
Then one day, at an hour when the sun had climbed directly overhead, I suddenly sprang up and stretched.
I threw the window wide open. Hot air rushed into the room. The sunlight was fiercely bright.
I leaned slightly out the window and spread both arms wide. With my eyes closed, I felt the intensely hot wind blow over me.
Summer. Heat.
Summer is naturally hot. That’s what a season is. When summer passes, other seasons follow in order. Crops only bear fruit after summer has passed. Summer is simply meant to be that way.
It wasn’t that my heart had been neatly tied up yet. I thought it might take a little more waiting until the fruit finally ripened.
When I opened my eyes, the summer garden of the ducal residence outside the window was a vivid green.
My eyes flew open. It was earlier than usual.
My body felt light. I almost leapt out of bed and drew the curtains aside. Bright sunlight poured in, dazzling my eyes white. And it was hot. I thought that I liked sunlight but disliked the heat. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.
To lift my spirits, I carefully chose a dress.
I put on a short-sleeved dress with an ivory base covered in yellow floral embroidery. It was a puff-sleeved dress with many pleats in the sleeves, tied at the ends with green ribbons. I wrapped a deep green ribbon around my waist and let the ends hang down along my left hip.
A maid braided my hair into two plaits, tying in another ribbon. She neatly rounded and tucked my bangs behind my ears, fixing them with a tiny flower-shaped pin.
I lightly touched a petal of the flower in the vase before the mirror with my index finger. When I pressed my finger to the petal, I felt a soft sensation at my fingertips; when I lifted it, it disappeared. Quite naturally so.
“Could you prepare a hat? I’d like to take a walk in the back garden.”
“Princess, it’s still hot outside.”
“Yes, it probably is. I’ll be back before the sun reaches the very center of the sky.”
I put on the hat. The maid tied the ribbon loosely so it wouldn’t press against my chin. The green hat matched the dress well, putting me in a good mood. A smile came easily to my face over even small things.
I dabbed my forehead again with a handkerchief, then pressed it under my chin to wipe there as well.
From the moment I stepped out of the main entrance, I hummed a melody without lyrics—a concerto very famous in the Kingdom of Lundra. I walked lightly, lifting my heels.
When I reached the back garden, to my surprise, Cedric was standing at its far end, among tall trees. He had his hands clasped behind his back, gazing beyond the garden, and turned around when he heard my footsteps.
“Oh—Duke?”
It had only been a few days, but it felt like I was seeing Cedric again after a very long time. With my slightly excited heart, my voice came out a little higher than usual.
“Duke, good—”
It was earlier than morning.
“Is it dawn?”
“Princess. Good dawn to you.”
I stopped my brisk walk and approached Cedric calmly. Before reaching him, I pressed my handkerchief once to my forehead.
“What brings you here? I thought you’d be in your office at this hour.”
“The greenhouse renovation was completed yesterday, so I was inspecting it.”
“The greenhouse?”
I walked a little closer to Cedric’s side and leaned forward to look.
From where Cedric stood, a dozen or so steps descended downward. It was a sunken space, so I supposed that was why I hadn’t noticed it before.
The steps led to a winding path of earth and stone, and that path in turn led to a round building—a glass structure with a domed roof.
The entrance of the small dome was connected to a rectangular glass building behind it. Both the walls and roof were made of glass. Reflecting the light of the sky, the glass shimmered in many colors.
“Wow, was there originally a greenhouse here?”
I turned around. I’d had picnics in the back garden and walked the path connecting the annex and the main building several times, but from those places this lower area wasn’t visible. It was hidden by large trees, so even from the upper floors of the mansion, it couldn’t be seen.
“The greenhouse was built together with the ducal residence at its founding. It wasn’t needed and was left unmanaged, but this time it was renovated.”
“It’s a truly beautiful building!”
Cedric released his hands from behind his back and touched his lips lightly with one hand.
“Would you like to go inside? It’s available for use starting this morning.”
“Am I, by any chance, the first guest after the renovation?”
“Yes.”
“So you’ve given me the honor of being the first to step inside.”
I placed my hand in the one Cedric extended. When Cedric stepped down one stone step first, I followed, using the strength of his hand as support to descend one step at a time. With my free hand, I lifted my skirt, but the tall grass beside the narrow stone steps stained the hem with green.
There were stepping stones on the dirt path, as if newly laid. Thanks to the flat stones, it wasn’t difficult to reach the greenhouse. Cedric lightly pushed the greenhouse door. The glass door turned smoothly without making a sound.
Inside the greenhouse, visible through the doorway, there was nothing. From the narrow entrance, the space looked completely empty.
“There’s nothing here?”
“It had been abandoned for several hundred years. Only the exterior was repaired.”
I slowly stepped inside the greenhouse. Cedric remained where he was, and as I moved forward, I gently released his hand.
When I turned back, only Cedric’s neat gaze changed slightly with my single step. I walked nearly to the steps at the entrance, then turned my head to look more closely around the greenhouse.
Wild grass scattered across the floor caught the sunlight that filtered through the ceiling, carrying with it traces of long years in the air.
“Duke?”
I had no choice but to turn back again to look at Cedric.
