chapter 32
In the end, I ended up at a restaurant in the capital—alone—with Grand Duke Blake.
‘Wow, this is suffocating.’
Just me and the Grand Duke in a restaurant… This feels exactly like one of those painfully awkward one-on-one dinners with your boss after work.
And well, that’s not exactly wrong.
Also, yes—it really is suffocating.
“……”
“……”
Even though we’d already placed our order some time ago, neither of us said a word. The silence just… dragged on.
‘Wait, wasn’t he the one who asked me to come here?’
Yet the Grand Duke showed no sign of speaking first.
He sat there, a glass of wine in hand, gaze fixed somewhere far away, lost in thought. Every now and then, his sharp eyes flicked toward me as if sizing me up.
‘Where am I, who am I…? Ugh, at least the wine’s good…’
This world’s food culture is tragically underdeveloped, but surprisingly, alcohol is everywhere.
Grape juice or grains naturally ferment into ethanol and carbon dioxide, which becomes alcohol. By similar principles, vinegar is also made—so both are common in the Empire.
There aren’t many breweries, so the selection isn’t nearly as varied as in my past life, and since everything is naturally fermented, quality is inconsistent.
But the wine served in a restaurant frequented only by nobles… this one tasted high-quality enough.
‘…No, this isn’t working. I can’t distract myself. This awkwardness is unbearable.’
If this silence kept up until the food arrived, I might actually choke trying to eat.
Better to just say something. Anything.
“Your Grace, regarding the Spring Atwal—what did you wish to discuss?”
I went straight for the reason this meeting was arranged.
‘Because honestly, what else am I supposed to talk about with a Grand Duke? We’re hardly chat buddies.’
The Grand Duke, who had been staring off into the distance as though deep in thought, turned his head at my voice.
“…Ah.”
…Ah?
What was that supposed to mean?
‘No way. Don’t tell me…’
He didn’t just drag me here without a real reason, did he?
My internal radar—which only ever seems to react to bad signs—started blaring. Suspicious, I narrowed my eyes at him.
He cleared his throat once and finally spoke again.
“Hmm. Is the preparation going well?”
“……”
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
‘No, calm down. He wouldn’t do that… right?’
It did sound like he was just saying the first thing that came to mind, but still—the Grand Duke wouldn’t invite me here for no reason.
Maybe my radar was just glitching. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“What preparations do you mean, exactly?”
“For the first day—the ‘Garden of Flowers.’”
Ah. That.
“I may be attending as your partner, but realistically, I’ll only be with you until the third day’s ball.”
When young nobles come of age, their families host small private ceremonies.
But true adulthood isn’t recognized until after the Spring Atwal.
In other words, Spring Atwal is a nation-wide coming-of-age festival—and also a grand celebration for the newly adult nobles to meet potential marriage partners.
It’s one of the Empire’s largest annual events, and of course, it lasts for several days.
“Just being your partner at the ball is already an honor, Your Grace.”
“You don’t have to flatter me. Now then, are you ready to enter the Garden of Flowers?”
“I didn’t mean to flatter you… But by ‘ready,’ you mean the gift for the fairies, correct?”
“Right.”
The Grand Duke nodded slightly.
“They tend to play pranks if they don’t like the gifts they’re given.”
The first day of Spring Atwal—
All the nobles gather in the Imperial Palace’s grand hall. After the Emperor’s congratulatory speech, things proceed like any other ball…
Until then.
Afterward, only those who have come of age that year move to the palace’s central garden—
—to enter the secret “Garden of Flowers.”
‘They call it the Garden of Flowers, but it’s really the flower field where the fairies live!’
When I was younger, I’d thought it was just a fancy name for a ball.
So when I learned what really happened, I remember thinking, “Wow, this really is a fantasy world!”
As a reincarnator, things like that still fill me with wonder.
Honestly… I’m kind of looking forward to it.
But surprisingly, the nobles of this world also eagerly anticipate meeting the fairies when they come of age.
“Are the fairies’ pranks really that bad?”
“It depends. If they like you, they’ll be kind. If not… you’ll see how mischievous they can be.”
Because, you see—this is the only time anyone in this world can meet fairies.
They live only in the Garden of Flowers.
It’s said that long ago, when monsters destroyed their homeland, the founder of the Fraser Empire took them in and gave them refuge in the Imperial gardens.
Maybe the story got embellished over time, but it’s a fitting legend for a nation that calls itself a ‘Holy Empire.’
“If you manage to please them, you’ll receive a wonderful gift in return.”
In short—if you give a fairy a gift they like, they bless you with one of their own.
That’s why the first day of Spring Atwal became a yearly tradition:
it’s a symbolic rite to bless the first steps of newly adult nobles.
The problem is… fairies’ mischief varies wildly, and if you offend them, the consequences can be terrifying.
The stories spread among nobles like ghost tales—and from what my father once told me, most of them were true.
A shiver ran down my spine. I rubbed the back of my neck.
“A gift that pleases a fairy… I’m not quite sure what that would be.”
“What are you planning to give?”
“Well, that’s usually prepared by the family, so nothing too special, I suppose…”
As I thought about it, the Grand Duke answered for me.
“The Lockharts always give accessories filled with high-purity mana, correct?”
“Yes. I’ve heard that fairies like shiny things.”
“Not all of them, but if it’s infused with Lockhart mana, they’ll surely like it.”
He nodded, and I found myself smiling a little.
And then it hit me—
‘Huh. We’re actually… talking pretty well.’
The awkwardness from earlier had completely vanished.
Honestly, with how he looked, I half-expected him to brush off anything I said with, “Why is that relevant? You’re wasting my time.”
‘Hmm. Maybe I judged him too quickly.’
With his title and that coldly perfect “romance novel male lead” face, I’d assumed he’d be far more arrogant.
Enjoying the rare ease of conversation, I asked lightly,
“Have you ever entered the Garden of Flowers yourself, Your Grace? If so, what gift did you receive from the fairies?”
Royal family members don’t participate as “main guests” like other nobles, but since he seemed knowledgeable about the fairies, I was simply curious.
But that innocent curiosity… turned out to be a mistake.
—Freeze.
The Grand Duke’s hand, which had been idly tracing the rim of his wine glass, went still.
The pleasant atmosphere plummeted, cold enough to freeze the air itself. The silence that followed was so sharp, it felt like a single sound could shatter glass.
[Warning! A strong curse aura is detected nearby.]
“……”
The quiet system window flashed red in my vision, as if warning me of danger.
‘Wow. Didn’t know it could do that,’ I thought—then immediately realized it was not the time for that.
If I so much as twitched, I felt like that piercing gaze of his would slice me in two.
He wasn’t even saying anything, just sitting there, yet the sheer pressure in the air made it hard to breathe.
My thoughts scrambled in panic.
What… what kind of landmine did I just step on?
