Chapter 41
“This must be what power feels like.”
That was my first thought as soon as Deriksha and I entered the room we would stay in.
Other maids shared a room with four or five people, I heard.
Maybe because Deriksha had a minor duke as a boyfriend, the room we got was as big and clean as the rooms nobles used.
Two single beds were side by side by a large, sunny window, and the wardrobe was so big that two or three people could fit inside comfortably.
Excited, I flopped onto the soft bed. Power is awesome. Money is the best.
I rolled around for a while before Deriksha, who had put down her luggage, looked at me with a frown.
“Get up, Lily. We have to work.”
“Why?”
“…Why? Because we came to work.”
Deriksha looked at me as if to say, Why are you even asking something so obvious?
Right… we’re maids.
I got up, exhausted from the carriage ride over the past few days.
Lu and Abel went straight to their rooms for a nap as soon as we arrived at the palace, but maids like us didn’t get that kind of free time.
I followed Deriksha reluctantly, showing off how little I wanted to work.
As soon as we opened the door, we ran into someone.
“Welcome, Lily!”
Ugh, could this person just stop appearing everywhere?
It was, of course, Chris. Seeing him pop up like he was waiting for us made me feel tired just looking at him.
“Do you want to tour the palace with me?”
“Your Highness, she has work to do.”
Deriksha spoke for me, cutting off Chris’s words. Chris finally noticed her and widened his eyes in surprise.
“Deriksha, you’re still here? Odin was looking everywhere. I thought you went to his room already.”
“…Odin?”
“Yes! He’s been asking about you all the time.”
Deriksha rolled her eyes a few times, then walked in the opposite direction from where she was originally going—toward Odin’s room.
Even someone so strict about rules would skip work just to see her boyfriend…
While I was feeling warm inside at Deriksha’s change, a thought occurred, and I asked Chris.
“Is something going on? Odin rarely calls Deriksha first.”
Odin would know she was busy working. Even at the duke’s house, he almost never called her first.
I worried that maybe something serious had happened. I might have needed to go see Lu too.
Chris smiled at my words. Seeing his smile, I quickly replaced my worried expression with a neutral one.
“…You lied, right?”
“Yeah.”
It was my mistake to believe him. Deriksha must have believed it right away without even thinking.
Chris still smiled boldly and said,
“Come on, let’s go too.”
“…Where?”
Normally, I would have ignored him and continued my work, but since this was a chance to enjoy slacking off, I had no reason not to follow.
Chris smiled at me with a teasing look.
“Follow me. I want to show you a very special place.”
The place Chris led us to wasn’t far from the dorms. There wasn’t a single person in sight—maybe the staff had already been sent away.
I gasped at the view before me: dense trees, wide flowerbeds, colorful blooms, and even white benches.
I inhaled deeply. The scent of flowers in the air, thanks to all the plants, felt refreshing.
The palace gardens were amazing. I had seen the duke’s garden with Lu before, but this was on a completely different scale.
I felt a thrill at the vastness of the garden.
I had never been particularly interested in gardens before, but seeing one this large made me excited.
After wandering around for a while, I asked Chris a question that came to mind.
“There’s no one here?”
Even if he could keep people out of the buildings, the main garden of the palace, owned by the emperor, should be harder to control.
I expected at least a few nobles or gardeners to be around, but there was no one in sight.
“Huh? Of course not.”
Chris said as if it were obvious.
“This is my personal garden.”
I was speechless for a moment. I had assumed this huge garden was the central palace garden.
I looked at Chris with blurred vision. I always forget this, but he was the prince.
The eldest son of the wealthiest family on the continent. Suddenly, the distance I felt from someone I had taken lightly became very real. I let out a hollow laugh.
Chris led me to a nearby bench.
It was hung like a swing from a tree, surrounded by pink flowers.
He tapped the empty spot beside him.
I smiled and sat next to him, taking in the wide view of the garden.
The garden was huge, but every little detail was well-maintained.
Maintaining a garden this size must cost a lot. I looked around and asked Chris,
“You like gardens, don’t you?”
At the duke’s house, nobody cared much about the garden. Even Abel, who often went there, mostly stayed in the indoor garden during tea time.
If this was a personal garden, he must have been interested in gardening enough to make it this big.
But Chris gave an unexpected answer.
“Not really.”
“…Then why make it this big?”
The palace was large, but he couldn’t have built such a garden without purpose. I assumed he asked the emperor to let him do this.
Chris smiled.
“Garnet liked gardens. I wanted to make a place she would enjoy when she came to the palace.”
He looked at the wide garden like I had.
After a while, he looked back at me and laughed.
“Why that expression?”
I didn’t know my own expression or even my feelings. Sympathy? Guilt? I wasn’t sure.
“This garden is useless now, so I wanted to bring you here. I won’t come here again.”
He touched the pink flowers beside him. Petals fell one by one.
“I’m not comparing you to Garnet, just…”
Chris muttered quietly as he removed petals.
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel his emotion.
“I guess I still haven’t let go.”
It was a voice I had never heard from him before. Sad, though not crying.
I couldn’t say anything. After a long silence, I finally spoke.
“…I’m sorry.”
For some reason, I felt I had to apologize. And I truly was sorry.
I was sure I would never recover Garnet’s memories. Or rather, I didn’t want to. I liked being Lily.
Garnet was just a character in a novel now. I couldn’t identify with her.
At first, as Lily, Garnet’s memories sometimes came to me. But the moment I told Abel I was Lily, those memories completely stopped.
I was Lily. I didn’t want to stay Garnet anymore.
Chris turned his gaze to me, smiling slightly.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“…If I hadn’t lost my memory, you could have been with Garnet all along.”
I avoided his gaze as I spoke quietly.
In the original story, Chris’s relationship with Garnet became twisted because of his obsession.
At first, reading it gave me chills, then disgust. Someone who ignored another’s feelings and only forced their own emotions—horrible, even as a fictional character.
But now, his eyes didn’t seem hateful anymore.
Just as I accepted Lu as Lu, not the original Lu, maybe I had to do the same with Chris.
“Do you… not think I’m pretending to have lost my memory?”
It was impulsive. The original Garnet had pretended to forget. That was the only difference between us.
Chris, still smiling, looked at me.
“…Even so, I don’t want to force a lie that Garnet wanted to keep hidden.”
As expected, his answer was different from the original story.
He prioritized Garnet’s wishes instead of acting impulsively with his emotions.
At that moment, my thoughts comparing him to the original Chris disappeared completely.
Now, Chris asked me,
“Lily, are you Garnet?”
I shook my head.
“See.”
Chris smiled warmly, flicking the pink petals in his hand to the ground. They floated down weakly.
“I miss Garnet, but I don’t resent you. So don’t be sorry.”
I kept looking into Chris’s green eyes.
Seeing his familiar smiling face, I couldn’t help but smile too.
“Lily, you’ve already become someone important to me.”
The original story was twisted. So were the characters in it.
I smiled brightly at the Chris in front of me.
