Chapter 20
Happiness
What Douglas was holding was a bouquet of wildflowers.
It was made from the exact wildflowers I had admired while walking by the lake with Renard.
Douglas, panting heavily, ran up to him with the bouquet in hand.
After giving Renard a sharp glare, Douglas handed over the flowers.
Renard, smiling charmingly enough to make even a man swoon, turned to me.
“Your Highness?”
Renard extended the bouquet of wildflowers toward me.
“Why… are you giving this to me…?”
“So you could see them on your way. You said they were pretty earlier.”
In the end, Renard and I ended up riding together.
I had made this decision to see whether being with me really helped reduce Renard’s nightmares.
Later, he could tell me—perhaps unconsciously—whether his nightmares had lessened or worsened.
Renard escorted me almost all the way to the Cowell Manor.
He didn’t go all the way inside, probably because he wasn’t truly a prince.
‘Of course.’
If we met Miryet, needless explanations would be required.
Renard said he would come to pick me up around sunset.
And he added that after sunset, I could come out anytime I wanted.
‘Any…time…?’
“So, if I don’t come out all night, will you just wait all night?”
I asked, a bit incredulous, but Renard just nodded with a bright smile.
“If you don’t come out all night, I’ll just wait all night, I guess.”
“And if I return in the morning, what would the household think?”
“Hm… ‘The prince and the princess spent a passionate night together before even being engaged…?’”
“W-what…!”
Flustered by his teasing, I watched as Renard mischievously tousled my hair.
Then, smoothing down my hair, he came into contact with me again.
It was clear that my presence helped with his nightmares.
Otherwise, a prince who disliked physical contact wouldn’t be clinging to me like this.
“If I set a fixed time for you to come out, you might feel less free. Unlike ‘someone,’ I don’t want to tie you down,” Renard said firmly.
‘That someone must be Olendo,’ I thought.
He hadn’t directly compared himself to Olendo before, but recently, Renard had been… different.
Still, I didn’t dislike this version of Renard, so I told him I understood.
After letting me down from his shoulders and saying he’d see me later, he disappeared with a black horse resembling him, heading away from Cowell Manor.
“Master!! Gentlemen!! Miss is here!!”
“Father? Brothers?”
The usually quiet Cowell Ducal Manor became a commotion in the afternoon sunlight.
“…Are you still half-asleep? I think I hear Eloise somewhere?”
“Not enough to hear in dreams… Now I’m hearing her voice for real, brothers….”
“Rose? Is she really my daughter?”
Seeing me appear unexpectedly, the Duke and my brothers welcomed me as if I were someone they’d only seen in dreams.
“Woof!! Woof!!”
“Lovelin!!”
Lovelin, the dog that had just returned from her walk with Anna, ran at full speed and jumped into my arms.
My personal maid, Anna, also looked overjoyed to see me.
It was perfect.
I had truly returned home.
‘Happy…’
That was the unconscious thought that arose.
A word that had felt so foreign in the real world.
Happiness.
I was experiencing it in this world, in this way.
Sunlight streamed through the lattice windows into the Cowell Duke’s study.
There, I sat with the four men of the Cowell family.
The Duke at his desk, and my brothers and I around the guest marble table.
At the center of the table was a porcelain vase filled with pale pink peonies from Natasha’s flower shop—surely placed to decorate the study and other parts of the manor.
I often visited Natasha’s shop for just this purpose.
Since I would be away for a while, I had instructed her to send flowers to Anna, and it seemed both Natasha and Anna were doing their part perfectly.
I thought I should prepare a small gift for the two of them later.
The maids set several teacups on the table.
As rich tea was poured, the study filled with the aroma of black tea.
This marked the start of a home tea time.
When I arrived, the Duke didn’t want to leave my side.
At first, I thought he wasn’t busy.
But when a pale-faced aide hurried over, urging him to work, I decided to sit in the study myself.
I wanted to be there while the Duke worked.
Though my brothers ended up following me, turning the study into a lively scene,
‘I hope I’m not disturbing the Duke…’
I worried, but the Duke’s expression was clearly happy, so at least that was a relief.
“Did you come all the way?”
Miryet, taking the top-tier tea cake from the three-tier tray, placed it on my plate and asked.
“No, not really.”
“Then? Did you secretly run away from the prince?”
Her serious expression made me chuckle.
“What do you take me for?”
“Then?”
“The prince himself sent me,” I said.
“The prince?!”
Gelion, who had been silent, interjected in disbelief.
“Yes, Gelion. The prince.”
“Really?”
Miryet chimed in as well.
“Yes, Miryet. Really.”
As I confirmed it, all three brothers looked stunned.
Even the Duke, reading papers at his desk, momentarily looked surprised.
‘Why such disbelief?’
“Wait, what is it? Why can’t they believe it?”
“The prince… kindly sent you home…?”
“I can’t believe it….”
Miryet and Evan muttered in confusion.
It seemed their idea of a prince was someone harsh enough to abduct his sibling, so they couldn’t comprehend a prince sending me home.
And that was correct; Olendo wouldn’t have let me go.
So it was Renard who had sent me.
Living with Renard instead of Olendo… in some ways, it felt like divine intervention.
‘If I had stayed with Olendo, how much trouble would I have had…’
“Then, if the prince sent you home, can you come every day?”
While Miryet and Gelion were still bewildered, Evan, the quickest to react, asked eagerly.
I made a troubled expression.
“I don’t think I can… come every day. I’d probably… be tired.”
Hearing this, Evan looked crestfallen.
Then his gaze turned fierce, muttering under his breath, cursing the prince.
I quickly added an explanation.
I didn’t want Evan to resent Renard for being considerate.
Of course, it would be nice to come home every day.
It would mean happiness every day.
‘But having Renard bring me every day would be troublesome…’
When I said I’d likely be too tired, the brothers seemed a little disappointed but quickly understood.
Watching them gulp down the still-steaming tea suggested they didn’t fully believe me, though.
‘It must be hot…’
Still, I couldn’t say I’d come every day, so I didn’t continue the discussion.
Carefully, I sipped the tea, its aroma reflecting the sunny day.
“Rose… at least have dinner before leaving, will you…?”
Evan came up, whining, as I prepared to leave.
The sunset streaming through the front window bathed Evan’s golden hair in warm orange light.
“I’ll eat next time. I just didn’t tell you in advance that I’d have dinner. Okay? Can you understand?”
Evan, looking like a wet rabbit, eventually nodded.
Though his pitiful look made me uneasy, I had to coax him into understanding.
By the time I reached the place I had parted with Renard, the sun, bright red, had just dipped behind the ridge.
I had come out earlier than Renard requested.
He had told me to come after sunset, yet I came out just as it happened.
Renard, however, had arrived long before me, looking somewhat bored.
He chewed on a blade of grass, seemingly provoking the black horse resembling him.
He was now wearing a long robe he hadn’t worn earlier.
Had he been around the Dark Market, increasing his fortune?
Renard suddenly noticed me.
He spat out the grass and smiled brightly as if no boredom had existed.
The red sunset poured over him.
‘…Dazzling…’
“When did you get here?” I asked, approaching.
“Hm… just a little while ago…?” he answered, grinning slyly.
He came closer, brushing my hair behind my ear.
The gesture was so natural that I only realized later that his fingers had brushed my cheek and lightly touched my lower lip.
Renard swallowed dryly, staring into my eyes.
“I wanted to see you quickly… I couldn’t wait…”
His sudden words carried a strange, intoxicating thirst.
It felt… unusual.
‘Could it really be true that he wanted to see me?’
Renard’s reddish-brown eyes, as deep as the sunset, seemed to burn brighter than ever.
