‘A Butterfly Trapped in a Greenhouse’

It was the nickname that the nobility had recently been secretly using to refer to Kasallin.

Born with large wings to freely roam the vast world, but ultimately destined to be nothing more than ornamental.

A life that serves to please the owner’s eyes when shining most beautifully, then meets an unknown death cast away in a shadowy corner when vitality wanes and appearance becomes unsightly.

“I heard that a new greenhouse has been completed in the eastern garden. Let’s commemorate it by having tea there. We can also openly share the conversations we haven’t finished.”

“Are you serious about leisurely drinking tea at this point?”

“Rose seemed to want to meet with you. I’m deliberately creating an opportunity. I trust that as an older sister, you won’t ignore your younger sister’s feelings.”

Even while walking toward the greenhouse, Kasallin couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh at the absurdity.

An ordinary king would want his queen and mistress to avoid meeting each other as much as possible.

He would know that when two pitiful women who unwillingly came to live under one roof due to one man’s selfish desires meet face to face, bloodshed is inevitable.

However, he seemed to believe that Rose and Kasallin, being sisters, could somehow maintain balance and get along well.

For the sake of his own peace of mind.

In short, he was trying to somehow make them reconcile in order to enjoy a satisfying daily life between the two women.

‘Rose seemed to want to meet me?’

How ridiculous.

Far from wanting to meet, she would obviously be disgusted at just hearing the ‘Ka’ in Kasallin’s name.

Of course, Kasallin wasn’t heading to the greenhouse now without knowing this fact.

The reason she took to the road today.

The letter and meaningless words left by a man named Aster.

Those were definitely not the eyes of someone telling lies or boasting.

To learn the truth about what it meant that they had been deceiving and betraying her for a long time, Kasallin had to endure.

Within Shallen’s grasp that reeked of disgusting stench.

“Excuse me.”

Kasallin entered the greenhouse where rainbow-colored sunlight was shattering from all directions.

As expected, Shallen and Rose were sitting side by side at the round tea table.

Shallen, who had been personally placing sugar cubes in Rose’s coffee cup, looked up at the sound of footsteps.

“You’ve come. Sit there.”

Kasallin nodded slightly and sat in the empty chair.

Rose stared at Kasallin silently with eyes that seemed ready to drip with thin ice.

Even though she knew in her head that she had to manage her expression in front of Shallen, it didn’t seem to be working as intended.

“Did Your Majesty the Queen sleep comfortably last night?”

When Kasallin offered her greeting first, strength entered Rose’s fingers gripping the edge of her teacup.

Shallen was watching from the side.

He seemed to be just sipping his black tea pretending to know nothing, but in fact he was sharply reading the subtle current flowing between the two sisters.

“Yes. Well. You look good too, sister.”

A faint look of relief appeared on Shallen’s face.

He seemed to have been somewhat anxious that they might start fighting out of envy and jealousy the moment their eyes met.

He was truly a terribly thick-skinned person.

Even considering Rose’s feelings, it would be improper behavior, so he wondered if he really respected her as a wife.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

At this point, Shallen stood up asking for understanding.

Pretending to have business to attend to, he deliberately left the greenhouse to give them privacy, and for a while heavy silence descended over the tea table.

Neither of the two people lost in different thoughts spoke first.

“Resenting me won’t leave you with anything, Rose.”

Kasallin muttered while repeatedly pushing and pulling the hot coffee cup precariously to the edge of the table.

“Now that you’ve become queen of a nation, take a broader perspective and look around. You know in one corner of your heart that the person you should truly resent is not me but Shallen, don’t you?”

“…Sister, you’re crazy.”

“I guarantee that I’m only just getting started.”

Kasallin reached across the table and pressed around Rose’s eyes.

Rose’s grass-colored pupils, which gave off a subtly deeper hue than her sister’s, rolled toward Kasallin’s fingertips.

“When wrinkles appear around your eyes and your slender body starts gaining weight, Shallen will start bringing in young and pretty mistresses one by one like freshly bloomed flower buds.”

“That’s nonsense!”

It seemed she had properly touched upon the greatest anxiety hidden deep in Rose’s unconscious.

Rose widened her eyes and flew into a rage.

“Wasn’t Shallen taking me as a mistress while leaving you also ‘something that would never happen’ until recently? But look at this. It actually happened.”

Kasallin took a sip of coffee that was still steaming and put it down, continuing to speak.

“So come to your senses now. Before it’s too late.”

Rose was about to say something when her gaze was caught by Kasallin’s finger.

To be precise, it was the sapphire ring conspicuously worn on her middle finger.

Only after Rose’s puzzled gaze reached it did Kasallin realize that she still hadn’t removed the ring that Shallen had arbitrarily put on her finger.

Kasallin belatedly sighed and mercilessly pulled off the ring.

“What’s that?”

“Shallen forcibly put it on me, but I forgot about it in all the confusion.”

“Why do you have something exactly the same as mine?”

“What?”

“His Majesty once gave me something completely identical to that ring. He said he specially commissioned it from a craftsman he knew well, saying it was a one-of-a-kind ring in the world…”

Rose flinched as if doubting her own eyes.

Hearing her words, Kasallin felt an old memory buried in sand almost coming to mind.

Rose took the sapphire ring and examined it closely, turning it this way and that.

Then she stared blankly into space for a while as if falling asleep with her eyes open, and suddenly dropped the teacup she was holding.

The teacup that hit the hard marble floor shattered, scattering sharp fragments in all directions.

The tea that lost its destination wandered on the floor before being absorbed into the carpet.

Kasallin quickly stood up.

“Hey, what are you doing? Move aside.”

“Sister.”

Kasallin, who had gone under the table to pick up the broken fragments, looked up.

Rose was looking down at Kasallin with an expressionless face that had lost all vitality and turned ashen.

“But why have you been speaking informally so naturally from earlier?”

“What?”

“I’m the queen. The king’s legitimate wife. A royal family member whose name is officially recorded in the royal genealogy. But sister, you’re just a mistress who receives some pocket money and smiles. I’d like you to be more aware that originally we’re in a relationship where you wouldn’t even dare to look at me directly. Please don’t be rude.”

“Rose, you…”

Something’s different.

Rose had changed more recently.

It didn’t seem to be simply due to Shallen and the royal environment, Kasallin’s keen intuition was crying out.

What on earth could it be because of?

“Sister, stay still there. You’ll hurt your hands. I’ll clean up the teacup I dropped myself.”

Rose suddenly softened her voice and sat down next to the broken teacup, carefully picking up the scattered fragments one by one.

At this moment, the sound of Shallen’s shoes approached, crossing the greenhouse threshold.

“Ouch—!”

At that moment, Rose forcefully clenched the teacup fragment she was holding in her hand.

Red drops of blood fell to the floor, creating round patterns.

Kasallin stared blankly down at the bizarre scene she couldn’t understand at all with eyes devoid of reality.

“My goodness, Your Majesty!”

Hearing Rose’s pained sound, Shallen turned pale and rushed over.

She calmly shook her head while hiding her wound.

“I’m fine.”

“Why were you cleaning up broken teacups? Your precious hands are injured. It doesn’t look like a minor wound. Couldn’t you just call a maid for such menial work?”

“I accidentally broke the cup, so I tried to quickly clean it up before sister got hurt. That’s really all. I’m sorry.”

Rose sniffled as if about to burst into tears and breathed roughly.

Sensing something strange in her tone, Shallen looked up and began to examine Kasallin carefully.

“Kasallin. While the queen was personally cleaning up something dangerous, were you just standing there watching with your back straight?”

“Your Majesty. Please don’t do that. Sister did nothing wrong.”

The scene of a perfectly fine cup being shattered to pieces, Rose kneeling on the floor hastily cleaning it up, and Kasallin standing with a coldly hardened face.

Shallen felt an ominous atmosphere.

He wondered if Kasallin had perhaps harshly vented her anger on Rose while he was away.

But Shallen knew that such hasty suspicions were not good.

Weren’t these two people sisters who had relied on each other and maintained their friendship for a full 20 years?

There must have been a misunderstanding, Shallen wanted to believe that.

“Your Majesty. Don’t cry over such a thing. You really have foolish aspects. Please get up. Let’s call the court physician to treat the wound.”

“Maybe because I saw blood, my head…”

“Being so delicate and fragile, really. Can you walk? If it’s difficult, lean on me.”

Rose refused several times saying she was fine, then reluctantly leaned on Shallen as if she had no choice.

He gently kissed and comforted Rose while simultaneously giving Kasallin a disappointed look.

“I’ll ask about the details later. Kasallin, you go back to your quarters for now.”

She couldn’t hear anything he was saying.

Standing alone with the cold tea, Kasallin’s attention was completely absorbed elsewhere.

The place where her gaze, stunned by fear and shock, was directed was the sapphire ring that had fallen to the floor soaked in blood.

A memory from long ago that she had heard in passing and quickly forgotten suddenly revealed itself.

If her memory wasn’t mistaken, that ring Rose mentioned was something she had possessed for as long as 4 years ago.

When asked where it came from, she had casually said at the time that she received it as a gift from a friend she knew.

She had completely forgotten, but now she remembered.

“His Majesty once gave me something completely identical to that ring. He said he specially commissioned it from a craftsman he knew well, saying it was a one-of-a-kind ring in the world…”

4 years ago.

Before she had formally introduced Shallen to Rose.