She took the coin from the hand that Teddy had opened earlier to show it.

“That’s why I’m giving it to you. It’s definitely not a losing deal, so take it.”

“Can I really take it?”

“Of course.”

A flower was already in Teddy’s hand.

“Ah… thank you.”

It was a strange feeling.

He felt that if he gave this flower to Sesenia, she would like it. The desire to see her smiling face suddenly filled him.

“No problem. Then I should end my business for today. I’ve achieved my goal.”

“Ah… shall I help you?”

“No. Hurry and give the flower to the lady waiting for you.”

Teddy nodded and was about to return to Sesenia when he suddenly felt a strange emotion.

The woman before him was a stranger, yet she seemed familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

“Have we… met somewhere before?”

“Perhaps. We might have, or we might not have. If you felt a strange emotion, hold onto it. It could be a moment when a god who wants to protect you came to see you briefly.”

Just then, the wind blew. It was an unusually cold wind.

For a moment, Teddy hunched his shoulders, worried the flower in his hand might be damaged.

The wind was cold enough to make one think it was indeed a moment when a god came to see briefly, as the woman had said, but it blew pleasantly and quickly disappeared.

“Ah…?”

Belatedly coming to his senses, Teddy turned to look at the flower shop owner.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

It was the same woman who had been smiling at him just moments ago, but she seemed like a different person.

The woman also looked at Teddy, who was blocking her shop front, as if seeing him for the first time, and expressed her displeasure.

“If you’re not buying, get out of the way.”

As if he had never bought flowers here. The flower shop owner seemed too strange for this to be a joke.

Rather, Teddy felt that if he asked anything, she might get angry. So he just looked at her quietly before turning away.

“Did something happen?”

“Ah.”

Teddy had already arrived in front of Sesenia.

“Well… no. Here. I bought you a flower, my lady.”

Teddy smiled and held out the flower to her.

“It’s pretty. An orange tulip, is it?”

“Is this flower called a tulip? I didn’t know that.”

“Then why did you choose this one?”

Sesenia gently tapped the petals with her long, white fingers and met Teddy’s eyes.

“The shop owner said it would suit you perfectly, so she gave me this one.”

“Thank you. I love it.”

“And she said something strange. I think you should just ignore it.”

“Something strange?”

“She said that if danger approaches the person receiving this flower, the petals will fall off one by one.”

Teddy was about to say more but shook his head.

He didn’t want to complicate his master’s thoughts by telling her about what had just happened. So he only said that much, but Lizbeth clapped her hands as if she had been waiting for it.

“Isn’t that just a sales tactic? To show that their items are special! In reality, it’s nothing, but they sell it that way.”

“That could be it. They probably said that because our Teddy looks naive.”

“Ah… I see! Come to think of it, she said it was precious but handed it over too easily.”

“That’s right. Seems like a place with quite the sales tactics. Thank you for buying it for me.”

Sesenia slowly stood up and patted Teddy’s head.

“It’s nothing. But really… it’s just a sales tactic, right?”

“I’m sure it is. Flower petals naturally fall off as time passes, right? But if danger approaches every time a petal falls… that would mean if there’s no danger, the petals won’t fall off. It’s not like it’s a magic flower or anything, that’s nonsense.”

“That’s true. I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“No, you did well.”

Teddy pressed his fingernails firmly.

“But you know.”

“Yes?”

Perhaps sensing that Teddy was feeling down, Sesenia smiled brightly.

“I wish it really had such magical power. Then I could know in advance when I’m in danger.”

“Ah…!”

“I can see how much you thought about me.”

“That’s…”

“Thank you for that heart that wants to be of even a little help to me.”

Sesenia tightly held the flower and stood on her tiptoes to pat Teddy’s head. As if drawn by something, Teddy lowered his head towards Sesenia.

“You’re beautiful. Our Teddy.”

“I’m always grateful.”

“No. Now let’s go back. After Teddy gave me the flower, I really feel better. I’ve forgotten about what happened earlier.”

“I’m glad I could be of help.”

“I’m counting on you from now on too. Whenever I have difficult times or things I want to forget, fill them with good memories like this, memories of Teddy.”

“Yes. I’ll definitely do that.”

That was the end of it. Teddy made a promise to himself, for his master who brightened up his world.

‘I’ll fill you up. So much that it overwhelms you, my lady. I’ll fill all your future good memories with me. My dear lady.’

With that, they stopped by the trading company before returning to the marquis’s residence.

Lizbeth expressed disappointment that the market tour was already over, but Sesenia had no more energy to continue sightseeing.

She was already exhausted from the outing, having had her energy drained by those she met before going out.

**

The first thing Sesenia did upon returning to her room was to put the flower in a pretty vase.

She didn’t even ask Lizbeth to do it. She searched for a vase herself.

And Sesenia also found out that during those few hours she was away, the marquis had investigated Elzere.

As if he really believed Sesenia’s words, he had even begun investigating Elzere’s maids.

“Didn’t you say she was fasting?”

“Apparently not. It seems Elzere’s maids have been taking quite a lot of meals recently. Apparently, Elzere ate those.”

“Come to think of it, I think I saw Prince Ian coming often with cake boxes.”

“My goodness, how could Elzere tell such a lie?”

The maids were busy with their own chatter, not realizing Sesenia was behind them.

‘My guess was right.’

What kind of expression would the marquis be wearing now? Was he contemplating what punishment to give his daughter, his beloved daughter?

Or was he thinking of just burying this incident too?

‘Whatever it is, it’s none of my business.’

There will be a crack in the solid relationship between the two.

Because of this incident, because of Elzere’s lie, the marquis will be greatly disappointed in his daughter.

Especially this engagement with the crown prince was a long-cherished wish of the marquis and the marquis family.

Knowing this, Elzere not only avoided the engagement because she didn’t want to do it, but also put the marquis in an awkward position by lying.

Thanks to this, he even ended up having to be mindful of his second daughter, Sesenia, which he had never done before.

This was one of the reasons why Sesenia deliberately mentioned Elzere’s fasting.

“My lady…?”

“Let’s go another way.”

“Ah, yes. I saw a pretty vase over there earlier.”

Lizbeth, following behind Sesenia, guided her to another path.

Eventually, Sesenia found a vase quite to her liking. It was a porcelain vase, but the outside shimmered mysteriously as if inlaid with pearls.

The snow-white vase had a wide mouth as if depicting a blooming flower.

Although it was just a single flower, it oddly matched the flower Teddy had given her.

An ordinary tulip with an orange tint. But because of what he had said, the tulip looked unusually fresh and gave off a strange feeling.

“It’s pretty.”

Sesenia put the flower in the vase as soon as she arrived in her room and wore a satisfied expression.

“Then please rest. I’ll be outside.”

“Alright, Lizbeth.”

Lizbeth went outside as if to give Sesenia some time alone.

Sesenia, who had placed the vase on the table in front of the sofa where she often sat, moved with the vase with a serious expression.

“Maybe this place is better.”

She tried placing it on the windowsill, on the large desk she uses for work. After considering various places, Sesenia finally placed it on the bedside table next to her bed in the bedroom where she could see it every morning, and wore a satisfied expression.

That’s when it happened.

Knock knock.

The sound of someone knocking on the door was heard. She thought it was from outside, but it sounded a bit odd for a sound coming from the door.

Sesenia immediately realized that the sound was coming from the glass door of the terrace, not the main door.

The visitor was Silian.

Having returned to human form, he looked at her with a very displeased expression, arms crossed.

“You know. Aren’t you going out too recklessly after entrusting me with your protection?”

“Because I entrusted you with protection, I go out recklessly.”

“…”

His words were cut off because it was such a correct statement.

As if seizing that moment, Sesenia looked at him pitifully.

“But Silian. Are you okay?”

“What?”

“Your stomach… your foot…. That… Lizbeth….”

“…”

For a moment, Silian’s blue eyes froze coldly. At the same time, his ears turned bright red as if remembering what had happened earlier.

Sesenia stepped closer to him and patted his shoulder.

“These things happen. That earlier… it was just a dog. Yes, it wasn’t you but a dog. So don’t be too shocked… and cheer up…”

“My purity was stolen.”

“No, don’t say your purity was stolen. It’s not like that at all. It was just a small mistake. And it’s ridiculous to talk about purity when the other party didn’t even recognize you as human.”