“A flower? Are you asking for the whole garden?”
Blanche, facing the grand scale typical of Grand Duke Melchizedek, added an explanation.
“Just a flower from here.”
Blanche’s tiny finger pointed at the climbing roses hanging over their heads.
“Ah, so you want a garden filled only with climbing roses?”
It was puzzling why he always had to escalate things to such grand scales.
Once again, Blanche narrowed down the scope of her request to make it absolutely clear, so that even Melchizedek couldn’t misunderstand.
“Just this one, please pick it for me.”
“…Just one flower?”
The boy’s eyes widened, seemingly baffled. As if wondering what significance a single flower could have.
As if questioning whether a single living flower could be a gift, not a gold or diamond-encrusted hibiscus.
“Yes, just one is enough.”
But that was precisely why Blanche wanted a single living flower.
Bai Lian, in her previous life, had been showered with gifts by Zhao Qingliang, who never dealt with mere living flowers. No one was brave enough to offer her just a single flower, not when her adversaries wore peonies carved from ruby and donned robes embroidered with golden dragons.
In her past life, Bai Lian was too busy to care for or cherish something as simple as a flower.
“What, still too young to know better?”
The boy seemed unable to comprehend why Blanche would waste such an opportunity on a mere flower, but he didn’t argue further.
“Fine, I’ll pick it for you.”
The boy stood up and climbed onto the table. It was a rare and slightly rude behavior, and Blanche’s expression faltered slightly, but the boy, busy looking at the rose, didn’t notice.
“Here.”
Carefully, the boy plucked a single rose and bent down to offer it to her.
A real flower, with fragrance and delicate petals.
Looking at the flower in her hand, Blanche smiled faintly.
“Thank you, I’ll gratefully accept it.”
“…Just for a single flower, really.”
Really. Just a single flower. Merely a flower. Something so trivial it hardly seemed like a gift.
But that was exactly what Blanche had wanted.
“Still, it’s enough for me.”
The boy, looking down at Blanche’s face as if he couldn’t understand, shrugged his shoulders.
“If that’s what you say.”
The Grand Duke left soon after making the agreement but told me I could stay as long as I liked.
Thanks to his kindness, I spent the entire afternoon in the greenhouse and then returned to the palace, where I received a gift of poison.
It was in the glass of water served with my meal.
I immediately spat out the sip I had taken into a napkin, detecting the bitter taste that clearly wasn’t meant for consumption.
“Princess? What’s wrong, did the food not taste good?”
Tula looked worried seeing me. I hadn’t swallowed it, but since I was fine despite having it in my mouth, it probably wasn’t a skin-absorbing type of poison.
Still, just to be safe, I handed the napkin to Tula.
“Burn it thoroughly.”
“Uh… Okay.”
“And put this in a glass bottle.”
I wasn’t planning to announce the incident right away, but it might be useful to keep for later.
Even if the poison deteriorated, it could still be identified as altered poison.
But Tula, not understanding the reason, seemed confused.
“The water?”
“Yes.”
Resolutely nodding, I resumed my meal as Tula, though confused, took the glass and napkin and left the room. None of the other foods were poisoned, and I continued my safe meal, lost in thought.
Since the tea party where the Empress first showed interest in me, I’ve been closely monitoring the movements around me. It was easy to read the flow of information, especially since I had been meeting various people under the pretext of forming a social circle.
Normally, palace staff have their specific roles and do not interfere beyond those. So, theoretically, I wouldn’t have to meet with those in charge of food or sewing, apart from my guards.
However, the children serving me didn’t exceed ten in number, allowing me to manage all of them with Tula’s help.
Thus, over the past month, I deliberately fed false information to the children. I told the cleaning staff a fake hobby, fabricated the book I was reading to the sewing staff, and pretended to have injured my knee to the guards.
Surprisingly, I started hearing about my fabricated hobbies from a lady, the wrong book from a prince, and concerns about my “injured” knee from a princess.
Obviously, all of this was made-up, so it couldn’t be from observation. This meant the children I had fed this information to were all selling it.
Through this method, I was certain that everyone, except Tula, was leaking my information.
It wasn’t surprising. I’ve dealt with spies before. When you’re not planting your own people but persuading the other side, it starts lightly.
The rewards aren’t too large, just enough convenience or money in exchange for seemingly insignificant information.
“Will it change anything if I tell them? Can they know it even without me? Or, will it not change anything if I tell them?” That kind of lightweight information.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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