“I… I’m truly sorry for my harsh words earlier.”

“No. The suspension of funding was my fault.”

“It wasn’t. Still…”

The atmosphere was pleasant as usual, and the path leading outside was truly beautiful.

These days, my mentor had stopped drinking alcohol, and his eyes were sharper than ever as he focused on work.

Since he devoted himself to work, it seemed he had forgotten about that business card and the awkward relationship with the head of House Blanchet, which was quite fortunate.

Everything flowed along a perfect trajectory, worthy of being called a miracle.

Even Lady Fiocel would probably have no choice but to accept it, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

It was like a perfect puzzle of days.

Yes. Everything is going unbelievably well.

So I should clearly be happy, and yet…

My heart kept constricting itself, recalling a vague unease.

‘Why did that man offer to sponsor this project?’

‘Who was the person he said he liked?’

‘What did he mean by saying he would find that person?’

‘Why did he look at me with those eyes?’

Those shapeless, ashen things kept tangling inside me, making me dizzy.

On top of that, the chatter of the administrative staff from before overlapped.

Talk of the man sending flowers to Lady Fiocel.

Talk of the two of them meeting.

The upcoming engagement ceremony.

In reality, there’s no need to find out more or dig deeper about this man.

That’s all our relationship is, so what would change by thinking about it?

I’ll be leaving anyway, and he’ll start a new family with Lady Fiocel and live well.

As the heir to House Blanchet, he’ll become a mature head of the family who will lead it in the future.

In just a few months, that man and I, on completely different life paths, will become people who never meet.

The more I thought about it, every action of his was followed by a question mark of ‘why’.

In truth, the strange one was him.

The him I knew was always extremely rational, to the point of appearing cold-blooded, and never did anything unbefitting that image.

Rather, the times when he would sternly ask why he should do something suited him better.

Of course, the end result is much better for me now, but…

Thinking of the suddenly changed person gave me a feeling of indigestion.

Perhaps it was stress flooding in because everything of mine was in his hands.

He was probably just playing around once.

Yes. His incomprehensible actions should just be dismissed as mere mischief.

Let’s not think too deeply about it.

Come to think of it, this kind of thing is probably nothing to him.

It might just be like a final parting gift.

My continued steps brought me to the back of the main tower building.

There, flowers much better tended than before were in full bloom, all facing towards me.

As I walked through the flower garden, trying to shake off those feelings, a familiar voice brushed past my ear.

“Do you know this flower?”

I turned my head to see Hael standing among the flowers.

Perhaps because it had been a while since we’d met, awkwardness crept in.

No, it might not be a matter of time, precisely.

It hadn’t been that long, after all.

It was just… because the last time I saw Hael was his back view in front of Merriott.

I wonder if Hael knows. He probably knows everything.

That’s why he must have consciously avoided me since then.

After that day, Hael was rarely seen at the tower. Instead of Hael, who used to come running to guide me whenever I arrived, everything was handled by other tower staff.

The fact that Hael knew my shame was in some ways bitter, and in some ways a relief.

Despite meeting after a long time, Hael’s gaze remained fixed on the flowers, not on me.

“No. I’ve never seen flowers like these before.”

The flower, with large yellow petals surrounding it, had a shape like something from a picture book.

“They say a king long ago gave it as a gift to his queen.”

Suddenly, I remembered hearing such a story in a library dealing with foreign tales.

“How romantic.”

Hael smiled bitterly, but still didn’t take his eyes off the flowers.

“When he said his ideal type was someone who only looked at him, they made this, apparently.”

Somehow, Hael’s voice turned serious, and I couldn’t find a chance to interject as I quietly looked at the flower.

“There was quite a demand, so the tower made these too.”

“…”

“But it doesn’t follow the person forever like in the fairytale. The maximum preservation period is about 3 years?”

Hael’s eyes slowly turned towards me.

“Such things only exist in fairytales.”

His cool blue eyes swirled with my reflection in them.

“That man, I hear he’s getting engaged soon.”

Hael’s eyes were cloudy as he referred to him as ‘that man’ instead of ‘young master’.

I thought I felt relieved, but…

It seems that was entirely my own thinking.

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?”

“Whether that person gets engaged or not has nothing to do with me.”

Cracks spread across Hael’s blue eyes.

Like a lake dried up by drought.

Hael’s shocked eyes left a deep scar on my heart.

Yes. I’ve become a half-burnt match that’s no longer usable.

I’ve become someone who isn’t affected by such words anymore.

So that’s enough now.

“Take care, Hael.”

I left the flower garden like I was running away.

I felt Hael’s blue gaze following me for quite a while, but I couldn’t bring myself to look back.

I thought there was nothing to be sad about in a relationship that already had a set ending, but actually ending everything brought an indescribable feeling of emptiness.

I returned without time to compose my ragged breathing, and my body collapsed miserably.

After losing consciousness for a while, a pitch-black envelope without a seal entered my vision.

It’s from that man.

My hand trembled instinctively as I tore open the envelope.

On the letter paper were neat sentences resembling the man.

As always, the content was simple yet certain.

Looking at the letter, my chilled brain starts to work.

I had snapped at Hael in anger, but in truth, it was like self-flagellation directed at myself.

Just as humans lash out in reverse to hide when their shame is poked at.

My reflection was captured diagonally in the mirror on the table.

My colorless face no longer looked like me.

The man became more gentle and perfect with each passing day.

Unlike before when he dressed me in pretty clothes and fed me good food, the man’s voice asking what I wanted was more gentle than ever.

As we went down to a quiet seaside village as I wished, walking together and riding boats, he often asked for my opinion and acted accordingly.

All the while, his face bore his characteristic calm smile.

A smile that really confused people no matter how many times you looked at it.

He wore a smile full of affection, to an incomprehensible degree, as if he wasn’t someone about to get engaged.

Lady Fiocel probably knows about this too.

The fact that he sponsored my project must have reached her ears as well.

Many things taken from me by this man were filled again by this man.

No, can I really say they were taken?

The one in debt has always been me.

In any case, he is the one who provides my mother’s medicine and my only savior, so there’s nothing I can say.

Whenever that happened, I gripped his hand more tightly and smiled more brightly, fearing the temperature of the hand holding me might cool.

Just like a doll, as practiced.

Why are you doing this to me?

Shouldn’t you act like an engaged person, like the heir to House Blanchet?

Such righteous words are something I can’t even imagine in my current situation.

I shouldn’t have the leisure to look at anything else.

Fortunately, thoughts of the man quickly faded when I focused on work.

The report formats being completed through the scratching of the quill pen were taking on a decent shape day by day.

It was the result of desperately devoting myself to the project.

It was filled with the earnest wish to finish all of this before the man changed his mind again, before receiving all of my mother’s medicine.

Each day was filled with just bearable pain.

No, in fact, it’s filled with fortunate events almost too much to be called pain.

My mentor regained his smile and passion, Lady Baorvine regained hope, and…

When I return home, there’s always my mother welcoming me with a smile.

So that was enough.

After quickly finishing the report racing towards its conclusion, I got up from my seat and moved towards the main building as usual.

The conversation I wanted to avoid came right on time.

“Did you hear? About Lady Feriot and the Blanchet heir getting engaged.”

“There was talk about the engagement being called off, but I hear the date has finally been set?”

“Oh my, so the rumors about that flower were true.”

“I knew it from when Lady Feriot went up to the capital and stayed for quite a while.”