It was a word I had been hearing a lot lately.

Wife or spouse. At first, I felt uncomfortable and disliked it due to misunderstandings.

I tried to make excuses saying it wasn’t true and even made threats that such a thing would never happen.

“Yes, that’s right.”

But perhaps because I had heard it too many times, my dulled nerves didn’t bother to choose the option of making excuses.

Instead, I gave a calm answer along with a suitably sociable smile.

In response to Aden’s reaction, the employee added “As expected!” and scurried over to point at the displayed flowers.

“What kind of flowers does your wife like?”

At that question, the white plum blossoms blooming profusely on the mountain suddenly came to mind.

A gentle smile spread across Aden’s lips as he imagined Ludmila’s smile, beautiful as the brilliant sunlight, as she gazed at those flowers.

“Do you have white plum blossoms?”

“Plum blossoms? Hmm, plum blossoms are difficult to get here. They bloom on large trees, not on small branches like these. But it’s not impossible to get them. Do you need them right away?”

“No. It’s fine even if it takes some time.”

Clap-!

“That’s great!”

The employee who clapped her hands while smiling brightly returned to her place and came back with a pen and paper.

She asked about the date by which the white plum blossoms were needed and where to deliver them.

When the words ‘Send Plateau’ and the name ‘Habertz’ were mentioned from Aden’s mouth, the employee’s face stiffened slightly but soon relaxed into a faint smile.

Aden stared blankly as she filled out the order form, then turned his head.

His eyes were filled with colorful flower petals blooming everywhere. Ludmila would probably like any flower he brought her.

And the fact that he was the one bringing her those flowers was enough to make Aden smile.

‘Benjamin would make a fuss if he found out.’

He could almost hear the voice of his noisy friend demanding to know what kind of relationship he had with Ludmila.

Aden exhaled slowly as he brushed his fingertips over the petals of a rose blooming as beautifully as Ludmila’s red eyes.

“It’s all done! Then, I’ll make sure to send the white plum blossoms by the date written here.”

Aden nodded briefly and turned around.

As he left the flower shop, his eyes once again met the bleak scenery and reality of the capital. It was time to wake up from the dream.

“Whew!”

Ludmila let out a long breath and smiled brightly with a refreshed face.

Beressa, who had just dismounted her horse, curled her lips at the radiant smile like baby’s breath that had just bloomed.

Beressa, who received a towel from Salom and the servants who had come out right on time, tilted her chin.

Salom, who keenly noticed that the light chin gesture meant to prepare a meal, gave instructions to the maid and then approached Ludmila.

Rubik sat down, bending his legs just as he had when he carried her. Thanks to that, Ludmila, who got off more comfortably, gently stroked Rubik’s mane.

Her actions were without excess as she fed him sugar cubes received from the approaching stable boy and finished praising him for being pretty.

It was completely different from her frightened appearance when they first set out from here.

“How was your morning ride, Lady Ludmila?”

“It was very good.”

Unlike her usual quiet responses, her bright voice resonated in the clear air.

Ludmila, who took the towel handed by Salom, exhaled deeply and looked at Rubik again.

She really intended to ride for just a moment. 30 minutes at most. But when she came to her senses, quite some time had passed and she had come to an unfamiliar place.

One would think Rubik would be tired after this much, but he was as fresh as if he had just started out, without even breaking a sweat.

Ludmila marveled anew at the fact that he was no ordinary horse, not just in intelligence but in physical ability as well.

Thanks to that, what was supposed to be a brief morning ride lasted a full 2 hours, and when they returned, the sun was high in the sky.

“I’ll prepare for you to wash up and have a meal right away.”

“Thank you, Salom.”

Ludmila smiled brightly before passing by Salom.

Salom’s mouth moved slowly as he watched her pass by with wide eyes.

“She just called me by my name…”

Since coming here, she had always called him ‘butler’, but for the first time, she called him by name.

To others it might seem like nothing, but to him at least, this change felt bigger than anything else.

It was as if Ludmila, who had been putting up walls, had opened up to him for the first time.

“Ah, Lady Beressa. I’ll prepare for you to wash up right away as well.”

“Please do.”

Beressa chuckled as she watched Salom nod briefly and turn around.

It’s certainly a rather dramatic change. To think a person could change so much just from one time.

“Should we go out again tomorrow.”

Beressa muttered slowly, grumbling that she was tired, but with a gentle smile on her lips.

After washing up, Ludmila immediately had an early lunch in the dining room.

Usually bread and soup, or a few pieces of meat. Ludmila normally had a small appetite, but today she consumed a surprisingly large amount.

Of course, even then it was just one more piece of bread and a few more pieces of meat than usual. But even that much was a noticeable change.

“Your complexion looks good.”

It was Beressa’s voice that broke the long silence that had stretched on as they rarely spoke during meals.

Ludmila raised her head and returned a smile to Beressa, who was grinning at her.

“Does it?”

“Yes. You look more human now. Usually your face is so pale I thought you might be a corpse. Did you get a bit of a tan?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. But my cheeks do feel a bit hot… It doesn’t feel like I’m sick or anything though. It’s more like a pleasant warmth.”

Beressa smiled briefly, finding Ludmila cute as she looked like she didn’t know what she was saying herself.

She put down the bread she was holding and grasped her teacup.

“Oh, come to think of it, I don’t think Aden mentioned when he’d be back. Have you heard anything?”

“No. He only said he was going to the capital, so I didn’t ask about the duration.”

It wasn’t really her place to ask about that anyway. Ludmila put a piece of bread in her mouth and chewed. Beressa moistened her lips with tea and nodded.

“It’ll probably take about a week. Five days if he’s quick.”

“Is that all it takes?”

“It usually takes 2-3 days by carriage from here to the capital, but riding Habertz’s horse, he’ll arrive in a day. Of course, that’s only possible if his stamina holds up.”

One day. How long did it take to come here again? She remembered it taking about three days.

Of course, that was because they took detours avoiding well-paved roads and big cities, but still, one day seemed too short.

‘…One day.’

But at the same time, a sense of relief washed over her.

The thought that Aden could return anytime brought a faint smile to her lips.

Then suddenly, feeling a gaze on her, Ludmila looked up to see Beressa staring at her intently, and she realized her mistake.

The reason Beressa was cooperating with her was because she had promised not to have any personal feelings for Aden and to leave this place.

Of course, Ludmila didn’t have any personal feelings for him, but her actions could have caused some misunderstanding or displeasure to Beressa.

“I’m sorry. This is…”

Ludmila, recognizing her mistake, briefly apologized and trailed off. She had spoken, but not knowing what exactly to apologize for, she hesitated for a moment.

“It’s okay.”

The voice came with a small laugh just as Ludmila was biting her lip. When she raised her lowered head, Beressa was putting down her cup with a grin.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“…Beressa?”

“I can guess what kind of misunderstanding you’re having, but that’s not something to apologize for. If I had explained properly in the first place, you wouldn’t have had such a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding…?”

Does she mean Beressa doesn’t like Aden? Or if not that…

“To begin with, Aden and I aren’t the kind of relationship that could be tied by such emotions. After all, Aden is my half-brother with a different father.”

“…Half-brother with a different father?”

Ludmila’s eyes widened at this new information.

As Beressa nodded casually, confusion colored Ludmila’s eyes. She had thought Beressa was from a rather well-off family.

She had assumed that her staying at the Black Wall was naturally due to an engagement with Aden or something equivalent.

So when Beressa showed hostility towards her, she thought it was because she considered her a rival trying to steal her lover.

But half-siblings…

‘…I should have let her introduce herself properly at the beginning.’

She hadn’t listened because it didn’t matter to her which family she was from. But if they were half-siblings, that was a different story.

“It’s a bit complicated. I should have told you earlier… Well, as you can see, people here don’t really care that I’m Aden’s half-sister. Because to them, I’m just a mixed breed.”

‘Mixed breed?’

Ludmila tilted her head at those words.

Come to think of it, Cruto Benard. Aden had said the same thing to the old man who had flirted with her.

She hadn’t thought much of it then, but what did it mean?

“For the Kahn people, pure blood is a very important factor. It’s a closed-off place. If Aden hadn’t brought you, Ludmila, you probably would have been rejected too.”

“Is that so?”

“In that sense, there’s an advantage in that they absolutely follow Aden’s words. Well, anyway, a mixed breed like me is neither classified as Habertz nor considered Kahn here.”

“I didn’t know. That it was like that…”

Seeing her slow murmur, Beressa chuckled and grasped her half-cooled teacup.

“It’s okay. If anything, I’m probably closer to Ludmila than to Aden.”

Closer to her? As Ludmila tilted her head, Beressa raised the teacup she was holding.

“Aden and I are half-siblings, but Ludmila and I are half-sisters.”

“Half-sisters?”

Beressa grinned as she looked at the wide eyes filled with surprise.

“Beressa Hilard.”

Beressa mixed her voice with a slow breath after moistening her lips with the cooled tea.

“I too am an illegitimate child of the Emperor, just like you.”