“What, what is all this?”

Alicia was staring in confusion at the mounds of lilyofthevalley flowers constantly being brought into the Lancaster house.

The butler from Count Russel’s house stood there, his face full of pride as he opened his mouth to brag.

“The Count has sent these to you, Miss. He said they are your favorite flowers.”

“Oh, I did mention that, but.”

Alicia looked again at the piles of flowers.

“It’s too much.”

“He instructed to send many. The Count actually wanted to come himself but he’s still too busy.”

With a silly grin, the butler made an excuse for Eric. Alicia blankly stared at him, then turned her head away.

‘What am I supposed to do with all of this? How much is all of this? How much did he spend? Is there no middle ground? And why send it all of a sudden? It’s not my birthday or any special day.’

Wondering if she had missed something, Alicia cautiously asked the butler.

“Do you know why he sent these?”

“Well, you should ask him that.”

Seeing the butler laugh while answering, Alicia guessed she would get no straight answer, and decided to stop asking.

Upon seeing the flowers filling the house, Laila and Ryan, who knew nothing, and the Countess of Lancaster who liked flowers, were delighted, but Edward and Emma found the vases of flowers placed here and there troublesome.

After some tidying up, Alicia finally placed a vase on her room’s desk and sat down on a chair.

At that moment, Edward knocked and entered the room.

“Sis.”

“Hm?”

“According to our nanny, these flowers are very expensive.”

“Is that so?”

“Are you selling them?”

“What?”

“They said that if we collect all the flowers in the capital, it should be enough. If we sell these quickly, they’ll fetch a good price.”

“Ah.”

It was not an unattractive idea. She might have agreed instantly in the past.

However.

Alicia paused to look at the lilyofthevalley flowers on the desk.

“No, I’m going to leave them as they are.”

“Huh?”

Seemingly surprised by Alicia’s response, Edward asked again.

“Why?”

“Just because.”

Edward, with a suspicious look, stared at Alicia who was looking at the vase full of lilyofthevalley flowers.

‘Did something happen to my sister? Judging by her past actions, she would definitely have cashed them in. So, is it that?’

Edward, too, had heard rumors about Eric and Alicia from his friends, so he had a rough idea.

“No matter how I look at my sister till now, I couldn’t imagine this happening,” he would say, and the girls in his class, who were ignorant of the adult world, would chide him.

“Because the Count gave them?”

“Did you finish your homework?”

“I’m done.”

“Then go to sleep.”

“But I haven’t even eaten dinner?”

“Then study some more.”

“Humph. So, it is like that.”

Edward smirked.

“You’re dating, aren’t you? It’s certainly different from when you received gifts from the other brothers.”

“Edward.”

“Yes, yes. You’re saying to mind my own business? I don’t care, okay? Besides, seeing my sister giggling like that over those flowers also makes me feel bad eek!”

Edward just narrowly dodged the pencil case Alicia threw at him. The pencil case hit the door and shattered.

“Wow, it broke. Sis, if it wasn’t me, it would have hit, right? It would have been good if the Count saw you do this.”

“Get out.”

“Even if you asked me to stay, I’d leave. Just continue giggling.”

Swoosh!

She threw whatever she could grab.

“Aaack! It’s a big deal if it hits, okay?”

“That’s why I threw it to miss.”

“Wow, the Count really should have seen this, I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

As Alicia grabbed the door handle, Edward quickly dashed out of the room.

Then she muttered as she put the door handle down.

‘He’s grown up a bit and now he thinks he can make fun of his sister.’

Alicia, having gathered and tidied the thrown objects, sat down again on the chair at the desk.

She stared intently at the vase, then buried her face on the desk.

Normally, she would have thought of flowers as just pretty trash that would wilt, but it seemed like there were some flowers that didn’t fit that description.

“They’re beautiful.”

A smile naturally formed on Alicia’s face.

“Ahh, seriously.”
Edward, who had rushed out of the room to avoid Alicia, ran into Emma.

Emma, moving a flower vase with an annoyed expression as Alicia had asked, asked Edward sullenly.

“Brother, what did sister say? Selling tomorrow?”

“She’s not selling.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I know, right? Isn’t it weird? She’s not selling even though there are so many. Even though it’s an expensive flower, she could get a good price for it.”

“Huh.”

“Yes, I couldn’t understand either. How could a person change like that, even if it’s because of brotherinlaw?”

“How can you so easily talk about brotherinlaw?”

“Why wouldn’t I? He gives me a good allowance.”

He had sold his sister for mere pocket money. Indeed, a younger brother was useless.