“Larien!”

Jade caught me as I was about to lose my balance and fall.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No… I’m fine. Thanks for catching me.”

Ever since I twisted my ankle in the library, it had been aching even with the slightest misstep.

Jade frowned and pointed at the railing.

“It’s dangerous, so hold onto that as you come down.”

“…Jade?”

He went down ahead of me.

I gripped the railing and slowly made my way down, step by step.

“My lord. I hope you had an enjoyable time? Here is the bill.”

An employee was handing Jade the bill.

‘…It’s this expensive?’

I peeked at the bill from behind him and was quietly shocked.

Even for renting the first and second floors, the price included an unexpectedly large tip.

“Ah, please s-sign at the bottom, my lord.”

All the staff seemed tense, as if afraid he might complain.

“Charge it to House Rowe.”

Jade skimmed the bill and signed it carelessly.

‘Let’s pretend I didn’t see that.’

Not wanting to cause a scene, I pretended not to notice.

“Thank you, my lord!”

Jade didn’t readily hand over the bill to the employee who was trying to take it.

The employee’s hand trembled, as if Jade was applying pressure.

“Lord Rowe…?”

The employee looked at Jade in confusion.

“How does this restaurant manage its interior, to have scratches on the stairs?”

“Ah, th-that is…!”

“Thanks to that, someone almost fell.”

Jade pointed out how I had just twisted my ankle and nearly fallen.

‘He carelessly passed over the excessively priced bill, yet…’

In contrast, my heart raced as I saw Jade properly addressing the issue of my near fall.

“We’re, we’re so sorry.”

“What’s the matter?”

The general manager came running out from the kitchen.

“G-General Manager. There are scratches on the stairs…”

The employee nervously explained the situation.

Despite the insufficient explanation, the general manager immediately bowed.

“We sincerely apologize, my lord. Our maintenance was lacking.”

Not wanting things to escalate, I put my hand on Jade’s shoulder.

“You didn’t get hurt, Jade. I’m fine, so let it go.”

“…Hah.”

Jade let out a displeased sigh and roughly put down the bill.

“As an apology, you don’t have to pay for today…”

The general manager said while watching Jade’s reaction.

“It’s fine. I’ve already signed.”

Jade flatly refused the general manager’s offer and left the restaurant. As I followed him out, I noticed a puddle of rainwater.

I grabbed Jade’s sleeve as he was about to step into the puddle without noticing it.

“Jade, be careful in front. There’s a puddle.”

He stopped in his tracks and rubbed his face.

Jade’s seemingly complicated expression didn’t clear up at all.

“Are you angry?”

“…Isn’t that obvious? Larien, you almost got hurt. If you had fallen down the stairs, you could have hit your head!”

Assuming the worst, Jade raised his voice in agitation.

‘…What about over there?’

Looking for something to divert his attention, I spotted a flower shop.

“Jade, come here. Let’s look at the flower shop for a bit.”

“What flower shop all of a sudden?”

I led the complaining Jade to the flower shop. The flowers displayed outside gave off a fragrant scent.

“Jade, look at this. Isn’t it pretty? Seems like it’s already time for hydrangeas to bloom.”

Next to the hydrangeas, acacias were also showing off their sweet fragrance.

“Welcome, customers.”

The flower shop owner approached with a friendly smile after making eye contact with me.

“Do you like the acacias?”

“They smell so sweet, I think they’d be nice to use in a bath. Especially the acacias from this shop look to be in good condition.”

The flower shop owner beamed at my response.

“Thank you, do you also know the flower language of acacias?”

“I’m not really familiar with flower language…”

I shook my head at the owner’s question.

“The flower language of acacia is ‘secret love’. Gypsies have a custom of gifting acacias when proposing.”

I was curious why the flower language of acacia was ‘secret love’ after the owner’s explanation.

‘What does that have to do with it?’

Seeming to read my expression of incomprehension, the shop owner said:

“When a man presents this flower to the woman he likes, if she silently accepts it, they’re considered married. That’s why it means secret love. Because it’s a love known only between the two, without holding a ceremony.”

“Ah…”

So that’s how it got the flower language of ‘secret love’.

‘How romantic.’

The shop owner suddenly handed an acacia flower to Jade.

“At a glance, you two look like a couple. This is on the house. Please give it to the lady.”

“Ah, no, we’re not that kind of rela-”

A couple.

‘Is that how we look to others?!’

My face turned red at the shop owner’s misunderstanding.

“N-no, we’re not that kind of rela-”

Before I could finish speaking, Jade accepted the single acacia flower.

‘W-why did Jade accept it?’

Unable to stop him due to the shop owner’s goodwill, I could only fidget in place.

“From now on, please supply flowers to House Rowe.”

“…Thank you very much!”

The shop owner’s pupils dilated slightly before bowing repeatedly.

‘Since Mary buys flowers every day anyway, I should have them supplied from this flower shop from now on.’

I left the flower shop after asking them to supply to House Boston as well.

“Larien.”

“…What?”

Jade was about to hold out the single acacia flower in his hand.

‘If I accept this flower, we’d be considered married.’

Now that I knew the flower language of acacia, I felt awkward about accepting it.

“Jade, th-that’s something you received, so just keep it.”

“…Alright.”

He tightly gripped the single acacia flower in his hand.

‘Maybe I should have just accepted it.’

I felt somehow apologetic at his voice that had lowered compared to before.

It would be strange to ask for the acacia flower again now, so I just walked in silence.

“Oh right, Larien. Next week is Princess Cassandra’s birthday celebration.”

“Next week is the princess’s birthday celebration?”

“Didn’t you receive an invitation?”

I nodded slightly. I hadn’t particularly received an invitation.

“I’d like you to attend as my partner.”

“What? No way! There’s no need to go when I didn’t even receive an invitation!”

“I refused Princess Cassandra’s partner proposal. I said I was already attending with the Earl of Boston.”

My head throbbed at Jade’s words.

‘No wonder. The reason Princess Cassandra cornered me in the greenhouse garden was because she thought I was Jade’s partner…!’

This was the reason she had been subtly wary of me since we first met.

I was already tired at the inevitable situation of having to greet her.

‘If I enter as Jade’s partner, Princess Cassandra will surely say something again.’

This was all because of Jade deciding things on his own.

“How can you decide that on your own! And you’re telling me this now? Are you joking, Jade?”

I hit his chest repeatedly while fuming.

The single acacia flower fell from his hand.

Not realizing, I stepped on it and crushed the yellow petals.

“The acacia!”

I hurriedly picked up the acacia, but it was already ruined.

“Throw it away.”

“It’s fine. You were going to give it to me anyway. I’ll keep it.”

“So, Larien. You won’t go with me?”

It was awkward to refuse since I felt bad for stepping on the acacia.

“Jade, your jacket is in the carriage, go get it.”

“I’ll get it later. I have some business to take care of, so I’ll go ahead.”

Jade turned into an alley before I could stop him.

“Just what kind of business…”

I gently stroked the torn acacia petals, sighed, and got into the carriage.

After returning to the mansion, I gave the single acacia to Mary.

“Young lady, why an acacia? More importantly, it’s about to wilt…”

“I guess so…? For now, just put it in a glass vase.”

“Yes, I understand. Lady Blanche is in the study.”

I felt puzzled at hearing Blanche was in the study.

“Didn’t she say she was drawing upstairs?”

“She said she got bored while drawing and was going to contact Master Aaron.”

There was a communication device in the study that could be used to make contact.

‘So that’s why she’s in the study.’

Since I had promised to play with Blanche, I took off my coat and entered the study.

I saw Blanche’s small shadow holding the communication device.

“Uncle, I miss you! Can’t you come here?”

Blanche was in the middle of talking with Aaron while fiddling with the device.

-Tell the Earl and come to Lecah, Blanche.

“Aww, okay…”

I thought as I looked at Blanche’s slumped shoulders.

‘It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Aaron too. I should visit Lecah with Blanche later.’

I was thinking of staying in warm Lecah when the cold winter comes to Langransha.

I approached Blanche from behind and covered her eyes.

“…Mama?”

“My baby, were you talking to Aaron because you were bored? How did you know right away it was Mama?”

Blanche turned around with a bright smile.

“Because Mama’s hands are warm!”

I took the communication device and spoke to Aaron.

“It’s been a while, Aaron.”

-My lady. Have you read the report?

“I was about to contact you about that. Accept the orchard’s proposal, and get a written agreement to freeze the transaction price for the next 5 years.”

-Certainly, that wouldn’t be too much of a loss on our side! I need to go meet the orchard owner now, so I’ll hang up!

Aaron’s voice became lively before the light on the communication device went out.

“Aww. Uncle didn’t even say goodbye to Shu Shu…”

Blanche pouted in disappointment.

“Blanche, shall we go see him in winter?”

“Really? Shu Shu misses Uncle Aaron!”

Blanche jumped up and down in excitement.

“Mama, the Marquis doesn’t seem to like Uncle Aaron much, so let’s just go by ourselves.”

“Just the two of us? Hmm, alright. Okay.”

I didn’t particularly want to go with Jade anyway. I should let him know we’re going to Lecah, but.

‘Well, it’s still far from winter. Since Jade won’t be coming along, I can tell him later.’