Prince Alfonso, barely escaping from the adults, signaled Ariadne to the backyard with a gesture. Ariadne cheerfully followed Alfonso.

“You had a tough time getting out.”

Ariadne extended her sympathy to the prince who had struggled to break through the crowd.

“Not at all!”

Despite having fought his way through a crowd of aristocratic men, the prince vehemently denied it, flashing a bright smile.

“I didn’t expect you to be here today. How did you come? Did you come with your mother…?”

Ariadne shook her head.

“I could come because Mrs. Romani, my private tutor, temporarily hosted the salon. She’s a relative of the Duchess of Chibo.”

“Well, that’s good. How have you been lately! Do you like today’s clothes?”

Ariadne blushed, reminded of the last incident on the oak tree.

“It seems better than last time.”

“What about the hairpin I gave you?”

Ariadne blushed again. This time, it was out of embarrassment.

Ariadne, if put nicely, had a persevering and elegant look, but if put badly, she was a bit sharplooking, and the cute deep pink flowershaped jewel hairpin did not suit her at all.

But she felt too sorry to tell the person who gave her the gift.

“It was beautiful… but it didn’t match my clothes today. I’ll definitely wear it next time.”

After that, the two of them chatted casually while making a round of the Chibo Duke’s garden.

Mostly it was similar to catching up, and to be strict, it was mixed with somewhat important information like Ariadne’s evaluation among the palace nobles, but if one had to summarize the conversation between the two in a single line, it was nothing more than ‘trivial’.

That’s because, in fact, the words and the sentences formed by those words, the content delivered by those sentences were not important at all between the two at this time.

In Alfonso’s eyes, only things like Ariadne’s smooth skin, jetblack hair, deep green eyes, and the shape of her eyes that fold into a crescent when she laughs were visible. Even when he tried not to see, they automatically came into view.

When Ariadne laughed as if she couldn’t believe it, her white front teeth and plump upper lip overlapped and she looked a little like a rabbit. Suddenly, when he thought of kissing her lips, a shiver ran down his spine.

But he couldn’t go any further from there. He was a prince, the future monarch.

The country would be his, but in return, he had to devote himself to the country. A righteous ruler would naturally do so. His marriage would be decided by his father and mother.

With high probability, the woman he would meet in the future would be the daughter of some monarch from across the sea.

Whether she would be beautiful, good, or a good person was unknown, but she would marry him, carrying gold and jewels and the wellbeing of the state on a ship, or tightly packed in horses and carriages.

As a reward for complying with this marriage, that is, by growing fond of an unknown woman, forming a family with her, and looking at their children, his country and his people would be safer and more prosperous.

“Alfonso, isn’t that pretty?”

Prince Alfonso suddenly woke up from his thoughts. Ariadne, with a clear expression, was pointing at the hydrangeas blooming in the Chibo Duke’s garden and looking back at Alfonso.

There was a narrow passage filled with hydrangeas, hydrangeas filling both sides of the pathway.

“Let’s go there!”

The path to the hydrangeas, where he began to follow the girl’s lead, thinking that this would be okay because it was not started by him, was a spectacle.

The tall white hydrangea bushes, which grow tall without knowing the height of the sky, blocked the view of those who entered, and once they stepped into the pathway, all they could see were white hydrangea flowers and deep green leaves at both ends of the passage, and pieces of the blue sky when they looked up.

It was just the two of them.

Among the waves of white hydrangeas, a single purple hydrangea stood out. It was a single flower whose color had changed particularly deeply while the color of the hydrangea subtly changed.

He thought it wasn’t possible.

Alfonso’s reason thought it best to not approach, to not touch, to not break, to keep a safe distance, and to continue observing as a good acquaintance. By doing this, the moment of decision could be postponed as much as possible. However, his mouth moved according to his heart.

“Do you want that?”

“That’s a flower from the Duke of Chibo’s estate. Can we break it as we please?”

“Let’s break it in secret.”

Ariadne burst into a refreshing laugh.

“How can we secretly take it after breaking it? Should we throw it away right after breaking it? What a waste.”

“Hide it in the folds of your skirt and take it in.”

Ariadne, laughing with due etiquette, hit Alfonso’s shoulder. At the touch of the girl on his shoulder, Alfonso felt his brain fuse going white.

When he had met Ariadne at the abandoned fountain of the Queen’s Palace a while ago, he had thoughtlessly helped her climb up the tree.