However, that initial enthusiastic motivation didn’t last long.

Halfway up the stairs, Blair began to show signs of fatigue. Her breathing had been labored for a while, and her feet in heels were aching.

Herdin, who had initially been following behind Blair, was now climbing ahead of her.

With the same leisurely pace as before, without even a hint of breathlessness.

Noticing Blair falling behind, Herdin turned to look at her.

“Who was it that boastfully said they could make it?”

How annoying.

Blair looked at him with dissatisfied eyes as he teased her, then bit her lip and struggled up the stairs. A competitive spirit arose in her.

Herdin casually said as Blair passed by him:

“If you ask me to carry you, I’ll carry you to the top.”

“…I can go by myself.”

Herdin chuckled as he watched Blair climb ahead. Her determination not to lose reminded him of when he first met her in their childhood.

After that grueling time, the two of them finally reached the top.

The cool breeze of the upper air swept across Blair’s sweaty forehead.

When she opened her eyes after briefly closing them due to the sudden gust of wind, the panorama of the imperial city spread out before her.

Blair couldn’t help but marvel.

“Wow…”

The late afternoon sky was dyed golden, just before sunset.

Below, the fully bloomed cherry trees and the colorful flags symbolizing the festival fluttered in the spring breeze, while the blue river flowed, winding through the center of the imperial city.

Amidst that scenery, Blair could see the imperial palace where she had lived her entire life, and the temple where she had been staying until just recently.

Seeing it like this, she realized how small the world she had known all her life really was. And how vast the world she was about to step into would be.

Blair took in the scenery with a dazed look.

It was a view she had always wanted to see.

Her fine hair fluttered in the blowing wind. Beneath it, her sweat-dampened, snow-white nape glistened.

Herdin, who had been staring at that sight, took off his outer garment and wrapped it around Blair’s body.

At that, Blair turned to look at him.

Only then did he exist in her purple world.

“Thank you, Herdin. I really wanted to come here once.”

Blair smiled brightly. It had been a while since her smile was directed at him.

Herdin quietly took in the sight of her standing beside him, gazing at the distant world rather than at himself.

The woman blended perfectly with the fully bloomed cherry blossoms and the golden afternoon sunlight, like a painting.

Only then did it seem that this season of those wretched flowers blooming might become a little more bearable.

* * *

The two of them only descended the stairs after watching the sunset.

Herdin, who was going down first, sensed something strange and turned back.

“Blair?”

Blair was coming down the stairs one by one, holding onto the wall with trembling legs. She had overexerted herself climbing up, and now her strength was depleted.

She looked just like a newborn fawn.

He knew she was weak, but to this extent?

Herdin watched Blair with a somewhat bewildered expression before bursting into laughter.

“…Don’t laugh.”

His face, laughing with a cool arc, suddenly looked handsome. And just as annoying.

Blair gritted her teeth and descended one step at a time on her own. But the moment she tried to speed up a little…

“Aaah!”

Her body wobbled and fell forward. Herdin quickly approached and grabbed her waist to support her.

“Careful.”

“Ah, thank y—”

Before Blair could straighten up, Herdin scooped her up in his arms. Blair barely managed to stifle a scream that almost escaped.

“Put, put me down.”

“That doesn’t seem like a very wise method. With those legs, it would probably take until tomorrow morning to get down.”

“…”

Given the current situation, it was quite a plausible statement, so she had no words to refute.

Blair eventually obediently wrapped her arms around his neck.

“…Am I not heavy?”

“Hmm, it feels like my arms might fall off.”

“…”

At his playful answer, Blair pressed her lips together in displeasure.

Even so, he could have at least pretended to be considerate of a lady, even if it was just lip service.

Seeing her expression, Herdin laughed.

“Since I’ve served my wife, grant me one wish.”

“A wish?”

“Yes, a wish.”

Blair, seeing his mischievous expression, quickly preempted him.

“As long as it’s not a strange wish.”

“Such a restriction makes it less appealing.”

“…So you were going to make a strange wish after all?”

“Why don’t you start by explaining what your criteria for ‘strange’ is?”

“Vulgar—”

Blair, who had been saying something, realized a beat late that she had fallen for his glib manner of speaking and clamped her mouth shut.

Herdin, looking at Blair like this, asked leisurely.

“Vulgar, and then what?”

“…I’m not going to say.”

“Then, we’ve agreed that you’ll grant me one wish without conditions.”

Blair, who had been looking at him with distrustful eyes, reluctantly nodded.

Finally having obtained the answer he wanted, a satisfied smile spread across Herdin’s lips.

* * *

Blair placed a small frame, about the size of her palm, with a picture in it on the bedside table.

It was a small painting of the clock tower and cherry blossoms that she had visited with Herdin today.

She had bought it from a painter selling pictures on the street on their way back to the carriage after coming down from the clock tower.

‘I think I’ll remember today every time I look at this picture.’

The blue spring sky, the profusely blooming cherry blossoms, and Herdin who was with her in that beautiful scenery.

It was right when she was recalling his face that she heard his voice.

“Do you like that picture so much?”

Startled by the low voice ringing in her ear, she turned her head to find Herdin standing behind her, having approached at some point.

He picked up the frame in that position and examined the picture. The warmth of his body behind her, his face was too close.

So close that if she breathed wrong, she might touch him.

Blair hurriedly turned her gaze forward, lest their eyes meet. In the silence, she was anxious that he might hear her pounding heart.

To break the silence, Blair nodded and answered his question.

“Yes, I like it. I think I’ll remember today every time I look at this picture. The cherry blossoms were so beautiful, and the little boy selling rings was so cute…”

Herdin recalled Blair’s fingers wearing that crude ring. Even such a ring looked pretty on his wife’s fair and delicate hands.

“And the cherry blossom-shaped cream puff was delicious too.”

Along with the image of Blair munching on the cream puff, he recalled the sweet taste of cream that lingered in his mouth. And her face with wide eyes, surprised when her finger was bitten.

“And although climbing the clock tower was hard… the view was incredibly beautiful.”

By now, Blair had forgotten about the distance between them and was immersed in today’s story.

Herdin gazed at Blair as she spoke with an excited face.

Her soft voice chattering away was pleasant to hear.

Her violet eyes, twinkling as if in a dream, were newly beautiful.

“But when coming down, thanks to you—”

“Blair.”

Herdin called her name, unable to wait for her to finish speaking.

Blair, not noticing the faint heat in his low voice, turned to look at him without thinking.

Herdin didn’t miss the opportunity and captured her lips. At the same time, he pulled her slender waist into an embrace.

Blair, who had flinched in surprise and tried to pull away, soon closed her eyes as if accepting him.

Herdin laid Blair down on the bed and continued the kiss.

The kiss, which at first was gentle, repeatedly sucking and parting, gradually became rough as if he would devour her.

“Mmnh…”

When Blair pushed him away with a moan as her breath was cut off, Herdin moved to her snow-white neck.

Flowers bloomed wherever his lips passed. Like the fully bloomed cherry blossoms they had seen today.

Only after planting flowers all over her body did Herdin seem satisfied and raise his upper body.

Then he embraced Blair’s trembling body and immediately joined their bodies. A sensation as sweet as cream puff enveloped his entire body.

He licked his wet lips and looked down at the woman in his arms.

“Herdin…”

The small body completely covered in his marks, lips reddened from constant sucking and biting, eyes brimming with tears, and…

The spring scenery existing in those violet eyes.

Blair would probably say it was outrageous if she knew, but he felt that every time he looked at that picture in the frame, he would remember her in this moment.

Herdin gazed at the spring existing in the woman’s eyes for a while, then leaned down and kissed her softly.

Behind the shadows of the two people joined as one, cherry blossoms were falling like rain.

* * *

The flowers fell with the spring rain that had been falling for days.

Herdin walked down the long corridor, looking at the morning scenery of the garden now full of green, and entered the room that had become more familiar than his own room.

The room’s owner seemed to be still deep in sleep, as it was quiet.

Herdin looked around the room, muffling his footsteps.

On the table in front of the fireplace, a scented candle was placed instead of a bowl of marshmallows. She had been practicing getting used to fire by lighting scented candles for the past few days.

Passing by that scene and approaching the bed, he saw Blair sleeping as expected.

Herdin raised his arm to check his wristwatch. There were about 15 minutes left until the time he had instructed for the carriage to be prepared.

It would be nice if she woke up before then.

Of course, he could wake her up, but the last bit of conscience of the person responsible for making her sleep until this hour prevented him from doing so.