“The room for you to stay in is this way.”

Roselin’s chestnut-colored hair, walking ahead, curled like waves. Along with her movement, the strong rose scent brushed against the tip of her nose, carried by the wind.

“Sister, I’ve been waiting for you to come to the Fleur Territory! Oh, it’s just the two of us, so I can call you Sister, right?”

Turning slightly to look back at her, Roselin smiled innocently at her. Looking at her, it felt as if they had gone back to their childhood.

‘Roselin…’

Idel’s feelings towards Roselin were complex and subtle. With tightly sealed lips, Idel nodded slowly.

When Roselin made such a smile, various small and large misfortunes always followed… It had already become a habit, engraved into her like a long-standing tradition.

She felt uneasy about Roselin’s words, expressing joy as if she had been waiting for Idel to arrive at the Fleur Territory. This unexpected encounter, seemingly prepared in advance, also felt uneasy.

“This is the room where you’ll be staying, one of the best rooms in the Marquisate. You can see the scenery that Fleur boasts about at a glance.”

Arriving at the room, Roselin went to the window and looked outside, speaking.

“Do you see it? It’s the Flower Garden spread out in front of your eyes.”

If one were to pick the most beautiful place in the Marquisate, it would be the Flower Garden.

Consisting of several small gardens called Garden Rooms, the Flower Garden showcased flowers with distinctive characteristics, each blooming in its own space, boasting their individual beauty.

“If Sister comes to the Marquisate, I wanted to introduce you to the Flower Garden first. Isn’t it a wonderful place?”

“Yeah, it’s the most splendid garden I’ve ever seen.”

Idel’s honest impression. The Flower Garden naturally highlighted the personalities of the flowers planted in each Garden Room, while geometrically designing the overall structure of the garden, creating harmony.

“Right in front of you is the Rose Garden. Mother sometimes calls it by my name.”

Smiling brightly, Roselin introduced the Rose Garden, the most visible location in the room. Just looking at the variously colored roses blooming profusely made one feel the fresh and refreshing scent of roses.

“In the Rose Garden, there’s a rose variety called Red Perfume in this vase. It’s my birth flower.”

The fragrance of a person’s birth flower, inherent since the Fleur family’s birth, becomes their birth flower.

The deep red rose in the vase on the table was a flower that suited Roselin among various rose varieties, with its intense scent resembling a perfume.

“I planted this rose to commemorate my birth. People of the Fleur family plant their birth flowers within the territory.”

“…I see.”

It was a story that didn’t apply to Idel, who was born without a fragrance and lacked a birth flower.

Looking at the Red Perfume rose in the vase, Idel’s gaze, without a scent, became somewhat melancholic and cloudy.

Although she had decided to break away from the Fleur family, the complete detachment seemed still difficult.

The sense of alienation and sorrow she felt every time she realized her absence within the family remained like a scar in the corner of her heart.

The thorn on that rose stem seemed to pierce her chest scar sharply.

“When I was young, sometimes I imagined while looking at this Flower Garden.”

“Imagined…?”

“If Sister’s birth flower was also planted here, I wondered what kind of flower it would be.”

“…”

“Aren’t you curious, Sister? If Sister also had a birth flower, what kind of fragrance would it have?”

Roselin’s intention in bringing up the topic of her fragrance was clear. She probably wanted to remind Idel of her position without a scent.

“…Well, it seems like a meaningless imagination.”
Idel rebuffed Roselin’s words with a sinking gaze. Observing Idel’s firm stance, Roselin, inwardly scoffing, responded with an innocent expression.

“Still, one of the things I imagined came true. Being together with you here in the Fleur Territory. It was something I always dreamed of.”

While saying this, she sighed with a suddenly sorrowful expression, her voice filled with feigned sadness.

“Why Sister couldn’t come to the territory every time… I really couldn’t understand. Not being able to be with Sister, I don’t know how heartbreaking it was.”

‘No… it’s a lie. There’s no way she didn’t know the reason.’

Rather, it was a clear intention to remind her of that reason.

Idel had long seen through Roselin’s words, which concealed thorns that deeply pierced her heart every time.

‘I knew. Roselin despised me.’

She was well aware of Roselin’s subtle actions isolating her from an early age.

Although not openly expressed, Roselin subtly sympathized with the disdainful intentions of the Fleur family, which did not openly acknowledge her.

‘Roselin and I are different…’

Even their birth mothers were different, but the most significant difference was that, unlike Roselin, she was born without fragrance.

‘Roselin probably despised me for that too.’