“As the lady knows, the East is……”

“It’s alright. I expected as much.”

Only clueless, tactless nobles greeted her, while nobles long immersed in Eastern society maintained silence.

Not because Biare was from the Ruschef family, but simply because she was not an Easterner.

Anyway, the reason she came here today was to scout nobles who would follow her will and lend their strength, so she had no time to dwell on such matters.

She had already sorted out neutral and anti-emperor factions from the information on influential Eastern families she had gathered.

‘For today, I’ll have to be satisfied with just making my presence known.’

When Biare found herself alone, she went up to the upper floor of the banquet hall.

As another waltz began to play, she looked down at those dancing below.

In one corner downstairs, Gaizen, unable to escape from Count Alhenbar, was listening to his passionate talk in place of his sister.

Smiling briefly at the sight, she was lost in thought when someone approached her side.

“……Marquis?”

Startled, Biare looked at him, but Dension, unfazed, shrugged and said nonchalantly.

“The party seems boring to you.”

Biare, who had been staring at him, turned her head forward again and spoke, looking at the people in the banquet hall.

“It seems the same for you, Marquis.”

“I’m not one to enjoy parties in general.”

‘Come to think of it, why is Sion here?’

Normally, Dension wouldn’t have attended official events, so she found it strange that he was here now.

“Then what brings you here?”

At Biare’s question, he looked flustered, as if caught off guard, and even cleared his throat.

“……I dropped by briefly to meet someone.”

She thought Dension must have come to meet Eastern nobles too, and decided not to take up his time.

“Then I should be going. Excuse me―”

“If the lady doesn’t mind, how about we walk together?”

“Pardon?”

Biare couldn’t hide her surprised expression and looked at him with wide eyes.

The person who made the suggestion also seemed a bit flustered, but he soon swallowed a sigh as if thinking of something and calmly said.

“Do you know there’s a flower in the East that only blooms at night?”

‘Traum flower…..’

The East had many exotic and fascinating flower species not seen in the capital, and the Traum flower was one of them.

Due to its demanding cultivation conditions, it only bloomed in the East, opening at night and closing its buds again in the morning.

Come to think of it, Dension in the past had tried to show her the Traum flower several times but always failed.

Even the people of the East couldn’t always see the flower bloom with their own eyes.

It was greatly affected by the environment and rarely bloomed due to its demanding cultivation conditions.

Biare tilted her head, looking at him, and said.

“I’ve heard of it, but is it blooming now?”

“Some nobles I met earlier told me.”

Dension’s lips held a smile rarely seen.

They headed to the garden to see the Traum flower that had bloomed in the night.

Unlike the banquet hall wrapped in warm air, a rather cool breeze was blowing outside.

Glancing at him walking beside her, matching her pace without a thought, Biare smiled bitterly.

‘I never thought I’d be walking with you like this.’

She felt her heart swell even as she still couldn’t believe she was spending time with him.

Peeking at Dension’s expression, she saw no change; he was just walking silently looking ahead, making her feel a bit sad that only she seemed to be excited.

The reason he brought her here was probably just out of consideration for a guest from the East.

‘You’ve always been a kind person.’

Thinking she was the only one feeling elated, she unintentionally became dejected.

Watching Biare’s downcast appearance closely, he soon pointed to a flower and said.

“Fortunately, the Traum flower is still blooming.”

The Traum flower he pointed to was hidden among other flowers, but under the moonlight, it was shining brilliantly, imbued with a dazzling golden light.

‘You were right, it really is a beautiful flower.’

The flower was breathtakingly beautiful, as Dension had said. Enough to understand why he wanted to show it so badly.

In the past, she didn’t know why he wanted to show this flower so much, but now the reason seemed so obvious.

“It’s really beautiful.”

Dension had thought showing her the flower might improve her mood, as she had looked depressed throughout the banquet.

He didn’t know why he cared about her mood, but seeing the princess’s visibly brightened expression, he thought it might have been a good choice.

“……It seems so.”

Dension, who had been staring at her, answered naturally.

For a moment, his clear blue eyes widened in surprise, not believing what he had just said.

Fortunately, the woman in front of him didn’t seem to notice, but he was still looking at the princess, not the Traum flower.

Perhaps Dension Verdeum had really gone mad.

At first, he thought she was just a woman who cried easily, as she shed tears every time she encountered him, a stranger.

Even when he learned she was the princess of the Ruschef family, he had intended to use her.

After all, the Ruschef ducal family was also among the suspects in the murder of the previous Marquis and Marchioness of Verdeum.

So he tried to gather information about her, but he couldn’t bring himself to receive it.

As coincidences piled up, at some point she began to linger in his mind, and eventually he found himself paying attention to every expression she made. Just like now.

He wondered what exactly was causing her to be consumed by sadness, but it wasn’t something he could know.

It was clear someone was occupying her mind, but who could it be to make her so sad? He felt his insides twist with unpleasant emotions.

Coincidentally in the Verdeum territory, he read about her in the morning newspaper and attended the Alhenbar family’s celebratory party.

For some reason he couldn’t understand, he felt he needed to meet her.

When he arrived at the banquet hall, he felt foolish for coming and was about to leave, but seeing her looking somewhat gloomy, he couldn’t bring himself to go.

When she looked depressed, he wanted to approach and comfort her, and when he saw her fleeting smile, his heart felt heavy, as if spring rain was seeping into it.

Throughout their walk to the garden, Dension pondered what this emotion he was feeling could be, and when he saw her smile just moments ago, he seemed to have found the answer.

By now, even he had to notice this clumsy emotion.

The feelings buried in his unconscious had gradually overlapped and grown, finally painting a single emotion.

Listening to his own faintly thumping heartbeat, he couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd situation.

“I must have truly gone mad.”

Hearing the unexpected voice, Biare looked at him, and Dension shook his head, adding:

“……It’s nothing.”

The golden Traum flower, still shining brilliantly, remained with them for a long, long time.

From the hard winter soil, green sprouts of spring were beginning to emerge.

Biare, who had received daffodils from the gardener as the first flowers of early spring, stared blankly at them in a vase.

The fragrant scent of daffodils filled Biare’s room, and it seemed her complex thoughts were gradually stabilizing.

A week ago, when she sent a request for an audience to the Crown Prince, she was confident she could endure everything, but perhaps it was arrogance.

Now that she thought about facing the Crown Prince she didn’t want to see, she could only sigh.

‘The schedule was set faster than I thought.’

Ivan wanted her by his side, so he accepted her audience request even if he had to create time out of nowhere.

Because of this, the Duke bustled about saying there wasn’t enough time, and Biare ended up having a new dress made in just a week.

‘Why is meeting him so important?’

Shaking her head, Biare practiced the expressions she had been rehearsing one last time in front of the mirror.

Though she still struggled with her unchanging expression, she decided to leave it to fate now.

When she went downstairs, a carriage more splendid than usual was waiting.

Apparently, the Duke had taken special care to make the carriage his daughter would ride today shine, even instructing the coachman.

‘There’s no need to go this far.’

Since the Crown Prince accepted the audience, the outcome was as good as decided, so Biare felt such effort was unnecessary.

As she approached the carriage, Tonio, standing in front, looked grim.

After helping her into the carriage, Biare looked at her knight sitting opposite her and let out a shallow sigh.

“Sir, you know you can’t make that face in the palace, right?”

“……I know.”

She knew well that he was worried about her, but such small actions could sometimes become a weakness, so she only hoped he would be especially careful.

The carriage, filled with silence, was now entering the imperial palace.