CH 26

Because it blooms at night, the moonflower was in full bloom.

I looked at the yellow flowers that bloomed in a small way and I suddenly asked Catherine.

“Where did you get this? It must have been hard to find because it blooms in summer.”

“I don’t know. Robert has bought it. someone say there’s nothing that can’t be done with the money.”

He probably paid quite a bit of money. There is a greenhouse here too, but it must be treated with magic to keep it from dying outside the greenhouse.

Many flowers bloom in winter. Even roses, which are in high demand, can be easily obtained even in the capital city. Why did he give me a moonflower?

“Didn’t Leon ever say something to be delivered along with flowers? or letter to me?”

“There is no such thing. I brought it without the captain’s knowledge.”

“What?”

You secretly brought what he bought for me?

As I put on a look of incomprehension, Catherine grumbled with her lower lip a little outstretched.

“The captain is an idiot. He bought it for Raenel, but he said he couldn’t give it to you.”

“Why?”

“For the same reason, we shouldn’t visit this house officially.”

“Ah…”

That’s right. It’s kind of weird for him to send me a present at a time when rumors spread that the Marquis of Ajas fell in love with the second princess and dumped the youngest child of the Howard family.

“If that’s the case, don’t buy it from the beginning. What are you going to do if you buy it with expensive money and put it on your desk and breathe deeply?”

“Is he sighing?”

“Yes. His face looks like this.”

Catherine messed up her face by using both hands. I almost burst into laughter and my face turned red.

“I just brought it because I didn’t want to see him like that anymore. I was going to come see you anyway.”

“What are you going to do if you secretly bring it and get scolded?”

“It’s okay, just run away.”

Like a child who exclaims that she will win a fight with her father, Catherine, who boasted that even the Captain would not be able to catch her if she made up her mind and ran away. she suddenly threw back her head and started sniffing her nose.

“Smells like a monster.”

“What?”

“I think I’ve smelled this before. Didn’t you smell the ruby wrong? Are you raising monsters?”

“Ah… No, I got a doll made of monster hair as a gift from my friend.”

The doll, which evolved from the amulet of love to the amulet of life, was kept dearly in a glass cabinet. I took Catherine to the glass cabinet.

“This is it. Right?”

“I think that’s right. Did you like it enough to decorate it? There are a lot of these in the Hyela Mountains. Do you want me to catch one?”

“What? No!”

‘How can I handle intermediate monsters?’

“Why…? Ah, now you can’t raise monsters in the capital.”

“In the capital? Can you raise them in the Ajas?”

“Yes. The autonomy of the Marquis of Ajas was recognized by the first emperor. They said no one could touch it unless the imperial family’s surname was changed.”

“I see…”

The autonomy of the Marquis of Ajas had considerable authority, and even though the territory belonged to the empire, it was said to be close to extraterritorial jurisdiction.

(TL: Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries.)

That’s why I’ve heard that a lot of criminals who broke the imperial law flow into the Margrave of Ajas. Was the autonomy so strong that even newly created laws could not be applied?

“If Ruby wasn’t brought to the capital, the captain wouldn’t have to go through all that trouble.”

“What?”

‘Can I touch this?’ With permission from me, Catherine opened the door of her dresser and she took out a knitted doll from inside.

She answered me while rubbing the black cat’s long tail.

“Recognition of autonomy is a matter within the Marquis Command. That alone could not save Ruby in the capital city.”

“Ah…I know what it is.”

If all the laws do not apply to the Marquis AjaS just because he has autonomy, he won’t be punished for anything he does in the capital.

“So he got an exception only until he took Ruby back to the Marquis, and the offer was a date with the second princess.”

“A date?”

“No, what did the emperor suggest? Ah…I see!”

“Duke Khalid has already decided on a second marriage partner…Currently, Leon is the only one in the empire that the princess can appoint as her husband.”

Of course, my eldest brother is a good husband, but she will never marry him in this house because of me. I’m happy too.

“I Don’t know that kind of situation But isn’t Raenel upset?”

“What? Why me?”

At my question, Catherine stared at me without blinking. That gaze was a little burdensome, so I touched my cheek to see what was on my face, but Catherine slowly opened her mouth.

“Didn’t you like our Captain? I was happy to know that Raenel was getting married to our Captain.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. If Raenel becomes Marquess, I was going to beg you to let me be your escort knight.”

“Oh, my goodness.”

I’ve met her a few times, but I felt that she was so humble that I felt that she was more sincere.

In addition, I was happier because I felt like I was treated well without any prejudice at my birth. I tried to hold it in, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Thank you for saying that. Even though things turned out this way, if I had gone to Howard, I think I could have been good friends with Catherine. No, shall we just be friends from now on?”

“Friend?”

Catherine’s eyes widened. I looked into her eyes and she nodded her head eagerly.

“You can send a letter even if we are far away. Or you can come over to play sometime. Do you know where Howard is? At least it’s closer to the Ajas than the capital.”

“Sorry. I don’t know where.”

“Um, near Mount Grover. Where the Nasir River begins.”

“Oh, the grape orchard?”

“That’s right! It is a specialty of our estate. Have you ever tasted Howard’s wine?”

“I don’t like wine. Still, I’ll try it when I get back to my territory.  It’s a friend’s house wine.”

“I am happy! Then call me Nell.”

“Yes. Call me Cassie and speak comfortably Because we are friends.”

“Shall we?”

‘I have two friends!’

Regrettably, neither Rebecca nor Catherine will be able to see each other easily once we return to our territory, but still, we can communicate, even through letters. If so, This trip to the capital was a success.

Before I knew it, I forgot that I had to go to sleep, and I had a lot of fun talking with Catherine.

* * *

“the thing that was here, who took it?”

Leonhard’s voice, with his eyes fixed on the empty space on the desk, was terrifying.

‘Why is the captain awake at this time?’

Leona, who had been called from her sleep, forced herself to swallow a yawn and complained to herself that if she knew this would happen, she should have gone. But what to do? She lost in the lottery.

“Robert and Cassie brought it to the daughter of the Howard family.”

“So, who told them to do that?”

The sound of gnashing of teeth brought Leona to her senses. Her sleep ran away, and unconsciously straightened her joints and got up.

“I’m not sure! I only saw the back of Robert and Catherine carrying it out!”

“What did you do without stopping them?”

“I thought they were going by the command of the captain. I didn’t know!”

‘Wow, good thing I didn’t go.’

The face of Leona, who even cast lots together and brazenly flirted with them, was that of a loyal knight.

Whether it was because he had already been deceived several times and was going to be deceived again, or whether he did not have the energy to dig out the truth, Leonhard let out a long sigh while covering his face with his hands.

“What the hell…”

Then, as he slumped back in his chair, he felt a deep sense of fatigue. Leona, who looked at him with just a glance, clicked his tongue without realizing it.

‘Why are you such an idiot? That’s why Robert and Catherine moved on their own without the Captain’s order.’

Honestly, even when she thought about it, he locked himself in a hotel room and stared at the flower pot he bought with expensive money, sighing, watering, and sighing.

The Captain, who only touched the petals lightly in case the blossoms would fall off, looked a bit, no, a lot pathetic.

“If that’s the case, just go and confess that you like her…”

“What?”

“No. I didn’t say anything.”

However, Leonhard’s eyes staring at her as if he had heard and asked her questions were terrifying.

‘The time when I was blaming myself for saying that, I was going to be burned to death by those eyes.’

“Captain! Were you here?”

Unaware of the suffocating atmosphere in the room, Katherine slammed the door open without knocking. Leona groaned inwardly at the ignorance of her actions.

According to his guess, Leonhard, who usually tolerated Catherine’s rude behavior, spoke out in anger today

“Catherine, you…!”

‘No, I was going to pay for it.’

“I gave it to Nell, the flower that the captain bought. This is what Nell asked me to bring for the captain.”

“What?”

It wasn’t just Leonhard who was surprised by the familiar call. Leona, who was very tense in her body, also relaxed from her body and asked Catherine in a curious voice as she approached Leonhard.

“Nell? Could it be that the lady gave permission for a nickname?”

“Yes. We decided to be friends. I have friends now too!”

Catherine laughed. uncharacteristically and waved her hands. They had known each other for quite some time, but both were speechless when they saw her so delighted for the first time.

“Look at this. I got a present to celebrate being a friend… Isn’t it pretty? Nell made it herself.”

As Catherine boasted, what she took out of her magic bag and showed was a knitted doll. It is shaped like a jet-black cat.

“Does it look like Ruby? From now on, he’s Ruby’s younger brother. hmm…Shall I name it Lucy? okay! You are Lucy from now on!”

She seemed to really like the cat doll as she held it high above her head and smiled. No, did she like Lady Howard who gave her that doll as a gift?

‘She is not a kid who gives up her heart easily even though she looks humble…’

It’s been several years since she joined the Knights, but she still had a limited number of people to share her anger with. It took at least a year to exchange greetings and talk to each other.

‘What did you do?’

Leona was very impressed with Lady Howard’s ability.

“The young lady told you to bring me this?”

At that time, Leonhard, who had been watching the handover from Catherine with distant eyes, barely opened his mouth.

Catherine, who sat down on the floor and endlessly rummaged through her magic bag to find a ribbon to hang around Lucy’s neck, looked at Leonhard and nodded.

“Yes. She says you’ll know what that means when you see it.”

“….”

Dozens of tiny three-leaf clovers tied with green ribbons. How can he not know what this means?

Leonhard looked down with his eyes for a long time at what was on his hand, without breathing properly.

* * *

“Moonflower… Moonflower… I found it!!”

After sending Catherine away, I went back to my room and was about to lie down on my bed, but I suddenly became curious and took out a flower language dictionary from the bookshelf.

It was hard because I kept closing my eyes because I was slowly getting sleepy, but my curiosity which was stronger than that led me to victory in the end.

Moonflower: Silent love, waiting, and sorry.

As expected, I was right.

I wondered why he had to choose a moonflower instead of a common flower, but Leonhard seemed to want to apologize to me.

“That’s about it. If he had just secretly sent it anonymously, I would have noticed.”

‘He has a good memory and great skills. He is also a very kind-hearted person.’

I murmured softly, caressing the yellow petals of the moonflower, which still bloomed in full bloom.

“I really want you to be happy.”

Not too little, not too much. Just as good as you are.