CH 79

Lisa was her beloved cousin, but sometimes she gave her this terrible face.

And every time that happened, Rose was shocked.

“I’m sorry… I said something stupid.”

“Didn’t you know that by talking about the deeds of His Majesty, you can lose your tongue?”

“…Yes.”

The defeated Rose now sat quietly.

Lisa turned to the flower garden.

The blossoming red tulips reminded her of a rose garden at the palace.

“Since everything is fine with Edmund, let him quickly return to his routine as a prince. It will ward off suspicion.”

As soon as Edmund’s fortune was strengthened, Raymond came to the prince at the palace, and said this to me.

He kept looking at me with constant indifference.

Not that his carelessness was new to me.

It’s just a shame that he, who hadn’t been touched by rumors before, suddenly became so concerned about it.

Or maybe the reason was just Ellie Croft? Oh, that woman…

I am all the more not worried about the creeping gossip, but I am afraid that this news will reach her.

I got it all clear when Ellie left, and Raymond’s heart changed in an instant.

Word spread that Ellie had left the Empire with ends. Then his eyes were empty, like a living dead.

He stood in the same way as a pillar when I floated out of the country?

I thought about it for a moment.

“While she was playing in your shadow, you saw, but didn’t notice.”

Lisa now had a maniac smile on her lips.

“Huh? Who played what?”

“I just remembered about the idiot who got lost in his own feelings.”

“Yes?”

“And there will be no happy ending.”

Ellie will fall, Raymond will follow her. Lisa wanted the two to be reunited in the same ditch.

Rose shuddered at the sight of the inhuman appearance in front of her.

“Forget it, it was just thinking out loud.”

At that moment, a gray-haired maid hastily approached them.

“What happened?”

“His Majesty issued a statement in defense of Duke Croft. They say he also sent the Duke an impressive gift.”

“A gift, then?”

“Right.”

However, Lisa guessed that this statement wasn’t without a hidden meaning.

Raymond has now shown to the whole world his willingness to cover Croft to the end.

There will be some hype for a while, but soon everything will settle down as it was.

However, the following words of the servant were for Lisa a thunderbolt.

“And they say the Croft estate is holding a grand reception to celebrate the return of their daughter.”

* * *

“Milady, His Majesty has ordered us to escort you to the garden.”

When I arrived at the Imperial Palace, the servant came up to me, as if he was already waiting for me.

“To the garden?”

Today I came to the palace to formally express my gratitude to the Emperor who gave me a great gift.

In fact, I wanted to finish the procedure by simply handing over the letter, but now I couldn’t get away from the Emperor’s orders.

Stop. Was it a garden, not a study?

I looked at my watch and saw that it was noon.

Are you planning to dine with me?

“We made light meals in the garden.”

My forecast came true.

I just had to come early in the morning.

To meet with him is… just the thought annoyed me.

“His Majesty is waiting for you,” the servant said at last.

Taking a deep breath, I went ahead.

The flower garden of the palace was a familiar place to me.

I was in charge of the entire greenhouse when I was an Empress.

So I open the door of the domed flower garden.

Familiar landscapes greeted me.

The aristocrats mainly filled the greenhouse gardens with beautiful flowers, while I mainly planted and grew wild flowers and rare trees.

I thought the place had changed a lot…

It’s been six years since I left the country, but my greenhouse is still the same.

At first I was delighted with the unchanged view of the flower garden. However, when I came to my senses that it was all the result of Raymond’s work, the familiar landscape no longer gave me joy. Taking one last look at the bright wildflowers, I swallowed my inner resistance and slowly walked forward.

The table is right in the center of the flower garden.

And Raymond is standing next to him.

“Sire. Lady Croft has arrived.”

Rubbing the petals of a purple violet, he turned around.

Pretending that I had not noticed the flower, which now reached the tips of his fingers, I turned to Raymond.

“Hail His Majesty the Emperor, Empire Sun.”

“Rise your head.”

The servants left, and Raymond was the first to sit at the table.

Unlike me, whose mind was now filled with questions about oddity and change, Raymond sat relaxed and elegant.

His emotionless face hasn’t left him over the years. But the look at me now was completely different.

His deep black eyes didn’t want to let me go.

“Sit down, Ellie.”

I sat down across from him, avoiding his gaze.

“Surprised that I brought you right here?”

“Rather… I’m just embarrassed.”

Raymond poured me a cup of fruit juice from a large bottle.

“You liked this place. I have long thought of inviting you here when you return.”

He reminds me again of our shared past.

“I thought you’d be happy if everything here remains the same.”

“I see,” I replied dryly.

He also gazed at me intently.

He seemed to be looking for even the faintest reaction on my blank face.

Things like joy, longing, or happiness.

But I just looked at him quietly.

“You told me that this tree is especially to your liking, and that this flower has a pleasant scent.”

His tone, and his eyes are so pretty, I already feel that we have become a couple again.

No.

No.

I returned to the brutal reality.

If we left in the past, Raymond wouldn’t have been so courteous to me.

Six years later, even I for a moment forgot what our relationship was like.

His new affection for me was so terrible, it made me shiver as if from cold water.

And I was driven more and more into my doubts about his sudden changes.

I stared at the food on the table, ignoring his gaze.

Stew with tomatoes, rye bread, salad, fruit juice.

The menu today is like a selection. It was all my favorite food.

It is quite obvious that this was prepared only for me.

I think I’ll pretend I’m not hungry.

Looking at the food, I slowly moved my lips.

“Sire.”

I raised my head and asked a question.

“Does His Majesty know why I liked this garden?”

Raymond was puzzled by my question.

There was no answer.

Of course, how would you know that.

He knows that I took care of the flower garden, but he doesn’t know why I started doing this at all.

“Of course not. His Majesty didn’t care about such mundane things.”

Raymond’s mouth dropped in the corners. I slowly looked around the garden.

“The reason was that this place was my only refuge.”

“Ellie…”

“Your Majesty has always been indifferent to me. Only occasionally did we show up together at banquets to show the crowd how strong our royal family is.”

It seemed that my heart was about to burst in my chest, so I took a breath.

“I lived in this palace like a bird locked in a cage. Every day I just looked at your back.”

Shock contorted Raymond’s face. Ironically, when I saw this shiver, my confused mind quieted down.

“I liked this flower garden… Now everything is in the past.”