Chapter 44
Silence followed Lisa’s outburst.
“I-I never touched anything except Lady Aveline’s letters. As for the love letters… they just stopped coming, that’s all!”
Lisa trembled as she delivered another fatal blow to Ares’s pride.
“…Oh, really?”
“Y-You believe me, right? It’s just that your popularity has declined, not that I’ve been diverting your love letters!”
“I get it already!”
Ares turned away, his face as red as his hair.
It was quite something to witness Ares, who had been suffering from a severe case of prince syndrome, receive such an immediate cure.
While it was satisfying to see Ares’s face about to burst from embarrassment, now wasn’t the time to enjoy it.
“Ahem.”
Aveline quickly wiped the amusement from her face.
Then she confirmed once more. She needed a clear admission before proceeding with the interrogation.
“So you’re confessing that you tampered with my letters?”
“T-That’s…”
“It’s too late to back out now.”
“…”
Lisa lowered her head as Aveline put on a stern expression.
“Why did you do it?”
“…I cannot say.”
Judging by her firmly closed lips, Lisa truly had no intention of speaking easily.
“Then call me when you feel like talking.”
“Are you kidding? You’re letting her off this easily?”
Ares jumped up before Aveline could finish speaking.
If Aveline was going to let this slide, he was ready to step in himself.
“Calm down.”
“How can I calm down?”
“You should listen to people until the end.”
A wicked smile, ill-fitting her gentle face, spread across Aveline’s lips.
“I never said I was letting her off.”
* * *
In the carriage heading to the imperial palace.
Aveline and Ares sat facing each other.
“Do you think she’ll talk?”
Ares, who had been lost in thought, suddenly asked.
He was referring to Lisa.
Lisa had been moved to an empty servants’ room.
Not only was she suspended from work, but she also couldn’t leave freely.
“We’ll have to find a way to make her talk.”
“How?”
“She mentioned having siblings in an orphanage.”
Plus, she had said she was only following orders.
“First, we need to find out which orphanage it is and look into the list of families that operate or sponsor it.”
“Oh.”
Ares’s expression showed hidden admiration at Aveline’s words.
‘All that reading really paid off.’
She had often seen protagonists solve problems through this kind of deduction.
Her years of reading were finally proving useful.
Feeling pleased with herself, Aveline wiped her nose and looked out the window.
“…?”
But the scenery outside was rather unusual.
Confused, Aveline turned to Ares.
“…Where are we?”
“Well, we should be nearly at the imperial palace by now?”
“Then what’s all this…?”
When Aveline asked in a dazed tone, Ares turned to look out the window.
“What are you talking abou—what?”
He wore the same bewildered expression as Aveline.
For good reason—the path to the imperial palace looked completely different from usual.
Like the entrance to a fairy realm, both sides of the road were filled with flowers.
Yellow, white, pink, red, purple, blue—the parade of vibrant flowers didn’t end even as they reached the Crown Prince’s palace.
“You’re a bit late.”
As soon as they stepped out of the carriage, Serio, surrounded by flowers, spoke.
The flowers they had seen on the way to the palace were merely a preview—the Crown Prince’s palace was teeming with even more blooms.
There was even an archway made of woven flowers at the entrance.
“I greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince, future light of the Listoria Empire.”
Aveline bowed before passing through the massive floral entrance.
“I apologize for being slightly late due to circumstances.”
She apologized because regardless of the situation, being late to the Crown Prince’s invitation was wrong.
Though she had threatened to tell the Crown Prince about the letter incident, she had no real intention of doing so.
After all, this was a household matter, and informing the Crown Prince would only bring shame to the family.
‘Hm?’
But as she raised her head, something else caught Aveline’s eye.
“Ah, does it suit me?”
A red rose that seemed out of place was pinned to Serio’s upper pocket.
The flower looked too delicate compared to his large frame, built through training.
“…The flower matches Your Highness’s eye color.”
Unable to bring herself to say it suited him, Aveline deflected with an appropriate comment.
“I didn’t know you observed me so closely. You must have been quite interested in me.”
Fortunately, Serio seemed to interpret Aveline’s words in his favor.
“…”
“Haha.”
Serio continued laughing cheerfully even as Aveline’s expression soured.
Then, noticing Ares standing beside Aveline, he tilted his head.
“Did I mistakenly address the invitation to the Herolds twins rather than Lady Herolds?”
“I’m here merely as a guardian, so please pay me no mind.”
“Afraid I might eat her?”
Serio’s handsome forehead creased as he frowned in displeasure.
But Ares didn’t back down easily.
“While no one would question my presence at Your Highness’s palace, it would be problematic if rumors spread about my unwed sister visiting the palace alone. Please forgive my presence.”
“Since when did you become so formal? Well, no matter, you’re here now. Let’s at least enjoy the prepared refreshments.”
Serio led the twins to a glass conservatory at the edge of the garden.
“…There are so many flowers.”
The conservatory was no different.
Even more splendid and rare flowers than those seen earlier in the Crown Prince’s palace occupied every corner.
The only issue was that being a glass conservatory, the sunlight pouring directly from above was quite blinding.
“I heard you received a massive flower basket recently. I prepared no less thoroughly.”
Serio rested his chin on his hand and grinned at Aveline.
“Do you like it?”
Aveline, squinting at Serio because of the sunlight, nearly dropped her teacup.
‘If Edward had smiled surrounded by flowers under sunlight, he would have looked just like this.’
She almost lost her composure at the sight of the Crown Prince who looked exactly like her favorite character.
‘Get it together. Edward doesn’t smile so flirtatiously.’
Although Serio’s appearance was identical to Edward’s as if they were identical twins, their inner contents were completely different.
Reminding herself of this truth helped her regain her composure.
“It must not be easy to maintain so many flowers, but they’re well-managed.”
Once again, Aveline deflected with an appropriate comment instead of answering directly.
“Indeed.”
Serio turned to Aveline as if he’d been waiting for this question.
“This place is maintained using magic stones.”
“…Magic stones?”
The unexpected term made Aveline drop her cookie.
Fortunately she hadn’t been drinking tea, or she might have spat it out.
“Surprised?”
Serio seemed to enjoy Aveline’s reaction as he asked.
However, even he appeared to have trouble with the intense sunlight, shielding his eyes with his hand.
‘If it’s like this, why did he bring us here?’
There must have been cooler, shaded places available.
As Aveline grumbled internally, Serio continued speaking.
“That precious magic stones, whose distribution is prohibited in the empire, are being used merely for the Crown Prince’s conservatory.”
As Serio said, the distribution of magic stones was indeed prohibited in the empire.
The imperial family separately managed magic stones by grade, and there weren’t many of them.
The number of magic stones currently known to be in the imperial family’s possession was nine.
However, Theron’s magic stone that Aveline had absorbed was naturally unregistered.
If the imperial family found out about this fact, they certainly wouldn’t leave it alone.
“…Well, that’s true.”
Aveline mumbled quietly while subtly avoiding Serio’s gaze.
‘Has he noticed something?’
Was there a reason he specifically called them to this blindingly bright glass conservatory?
Then Serio whispered as if making a secret proposal.
“If the lady were to become a member of the imperial family, you could use them for even more trivial matters.”
‘What?’
‘If you were to become a member of the imperial family’?
While it was completely different from what she had worried about, it was an outright statement revealing that he considered her a strong candidate for Crown Princess.
“Ahem!”
Ares, who had been quiet until now, cleared his throat loudly as if uncomfortable, apparently having the same thought.
“I’m still here.”
His tone suggested he was displeased at being continuously left out of the conversation.
“And so am I.”
From behind Ares, an uninvited voice suddenly joined in.
‘No way.’
Cold sweat ran down Aveline’s spine at the familiar style of entrance.
“What brings you here?”
Serio asked in a displeased voice after confirming the uninvited guest’s face.
“Your Grace, why are you here?”
Ares also stood up abruptly, apparently startled.
It was hard to tell whether his frown was due to the sunlight or Theron.
Aveline also turned toward the entrance from her seat. Her eyes immediately met Theron’s.
For a moment, Theron’s gaze seemed to check if anything had happened to Aveline.
“I stopped by after hearing Lady Herolds was here.”
Theron stretched his long legs into the conservatory, approaching in one stride.
The light passing through the glass seemed to follow his movements.
Under the light, Theron looked almost divine, like a god from mythology, though his hair was disheveled as if he had rushed here.
However, showing no signs of being out of breath, Theron looked straight at Serio with his usual picture-perfect smile.
Unlike the smile on his lips, a cold light gleamed in his blue eyes.
“May I ask what Your Highness the Crown Prince is doing with my younger cousin’s courtship target?”
