Chapter 62. Real Wish (3)
Jan said that.
Our prince’s flower-like body isn’t even fully healed, so how can he deal with Demirea’s ferocious sword with his frail arms, and it’s impossible to tell when they will break? I thought it was still too early to deal with that heavy and strong sword.
Jan had the mysterious ability to say things so naturally that not only Demirea, but also Calian himself, and even Raven, would not believe them.
“See you next week. Please spar then.”
Still, it’s Demirea.
Even though she doesn’t know what other people say, Demirea listens well to what Jan says.
“Lord Verne is there, so I’m sure you’ll be completely healed by then.”
“Okay. Come anytime. I’ll definitely make time.”
“All right.”
“Instead, you must bring only a sword. You must not bring a request to break off the engagement.”
“…… yes.”
Demirea also knew that the reason she couldn’t keep her promise was all because of Plants. However, I decided to ignore the fact that he only apologized and said he was sorry without making any excuses because it was my brother’s fault. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to even set foot in the house, let alone my next appointment.
“Then Demirea. Shall we go for a walk after a long time?”
Demirea took out her pocket watch and checked the time, then looked towards the mansion for a moment. And he answered by shaking his head.
“It’s late for a walk.”
“Ah. I guess it’s a bit like that.”
“Instead. I had some books I needed to buy. If it’s okay with you, Prince, would you like to come with me?”
The door to the Duke’s living room was made of opaque glass. And to get to Demirea’s study, you had to pass through the hallway where the drawing room was.
There is no way that Riri or the astute Plants would not have known that the two had returned. Therefore, Demirea also noticed that Calian tried to spend some time outside instead of going to the study. If Planz and Riri know that they will stop sparring and go back to the mansion to wait, they won’t be able to talk comfortably.
“Okay. Come with me.”
When Kalian said that it was too late to go for a walk and that he could go out to buy a book, he smiled slightly and nodded.
Soon Demirea put on the jacket the deacon brought. Calian then handed the cumbersome red cloak to Yan and climbed into Raven’s saddle. Before long, Demirea also got on her horse. Unlike Raven, which had white fur on its front paws, Demirea’s horse had a pure white mane and tail fur instead of its entire body being black.
After briefly preparing to go out, the two got on their respective horses and went out, leaving Planz, Lirie Yan, and Relic at the mansion.
“It’s quiet. There were still some people when I came.”
“It’s late and Siegfried’s mansion is very far out of town.”
The well-paved road leading to the duke’s residence was dotted with mansions of various nobles. I passed the houses, each with their front yards decorated to their own taste, and passed the Marquis de Manasil, where there was a singing and dancing stone statue.
Raven soon reached the end of the street and turned without hesitation. Not long after Calian entered his new body, he stopped by the street where the new store was located to look for Kyrie. I was heading to Naerangsha, which has a market but also many bookstores.
Demirea, who changed direction after Raven and came to Calian’s side, opened her mouth.
“That’s surprising.”
“what?”
“I didn’t know you knew where Naerangsha was.”
“I even went to Banensha across the river to buy a knife, but it was around Naeransha.”
“I don’t think His Majesty Crown Prince Planz knows.”
“Well, that’s really funny. The prince or crown prince of this country doesn’t know what’s in Naerangsha, but the king who was raising a bird in the next country does.”
“That’s why you got caught like that. Why are you showing off like that that the royal family has any reason to go to Naerangsha?”
scolded.
Calian smiled brightly at Demirea’s words, which were half worried and half angry, and turned his head. He then pointed to the green bushes that stretched along the edge of the street.
“There are many rose trees on the road from here.”
“yes.”
“Are they all red roses?”
It is clear that the question is being asked to change the subject from the issue of revealing secrets. However, Demirea, who had no intention of criticizing him any further, answered without showing any particular sign.
“No, it’s a white rose.”
“I see. Then it will be worth seeing when it fully blooms.”
“I heard that during the season, it blooms quite profusely and a lot of people come to see it.”
“Then shall we come again when the flowers bloom? Demirea.”
“Aren’t there a lot of roses in the royal palace?”
“They’re all red roses. Red flowers don’t impress me that much.”
“It’s the opposite. In Siegfried’s territory, there are only white roses. I’ve never been very impressed with white flowers.”
“Oh well.”
Calian nodded as if it was worth it and continued.
“Because we make so much wine, there are bound to be tons of white roses.”
Demirea made an unexpected face.
“Prince, you know everything.”
Calian, who smiled only a small smile instead of the usual handsome smile, answered,
“Because there is a lot of grape farming in Secretia. I didn’t live like my brothers here, so when I lived in Secretia, I saw a lot of things and walked around.” “I’ve been around enough to know the extent.”
rose tree.
White rose trees in a grape farm.
Wherever I went, there were a few rose trees on one side of the vineyard. There were places that grew pale pink roses or bright yellow roses, but for the most part, white roses were grown. So, when the rose season came, it was easy to see white roses blooming in abundance in a corner of the spacious vineyard.
However, Demirea did not often think of it as pretty when she saw it. This is because they were not planted with the intention of looking good, like the rose bushes planted on the street we just passed.
“Is that why you said you wanted to see white roses?”
“The white roses here are just white roses planted because they’re pretty. They have nothing to do with grapes. So I think they’ll look even better when they’re all blooming.”
Rose trees in a grape farm.
A flower tree planted simply because rose trees are less susceptible to pests and diseases than vines.
When white rose petals turn brown, become infected with pests, or wither. People inspected the vines, giving them medicine and changing the water. Preparations were made to prevent the same damage to the vines.
When I saw the already sick white rose, I looked at the grapes.
Instead of looking at the already sick white roses, I started by looking at grapes.
“It’s not that I don’t know why they planted it. I just feel a little disappointed.”
Lemain’s third son.
Brisen’s lion cub.
And Bern in Bern.
Aren’t they all already sick white roses?
After learning that his third son was almost dead, he turned his eyes to the other sons, and the lion cub that grew up in Brisen’s cage looked back at his relatives who had been in the same cage, and the one who had put himself in the abyss tried to pull out the one who was in the same abyss.
“Now I feel a bit regretful that I couldn’t have taken care of the roses and grapes so they wouldn’t get sick. That’s just me. What do you think, Demirea?”
How much better it would have been if white roses and grapes didn’t all hurt. How great it would be if we could take care of everyone together. A thought that suddenly occurred to me came out of my mouth.
Demirea, who had been looking at the rose bush for a moment, looked at Calian.
“When the well-cared white roses bloom, I will come back to buy another book.”
And I just answered like this.
* * *
Cut the thin cookie dough into rounds.
Put fruit jam in it, fold it in half, hide it, and bake until crispy.
A half-moon shaped cookie with no visible inside.
Some had strawberry jam and some had fig jam. Or there were jams made from apricot, coconut, milk, or chocolate.
Serie, who found out that there was an unripe pear-flavored candy, scolded Slayman severely. Thanks to this, the second snack the couple made for Riri before leaving for the hot springs did not contain any astringent or bitter jam. Of course, there was no jam with flowers in it.
“Hey, what does that taste like?”
It feels like the wall in a child’s heart is made of ice. Even if you leave it in a cold place for a while, it hardens quickly and leaves a scar if you break it incorrectly.
The height of the ice wall was the same as the height of a child. Therefore, it was not clearly visible to adults looking down at the child from above. In fact, the low height of the wall made of transparent ice made it difficult to even notice that it was there unless you looked carefully.
The wall, which was so hard to notice, could soon melt and disappear without a trace even with insignificant warmth.
“It looks like a mango.”
“Oh, I had the mango flavor too. It was delicious.”
“okay.”
I only spoke a few words, but there was a noticeable difference.
My face became brighter and my eyes became clearer.
When I showed her the remaining half of the cookie, which was smaller than my thumb, Lillie laughed at the yellow jam inside. I don’t know what’s so funny, but looking at the yellow inside of Fredia flower, I smiled as if I had seen spring. Then he showed me half of the cookie in front of me.
I was afraid that he might hate me and that he had come to send me somewhere else. The look of fear was gone, but his face was bright and cheerful.
“Mine tastes like pomegranate jam.”
“okay.”
But Planz was clumsy.
Children under the age of ten were not allowed inside the palace. It was not set as a law that must be followed, but at some point it became so. The nobles, who were worried that a child who could not tell who the other person was would make a mistake with the royal family, decided to do so and called it etiquette.
So I was clumsy.
Aside from my siblings, I have never had the experience of sitting so close together with a child under the age of ten. At least I never had a proper conversation with Calian when I was younger.
“What flavor do you like best?”
Actually, I didn’t like the sweet taste.
Fortunately, the jam containing strawberries, which I like, did not come out. The Duke and Duchess hid it so skillfully that it was impossible to tell from the outside what was inside. Thanks to this, even though I looked and chose quite carefully, I ended up only eating cookies that were flavored other than strawberry. So among the five sweet cookies she had eaten so far, there wasn’t a single one that suited Planz’s taste.
After alleviating the sweet taste with a sip of black tea, Planz quietly chose an answer and put it in his mouth.
“Everything is delicious.”
I didn’t forget my younger brother’s warning that I shouldn’t speak briefly. However, I was so clumsy that I couldn’t make a long conversation or tell me which flavor I liked best. However, it wasn’t a lie to say that everything was delicious. It didn’t suit my taste, but everything was delicious. It may seem like an incoherent feeling, but it really was like that.
A half-moon shaped cookie that you can’t tell what’s inside by looking at it.
Riri explained that she really liked it even though she had already eaten it all. It was a candy whose taste you couldn’t tell from its color alone.
Because Plantz immediately recognized the meaning behind it.
“Everything was delicious.”
“What a relief.”
“…… you.”
“Me?”
“What was the most delicious?”
Lily looked at Plants for a moment and smiled brightly before answering.
“Banana jam. That was the best for me.”
After all, it’s a banana.
Plantz chuckled.
This is the fruit that my barking little brother eats every time he comes back from the dead. So the fruit Hina is most wary of is bananas. If it were Hina, she might have raised those big eyes again the moment the banana came out.
“okay.”
Seeing Plantz smile, Riri smiled again and picked up the next cookie.
“Wow, this must be pineapple jam. This is my first time tasting pineapple.”
Riri showed me the inside of a cookie that looked somewhere between yellow and orange. Planz, who was looking at that scene, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Do you know where pineapples grow?”
I asked this question without even realizing it.
To the extent that even Plantz himself was a little surprised, the words were already coming out of his mouth.
Lillie frowned slightly and thought about it before answering.
“I think it will open in a tree.”
“No. Grow in the ground.”
“Do pineapples grow in the ground?”
Plantz nodded and answered.
“Purple flowers bloom between these long, sharp, and hard grasses. Pineapples grow inside them.”
He explained it by moving his hands as if he was drawing what he saw in the indoor garden of the elf city.
– It’s a pineapple. The flower in the center grows bigger and a pineapple comes out from inside.
Adding to the explanation he had heard at that time, Plantz also told Riri the same thing that he found quite fascinating.
He told us about the many fruit trees he had seen, heard, and learned about, and that although the fruits were eaten, there were also plants whose stems were cut and used to treat wounds. So, little by little, we said more to each other and gave more and more answers.
“But… can I ask you one more thing?”
“are you okay.”
“Do you also raise a dog?”
It seems that Riri’s eyes finally fell on the cat fur on Plantz’s clothes.
Yan, a brown poodle, didn’t lose much hair, but that didn’t mean he didn’t lose it at all. Therefore, Riri, who occasionally picked up Yan’s hair on her clothes for fun, asked if Planz also had a dog.
“No. Cats… two.”
Contrary to his claims, there was one more cat that was pitch black and looked more like a dog than a cat. However, since it is not a quadrupedal species according to Plantz’s biological classification standards, it is difficult to accurately distinguish it. So, I first subtracted it from the calculation.
Plantz said, picking up two types of fur on his collar and showing them.
“This is the white cat, Lucy. And this is the gray cat, Anne.”
“It’s a cat. I like that cat too. Does it have long fur?”
“Lucy is short and Anne is a little long.”
“What do you think? Is it pretty?”
“They’re pretty. Both of them. Their waists stretch out endlessly. They get a lot of flatness, but sometimes they seem to get wrinkled. Their bellies are round. They’re warm. The soles of their feet and their noses are different colors. Lucy…” What Lucy and Anne look
like Lirie looked curious as she listened to the explanation she was giving while thinking about it.
“Cats seem to shed a lot of hair. There’s a lot of cat hair on your clothes.”
“It’s not like it’s falling out… it seems like it’s spewing out hair. Especially Anne.”
When Lily heard this, she laughed out loud for the first time. Plantz was very serious, but he was probably having fun.
Plantz, who was quietly watching that face, opened his mouth.
“… Come to the palace. I’ll show you when I get there, cat.”
And like this.
“There are many other amazing things in the palace.”
A place with two cats, one duck, white horses, black horses, platinum horses, and brown horses. There is a black cat that barks a lot, a blue bird, a cat, a cow… a place where there is only one person and many red roses.
It was my first time inviting someone to such a special place.
“I’ll go. I’ll definitely go see it. I’ll definitely go with Demirea, sir.”
Lily spoke several times with a face full of anticipation.
Not a place where you were forcibly taken, not a place where you were rescued, but a place where you were invited. Where I was first invited. A place where you are allowed to come.
I will definitely go to that place.
* * *
Calian glanced down at what was presented before his eyes.
“No way…”
When I returned from a short outing with Demirea, Plants, who had let Lyrie into the room after it was long past her bedtime, was out in the garden. Knowing that it was later than expected, Calian hurriedly put on a red cloak and came out of the duke’s residence.
As soon as he left the gate after being seen off by Demirea, Plantz handed something to Calian. After seeing it carefully wrapped in light beige paper and with a pretty red ribbon attached, Kalian asked a question.
“Is it beef jerky again?”
“no.”
In the meantime, there were several things that Plantz presented without saying anything.
Contrary to Kalian’s habit, the bananas were peeled starting from the seed side. There were not enough bandages and beef jerky. Two of the few items given were beef jerky, so doubting whether they would give the same thing this time was not just Kalian’s problem.
“Then what is it?”
“Eat.”
“I want you to eat.”
“okay.”
“You also eat beef jerky.”
“not.”
“Then what is it?”
“cookie.”
“…Brother, you really didn’t keep talking to that kid that briefly.”
“no.”
“That’s good. But why are you giving me snacks that people eat?”
Of course, bananas and beef jerky are snacks that people eat, but aren’t they a little different from cookies? In the sense that it is not a snack that animals also eat or a snack that animals do not eat, but a snack that only humans eat.
“Lirie. Give it to me.”
“Is it my responsibility?”
“okay.”
“… That’s surprising. I didn’t know you would take care of me.”
“I know what your brother did that day. I don’t know.”
“No. I also heard that the child remembers me.”
“I’m not scared. I want you to tell me that I’m giving it to you because I’m grateful for that.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but no voice came out. So Calian just nodded his head quietly.
On the way back to the royal palace.
Calian, who was looking at the sheaf of paper that had no idea what it contained, soon untied the ribbon. Even though I was riding a Raven that didn’t shake, I was confident that I wouldn’t spill the cookie even on a horse that was running fast.
When I removed the red ribbon and carefully opened the paper, I saw half-full moon-shaped cookies. Kalyan took one of them and put it in his mouth, smiling at the delicious taste of coconut.
“I think it has coconut jam in it. It’s well made. It’s delicious.”
Kalyan’s words make it impossible to know who made the cookies. The smart Plantz, who knew full well that sometimes ignorance can be medicine, did not bother to tell us whose fat hands had made half of the cookies.
Calian, who did not notice his brother’s deep consideration, turned his gaze back to his hands. And I picked up another cookie and put it in my mouth, anticipating the coconut flavor that I really liked.
“……Ugh.”
A taste that reminds me of corn silk.
It’s grapefruit. I heard grapefruit jam.
Calian swallowed the remaining piece of cookie in his mouth and looked at the cookies in his hand. I felt like something was wrong and I wanted to quickly get rid of the grapefruit flavor left in my mouth, so I took another small cookie and ate it.
– Crispy!
Kalian burst into laughter as he chewed and swallowed a cookie filled with sour kiwi jam.
Raven perked up at the sudden sound of laughter. Calian stroked his black mane as if he was sorry and picked up the next cookie. After eating the cookie with raspberry jam, I burst out laughing again.
“Jan. Try this. The taste is different.”
“Me and Reric ate a lot. Prince, please eat everything.”
A cookie I gave to the third prince, who wasn’t scared at all, because I wanted to say thank you.
What meaning does it have?
What did it mean?
“… After taking care of the grapes, the rose tree also healed.”
Does Lily know?
“Did you hear rose jam?”
“No, I don’t know what was in it.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yes. It’s delicious.”
I enjoyed the cookie without knowing what was in it.
“It’s delicious. This.”
I really enjoyed it.
