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Walking through the garden trees that stretched out like a maze, I knelt down before a small flowerbed located at the far edge of the eastern rear garden.
Hmm. Gently feeling the soil, I glanced around and, spotting the familiar back of the gardener, called out to him.
“Hey! I can just dig a hole and plant them here, right? Since it didn't snow today, I'm going to plant some zinnias!”
The gardener, who had been pruning, looked at me and smiled.
“Yes! You may plant them right there. I happened to be thinning the soil just now. Please let me know whenever you need help. I truly wish to see the zinnias Your Highness grows before I die.”
“Don't worry. If I plant them today, you'll see them before you die. If a lot of them bloom, I'll give one flower to you.”
“Hahaha. It would be the honor of my family.”
Good. Now... what should I do first? Digging, of course?
‘Oh dear, I left my gloves behind.’
It couldn't be helped. For now, I dug into the earth with my bare hands. A cool, fluffy sensation touched my fingertips, enough to send a shiver down my spine. How many years had it been since I last touched soil? It was uncomfortable to have dirt get under my fingernails, but I dug as hard as I could.
‘But how deep should I dig?’
Deeper than this? But if it's too deep, won't the stem struggle to come up?
‘Then again, if it's too shallow... Alright, I'll dig and plant at various depths. At least one of them will succeed. Ah! I really am smart.’
After digging holes of different depths, I took a small tin can out of my basket. It was the container holding the zinnia seeds. Humming a tune, I opened the tin, only to be rendered speechless for a moment.
Why... are there so many seeds?
‘Can I just pour them all in?’
Or one per hole? One is too few. Two? But does only one flower bloom per seed?
‘It can't be helped. I'll vary the number of seeds in each hole. Then one of them is bound to bloom.’
I really am efficient. One seed in the first hole, two in the second, three in the third. And in the final eighth hole... let's put them all in! I poured the remaining seeds from the tin can into the hole in a great heap.
“Are you trying to plant them, or are you trying to store them? In all my life, this is the first time I've seen someone store seeds underground.”
A voice that lacked even a speck of malice to be called mocking, yet lacked even a hint of playfulness to be called a joke.
I reflexively looked up. However, the moment I raised my head, I had to furrow my brow deeply to protect my vision from the blazing sunlight.
It was because the person who had approached was so tall that his small head was positioned directly beneath the sun. Due to the sharp backlight, it was difficult to make out his face.
In truth, even without seeing his face, I already knew who it was. Among those who would greet me so familiarly, there were few tall enough to block the sun from this angle. Vasily, Sergei, and...
“Valentin.”
The man tilted his head slightly. As the white backlight shifted, the features situated unrealistically within the grayish shadow gradually became clear.
I stared up at him, my mouth hanging open like a fool. What on earth is with that face? It is certainly a face I know, yet it is not a face I know. What do I mean by that? I mean that the beauty radiating from within the shadows provided a fatal stimulation to my eyes!
Valentin, who had been looking down at me silently, let out a short laugh.
“You're going to burn a hole through my face.”
“...”
“I know I'm handsome, so stop staring.”
In an instant, a hot flush rushed to my face, and a sense of reality I had forgotten surged back like a wave.
But I did not turn away. I swear, this was the first time in my life I had ever felt so humble in the face of another's appearance. Moreover, wasn't he a full-grown man of twenty-one this year, with not a single trace of boyhood left?
In my experience, humans in their early twenties were generally beings whose youthful freshness melted away like snow, distancing them from beauty. Men, in particular, tended to develop larger lower jaws as they aged, with dark blue stubble growing in and foreheads widening as their gaze deepened.
I had never, ever used adjectives like 'beautiful' or 'exquisite' to describe them—at least, not until I reunited with Valentin.
Once my thoughts reached that conclusion, my head naturally turned back toward the ground. Only then did I realize.
“Valentin.”
“Yes.”
“The reason you disguised yourself as a bishop at the ball was to hide that ridiculously handsome face, wasn't it? Because everyone would have been enchanted!”
After a moment of silence, he let out a bewildered chuckle.
“I suspect Your Highness is the only person in the entire world who would spit out such honest impressions directly to someone's face...”
I sprang up from my spot and tugged at the shirt over Valentin's chest. If the other person had been Ivan, the shoulder should have been positioned around here, but this was awkward—far too awkward. I scrutinized Valentin's face, which was now right in front of me.
Turquoise eyes as transparent as glass beads. A straight but not overly sharp bridge of the nose. Thin, dense eyelashes that fluttered every time he blinked. Wide, clear eyes. It was all a familiar harmony.
The only things that had changed from four years ago were that his skin had darkened slightly and his lines had become firmer. Other than that, seeing Valentin up close, everything was the same. Even though he had grown very tall, with a longer neck and arms and broader shoulders... he was definitely.
“It really is Valentin.”
The same Valentin I had exchanged letters with for four years.
Valentin did not respond to the exclamation that escaped me like a cheer. He was wearing a very strange expression. It was so strange that it felt unfamiliar in a way, but that didn't matter.
How should I express this overwhelming emotion? I felt a surge of joy that was incomparable to when I first joined Lara and the others.
Do I think of Valentin as family? This person with whom I share not a single drop of blood, and with whom I spent barely one season together, excluding our first meeting as infants which I can't even remember?
‘But if you think about it, it's not that strange.’
I don't know how Valentin feels about it, but I regarded him to some extent as my teacher. The trivial knowledge I learned through him—from foreign cultures to advice on social activities and minor nagging...
I can guarantee that after my family and Parben, Valentin was the first person from whom I had learned for such a long period. Sometimes, when reading his letters, I felt as if I had gained another brother. So, it's not strange at all for me to think of him as family. There was a proper reason why I liked Valentin, of all people, this much.
It didn't matter what kind of subtle gaze Valentin was casting upon me.
Quite naturally, as I had done with my family and Sergei, I spread my arms wide to embrace him and release my joy. However, the moment my eyes met Valentin's while I was taking a deep breath, my body froze.
‘...Wait.’
Is it okay to hug him?
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