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‘You are no ordinary lady, Lara. Therefore, for your own sake and the sake of others, you must never act rashly. Especially once you become an adult. Even more so while you have no fiancé.’
‘A single careless attitude from you could cause significant harm to the innocent young men of Ohala. So, watch your mother and learn. Do not move recklessly, do not speak recklessly, and do not even smile recklessly.’
Even if this was the eastern rear garden of the Imperial Palace, as long as it was outdoors, eyes could be everywhere.
If I were to hug Valentin carelessly, the one who would suffer would be Valentin. He was still unmarried, so his reputation could be damaged. Was this not strictly different from the situation four years ago, just before he left to study abroad?
The gaze directed at me, as I hesitated, returned to its usual indifference. In the meantime, I tried to awkwardly lower my wide-open arms.
“Uh, this is, I mean...”
“Please take this.”
Huh?
“The flowerpot.”
“...Oh, uh.”
Before I had time to wonder what he meant, something heavy was placed in my right hand.
‘A flowerpot?’
Valentin even grabbed my left arm, making me cradle the pot with both hands.
Moving stiffly like a jointed doll under his direction, I looked down at the small ceramic pot now resting beneath my chin. It was indeed a flowerpot, but instead of a plant, I saw nothing but soil.
“What is this?”
“A March 1st Zinnia.”
“Why are you giving this to me? Didn't you say things like this are all just marketing ploys?”
Valentin replied with a thin smile.
“Indeed. Your Highness must be truly grateful to me. For I have willingly fallen for a transparent marketing ploy just to give you a coming-of-age gift.”
Facing his refreshing smile head-on made the inside of my throat feel unbearably ticklish. I shifted my gaze and bent my knees to set the pot down. I felt a surge of frustration, my breathing quickening because I couldn't even refute him while he was openly teasing me.
I was sure we were having a perfectly fine conversation until a moment ago, so why? Is it because he's too handsome? Unable to take my eyes off the pot, I asked him in a small, trailing voice.
“Would it be better to transplant this into the flowerbed too?”
“You should at least wait for it to sprout before transplanting. You were so anxious every March 1st; did you not study how to plant flowers? I can already see you whining that this year's luck will be bad if it fails to sprout.”
I stood up abruptly, feeling a flash of irritation. I glared at Valentin somewhat hysterically. Valentin continued nonchalantly, with an expression that said, ‘What are you going to do by glaring at me like that?’
“I believe I've told you often. Your Highness is always ahead of herself in spirit, but often ends up flustered when the time actually comes, so it would be better to prepare in advance. Who stuffs that many seeds into a single hole?”
“Only that one hole was like that. The other holes were different.”
“If you had studied beforehand, the depth and number of seeds wouldn't have varied from hole to hole.”
“You...!”
Seeing that face talking back to me point by point made it feel real—that Valentin had truly returned. Perhaps that was why? The irritation that had been rising subsided quickly, as if I had never been teased at all.
“I get it, so stop nagging!”
“You shouldn't take this as mere nagging.”
“Fine. I can just go inside and study now.”
There was no answer. He simply met my eyes with a calm face, showing neither a positive nor a negative reaction to my words. Yet, the Valentin before me felt strange.
‘Why? Did I really whine so badly that he'd cling to it like this?’
Then again, the person doing the grumbling never realizes how frequently they actually do it. Pouting my lips, I decided to take a step back.
“Are you angry? I'm sorry for calling it nagging. And for being irritable every year while not preparing properly... I'll reflect on that.”
I didn't understand why I had to apologize for such things, but I figured it would be better than dealing with a Valentin who stood there expressionless. Fortunately, an answer came this time.
“I, too, have something I wish to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“How long do you intend to keep acting so selfishly?”
“What?”
“When I first met Your Highness in Shaharansk, I mistook you for Her Highness Tatyana. Have you ever wondered, even once, why that happened?”
“That's because...”
I closed my lips. I realized that answering 'because we look similar' was inappropriate. Had I not also been wearing a veil, just like Valentin, in the first place?
That didn't mean there wasn't a predictable answer.
“I'm not officially an adult yet, so the probability of me attending a ball in disguise isn't higher than Tanya's.”
His turquoise eyes sank coldly. The unfamiliar expression made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“...Since you never once mentioned it in your letters, I thought you were being careful on your own.”
I don't know how long his expression remained hardened. After a short while, he let out a small sigh and leaned his back against a garden tree.
“I can guess to some extent why Your Highness is obsessed with a childish legend like the Zinnia. You likely wanted to pray for the safety of your brothers with a golden zinnia.”
“...”
“You must have been afraid. The promised time was approaching, and there was no guarantee that you would overcome it. I know that fear better than anyone. I've experienced it to the point of exhaustion. So exhausted that there was a time I wanted to let go of everything and give up.”
“...”
“But why is Your Highness herself not included in that safety?”
‘Hm.’
So the zinnia wasn't the problem. Valentin continued in a cold voice.
“Have you already forgotten the prophecy? In the future I saw, Your Highness was not there. Let me be more precise. I cannot predict at all when or where Your Highness's breath will be cut short. There is only one thing I can surmise: that Your Highness's death will be the inflection point for the decline of the Ohala Empire.”
I stared at Valentin, forgetting to breathe. His gaze, amidst the hazy, scattering smoke, pierced exactly through the doubts and fears I had chewed over for years. Yes, it was too accurate.
‘Could the downfall of the Novarov Imperial Family be related to my death?’
How many years had passed since I first harbored such a thought?
Whether Ivan had come to harm because of me, whether that led Vasily to insist only on the wrong choices, and whether that led our brothers to the worst possible end... As I grew older, these spiraling worries did not fade; instead, they grew larger.
“That is why you must be careful. Who am I for you to travel all the way down to Shaharansk? If Your Highness valued her own life even slightly, it was an action you could never have put into practice. Did you not consider that the scenery you saw in Shaharansk could have been your final sight?”
I could not easily answer.
“How absurd I felt when I confirmed Your Highness's face there.”
Because I knew this reprimand came from Valentin's heart of concern for me.
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