Chapter 07
“Young lady, is this enough?”
Edel, who had returned from the flower market, piled a tower of withered flowers into a large basket.
“More than enough. Thank you, Edel.”
“Not at all. If you need anything else, please tell me anytime. I’ll take care of it all.”
“Then I also need an hourglass. I want to train while measuring time. And please prepare some sturdy snacks for me.”
“Snacks?”
“Yes. To do well, eating well is important too.”
Moved, Edel covered her mouth with both hands.
“Oh my, our young lady asking for food first…! You always used to say you had no appetite. I’m so happy right now!”
Her eyes glistened with emotion, and soon Edel’s face was filled with determination.
“What would you like to eat? Shall I prepare sandwiches, soup, steak, and even dessert?!”
“I don’t need that much. Anything simple to eat is fine.”
“Just wait a moment. I’ll be right back!”
Edel left the bedroom as if she were about to set up a buffet. Valley watched her with a smile, then examined the withered flowers she had brought.
“Since the Duke’s flowers were drier than these when he held them, I need to practice adding more moisture.”
It seemed that she would need to revive five withered flowers to match the one Wayne had burned.
Valley turned the basket upside down, spilling the flowers onto the floor, and began her training in earnest.
“Huff… I still can’t revive a flower before the hourglass runs out…”
Half a day after starting her training, Valley was sitting on the bedroom floor trying to revive flowers. She let out a long sigh and lay down on her back. Around her were flowers that were half-moist.
The time Wayne had suggested was two minutes. But it took Valley three minutes and thirty seconds to revive one flower.
Tomorrow was the promised third day, yet she still took over three minutes.
Her eyes, tired from lack of proper sleep, were closing, but she felt anxious and restless.
Just as she was pressing her eyelids to shake off the fatigue, thinking only of how to reduce the time—
“Oh my, young lady. You’ve already revived this many flowers?”
Edel, coming into the bedroom with the third round of snacks, admired the flowers placed around Valley.
“The more I see it, the more amazing it is. How do you revive withered flowers like this?”
“Compared to Rena, I’m terrible…”
“For a commoner like me who can’t use magic, even you, young lady, are incredibly impressive.”
Edel set the snack tray in front of Valley and gathered the revived flowers. Then she began arranging them in a vase on the table.
Her hands moved smoothly, and soon the flowers were arranged as if they might grow at any moment.
“How is it? This way, the flowers you revived look even fresher, don’t they?”
“Yes, really pretty… I think Edel is even more amazing.”
“Me?”
“Even without magic, with just a few touches, you make the flowers come alive.”
Valley wanted to see closely, so she raised herself up and approached. Edel had woven the flowers vertically in a slender vase to create a center, then decorated around it with flowers of different colors.
“I find it easy to decorate flower beds, but flower arrangement is difficult.”
“Perhaps that’s because you, young lady, are good at utilizing large spaces. I prefer to add highlights to small spaces.”
“Do you picture the design in your head first, then move your hands?”
“Hmm, rather than the overall framework, I start with the central element. I find it harder if I plan and decorate everything from the beginning.”
Edel’s words made Valley feel as if her cluttered mind was clearing up. Until now, she had been obsessed with the idea that she had to perfectly revive the flowers to pass Wayne’s test.
Valley returned to her spot, turned the hourglass, and took hold of a withered flower.
She focused on reviving the main stem, the stamen, and the petals, channeling her magic.
“…Done.”
She had used less magic than before, but the flower was sufficiently revived. Also, by reviving the main stem, the magic slowly spread on its own, restoring vitality to the entire flower.
Admiring this, Valley quickly shifted her gaze to check the hourglass. Shortly after her eyes landed on it, the sand ran out.
“I, I did it! Edel, I finally revived a flower within the time!”
At her first success, Valley hugged Edel tightly, expressing her joy with her whole body.
“I kept failing, but thanks to you, Edel, I succeeded! Thank you so much!”
“Me? But I didn’t do anything?”
“No, thanks to you, I got a sense of how to use my magic.”
“I don’t really know what happened, but if it helped you, young lady, I’m happy too.”
Valley spent the remaining time repeating the same method of reviving flowers. Using her magic efficiently naturally reduced her recovery time as well.
Feeling as if she had found the perfect solution, a smile of success already graced Valley’s lips.
Early dawn, before the sun had even risen.
Valley stood by the window, looking out at the dim purple sky. In her hand, even the last withered flower was now vividly alive.
“Young lady…? You’re already awake?”
Edel, who had heard the light and sounds from the bedroom, knocked and entered. Seeing Valley’s reddened eyes, she hurried over.
“Young lady, you didn’t sleep, did you?”
“Yes, I couldn’t sleep.”
“Isn’t it because you’ve been training your magic too much? You’ll get sick like this.”
Edel took Valley’s hand and tried to lead her to the bed. But Valley resisted and didn’t move.
“Young lady?”
Finding it strange, Edel examined Valley’s complexion.
“Edel, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
Seeing Valley’s already resolute expression, Edel sensed the gravity of the situation and focused.
“Barteri will come this morning.”
“The young lady’s fiancé who came when I wasn’t here?”
“Yes, and I’m going to leave the mansion before he arrives.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“No, I’m leaving and not coming back.”
Edel’s eyes widened.
“I don’t want to marry him. He’s a man who only talks grandly and has no substance. It’s obvious what my life would be like if I married Barteri.”
Once is enough for a marriage with Barteri.
“How about telling the master that you won’t marry him?”
“Then my parents will sell me off to another noble.”
“Oh, young lady…”
“So I’m going to abandon this family first.”
“Where will you go?”
“To the House of Duke Viterad.”
Completely taken aback by the unexpected name, Edel’s eyes became round.
“What? Viterad, as in the Last Flame Duke? You’re going to marry him? You two can’t because you have the same attribute.”
“No, I’m not marrying anyone. I’m going to Viterad to do what I want to do.”
Edel, flustered, listened quietly, then nodded.
“If that’s what you want to do, young lady, you should do it. I don’t want to see you being tormented here anymore either.”
Edel gently cupped Valley’s hands in hers as if to give her strength.
“What should I do?”
“Bring me a maid’s uniform just like yours. I’ll leave wearing that.”
“You’re going to pretend to be a maid because going out is forbidden.”
“That’s right. And Edel, can I make you a suggestion?”
“Me?”
Valley looked at Edel with eyes firmer than ever.
“When I disappear, my parents will suspect you first, my personal maid. They might even hit you, demanding to know where I went. So leave this mansion with me.”
“Me… too?”
“I can’t take you directly to the Viterad mansion, but with the money I’ve saved up on my own, I can have you stay at an inn for about two months.”
Edel, who had been listening intently, blinked her eyes widely.
“Of course, if you don’t want to, you can refuse. But I hope you’ll come with me. You’re the only one on my side here, Edel.”
“Young lady…”
“I’ll try my best to be with you again as soon as possible. Will you run away with me?”
Edel, whose eyes had become teary, nodded with an overwhelmed face.
“Yes! I want to be with you too, young lady!”
