Amidst the blooming apple blossoms, Anje carefully caressed the delicate petals. She had promised Meg she would return the favor with asparagus once the first harvest came in from the field.
“How about we have a light lunch outside today? We can also enjoy the flowers.”
“Alright.”
Aiden readily agreed. The sunlight streaming through the clouds was refreshingly bright today, and the allure of the gentle breeze was irresistible.
A moment later, Anje settled under a tree adorned with white blossoms, removed her hat, and sighed.
“I still can’t distinguish between apples, pears, plums, and peaches. The flowers all look so similar. Is this…peach?”
The flowers of the fruit trees she mentioned were all white or pink and had five petals.
Aiden suggested that she could tell by looking closely at the length of the pistils, but it was difficult to discern from afar amidst the popcorn-like clusters of flowers.
“No, it’s an apple.”
“Darn, I’m wrong again.”
Aiden replied with an unusually gentle tone.
“So what if you’re wrong? As long as you can enjoy looking at them, that’s all that matters.”
“That’s true, it’s so beautiful.”
Anje let out an enraptured sigh and took a bite of the sandwich she had been holding in her hand.
If she had someone to send a letter to, Anje would have spent a long time wondering how to describe this scenery. The sight of the orchard trees, including the apple trees surrounding the house, all dressed up in white and pink, was like a spring bride or a devout priest.
Even though her back and legs often ached from her hard work in the fields, her fatigue would melt away when she raised her head and took in the sight before her.
As if understanding her mindlessly gazing at the trees, Aiden did not scold her but left her be, no matter how long she remained lost in her thoughts.
This was the spring scenery of Leslie that could only be enjoyed now. Then it would be better to let them savor it to the fullest.
“There’s the best way to identify the trees.”
“What’s it?”
“Wait until the fruits grow and then taste them.”
For a fruit lover like Anje, it was a heavenly method. She burst into laughter and enthusiastically agreed to the method.
“Okay. Once I’ve eaten enough to taste, I won’t be confused about which tree is which.”
“Right. Oh, but I recommend not eating the apples from this tree here. They produce a lot of flowers but don’t taste very good.”
The bright red apples that looked delicious on the outside turned out to be sour and tart when one took a bite. The hungry young Aiden had been fooled several times.
“Really? That’s a shame for such a beautiful tree.”
“My grandfather was going to cut it down because it tasted so bad, but it barely survived after my mother begged him.”
Unlike his pragmatic grandfather, his mother was a romantic who loved flowers and trees.
“I’m looking forward to the plums the most.”
“You’ll be able to eat them in a few months. They ripen from July when the weather gets hotter.”
It was also a delicacy to eat the unripe plums by hitting them against a rock to make them sweet and then sucking out the juice. Anje’s mouth watered at Aiden’s description.
Even though she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to taste those fruits, it wasn’t bad to have a pleasant imagination.
Apple, peach, pear, plum trees full of fruit on every branch… She and Aiden strolling freely under them, picking the fruit and eating it until they were full.
Imagining it, Anje swallowed her saliva and took a spoonful of apricot jam from a small jar to soothe her regret.
Leaning against the tree and stroking its bark, Anje had a question.
“Come to think of it, how old are these fruit trees?”
“Except for those that grew wild, 25 years. They were planted just when I was born.”
This answer was unexpected to Anje, who had vaguely thought that Aiden’s family had lived here for generations.
“Then they (his family) lived in another area before?”
“Yes, I heard they were originally from the northern region. So they had a hard time when they first came here because the land, climate, and crops were different.”
It must not have been easy for his grandfather, who was a successful farmer there, to sell his house and land and move his base.
“Why did they come to this region?”
“I heard that my mother was not in good health, so they came to the countryside where the air was good for her….”
He suspected that the reason they chose such a remote place even in the countryside was to hide his existence from the imperial family.
But why was he so careful? Leaving the land they had lived on for generations?
‘I was only a commoner’s illegitimate child who played with the emperor for a while.’
It was something as incomprehensible as the emperor’s abnormal obsession with him, but now there was no one to answer.
So he fumbled for an answer.
“I guess they just wandered around and decided to settle here because it was the most beautiful place.”
“Well, that’s right.”
Anje agreed and looked around. The sky bluer than any sapphire, the towering green trees, the spring flowers blooming above and below her feet.
“Didn’t you hate it here and call it a barn?”
“Huh, the barn was just a misunderstanding based on the size of the house. I’ve never said anything bad about the scenery. And the forest and the road are completely different now.”
If she had known that it was changing so beautifully, she would not have judged it so harshly.
Also, the Dilton Farm was no longer a strange and shabby space to her, who had poured her own labor into every corner of the house and fields.
“Well, I understand. The Duke of Glasster’s mansion must be incomparably bigger. Even its barn alone would be twice the size of this house. The garden would be full of even nicer trees and flowers.”
Anje cleared her throat awkwardly. She felt embarrassed when she recalled how he had compared the Duke’s mansion and this place to her in every way when she first came here.
At the time, she didn’t realize it, but now she knows how rude it was and how much it must have hurt Aiden’s feelings.
“……The Duke’s mansion is big, but there’s not much to see. The trees and flowers seem so dull. The sunflowers and silver bells in our flowerbed are prettier.”
Aiden was so startled that he almost dropped the teacup in his hand. It was the first time she had spoken so humbly about the Glasster.
“And…… there aren’t even any pigs like Pa-Pi-Pu.”
Anje, who loved her pigs dearly, finished her praise with a compliment about them and snatched the teacup out of Aiden’s hand. Her throat was suddenly very dry.
Aiden, unable to take his eyes off her, smiled faintly, which only increased her thirst.
She gulped down all the tea in the cup and handed the cup back to Aiden.
“More tea… oh, the wind.”
The flowers in full bloom scattered their raindrop-like petals on the ground whenever the wind blew.
The teacup they held clasped together, the basket filled with food, not a petal out of place on their heads or shoulders.
She brushed off the rose-pink petals that were stuck all over her curly hair and burst out laughing at Aiden. He was just as covered in petals as she was.
“Just stay still. I’ll take them off.”
Aiden was startled and flinched at the white, delicate hand that was approaching him.
“Ah, i-it’s fine. I can do it myself.”
He turned and moved away from her slightly. Whenever she came close to him like this without warning, he felt strangely like he had just drunk strong coffee.
‘This is strange.’
It was a completely different feeling from the ‘seizures’ that often came to him, but the fact that his heart was pounding was similar.
Could he have been overworked without realizing it? Or could he be showing signs of heart disease like his grandfather?
He struggled to find similar symptoms in a medical encyclopedia and eventually concluded that it would be better for him to drink some of the tonic Meg bought when she bought it for him.
TL/N: IT’S A POPULAR DISEASE IN ROM NOVELS CALLED “FALLING IN LOVE” 🙂
Anje narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched him do this. He often acted like there was an invisible glass wall between him and her.
‘As soon as I think we’re getting close, he always backs away.’
Sometimes he would be kind, but then he would quickly put his armor back on. He was a truly elusive person to her.
Wanting to see how he would react, she turned her back and showed him her hair this time.
“Then please take off the ones on my head.”
The petals that had gone between her luscious curls were tangled in her hair and wouldn’t come off easily.
With no response from Aiden, Anje thought he might refuse.
But soon after, she felt a gentle fingertip teasing her hair.
‘What an elusive person he is, really.’
His rough, clumsy hands gently removed the delicate petals. It was a careful touch, like a musician playing a difficult instrument.
He tried to break the awkward silence by bringing up a different topic.
“Your hair has grown quite long.”
“It’s grown incredibly fast since I came here.”
It also seemed to have more shine than before. She shook her unique colored hair and showed it off to Aiden.
“My hair color is unusual, isn’t it? Because of this color, I once had the nickname ‘The Wilting Rose that Blooms at the Dawn of the Empire’ in high society.”
She meant for him to quickly compliment her hair color like the others, but Aiden was not good at that.
“Ah, it does stand out because it’s red.”
“W-What? Red?!”
Anje turned her head and glared at him with eyes full of anger and disbelief.
* * * *
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