“What?”
Lucy jumped out of her seat. The boy, sitting in a relaxed manner, was surprised and looked up at her.
Lucy looked at the boy more astonished than ever.
How can you say such a thing?
Her eyes and mouth were wide open.
Lucy’s response made the boy roll his eyes with a puzzled look. He seemed to wonder if he had said anything bad.
Lucy stuttered in shock.
“That’s… That’s……!”
That’s what my dad said when he proposed to my mom!
Lucy gulped down the back of her throat.
How dare you say such shameful things to a girl you’ve never seen before? Are the kids in the capital usually this bold?
The boy said with a snort as Lucy stood with her mouth open.
“You’re such a weirdo,”
Lucy burst into laughter.
Who are you to say that?
She looked at him with fierce eyes, and the boy, too, looked at her without avoiding her eyes.
What? Is this a staring contest?
This time Lucy glared even more fiercely.
However, the boy tilted his head and straightened his upper body. Rather than a staring contest, she looked into Lucy’s eyes as if observing it.
His forehead was wrinkled and one eyebrow raised. His tight lips wriggled as if he had something to complain about.
The boy looked into Lucy’s eyes and seemed to have something serious on his mind.
“Oh, I remember!”
At last, the boy shouted with a cool face like a person whose congestion had gone away.
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“Your eyes,”
It was about her eyes again. Lucy stepped back from the boy with a nervous face.
What are you going to say this time?
“It looks like the emerald in The Witch’s Tears.”
“…what is it?”
“The Witch’s Tears! You know the picture of Ezalda, the Witch of the Forest, holding an emerald. I mean the painting of the genius artist Lucent.”
I’ve never heard of that painting before, and I’ve never heard of that painter before.
Lucy didn’t understand the boy’s words and just blinked, and the boy said again as if frustrated.
“Artist Lucent! The most famous painter in the Empire, don’t you know?”
“I don’t know,”
“Ugh,”
The thought of being ignorant made Lucy angry.
“I don’t know such a painter! I’ve never seen such a painting!”
“Of course! It’s hanging in the hallway. How can you see it?”
Lucy clenched her fist.
I’ll hit you just once and run away.
Lucy stared at the boy’s ugly forehead with serious thought.
“But what are you doing here?” asked the boy suddenly.
“Why did you come so far? This is my area.”
Lucy snorted this time.
“Well, what do you mean your area? This is just a lake.”
The boy shrugged his shoulders and hugged his knees again. Then he buried his face helplessly.
Suddenly, looking at his glum face, Lucy, who somehow felt sorry, suggested,
“…there’s a lot of good food over there. Why don’t you go and eat, too?”
“…….”
“It’s a gathering where only women are invited, but I don’t think they will kick you out?”
“You go,”
He was a boy who she couldn’t understand at all.
I can’t believe you’re hiding in the corner of a grassy garden that causes allergic reactions.
“Is it because you’re shy?”
“…….”
“Do you want me to speak for you?”
“…Never mind. I like being alone. I hate it when there are so many people.”
A murmuring voice came out of his mouth.
Lucy stared down at the boy’s reddish neck. She couldn’t see his face, but she knows what kind of face he is making when he said he likes being alone.
“…I want to disappear.”
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The boy’s voice that came out once more flew away with the autumn wind blowing from the lake.
“Well… “
Lucy felt sorry for the boy and said something to comfort him. She opened her lips but I couldn’t think of what to say.
It was then.
They heard footsteps running their way from over the garden fence. After a while, someone appeared from behind a large tree.
Looking at her outfit, she seemed to be a maid working in the mansion. When she saw the boy crouching down, she cried out.
“Young master!”
She came running to the boy in a hurry. She hurried the boy to his feet. Then she shook off the dirt and grass on his clothes.
“Oh, you scratched yourself again! Look at this blood!”
As she was arranging his clothes, she looked at the back of the bleeding boy’s hand and forearm and said,
“What is this plant?” The maid, who was arranging the boy’s trousers, looked at the grass attached to his ankle like a leech and asked, the boy began to recite exactly what he had heard from Lucy with a hesitant face.
“This is the plant of Mogana, if you pound it like this and put it on the itchy spot…….”
But the maid, listening to him, took the grass off his ankle and threw it on the floor.
“Now, come on in, young master, if you stay here, your allergy will get worse.”
The maid did not even look at Lucy, who was standing nearby, and tried to leave the lake with only the boy.
The boy grumbled something with a bothered and annoyed look. But he was drawn into the strong maid’s hand.
The boy, who was leaving the lake, suddenly turned his head. The boy’s lake-like eyes met Lucy’s emerald-like eyes in the air.
Then he moved his lips and said,
“Good-bye,”
“Yeah, good-bye,”
Lucy raised her hand awkwardly.
The boy was seized by the maid’s hand and left the lake with an indifferent look.
Lucy, who stood still under the oak for a moment, shook her head and came to her senses.
“It’s been too long,”
Mrs. Triana might be worried. Lucy hurried through the garden and back to the luncheon.
She heard familiar voices. The luncheon is nearby. The servants, seen over the fence, were eagerly carrying food, and the maids were busy preparing desserts not far away.
She heard the maids carrying desserts whispering.
“…they said they had found Prince Berg. He must have been alone in the garden again.”
“Why does he keep going into the garden when he has an allergy?”
Prince of Berg
Lucy, who had been eavesdropping on the maid’s story, murmured to herself.
So, that kid is Prince Berg. The duke’s son.
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She had never seen anyone that has a status as high as the duke. Of course, it’s the same with the son of the duke.
A person like a duke was a man who Lucy would never meet in her life. This is because they will never come to a rural village like Brom to help the emperor run state affairs while living in the capital.
So, it was a very rare chance to run into the duke’s son in the garden where she came in by chance today.
When Lucy realized it, she opened her eyes wide and shouted,
“Wow! I’ve met the duke’s son!”
Lucy realized once again that she had come to the capital.
The duke’s son has such brilliant blond hair and blue eyes. Besides, the clothes he wore looked really good! And I’m sure he only eats delicious food at this nice house every day, right?
Lucy, who was thinking of the boy one by one, immediately pouted her mouth. She remembered the rude words she had said to him.
Well, the Duke’s son doesn’t have much to offer. He’s as bad as Brom’s immature boys.
If you are the duke’s son, aren’t you supposed to speak softly and politely?
Telling people that they smell like horse dung!
Lucy grumbled herself out of the garden.
Soon she saw the ladies talking in elegant voices.
Not surprisingly, the luncheon was going well in a friendly atmosphere. Mrs. Triana’s cheeks were slightly red, perhaps because she was drunk with wine.
Lucy returned to her side and sat down.
“Oh, Lucy!”
She looked at Lucy and said,
“How was the garden?”
“It was beautiful! There were many flowers I had never seen before.”
“I knew you’d like it!”
Mrs. Triana smiled with satisfaction.
Soon her interest in the little girl who had returned from her garden expedition quickly shifted away. She continued to talk to other ladies with a slightly tipsy face.
Lucy has now completely given up the idea of getting acquainted with people at this meeting.
It was enough for her to have met the boy and had a memorable conversation. Now Lucy decided to devote herself generously to the food waiting for her on the table, not to people.
After she made up her mind that she could see the cakes and snacks that the servants brought.
“Wow!”
She thought of the boy for a while. Her eyes widened when she saw the desserts on the table. She reached for the nearest snack without hesitation.
“If you don’t eat such delicious food, it’s your loss.”
Lucy murmured casually, recalling the boy.
But why was he crouching there with that look on his face?
Lucy, who was unconsciously thinking about the boy, shook her head again.
She took a big bite out of the snack she picked up.
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We’ll never see each other again anyway.
The thought of the prince gradually faded while the rich sweetness she had tasted for the first time in her life melted in her mouth.
* * *
Her days in the capital left a deep impression on Lucy.
Mrs. Triana’s statement that one trip could change a person’s life was true. Lucy thought she had changed completely.
In fact, on the surface, her life didn’t seem to change at all.
She got up early as usual to help her grandmother trim the herbs. She helped her mother prepare food for her family and kicked out the cat sneaking into the yard.
It was the daily routine of an ordinary country girl.
But if you look carefully, there was a surprisingly wide world in her heart.
Even after returning from a trip to the capital, Lucy often recalled brilliant streets and tall buildings.
The imperial palace was more majestic and magnificent than any other place. The night streets of the capital, where the lights never seemed to go out. a vibrant market
Lucy often missed the glorious and tumultuous appearance of the capital.
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