Jackal replied calmly.
“I have to protect you and our daughter.”
Asha was a little taken aback, but his expression was so serious that she kept her mouth shut.
Jackal continued.
“We never know what might happen in the palace. I need to stay awake so that I can protect you and Melissa in case something happens.”
Asha did not bother to mention that the Cactus Knights were standing guard outside the door.
Although it seemed safe, this place was where all kinds of intrigues took place.
Especially with young Melissa, who harbored another flower spirit, they had to be cautious.
Asha inwardly reproached herself for being too complacent.
Jackal looked at Asha and assured her.
“You sleep in peace. I won’t wake you up in the middle of the night. I’ll wake you up around breakfast time.”
Upon hearing his words, Asha smiled.
“Good night.”
Jackal also smiled and leaned forward, gently kissing her on the lips.
“Good night.”
Asha closed her eyes comfortably.
The palace had always made her uneasy when she went to sleep, but with Jackal, she could truly relax, and she was able to sleep soundly.
* * * * *
The morning was bright, and it was time to leave the Imperial Palace.
During breakfast, Melissa played with her fork despite the sumptuous meal.
Even Karaf wore a slightly regretful expression as if he had grown attached to Mel in such a short time.
He personally escorted them outside the Palace.
To bid his final farewell, Karaf approached Melissa, bending one knee and looking into her eyes.
Karaf glanced at Jackal and whispered softly in Melissa’s ear.
“Think of this place as another home and come to visit often. If your father ever bothers you, you can run away and come here right away.”
Melissa’s eyes widened.
Karaf gave a wonderful smile to the child.
Upon seeing that, Melissa exclaimed out loud.
“Your Majesty, you’re very pretty!”
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden declaration and blinked their eyes in surprise.
Karaf also looked dumbfounded.
“I’m pretty……?”
“Mel likes pretty people!”
“…You have a very good eye because you look like your mother.”
Karaf smiled with satisfaction, and Jackal rolled his eyes at him.
Before returning home, the three of them made a brief stop at the temple.
While Asha met and conversed with the High Priest for the first time in a while, Melissa wandered around the temple on her own, playing.
Suddenly, she noticed a white flower blooming in the distance, near a cliff.
“It’s so pretty……!”
Melissa’s eyes sparkled, and she hurried over to pick the flower.
“But it’s a flower I’ve never seen before. What kind of flower is it?”
If there was a flower she didn’t know, she could ask her mother who knew everything.
Melissa stretched out her hand, trying to pluck the flower, reaching as far as she could, but her fingers fell short and didn’t quite touch it.
However, at that moment, Melissa leaned forward and fell from the cliff just like that.
“Ah……!”
With her eyes tightly shut, Melissa huddled, trembling.
However, when she cautiously opened her eyes, she realized she was still alive. She noticed that something large was supporting her. Fortunately, she hadn’t landed on the ground but on something else.
Melissa looked blankly at the surrounding landscape, dotted with black dots on a red background. She mistook that she had landed on a giant flower.
But when she tried to stand up, she realized that she wasn’t on the flower at all; in fact, she was on the back of a huge ‘ladybug’.
“Whoa…!”
Melissa stood there with her mouth open in a daze, unable to move, fearing that the ladybug would notice her on its back.
But then, at that moment…
“…Little one, come here.”
A soft voice suddenly reached Melissa’s ears, and she looked down to see a white man looking up at her, spreading his arms.
Melissa thought that the white flower she had seen earlier had transformed into a person, so her eyes widened as she unintentionally asked.
“Flower fairy…?”
As soon as he heard that, the man stiffened a little, but soon smiled brightly at Melissa.
As beings each harboring a flower spirit, they instinctively recognized each other.
Melissa crawled slowly towards him and landed safely in his arms.
The giant ladybug merely turned around to glance at the child but didn’t attack.
Melissa put her hands together, her eyes twinkling, and said.
“My name is Melissa Hyacinth! What’s the fairy’s name?”
After a moment of silence, he smiled and answered.
“It’s Chrysanthemum.”
“Chrysanthemum? Ah, you are the chrysanthemum fairy!”
Melissa looked at him with a radiant smile, wondering what was so nice about him.
But then…
“…Melissa! Where are you?”
Asha’s anxious voice could be heard from above the cliff.
Melissa’s eyes widened and she quickly ran over there, looking up, screaming.
“Mommy, I am here!”
“What?”
Asha was so shocked as if she was about to faint that she jumped off the cliff without hesitation.
The sight made Melissa even more startled, and her eyes grew bigger.
Asha, like a butterfly, created a gust of wind and safely landed on the ground.
It was dangerous, something she had never done before.
Especially because she had a trauma related to cliffs, she had never approached them in any way.
She didn’t even have to jump so recklessly, but the thought of her daughter being injured made her unconsciously use her abilities.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
Asha urgently grabbed Melissa’s shoulders with a pale face to which Melissa replied in a daze.
“Mommy, is it true that you can’t really transform into a real butterfly…?”
“What?”
“Can’t you really fly in the sky?”
At that question, Asha finally relaxed and smiled slightly.
“But what happened?”
Melissa replied bravely.
“I was trying to pick a flower and accidentally fell off the cliff, but a giant ladybug and a chrysanthemum fairy rescued me!”
Melissa turned excitedly to show them, but her eyes grew bigger.
There was no one there.
Upon hearing the words about falling off the cliff, Asha’s heart skipped a beat, and she hugged Melissa tightly, checking her over again.
Then, she suddenly noticed a blue light emanating from a crystal necklace around Melissa’s neck.
The necklace seemed to have protected the child from getting injured.
Asha muttered as she held Melissa tightly in her arms.
“That was dangerous… Do you know how worried I was? I told you not to wander off alone, you little troublemaker…”
As they embraced, Asha felt her heart pound wildly in her chest.
But Melissa said as she frowned.
“I’m sorry… But there was a huge ladybug over there…”
She tried to explain by spreading her arms wide, but it was hard to describe the ladybug’s size accurately.
Asha looked bewildered as she asked.
“Could it be that you dozed off for a moment and had a dream?”
“No! There really was a ladybug about this big! And the Chrysanthemum fairy was there too!”
“Chrysanthemum fairy?”
Melissa looked around and spotted a white flower on the cliff and pointed her finger at it.
“Mommy, that’s a chrysanthemum, right?”
Asha followed Melissa’s finger, and her eyes grew bigger as she saw the single white chrysanthemum.
She quickly stood up from the ground and looked around frantically, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
However, in the place where they were, a faint chrysanthemum fragrance was lingering in the air, whether it came from the chrysanthemum or drifted from his body, she couldn’t tell.
Asha’s eyes dropped slightly.
Dart really seemed to be helping people from behind the scenes.
“It’s a pretty flower, so Mel should take it home!”
Excited, Melissa sang and tried to pick up the chrysanthemum, but Asha reached out and stopped her.
“Mel, let’s just let this last chrysanthemum bloom beautifully here.”
Mel’s eyes widened as she turned around.
“Is this the only one?”
“I’m not sure, but probably. However, if we pluck it, this flower will disappear forever, right?”
Mel nodded with a serious face.
“Mel should just leave the flower here.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. And let’s remember its name too.”
“Yes!”
Asha gazed nostalgically at the single chrysanthemum flower that had miraculously grown in the temple.
She didn’t know where the seeds came from, but it must have been Dart who planted it.
And it was Melissa who discovered it first.
Asha felt strange.
She was so grateful to him for saving her daughter’s life before he left.
“…I should let the High Priest know that this flower is blooming here. I’m sure he’ll be delighted.”
With determination, Asha held Melissa’s hand tightly and walked.
Melissa bounced alongside her and asked.
“By the way, Mommy! The ladybug definitely saw me, but it didn’t eat me. Why?”
“Hmm? Ladybugs are beneficial insects, so they don’t eat people. Instead, they eat the nasty bugs that harm the plants.”
“Oh wow…!”
Melissa’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Ladybugs are so nice! Mel likes ladybugs!”
Asha laughed again.
Her daughter was a very good kid.
Asha realized that Dart was no longer a pest but a beneficial insect.
Melissa shouted loudly.
“Mel will be friends with the Ladybug from now on! The giant ladybug will have to come to visit me again!”
At her child’s pure words, Asha laughed happily.
Being a flower herself, Melissa might have been instinctively drawn to the ladybug, which protected flowers.
“What are you both doing here?”
When Jackal appeared, the two quickly approached him.
Asha placed her index finger on her lips while looking at Melissa, implying that they should keep today’s events a secret between them.
If Jackal were to find out about it, he would be even more shocked than she was.
Especially the fact that she fell off the cliff was something she could never reveal.
Melissa swallowed nervously and nodded her head.
When Jackal offered her a ride on his shoulders, Melissa excitedly said.
“Daddy! Mel experienced a miracle at the temple today!”
“Really?”
As Jackal smiled, Melissa continued.
“Yes! Mel decided to save all the flowers in the world. Just like a ladybug!”
Asha and Jackal laughed together at Mel’s declaration.
“Not as a butterfly? Mom is a bit disappointed…”
As Asha joked, Mel quickly replied.
“Mel can be like a butterfly, a ladybug, and a bee too!”
“Yes, yes. Our daughter can do whatever she wants.”
Jackal smiled as he said that.
He really planned to ask seriously when Mel reaches the age to debut, which is a distant future.
At first, he had hoped she wouldn’t become an emperor, but the older she grew, the more he felt that she would become an amazing emperor.
It seemed that Melissa could truly cherish and love all the flowers in the world.
In the Etzheim Empire, a male flower has always been crowned emperor, but it would be worth seeing a female flower crowned emperor for the first time.
Perhaps, when Melissa ascends to the throne, Asha would finally be liberated from her position as a butterfly and embrace her freedom.
No, she might even become busier, devoting herself to educating Melissa as the emperor.
With such an outstanding wife and an exceptional daughter, Jackal’s face was filled with pride and excitement.
Beside him, Asha smiled happily at him.
When she first met him, he seemed fiercer and colder than a midwinter snowstorm, and he didn’t seem to know how to express emotions at all.
However, now, like the strong fragrance emanating from the hyacinth flower, he had become a man who was truly expressive of his emotions.
Asha loved them, and they loved her in return.
With a heart full of joy, she walked back home with them.
Like hyacinth, whose flower language is ‘joy of love’ and ‘eternal love’, Asha wanted to love them happily forever.
The wish she wrote on the flower petal had finally blossomed into a complete flower, unfolding a bright future before them.
