Chapter 41
“Are you saying that the Rosier flower needs love to bloom?”
I was astonished by the unexpected blooming condition of the Rosier flower and repeated the wizard’s words.
She nodded in agreement.
“It’s not widely known, so people usually don’t realize it.”
“But how do you know that the blooming condition of the Rosier is love? No matter how many books I searched, I never found that information…”
I had been wandering around because nothing was revealed about the blooming conditions of the flower.
But how did the wizard in front of me know about this?
“That flower was modified by the previous master of the wizard’s tower, Lady Violet. It’s not something commonly known outside. Even among wizards, very few people are aware of it.”
“Are you saying a wizard created the flower?”
“Yes. Have you ever wondered why a flower must meet specific conditions to bloom? And why it cannot be forced to bloom even with magic? Logically, such a flower couldn’t have arisen naturally.”
It was indeed hard to believe that a flower would only bloom under certain conditions without being artificially created.
However, I was only curious about how to make the flower bloom, so I hadn’t considered how such a flower existed in reality.
Even if I had tried to find out, the books I had read didn’t mention how the Rosier flower came into being, so I had no way of knowing.
“Then let me ask you one more thing. I understand that the roots of the Rosier serve as a remedy for the Darnnella’s disease. Do you know how that came to be?”
At my question, the wizard tilted his head as if recalling something, then nodded suddenly.
“It’s recorded that Lady Violet’s child suffered from Darnnella’s disease. That’s why she modified the flower to create a remedy. Love potion was used in the modification, which is likely why the flower requires that much love to bloom.”
“…I see.”
Now that I knew about the flower, I felt a sense of relaxation.
Knowing the conditions meant that all that was left was to fulfill them.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave. How much do you want as compensation?”
“Compensation? Oh, it’s fine, really. I only shared a few words with you. It’s okay.”
“But still…”
“I’m satisfied just to have seen the actual Rosier in front of me. In fact, it’s my first time seeing one. They’re incredibly hard to come by… So, it’s really alright.”
Seeing her speak so cheerfully, I felt that I had to get up from my seat.
“Then take care.”
“Thank you. You are my benefactor.”
I finished speaking and left the wizard’s tower. Then, I instructed Luen to deliver the pouch I had brought to the wizard’s tower.
Even after receiving valuable information, I felt uneasy just leaving.
Throughout the return journey, I began to think about the conditions for blooming the flower and love.
If the Rosier feeds on love to bloom, then the stories written in the books made sense.
One was the love between parent and child, and the other was the love between spouses.
It seemed to imply that as long as the condition of love was fulfilled, the Rosier would bloom in some form.
If that was the case, to make this flower bloom, I simply needed to place it between people who loved each other in any way.
There was no way that Richard and I could make this flower bloom, so I would have to ask someone else.
“My lady, I’m so relieved.”
On the way back, Olivier suddenly spoke to me. When I turned to look at her, she was smiling warmly, as if all her worries had been resolved.
I thought she was relieved to know the clue to making the Rosier bloom and smiled back at her.
“I’m really glad. Now, if we send this pot to someone who loves another, the flower will bloom.”
“…What? Why are you trying to send the Rosier to someone else?”
However, she looked flustered and didn’t understand my words.
“Well, if the Rosier is with me, it can’t bloom, right?”
Love between family? That was out of the question; right now, I was in a conflict with my father, battling over property and titles.
So, there was no way we could make the flower bloom from love between family.
And it was also clear that Richard would never come to love me, so I had no choice but to pass this pot to someone else.
It was a problem that didn’t require much thought, yet Olivier was becoming even more perplexed after hearing my words.
“But… wouldn’t the flower bloom if it were between you and Lord Richard?”
She seemed to think that Richard and I would come to love each other.
From a general standpoint, it made sense to expect that since we were a married couple.
“Well, I don’t think so.”
I chuckled softly while looking at her.
When I looked at the relationship between Richard and me, what existed between us was compassion, not love.
He was helping me out of pity for my unfortunate past.
Having endured a difficult past himself, he must have felt a sense of empathy.
But that could hardly be called love.
“Why on earth do you think that? Richard and I are not that deeply affectionate toward each other.”
“But the Rosier pot has a bud forming.”
As Olivier spoke, I checked the pot.
There was a small, round bud forming at the end of the stem.
According to the wizard’s words, the Rosier flower needed love to bloom, so for a bud to form, the condition of love had to be fulfilled.
“But this happened when we were at the Grand Court.”
“After you and Lord Richard entered the court, no one else entered the hotel room. I had the maids on standby, so that’s certain. So how did the Rosier in the hotel room develop a bud?”
In other words, what Olivier was trying to say was that the feelings between me and Richard had caused the flower bud to sprout.
Since, as she said, no one else had entered the hotel room, there was some validity to her words.
But as the person involved, I couldn’t tell whether that was love.
Could it be that pity counts as love too?
I glared at the bud with suspicious eyes. But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t discern anything.
“Let’s do this then. Since I have two Rosier pots, I’ll keep one, and when we return to the mansion, I’ll leave the other with someone else. Then we can use whichever blooms first as a potion.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Just as I finished speaking with Olivier and was about to return to the Starlight Hotel, I suddenly heard the scream of a child from behind.
“Ah!”
Instinctively, I turned around to see Knight Lorenz pinning a child down.
“What’s going on?”
I asked him with sharp eyes while he was glaring at the child.
“This child approached the lady with a knife,” he replied.
“…What?”
Upon closer inspection, I saw that Lorenz was holding a dull kitchen knife in his other hand, the blade chipped and worn down. It seemed that he had taken it from the child after subduing him.
I was shocked to learn that a mere ten-year-old child had charged at me with a knife, and I found it difficult to speak.
Why?
Was he trying to rob me?
No, that didn’t seem right.
If he was trying to pickpocket me, he wouldn’t have brought such a large kitchen knife that would draw attention.
That means…
“Who sent you?”
I approached the child and asked.
Surely this child didn’t come to kill me on his own accord.
Even if the child had antisocial personality disorder, there was no reason for him to target me with two knights guarding me.
Moreover, looking at the child’s appearance…
He wore loose, ill-fitting clothes that were tattered and worn out. His hair was oily from not being washed in a long time, and his face was smudged with dark stains.
Just by looking at him, I could tell how poor his family must be.
I might have thought this was a ridiculous assumption, but I couldn’t shake the idea that the child was acting under someone else’s orders to attack me.
“I-I’m sorry! I did something wrong…”
The child, still pinned down by Lorenz, was crying. His trembling voice was pitiable, but I couldn’t let him go just because he looked unfortunate.
“Tell me. Who told you to do this?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, he bit his lip tightly and let the tears flow. He clearly refused to speak. It seemed the person who ordered him wasn’t simply bribing him with money.
I had a rough idea of who that person might be, but I still needed to confirm it.
I knelt down to look closely at the child and tried to maintain the coldest expression I could muster.
“Well, it seems there’s no other way. If you tried to kill me, then you must be prepared to die if caught. You know, trying to harm a noble is a serious crime. Even if you get caught like this, it will be hard to save your life. However, sending you to the guards would take too long before any execution. So, it would be better to kill you right here.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Lorenz plunged the kitchen knife into the ground next to the child. It seemed he had the wit to follow along with my words without needing me to specify.
“See, you’ve done something wrong, but you still won’t tell me who did it. I’m really sorry.”
Yet, the child only trembled and cried.
I looked at Lorenz, who seemed to sense something and met my gaze.
“Shall we go check out the child’s home?”
“I think that would be best.”
