Funny thing.
If you're going to apologize, don't try to poke yourself with these ugly flowers.
Be sincere.
You don't care about me at all, and you're so desperate to be forgiven. You don't want to bend over to me, so you want me to relax and come in. But the weak in this relationship has always been me.
"...Please thank my brother for the gift."
Gail left.
I turned around, too.
The sweet aroma of hyacinth everywhere my feet touched made my head dizzy. I fled to my study. It was because I once ordered my study not to have flowers with strong scents. But that damn hyacinth was also adorned on my study table. That's just a flower. It's just a flower that smells a little good.
But why am I so offended?
I stared at hyacinth and brooded over what happened last dawn. It was both a victory and a defeat. Aurest was so excited that he played as I wanted, but at the same time he crossed the line. It's obviously crossing the line to come into your little sister's bedroom in the middle of the night and watch your sister fall asleep.
From now on, I felt like I should avoid stimulating Aurest.
Don't let that crazy bastard stop being a friendly brother and make him act like a beast.
I tasted blood in my mouth.
I stopped chewing on my lips.
The hands that hung sideways were shaking.
The other hand stopped the trembling hand.
Stop pretending to be cold.
Erin Tantal.
You're afraid of him.
I'm afraid of his forced affection.
I'm afraid the bastard can open my bedroom door at any time.
I'm afraid that the bastard can take everything from me at any time.
It was miserable that I was still alive because of Aurest's shallow conscience-moral-belief-love-and I'm afraid he wouldn't be patient any more. But fear nourishes anger. So be afraid to your heart's content. And be angry.
I wanted to order them to tear all those flowers out and pour them into the pond but I was angry with myself, because I can't.
I'm angry that he's still alive!
"Your Imperial Highness."
I plucked the flower. The soft petals crumbled in my hand. The hyacinth, crushed in a mess, fell to the floor. I stomped it with my feet, stomped it and stomped it again.
"Your Imperial Highness?"
I stopped moving.
Where I looked back, Tristan stood. He was wearing a tunic shirt and a belt like any other servants. He was holding a tray of drinks and snacks for meals. Tristan's gaze were at my feet as he was putting the tray down on the table.
"...Let's get rid of the flowers that decorates the palace."
"You don't have to."
"You look distressed."
I didn't want to answer.
I showed my back in the sense of going. I didn't think that that presence behind my back would disappear. Rather, it got closer and stopped right behind me.
I turned halfway around to the feeling that the hem of my skirt was moving a little. Tristan, kneeling at my feet, was picking up the crushed petals and leaf stalks, getting up slowly from his seat after picking them up, there is a shadow in my field of vision.
He slowly lifted the gaze that remained at my foot. From his wide chest to his neck, and above his angular jaw... A delicately shaded face and gloomily subdued black eyes were looking down at me.
Somewhere on my forehead, I felt a man's lukewarm breath. Tristan took a couple of steps back and kept his distance, perhaps realizing that the distance was too close.
Tristan said in a melancholic voice.
"Your Imperial Highness the Princess. I am stupid. I don't know how to grasp the meaning of your words." He gently lowered his eyes. "If you say you are happy, I understand that you are happy, and if you say you are sad, I understand that you are sad. I am not good at looking at the mood. I often hear simple and unnoticed words."
Tristan opened his fisted hand. On his palms where the white scars remained, rubbed petals were laid. The petals were pushed into the pockets hung on his waist strap.
"But I can see that you are not happy now. I want you to be happy. I want to do something that will please you. So tell me."
"What?"
"Anything you want."
Since my 17th birthday, my wish has always been one.
Aurest's complete defeat.
His utter downfall.
Would you want it too?
There is no way you don't want it.
"I'm hoping for same thing as you."
Tristan had already seen me trampling on Aurest's gift. If he had as much attention as a normal person, he would have realized something... That would be okay.
"So do what you think you should do."
I passed at Tristan and grabbed the study's door knob. I glance at his back and it was red as if he had a fever with rage. I stretched out my waist and neck and went out of the study.
A dense hyacinth of incense came in.
I pressed my trembling eyelids with my hands.
Only a few days until the flowers wither...
The time of his patience was much shorter than I expected.
The next day, all the hyacinths that decorated the Imperial Palace were gone.
* * *
"I've turned a blind eye to a handful of them, so what? You're stealing everything?"
The maid was furious and scolded the servants in the first floor hall. The servants just glanced at each other with white-faced faces and said nothing.
"If they had carried all those flowers, they would have made a loud noise, but I slept soundly last night without hearing anything. Isn't that strange?"
A light sleeper, Gareth, scratched his head. The knight who was standing next to him raised his eyebrows.
"You mean the culprit who stole all the flowers could be a ghost?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sir Digory. So I mean, I'm saying that the killer is pretty good at hiding his presence. Is it an assassin or a trained warrior?" Gereint, standing against the wall with his arms folded, intervened with bitterness.
"Or! There may be a problem with your hearing. Ahh~ It's time for you to get weaker now that you're getting older~"
"That's so mean! Why would you say that to a young man with a bright future?"
The maid scolded the servants for their negligence for half an hour, and the knights were watching the theft as if it were something else. I grinned as I sat at the top of the table watching the scene.
"Sir Gareth."
"Yes?"
"Did you have a good dream last night?"
"Yes? Yes. I had a wonderful dream." Gareth smiled broadly, too.
I changed my way of speaking and made it sarcastic.
"You would be proud to say that you had a good dream on the day you stand as the night guard."
"Aren't you dreaming with your eyes open? Daydreaming or something like that?"
Whether or not he knows my sneering, Gareth scratches his head and behaves impudently. His skin was also shiny as if it was very smooth. I worked coldly.
"Negligence of work."
"The way I work is only a little unique, but it's unfair to say that."
Gareth muttered without knowing the shame.
Shameless.
"Sir Gareth Wallow. If you'd just kept your eyes open during work hours, this ridiculous theft wouldn't have happened."
They gathered in front of us and pointed to the maid and the servants.
"So neither I nor the maid nor the innocent servants have been wasting their time on wasteful things since the morning came."
It was quite pleasant to see Gareth's restless days getting harder and harder with anxiety.
"If your pretty hair also has an organ called the brain, calculate how many people have been affected by your neglect of duty and how much time you've blown away because of your neglect of duty."
"....."
"Why can't you talk? Doesn't your brain work? Is that a decoration?" Guilty Gareth bent his head, urgently kneeling one knee.
"I'm sorry to bother you with my mistake. From now on, it will never happen ㅡ"
"If you apologize for feeling sorry, it will be over. Your apologies aren't worth it."
I'm being a bit embarassed because of my dignity. Actually, this commotion itself was pleasant. How can I not be happy when the interior decoration that I wanted to get rid of disappeared on its own?
I didn't feel anxious because I guessed who the criminal was.
I was also happy to have the opportunity to properly grind the rough, hard-witted, and hard-working Gareth. It was a thung that had already built up bad feelings since I saw one of the maids-Asilah Alectin depressed about her lover.
"Sir Gareth Wallow. You're the knight who swore allegiance to my brother, but now you're my escort. There are two people who can scold you." Gareth was staring at the ground with a somber face. I said in a slightly soft voice. "So you choose. Will you be punished by your lord or by your temporary master?"
The sound of Gareth's eyes rolling around here seemed to be heard. He looked up and said if he had finished calculating.
"I have sinned against you, Your Imperial Highness, so I will obey Your Imperial Highness the Princess' orders."
He don't know what kind of verbal abuse he'll hear if he's handed over to Aurest. Wasn't there a knight whose head was broken in the pot that Orest threw at one day?
Gareth made such a wise choice.
"Then, Lord Gareth. Sit there with your knees down and write a report." Gareth had his knees down in the corner with a tearful look. Asilah glared at Gareth and gave him a paper and a quill pen. "If we don't catch the criminal before sundown today, all of you will be punished."
Through the faces of the servants, I could see a head rising high above others. Tristan, who was standing in a tired day, slowly bowed to me when our eyes met. I fixed my eyes on Tristan.
"So if anyone has seen the criminal, come and tell me anytime. I will reward those who testify. Do you have any questions?" Tristan raised his hand among the creeping and chattering users. "Tell me."
Tristan was so calm he spoke in a voice that even sounded clear.
"Can I confess?"
"Huh?"
Under Asilah's cold eyes, Gareth, who was writing a police report, not a reflection... Instead, Gareth, who was writing the report, made a strange noise and jumped out of his seat. Instead of his index finger, he pointed at Tristan with a quill pen he was holding.
"Ah!!! I knew I didn't heard anything! It was you! What did I tell you? Definitely an assassin or a trained warrior...."
"Sir Gareth. Your knees should be kneeling."
"Yes."
T/N: I'd be working on the translations till I got another set of modules to study and answer!
Let's hope it wasn't that hard... Maybe I'll be procrastinating the modules too and just translate, because Tristan is here (I live him more than Erin)! He was so pure!!