บท 31: An Added Bonus

The next morning, Daisy slept in far too long, taking advantage of the fact that she had no early chores to do and that the boarding house had high-quality curtains that kept the light out. The proprietress was making lunch by the time she went downstairs and she had never felt so lazy.

Traveling must have worn her out more than she thought! She hadn't slept in this late since the time she pulled an all-nighter in college to finish an assignment she completely forgot was due. After that, she had crashed for fourteen hours straight.

She ate her lunch, thanked the proprietress, and then headed out in search of a good affordable bookstore. If they had a used one back in Cloverfield, they had to have one here, right?

Wrong. Daisy walked all over town and could not find a single bookstore without astronomical prices. She was a farmer! How was she supposed to afford a single one of these books?!

Ira would be so disappointed if she didn't bring anything back for him. She had promised as a condition of leaving him behind. The terrible thought of letting him down when he had already experienced so much disappointment in his short life fueled her desire to keep searching.

It was nearly 3 PM before she managed to find it. A gem hidden away in a back alley that had a used book section.

Daisy browsed the area looking for a topic she knew Ira didn't already have a book about when an employee approached her. "Are you looking for something specific, miss?"

"Not exactly."

She explained her predicament and the employee's eyes lit up as he clapped his hands together. "I think I have just the thing a curious young mind would want! Give me a moment to find it."

He had to climb a ladder to reach a shelf near the top and pulled out a surprisingly large book before getting down and handing it to her with a satisfied expression. The cover read 'A Beginner's Guide to Magic' in peeling letters.

"A boy interested in the world around him would certainly want to know about magic and its uses," the employee told her. "Someone gave this to the store owner for free after he was done with it, which is why it only costs five bronze coins. If you bought a copy of this new somewhere, it would cost ten times that."

Daisy was intrigued. "Does this teach you how to do magic then?"

He laughed. "Magic can't be learned by just anyone! People of certain bloodlines can have affinities for a specific magic type but that's it. This book primarily focuses on magical theory rather than the actual practice."

Certain bloodlines, huh? That explained a few things. Why she had never met anyone else with magic aside from Leo…and why he didn't want anyone to know he could manipulate fire. Whoever he had run away from could potentially track him down if rumors of a fire mage began springing up since they were rare.

"I see," she said simply. "I'll take it."

Daisy handed over the coins and thanked him before taking the book back to her room in the boarding house. A glance at the clock downstairs told her she would be late to meet Leo if she didn't hurry.

When she made it to the front office of the military headquarters, Leo was already waiting for her. She puffed out her apologies but he reassured her that he had barely gotten there.

He took her hand and they walked out of the building together since eyes were on them. The perplexing thing was that he didn't let go once they were safe from prying eyes. She came to the conclusion that there must be people in town who knew he was supposedly engaged as well and he was continuing to maintain the illusion for them.

It wasn't that big of a deal. She was too happy to be spending time with her favorite person again to think much about how weird this was.

"I wish the park wasn't dead right now," Leo said a bit glumly. "If it was in full bloom, I'm sure you would be able to name all of the flowers in it. It was really pretty. You would have loved it."

Daisy smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Don't worry about it! You can write to me about what you see in detail next time and I might be able to guess anyway."

"At the very least, we can go to the flower shop. They have a greenhouse that keeps things growing throughout the winter. I asked once because I was surprised to see them still in business after it began snowing."

Big, somewhat scary-looking military genius or not, Leo was the same softy he had always been. If he saw something he knew she would like, he always found a way to give it to her one way or another. He was sweet like that.

"I'd like that. Thanks, Leo!"

They did end up walking to the flower shop and Daisy excitedly chattered about species of flower she hadn't been aware grew in Mirea since they didn't grow wild near the farm. One of the shopgirls overheard her and they had a long conversation about various flowers. She was clearly impressed by Daisy's knowledge.

"Do you happen to work as a royal gardener, by chance?" the girl, whose named was Nia, asked. "I've never met anyone who knows so much about plants."

She flushed at the compliment. Years of studying plant encyclopedias hadn't failed her. "I don't. Actually, I run a farm out near Cloverfield. I'm only visiting the capital right now."

"A shame. The palace could surely use a brain like yours. Miette—the owner of this shop—is friends with the royal gardener. I'm sure she would recommend you if she didn't decide to keep your talents for herself."

Nia was called away by a customer leaving Daisy reeling. Becoming a royal gardener? That would involve working with flowers full time! And here she had thought running a farm was living the dream. She hadn't realized such a thing was even an option.

What would happen to the farm if she left though? She could always sell it to someone but there was no guarantee her workers would be able to keep their jobs. There was also Ira to contend with. She couldn't leave him to fend for himself again after promising he could stay as long as he liked.

If she was ever going to try and get a job directly related to gardening rather than farming (the next best thing), it would have to be after Ira went off to the academy. But she couldn't deny it was highly tempting.

Working with flowers all day every day sounded perfect to her. She wouldn't have to churn butter or take care of animals that way either.

Another potential bonus would be seeing Leo more often if they lived in the same city. All this time in the military and he hadn't left the capital once since that was where he was posted. In one of his letters, he had mentioned that there were military compounds in each of the border areas as well but that they recruited separately most of the time.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked as they left the flower shop.

Daisy realized she had been spacing out and smiled to reassure him. "I'm fine! I was just thinking about what Nia said."

"About working in the royal gardens? I have wondered if you would like doing something like that more than once. You probably know more than everyone there already."

"Why didn't you ever say anything then?"

Leo looked at her seriously. "I know you love the farm. If I said anything, it would have felt too much like I was being selfish coercing you to move closer to me. You told me once that you wanted to live on your own terms so I didn't want you to feel pressured."

Stupidly, Daisy teared up. In a way, that was the nicest thing someone had ever said to her.

She knew he missed her terribly when they were apart, as she missed him, but he hadn't said anything because he hadn't wanted her to feel obligated to uproot her life for him if that wasn't what she wanted to do. No one else had ever cared about what she wanted this much.

"I wouldn't be able to look into it until Ira is off to school anyway," she said with a small, watery laugh. "But it does sound nice. Considering you'll be in the capital indefinitely trying to become an officer, a few years won't make much of a difference."

"…you would really come here for me?" Leo asked hesitantly.

Daisy cuffed him on the shoulder. "If I did come here, it would be for me. You would be an added bonus."

"Fair enough. Do you want to go get some dinner before I have to head back? That bakery we went to yesterday has some pretty good cheese buns. Personally, I think yours are better though."

She laughed. Of course a real bakery would have better cheese buns! He was totally biased because of homesickness. "Sounds good to me."