Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

He awkwardly pulled out his arm under her, and put his elbow on the bed as he raised his upper body. Seira’s look from above was beautiful and lovely to the point where he wanted to stay in this moment forever.

He wanted to pretend that he can’t win, and let it slide for hours.

He wanted to kiss her – on her soft cheeks, pale neck, round shoulders, if not on her lips.

“…”

But instead of fulfilling his wishes, Aven slowly rose up and got out of bed. It wasn’t difficult at all to shake her off, unlike what he tried to convince himself a while ago.

“Duchess, don’t you have to attend the imperial banquet tomorrow? You have to hurry to prepare what you need,” he whispered.

After saying so, he slowly pumped his mana. This time around, he was determined to wake Seira up somehow.

“…!”

As soon as his strong mana spread out into the room, Seira’s eyes opened reflexively and she quickly rolled herself under the bed.

Seira’s eyes rolled as she lowered her body so that she could leap at any time. Her purple eyes were filled with images of Aven.

“…what? Was it you Aven?” she groggily asked.

“Yes. Good morning, Duchess,” he greeted her as usual.

Along with his mana that disappeared like melting snow, the sharp tension disappeared as well.

Seira reached for her head and grumbled, staggering as she got up on her feet, “Oh, my head hurts.”

“Why did you drink too much? You didn’t go to sleep right away,” Aven began to chastise her as if she was a teenage girl.

“I was only going to drink until my hair dried, but it didn’t dry until I eventually emptied two bottles,” she moaned.

“…”

Aven was speechless.

Most noble families have maids who were in charge of taking care of the bath from drawing water until dressing their masters. But Seira kept no one around except Aven. Thanks to this, the length of her hair shortened as the years went by.

Aven sighed and turned around.

“I’ve prepared a meal. Eat while it’s warm,” he told her.

“Yeah. I’ll be right back after washing up. Go down first.”

He stood still and looked at her as she stumbled into the bathroom. Unlike D-Ark, warm water does not naturally come out here, but she never asked for him to heat up the water. Not even last night, nor today.

Aven decided he’d have to install magic tools soon.

He needed something to replace him if he intended to gradually reduce the work needed to be done.

After putting a comfortable dressing gown on the table instead of cleaning up the bed, Aven left her bedroom.

“Well…”

When his presence disappeared, Seira opened the bathroom door and peeked. After confirming that no one was there, she trudged out.

“I can’t believe it, really,” she groaned to herself.

When I remembered hugging Aven in her sleep, her face turned as red as a ripe tomato. How ridiculous it must have been that he still stuck close to her after everything that happened last night.

‘I shouldn’t touch the rice wine as much as possible,’ she decided.

She was in a bad mood, so she drank too much until she passed out. Seira changed her clothes, rubbing her stiff shoulder and arms from sleeping on the cold floor. As she left the room and went down the stairs, the familiar savory smell wafted into her nose.

Seira’s pace gradually quickened and she reached the door of the dining room, but stopped unknowingly.

The spacious table was filled with food that Aven carefully cooked for her. Even now, he was buttering the sliced bread with his unique expressionless face. He spread it carefully to every corner, arranged them on a small plate, and pushed it toward her seat.

‘Oh, really,’ she sighed.

Who and how could she replace such a man? It’s been years since she lived in silence and tenderness. Seira closed her eyes tightly as if reminiscing the past and shortly opened them.

Meanwhile, Aven had raised his head and saw her.

“Duchess? Is something wrong?” he asked, concern barely showing in his face.

But Seira knew. A tiny laughter left her lips and she shook her head as she said, “I was just surprised because this is such a feast.”

Aven was bewildered for a while, yet he stood up and pulled out a chair for her nonetheless, “This isn’t even as good as a commoner’s table. Hurry up and eat.”

Seira, who sat quietly in the chair, smiled at him, “Thank you for the meal, Aven.”

After eating a bowl of Aven’s signature hot stew, Seira’s upset stomach quickly calmed down. She ate the chewy bread with glee, and she even finished the tomato salad.

Aven was deeply impressed by her remarkable resilience. He swore she was definitely dying of fatigue and hangover until half an hour ago.

“Come to think of it, Franto sent you a lot of things. I think it could be a dress?” he said.

“Yes,” she nodded, “he said he’d prepare it himself, I’m even surprised it came so quickly.”

A smirk spread across Seira’s face. It was clear that the dress was prepared even before his proposal was made. It looked like she’ll have to try it on to see if it really fits.

Seira came out to the drawing room with Aven. Inside, there was one giant box and several other small boxes. They probably contained her dresses, shoes, and accessories.

“Huh,” she scoffed, “he really sent it quite carefully.”

Seira casually took off her clothes.

“Duchess…? Why are you suddenly changing clothes here…” Aven said as he looked away.

“I’ll try on the dress. It’s hard to wear a banquet dress alone, so you will have to help me, Aven.”