Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

“Seira. It’s been a long time since I saw you at a banquet,” Calrad said.

It was clear that he had taken a seat at the end of the platform so she couldn’t get time to escape him. When he learned of her coming with Louis, he made up his mind to pin her to a conversation.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Seira calmly replied, looking somewhere in Calrad’s chest.

He came down the stairs and stopped right in front of her. The gap between them was now less than an inch away.

“Have you changed your mind?” he asked.

His voice pretended to be calm, but Seira could detect it was filled with anger. Others wouldn’t have noticed, but Seira did, as naturally she learned it from all those times they spent together back when they were still engaged.

Seira finally looked up at Calrad and said, “You could say that.”

His gaze was intense, like daggers whipping directly towards her heart.

Seira observed how his mood changed from within his freezing blue iris. The place was the same as seven years ago, but somehow everything else was different.

“I think I’ll be attending often now,” she added with a soft tone that she knew Calrad liked very much, “I have a new partner.”

Seira’s face lit up with a bright smile, like a flower in full bloom and in love.

Calrad, who she thought would burst out in anger in an instant, unexpectedly pressed his lips into a thin line and looked at Seira quietly.

Everyone watched breathless as Seira smiled at Calrad who only stared blankly at her.

Seira in a dress, which many haven’t seen in a long time, looked whiter in contrast to the deep purple of the dress. Her platinum blonde hair, ivory skin, and mysterious purple eyes were extremely pretty as if to prove her prestigious lineage.

They all seemed to have been woven into silver and gold.

The image of Calrad Lowell Viseltium, the owner of the Imperial Hesrad, and her standing close to each other, became a perfect picture as if they had been paired from birth.

There was no way that anyone would deny it. The pheromones, which she only found out five days ago, deceived each other to surprising extents. Even in the midst of fierce emotions at that.

Maybe that’s why.

Calrad reached out to her looking like he couldn’t bear the slightest refusal.

“Let’s go outside,” he said, “we need to talk.”

Seira’s jaws dropped slightly, as if not expecting his suggestion.

“Your Majesty, she attended the banquet as my partner.”

Calrad’s face hardened with the sudden intrusion of Louis into their conversation.

“You will dance with me for the first time, so if you have something to say, call me another day.”

“…”

Calrad didn’t ask Seira if Louis’ words were true. Perhaps he’d already heard from Philip. And yet he suggested that they go outside. Did he not accept that Seira had other options for Alphas as her partner?

“Louis Franto.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Louis calmly looked into Calrad’s fierce eyes. He wasn’t scared at all even as they tried to intimidate each other. But making enemies with the imperial family was bound to only bring problems.

Seira slipped back from the hot confrontation between Calrad and Louis, which didn’t end easily. A servant passed by with drinks on his tray and she naturally picked a glass for herself and smirked.

‘I didn’t expect to see all this fun stuff.’

As she was about to put the glass on her lips to cover her mouth so she could laugh, a man approached and said, “Drinking on an empty stomach would be really bad.”

At some point, Aven approached and took the champagne glass from her hand as if it was natural. What he offered in exchange was a plate of easy-to-eat food.

“Thank you, Aven.”

Seira’s eyes were hooded, and she smiled as she took a bite of a biscuit with yogurt and nuts on it.

“You look great today,” he complimented her.

“Didn’t you see it in the mansion?” she said as she slowly stuffed more food into her mouth.

“But you look even better from here,” he insisted. “Eat some fruit, too.”

He put a strawberry with chocolate sauce in her mouth, all with his signature expressionless face. Only after Seira had eaten that he gave back her glass of champagne.

As Calrad and Louis’ confrontation turned more intense by the hour, Baron suddenly intervened between them.

“Your Majesty.”

“Why, Baron?”

As he answered Baron, Calrad’s gaze was still directed at Louis. Baron continued anyway.

“You gave out rewards for today’s banquet, am I right? But unlike others, I haven’t asked Your Majesty for anything yet.”

Baron’s words took Calrad’s attention and he replied, “You said you couldn’t think of anything.”

“Well,” Baron straightened his posture, “now I do.”

Calrad nodded as he observed Baron, who was acting uncharacteristically.

“We can’t skip the reward of the commander-in-chief. Tell me if you want anything,” Calrad told him.

Baron looked at Seira once, Louis once, and Calrad for the last time before he opened his mouth.

“As the leader of the conquest, I want to do the first dance of today’s banquet with Duchess Askan, another hero of victory.”