Chapter 104
The Village Where Sweet Osmanthus Blooms
The next day, while warmly watching over Abel and Maria—who were both awkwardly conscious of each other—we headed to the nearest village.
Maria was wearing the cream-colored dress that Ran had brought for her last night, and since she was already a beautiful girl to begin with, she’d become an absolutely stunning beauty.
Somehow, it feels hot inside the carriage…
At times like this, the only thing to do is gaze at my cool and refreshing older brother’s face.
The light catches his silver hair, making it sparkle.
As always, even his profile is beautiful.
While I was gazing at him in fascination, my eyes met Ervin’s, who was sitting beyond my brother.
He looked exasperated for some reason.
So what!
My brother’s face is a treasure of the entire world—no matter how long I look, I never get tired of it.
As Ervin and I glared at each other like that, Maria, misunderstanding something, spoke up cheerfully.
“You two are really close, aren’t you?”
“Do we look close?”
“Eh? Yeah.”
When I asked back, Maria answered honestly, and I thought, I see—so we look close to her.
Well, we are engaged, after all. It’s probably better to look close than to look like we’re on bad terms.
But Ervin tilted his head slightly.
“You’re closer with Serios than with me, though.”
That’s true. Because he’s my big brother.
And besides, he’s been my ultimate favorite since my previous life.
“We’re siblings, after all. And when I was little, I nearly died many times, and each time my brother held my hand. Of course we’re close.”
Ufufuun.
When I said it proudly, for some reason Abel looked at Ervin with pity.
“I thought the Crown Prince had it easy, but… well, uh, hang in there.”
“Hahaha…”
At Abel’s words, Ervin let out a dry laugh. Even Maria was looking at him with sympathetic eyes.
I didn’t really understand what was so funny, but my brother was smiling cheerfully, so I guess it’s fine.
“Oh, we’ve arrived.”
When the carriage stopped, Ran opened the door for us.
With his help, I got down together with Moko, and a wonderful village—straight out of a picture book—appeared before us.
“How lovely…”
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration.
At the entrance of the village stood an arch-shaped gate of flowers. Colorful roses were entwined around the top, while below, flowers like freesias and daisies swayed in the breeze, filling the air with a sweet fragrance.
“This place is…”
Isn’t this the village from the novel?
If I remember correctly, this was the village where Princess Fiona prayed in the church, and Abel fell in love with her after seeing her beauty.
My brother went to the church with Abel, witnessed the exact moment his best friend fell in love, and then…
“Wow. It’s beautiful!”
Maria’s voice snapped me back to reality.
Oh no, no.
This is no longer the world of the novel Gran Avert that I knew.
Abel’s lover is Maria, and my brother’s fiancée isn’t Princess Fiona.
“Our village is lovely too, but this place is amazing as well.”
As Maria looked around curiously while walking, Abel took her hand and said, “It’s dangerous if you’re not watching where you’re going.”
These two are unconsciously lovey-dovey.
That realization made me feel relieved.
“Kyuu.”
Moko looked up at me worriedly.
Yeah. I’m fine.
Everything is different from the novel. There’s no future where my brother becomes the final boss.
I turned around and smiled at my brother.
“Brother, it’s such a charming village. If it’s here, Maria’s engagement ceremony will surely be wonderful.”
“Yeah. This village is famous for flower cultivation. The flowers called kōka—fragrant blossoms—are especially well known. Look, they’re blooming over there.”
Following where my brother pointed, I saw small yellow flowers densely packed along finely branched twigs.
Each time the wind stirred, the petals swayed, making them look like tiny butterflies dancing.
A flower I’d seen in my previous life too—sweet osmanthus.
Only for a brief time each year, when the window of my hospital room was opened, the sweet scent of flowers would drift in.
Even when I looked down from the window, I could never see the tree itself, but the fragrance carried on the wind always announced the arrival of autumn.
“It really does smell nice…”
“In this village, they make it into potpourri and also use it as a perfume ingredient.”
Now that I think about it, even in my previous life, many air fresheners were scented with sweet osmanthus or lavender.
But still—Brother, how did you know about the flowers of such a small village?
“Do you happen to have memorized the specialties of every village?”
When I asked my brother, who casually shared village information, he half-confirmed it.
“Not quite to that extent. But I did memorize all the information on the villages in the eastern region.”
Eeeeeeh?!
All the villages in the eastern region—just how many is that?!
