<CHAPTER 30>
The Flower That Does Not Wither
It hurt.
To the extent that she could be certain her eyes were swollen shut even without looking in a mirror.
Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes even as the sunlight filtering through the curtains tickled her skin.
She had cried so much last night that her head still ached and her cheeks felt tight. Evelyn tried to rub her face with the back of her hand, then stopped, bowed her head, and curled up.
Then an arm she hadn’t realized she was resting on moved, pulling her toward Rexfail.
“Sleep more, Evie.”
His voice, hoarse and low, settled against Evelyn‘s ear. She felt her sleep vanish in an instant.
With eyes wide open, Evelyn was startled to find the man’s firm chest filling her vision.
However, she closed her mouth helplessly as she was pulled toward him once more by the force drawing her body to his. Her slender, high nose bridge pressed against Rexfail‘s chest.
“Ha, that tickles.”
Without realizing it, she moved her lips and swallowed, which seemed to have grazed her skin. Rexfail, still with his eyes closed, laughed while holding Evelyn.
In the meantime, Evelyn had turned her head and pressed her cheek, puffed to its fullest, against the smooth, muscular chest.
Thump, thump,
As her rapidly beating heart began to slow to the sound of his leisurely heartbeat, she felt at ease.
This was the first time she had greeted the morning together like this. Evelyn held her breath, reluctant to miss a single thing—the warmth transmitted through the night, the vibrating resonance, the turning heartbeat.
As she grew accustomed to the unfamiliar morning, outside sounds began to be heard. The guards were changing shifts, and birds were singing.
Normally, this would be the time she would rise, finish dressing, and go for a meal.
She had a duty to set an example for others, rules she had to follow.
But.
‘So what…’
She decided to be weak. She decided to use being Raven only as much as necessary.
Right now, Evelyn was not the Crown Princess and was not bound by any duty. For the first time since birth, she was truly free and comfortable.
She didn’t want to break this peaceful time she had finally encountered after being reborn by observing empty formalities.
She quietly turned her head, removed the pillow that had become the same temperature as her body, and pressed her forehead against his chest. Her hair touching him seemed to tickle, as Rexfail chuckled throughout.
Yet he didn’t open his closed eyes. The Crown Prince seemed to feel the same as Evelyn.
As if seeking confirmation, she placed a pecking kiss on his chin, and Rexfail, still with his eyes closed, pulled the woman attached to him into his embrace and left kisses here and there on her small head.
An involuntary laugh was escaping.
“Please rise, Your Highness.”
Vane‘s sulky voice was heard from outside the door.
The man who hadn’t asked permission opened the door, and Rexfail moved with astonishing speed.
Pulling the sheet up to cover Evelyn below her neck, then grabbing a pillow and throwing it was accomplished almost in an instant.
“Have you gone mad!”
At the Crown Prince’s roar, the aide who openly displayed his sleep-deprived state with dark circles under his eyes grumbled insolently.
“The sun is high in the sky! The breakfast meeting has been canceled and the schedule is backing up one after another!”
“Then make them wait!”
“Count Pusilli has come up from his estate after a month, and has been waiting only for his audience with you this week! Don’t you pity the elderly count?”
“Elderly, that greedy old man will outlive me.”
Rexfail, who had fallen asleep wearing only his upper clothes, stood before the bed wearing only his lower garments, shielding Evelyn from Vane‘s gaze.
Evelyn, who had fallen asleep wearing a thin dress, squirmed, unable to push away the sheet that covered them both.
“Did you have a good dream?”
In the meantime, Fenril, who had slipped in quietly, passed Vane and greeted Evelyn.
With only her face peeking out between the sheets, she awkwardly nodded in acknowledgment. Fenril smiled as joyfully as if he had received a great reward, and Rexfail, noticing him, called out his name. There was no guard dog quite like him.
The mad Crown Prince’s actions once again heated up the palace social circles.
He had lent even his chamberlain to help his newly acquired lover prepare for the reception banquet.
“They say there is no flower that does not wither, but it seems it was true indeed.”
People who witnessed the banquet came to firmly believe that the Crown Prince’s favor had shifted from the deceased Crown Princess to the new woman.
On the day of the banquet.
The Crown Prince had truly brought winter there.
Since autumn had just begun, the stored ice inventory must have run out, so the huge ice sculptures decorating the banquet were likely all made by employing mages.
Bare trees with all their leaves removed to set the atmosphere, and cotton plants at harvest time, were planted with soil in the main hall of the Winter Palace, creating a plausible atmosphere.
Blue and white-toned cloths were draped over the windows to block the view outside and deceive the season.
And because drawing curtains on the inside would make it look stuffy, they deliberately wrapped around the outside of the palace as if embracing the entire building.
There they decorated lavishly using lace and crystal.
Everyone guessed that an enormous amount of money must have been spent on this single banquet.
“So many magic stones!”
People marveled at other things as well, because the banquet time was close to midnight.
Since magic stones were expensive, unless it was an important event, oil or candles were used for lighting.
Therefore, the later the banquet started, the more it was like displaying noble status.
In this case, it became a means of displaying the Crown Prince’s favor toward the master of the Winter Palace.
“So, what was that woman like? They say she has a sensual figure and bewitching eyes that make men drool.”
Those who couldn’t attend the banquet were terribly curious about the woman named Raven, who rarely left the Winter Palace.
Paintings imagining her circulated, and poems were composed and sung in admiration of Raven, whom they had never seen.
However, those who had seen her in person remained silent, not because she was too ordinary and unremarkable compared to the rumors to find words to explain.
She was certainly beautiful. Young,
Her raven-black hair that seemed to absorb even light, and her two eyes that sparkled like wet pebbles, were enough to captivate.
The soft curve of her forehead, perfectly shaped eyebrows, nose with appropriate slope and height, and red, plump lips as well.
But the aesthetic sense of nobles is not captivated by such things.
If she were merely pretty. If discussing beauty, the beauties in paintings or sculptures who never age would be valued higher.
Of course, the special dress she wore that day was enough to elevate an ordinary woman’s evaluation.
The unique white fabric was transparent at the top, but grew increasingly opaque toward the bottom, creating an effect where the layered dark blue fabric seemed to gradually whiten. It gave the feeling of looking at a beautiful iced cocktail.
But what made the woman named Raven, clearly a commoner without a family name, shine was not such things.
“To you who will not forget Remensias. I dare to give thanks in place of the god for your coming to find the forgotten season.”
Those invited to the banquet clearly remembered the host’s greeting that signaled the banquet’s beginning.
The Delpeo-style Perantor language flowing from the mouth of a beautiful woman.
All the nobles at the place were bewildered by the perfect accent that even most nobles would struggle to imitate.
They couldn’t believe it was difficult to look down on a woman of unknown origins.
At the very least, even the content was perfect.
The forgotten season. Mentioning winter, which was not used as the palace’s name because it was the season when gods sleep, and the opening that began with “To you who will not forget Remensias.”
Just because gods sleep does not mean they are absent, and just because it is winter does not mean one need not believe in gods.
Thus, it was also an elegant warning not to look down on the palace’s dignity by speaking of winter.
Furthermore, seasons were not sought but welcomed. Therefore, those who responded to today’s invitation had not accepted the invitation of an insignificant commoner, but had simply inevitably welcomed a great flow, so they should not be offended.
In an instant, many nobles were captivated by the woman they were seeing for the first time.
“She might be a noble from a distant country.”
Raven was attracting attention, and those who felt unwilling admiration and surrendered to it increased.
However, among those who saw and heard directly, there were those who did not want to acknowledge her until the end.
“If she moves, everything will show.”
Insisting on low evaluations with the stubborn claim that someone must have written the greeting for her, and that memorizing the accent for a short greeting was something even commoners could do, they were mocked as the master of the Winter Palace moved to the center under the Crown Prince’s guidance.
