“Demimore!”
Her running through the flowers was like a scene from a masterpiece painting, momentarily captivating Demimore.
It was also the first image of her that existed in Demimore’s memories. The woman who admired the flowers in the garden. Sometimes, she seemed like a part of that garden.
“The wind is chilly.”
Freesia was once again dressed in thin clothes. Demimore draped the shawl he had brought over her shoulders.
The shawl was delicately woven to provide maximum softness for her, as she found it stifling to wear thick clothes.
Fortunately, Freesia seemed to like the gentle texture of the shawl, as she didn’t take it off again.
“It’s soft.”
“Have you seen everything?”
“Yeah. I hope there will be blooming daffodils tomorrow.”
Demimore found Freesia’s words amusing and chuckled softly. Now, the garden of Freesia was being maintained through tremendous magic.
She didn’t seem to know how hard it was to have flowers blooming so splendidly in cold weather.
The fact that Freesia wished for different flowers to bloom in the garden every day was truly Freesia-like, but it also felt suffocating, as if it encompassed everything she desired.
“Shall we go inside now?”
“Sure. I have very nice tea saved for us. I’ve been saving it to enjoy it with Demimore.”
Freesia said so with a twinkle in her eyes. Her expression was incredibly endearing. It was impossible to gauge her age.
Even the relentless passage of time seemed to show mercy only to her. Freesia leaned on Demimore’s support and left the garden.
At one time Demimore wondered if she could marry a woman like her mother.
As far as Demimore knows, her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. Demimore chuckled at his childhood thoughts.
His current fiancée is quite different from his mother in many ways.
“Huh? Why are you laughing?”
He had come here, thinking that being with his mother might make him forget about Mary, but Mary still lingered in Demimore’s mind.
Seeing Demimore’s silence, Freesia stopped in her tracks and stared at him intently. Demimore could not meet her pure and sincere gaze, so he only looked at Freesia’s white fingertips.
“What’s wrong?”
Freesia blinked endearingly. It was a gesture that the emperor loved the most.
When Freesia made this expression in front of him, the Emperor would effortlessly recount the trials and tribulations of his day.
Freesia couldn’t provide practical solutions, but just listening to him was enough to comfort him, he said.
Demimore was also vulnerable to this expression. That’s why he could barely lift his head and could only stare into the void without looking directly at Freesia’s face.
“Mother, don’t you feel frustrated?”
And finally, Demimore’s hesitant response was completely different.
The Emperor, who thought that Freesia, who suddenly appeared one day, could suddenly disappear one day, kept her confined here.
Demimore, who kept pestering to go for a walk on the streets with his mother, sat down with the emperor and listened to that frightening story. From then on, Demimore slept by Freesia’s side every night.
Since being forbidden from being together with Freesia by the emperor’s order, there was not a single day when the pillow didn’t become dry. It truly felt as if his mother would leave him alone in this place and disappear.
But at some point, he started to wish that she would disappear instead.
Rather than living like a caged nightingale… He’d rather her disappear somewhere, leaving behind.
She couldn’t even have a proper meal. Even a sip of drinking water was dangerous in the Imperial Palace.
One day, Cameron approached Demimore, who was crying in front of his mother, who had collapsed after ingesting poison, and he sneered.
“What are you crying about?”
“But my mother… I can’t do anything for her…”
“Don’t do anything, Demimore.”
“What?”
“Do you know why my mother hates that woman? Because she’s stealing His Majesty’s away from her? No, it’s because of you. If you were born as a girl, she could have just thrown you away as a friend of Lausanne. Why were you born as a son, threatening my path?”
“I never threatened…”
“Oh, of course, watching you acting foolish like this makes me think the anxiety I felt was unnecessary.”
There was a time when Demimore thought that he needed to become stronger to protect this weak and precious existence.
But after hearing Cameron’s words, Demimore changed his mind.
To protect his mother, he must not become a threat to anyone else. He must become weak.
“Why all of a sudden… Demimore, why are you asking that?”
“Shall we go out and live, Mother?”
It was an impulsive remark. He just felt frustrated today. To his mother, who thought this beautiful garden was the world to Mary, who suddenly disappeared and to himself, who couldn’t protect anything.
The name Freesia was given by the emperor to his mother, who did not even know her name.
A presence that would not be strange even if it disappeared or suddenly died. The Emperor would undoubtedly grieve, but his greenhouse was always filled with other flowers.
“Go out?”
“Just… Go outside and plant the flowers mother likes… There are so many amazing things outside. You can see them all. Eat to your heart’s content.”
“What about Diego?”
“……No, not with father.”
Demimore couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh at the sudden mention of the Emperor’s name. Was it really acceptable to casually call the name of such a dignified person? The Emperor didn’t expect anything from Freesia.
Therefore, he didn’t bother teaching her basic etiquette. He just wanted her to stay beautiful and lovely as she was when they first met.
Just watching the distorted affection from the side was suffocating, but the woman receiving that affection was so innocent.
“But if I suddenly disappear, Diego will die.”
She must have been properly brainwashed. The Emperor would never die even if she disappeared. But Freesia seemed to genuinely believe that.
As he looked at Freesia crying in distress, strange thoughts sprouted in Demimore’s mind as well.
If she had threatened Mary with her life like that, would she disappear like this?
If Mary were also confined like this, at first, it would be bleak, but over time, Mary might find her own little happiness like his mother…
“What’s wrong, Demimore? Tell me.”
Demimore’s expression seemed concerning, so Freesia gently stroked his cheek and asked softly.
“It’s nothing. Mother is happy living like this…”
He hesitated to continue.
Demimore bowed his head, unable to finish his words. How foolish of him to talk about happiness in front of his own mother.
Freesia didn’t know how many choices she had in front of her. She just lived by accepting what was given to her.
To treat Mary like his mother. Demimore, overwhelmed by a profound sense of self-disgust, let out a long sigh that felt heavy. He thought he was really the son of Diego Arstans.
“Aren’t you happy, Demimore?”
“……I don’t know.”
“Wait a minute.”
Arriving at the Star Palace, Freesia clapped her hands together and disappeared somewhere. Then she reappeared, holding something, and extended it to Demimore.
The paper in Freesia’s hand was old, unable to escape the passage of time, but it still looked like it had been cherished.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a charm!”
“A charm?”
“Now that I have Diego with me, I’m okay now.”
As Demimore stared at the paper, Freesia forcefully placed it in his hand, perhaps feeling frustrated.
Demimore cautiously began to unfold the paper. What kind of charm could this be?
“It seems like it would be good to give it to someone precious, Demimore.”
“Someone precious?”
“Mary?”
“Mary?”
There was Mary. Like a parrot, Freesia repeated Demimore’s words and then she realized something and giggled with joy.
“Yes! It would be nice to give it to Mary. Thanks to the Laminaicho that Mary gave me, I was able to survive!”
“No, this woman somehow resembles Mary…”
“She’s a saint. She protects us.”
“A saint?”
“She was the one who protected us from the God of Death.”
Freesia’s voice sounded like she was dreaming. Demimore remained focused on the picture of the saint inside the paper.
“That’s right. It would be good to take Demimore there. There was a house where the flowers in the garden changed every day.”
“There?”
“The place where I grew up.”
Demimore’s eyes sparkled as he heard Freesia’s story from the past.
Since Freesia never talked about her past, Demimore had assumed she had no memories at all.
“Do you remember, mother?”
“I don’t talk about the past because Diego doesn’t like it…”
“So that’s why you hope for the flowers in the garden to change every day.”
Realizing that Freesia’s whimsical wishes were not unfounded or nonsensical, Demimore expressed genuine remorse.
Freesia, unaware of Demimore’s thoughts, continued to speak cheerfully.
“Yeah, that’s right. Arsene said he did it for the saint.”
“Wait a minute, Arsene?”
Demimore interrupted her as her name caught his attention.
“Yes, Arsene. He was the one who protected the village after the saint disappeared.”
