I returned to the main manor.
As I entered, no one greeted me. Not even the faint sound of hurried footsteps rushing ahead to announce my arrival.
For a moment, I simply stood near the entrance, staring at the familiar walls. The main manor had not changed much.
I walked toward my room without slowing down.
The moment I opened the door, a faint smell of dust greeted me. The feeling that it has been unused for a long time.
My eyes moved around the room.
There was not a single flower in sight, which made the smell of wooden walls and dust feel heavier.
The clean scent of fresh bedding.
As I lowered myself completely and collapsed into the bed.
The mattress sank beneath my weight.
"AAAAAAAAA…"
My sound muffled as I bury my face.
"This bed is too soft I miss it so much!"
The sound escaped from my throat before I could stop it.
I had almost forgotten that bedding could feel like this.
I turned my head against the pillow and stared at the ceiling.
Thinking about it now, the room I had lived in for over a year had always felt strange.
Back at that manor, the mattress had been rough, stiff, and miserable. I had asked for it to be changed once but Kel seemed to unable to do much of it as she looks at me with hesitation. If she could have replaced it, she would have done so before I even asked.
Even my belongings had remained here in the main manor.
It looked like someone had tried to create a noble girl's room based only on an idea of what a noble girl should be. Some items were too small for a teenager. Some were too large, more suited for an adult woman. The furniture did not match properly. The dresses prepared there had never felt like they belonged to the same person.
It was as if the room had been assembled from leftovers.
Yet out of all the room, that was the only room that's been decorated.
Even Kel, who had served in this manor for years, could never answer why it was like that.
I stand upright.
"Kel... Can I go now?"
Kel looks at me as if she understands what I meant.
"I'll go get the courier."
—An hour later, Helianth estate—
The carriage door opened.
I gathered the hem of my dress and moved toward the entrance, ready to step down on my own, when a gloved hand reached toward me.
His hand was steady, palm lifted with proper restraint.
A year passed by and he has more of a decent look now.
Which baffles me awhile ago.
—Awhile ago—
A young man stood beside the carriage.
I stare for a moment in confusion.
His posture was straighter, his shoulders broader beneath the neat uniform, and his face had sharpened in a way that made him look almost unfamiliar. His wavy dark green-brown hair fell softly around his forehead, tidier than before but still carrying the same natural messiness that refused to be completely tamed.
His yellow-brown eyes looked at me with clear, quiet happiness.
"Welcome back, My lady."
"Who's he?"
He froze.
The young man's expression cracked.
"Lady Velora…"
Kel slowly chuckles.
"…Ethan?"
His face lit up at once.
"Yes!"
'Woah what? He changed...'
The Ethan I remembered was a nervous boy and looked as if a strong gust of wind could knock him into the nearest flower bed.
'A year had passed, yes, but was a year supposed to do that much?'
"He actually tried to look decent for you, My Lady."
Kel boast as she pats Ethan shoulder, Ethan panic.
I looked him up and down without meaning to.
"You grew taller."
"Yes, My lady."
I clicked my tongue under my breath.
'Why did he sound so happy about being told something obvious?'
'He's already tall but why is he growing even taller!?'
I cross my arms in disbelief.
—Grave inside the Helianth estate—
"I'm finally here, Elie."
My words flows through the wind.
The breeze was stronger than I expected, brushing past the grass and tugging lightly at the ends of my hair. It carried the scent of leaves, damp soil, and flowers from somewhere deeper inside the estate garden.
Kel and Ethan left me for a moment to be alone with her.
I gently placed the daisies Cassien had brought beside her grave.
"How are you Elie."
I stood before the grave in silence. Fresh flowers had been placed near the stone.
My fingers slowly reached toward the tombstone. The stone felt cold beneath my touch.. I traced the engraved letters carefully, reading her name again and again as if I could force myself to accept it by touching the proof.
Funny enough, and annoyingly.
The name written here is Elie Heliath, not Amerist.
'I will really punch him if I ever see him.'
As my fingers slowly brushed over the tombstone, my gaze drifted lower, I noticed a rose symbol engraved beneath her name.
Suddenly memories rushes in.
"Vel, do you know what code I would want?"
I looked at her from where I crouched beside the flower bed.
"What is it?"
"A rose."
I stared at her.
A second passed.
I laughed.
"Pfft… isn't that too common?"
Elie's face immediately fell.
"Ehh? I did well on that."
She puffed her cheeks, sulking.
"People may not know the full meaning, but the person who matters will."
I let out a laugh as I touch her grave once more.
The memory faded with the wind.
"Dummy."
My voice trembled.
Suddenly a strong wind passed by.
Something moved near the base of the tombstone.
At first, I thought it was a leaf.
A small brown-green shape shifted between the flowers, round and tiny, almost blending into the grass. It peeked out from beside the tombstone with curious eyes.
An earth fairy.
It stood there openly, as if it already knew I could see it.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
The fairy blinked at me.
I blinked back.
"Huh? What is this? Who are you for?"
'Last time I remember, I'm either a Light or Dark Element.'
As I bend down closer to it and slowly reach my hand out of it.
The fairy watched me without running away.
"You…"
"Were you with her?"
The earth fairy did not answer.
As I slowly reached out, the earth fairy suddenly moved to the side.
My fingers brushed against the flower behind it instead.
The moment I realized what I had touched, I pulled my hand back in horror, my breath catching in my throat.
The earth fairy stared at me.
I stared at the daisies.
They did not wither.
They did not change at all.
I looked down at my hand.
For a moment, I simply stared at my gloved fingers, unable to understand what had just happened.
By some miracle, the daisies had not changed.
Or perhaps—
"Indirect?"
My gaze slowly lowered to the long gloves covering my hands.
During the past year, I had noticed something strange about this ability. As long as there was something between my skin and the flower, nothing happened. Cloth, glass, paper—anything that kept my touch from being direct seemed to prevent the change.
As long as it was indirect, the flower remained untouched.
I let out a small laugh in disbelief.
With careful fingers, I picked up one of the daisies Cassien had brought.
I slowly removed one glove.
I pressed my bare fingertip against one petal.
The change happened at once.
The white petals shuddered.
A faint yellow stain spread from the point of contact, crawling through the flower like poison seeping through veins. The stem twisted slightly, and the soft daisy transformed into a cluster of small yellow blooms that looked almost like daisies, yet carried a strange, unpleasant sharpness.
Jacobaea vulgaris (Tansy Ragwort)
"So it really is direct contact…"
I pulled my hand away at once.
Only then did I remember the fairy beside me.
My body stiffened.
The earth fairy was still there.
'Crap...'
I turned toward it in a panic, suddenly flustered.
"I—wait, I did not mean to—"
My words tangled together.
For some reason, I felt the need to explain myself to a creature that might not even understand human speech.
"I am not doing this because I want to. It just happens. I know it looks bad, but I swear I am not trying to turn flowers into poison for fun."
It simply watched me with that same calm, unreadable expression, as if changing a flower into poison in front of it was not strange at all.
"…You are weirdly fine about this?"
'I thought the fairies hate her for making them poison?'
The fairy tilted its head.
"I feel like you don't understand me at all..."
I slowly stood and saying my goodbyes to Elie. I fix my glove in place and left.
—Velora's room—
'I know fairies don't understand me but...'
'WHY'S IT HERE!?'