Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

“Let’s go,” she told him.

Aven had a lot to say, but he just moved the carriage immediately as she instructed and asked her softly, “Are you okay?”

Seira frowned at his query, “No.”

She took out a handkerchief from under her sleeves that was owned by Louise Franto. Aven instantly recognized it with just a side glance, and he took out his own and handed it over to Seira instead. She leaned forward and spat out blood on the piece of cloth.

“I told you earlier. You don’t think I cried because of Calrad, do you?” she asked.

“I wish I could say no, but… I’m sorry.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t that much wrong. No one knew that Calrad tried to catch her. People only knew that they were unilaterally divorced. It was clear that many misunderstood her tears at the reunion they had today, thinking she still had feelings for the Emperor and couldn’t forget him.

“This is driving me nuts,” she groaned, “He and I are practically enemies now.”

Beyond causing damage politically, today they even attacked each other with pheromones. The two of them had been on each other’s throat that the enmity they built over the past seven years was almost irreversible.

“You must have used your power today,” Aven noted.

Seira, who was embarrassed by Aven’s confident words, turned away as she confirmed, “Yes…”

“Was it something you really had to do?” he asked again, but the question was left hanging as if he already knew the answer to it but just had to ask her anyway.

Seira recalled her brief encounter with Calrad.

‘Did it really have to be like that?’ she found herself doubting her actions.

Perhaps they could have avoided it and parted peacefully. But the chances were slim, and she had to decide. To be obedient or to rebel – she had to choose right away.

Among the many options, Seira’s choice was an extreme gamble. She angered him with her words that gnawed him on the inside, and he retaliated accordingly. If Calrad hadn’t let his guard down, or had a better grasp of her powers, she would’ve been brutally crushed by now.

‘I didn’t think Calrad still wanted to have me.’

If she was to be honest, Seira was mortified by her initial reaction when faced with the fierce desire that filled his blue eyes. She barely spoke in front of him, but she was still confused in the end.

‘It’s not a matter that could be solved just by choosing a suitable marriage partner,’ she sighed.

Unless it was a family as powerful as Viseltium, her spouse could be easily harmed by Calrad’s tyranny.

Having Aven as her first choice, Seira’s worries were bound to grow. Will Aven, who has no political background or power, be able to withstand Calrad? Also, she was worried for herself. Wouldn’t she regret putting Aven in the face of danger because of Calrad’s possessiveness?

Seira gazed sideways at Aven who was driving the carriage, and then heaved a long sigh.

“He made me angry first,” came her reply to his previous question.

“Oh… His Majesty had made a huge mistake out of himself.”

She gave a grumpy remark without an explanation, but Aven still took her side naturally. Seira smiled and turned her head forward.

Taking advantage of the joyful mayhem caused by the end of the subjugation war, the carriage they rode safely escaped the imperial palace. If they left Viseltium like this, they wouldn’t meet Calrad in a while.

“I’ve paid him back accordingly, so it’s fine now.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

It was a bland reply far from being friendly, but it made Seira feel better nonetheless.

After a long run on a well-polished road, they finally got out of Viseltium. Seira started to relax, leaning her back comfortably and tilting her head backward.

Aven turned around to wrap his coat around her, and he noticed red marks left on her slender neck. The shape that remained on her pale skin was clearly that of a handprint. He didn’t intend to pester her anymore about it for he understood immediately that Calrad had intended to subdue her back at the imperial palace.

Pretending to see nothing, he covered her with his coat up to the chin and changed the subject.

“Duchess, what are you going to do with the commander-in-chief’s sword?”

“Well…” she hummed as she thought for a while, “I’m still thinking about it, but I’d like to try and ask the ministry. Even half of it would be quite a large sum of money.”

“The Minister, Count Figley, is a very strict person as I’ve heard. Favors don’t work that much at all.”

“Don’t you think it is possible? After all, it was because we defended the empire from the beasts that are destroying it.”

“By kicking Damebon’s Pommel?”

The damebon found in the tombs of the ancients is called the ore of God. In terms of strength, it was comparable to that of adamantium and could endure large amounts of energy poured into it. It wasn’t just a simple material.

The material used on Baron’s great sword Pommel was a magical substance called Rementa. It was valuable enough to be traded at a price similar to the weight of the Damebon.

Aven was clearly worried, “If this is known, more and more people will be interested in your power. Would that be all right?”

Seira released a long and worrying sigh at Aven’s words.

“Right. That’s a problem, too.”

Baron and Zion were the only outsiders who ever witnessed her power unleashed up close on the battlefield. But even they would not have guessed that Seira had two main abilities.

Well, hopefully they didn’t.