Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

It must’ve been buried with Nathan, so she hadn’t thought about it so far. She couldn’t bear to ask her father where he died.

But there was no way out. Mel, who she wasn’t sure was an ally or an enemy, and High Priest Tesser who tried to catch her, were also formidable figures. Not to mention Calrad. It would be brutal to deal with them with poor supply of steel swords.

‘And how long will my father’s body… no, I can’t throw it away.’

Even if she didn’t want to face it, she shouldn’t look the other way anymore. After somehow locating and recovering Illuminum, she must build a new tomb for Nathan and return Moor to Baron. She could only hope that she didn’t have to use it until then.

Louis, who glance at her wrist, said lightly, “Well, shall we go in?”

He didn’t seem to have any intention of pretending he didn’t recognize Moor.

“Yes.”

She wondered why Baron agreed with Louis, but she didn’t think she’d get an answer if she asked him now.

‘I’ll have to try with Baron later.’

Leaving the question aside, Seira entered the building with Louis.

Even thought there was still a bit of time left, most of the seats were already filled. At times like this, there were people who exchanged greetings with one another, people who were difficult to interact with, and some who fought over business.

The two upper seats of the long C-shaped table belonged to Jeff and Franto.

It was only in the days of Askan’s prime that Jeff and Franto competed for the second seat, leaving one seat empty for Askan’s family. However, that was all in the past. If Seira missed a step, Askan’s seat would’ve completely disappeared from this assembly hall.

There was no certaintly that the seat next to Franto was for Askan, but Seira shamelessly walked toward it. From the moment Louis and Seira entered, it seemed that her seat was somewhere else by the way the other nobles watched them in silence.

‘I don’t give a damn.’

She wasn’t someone who would be happy to be given the best seat or angry to be given the last.

She was not the one who would be happy to give the best seat or angry to give the best seat.

If they don’t like her seating there, they could take it away as it is now, and if they don’t give her space, then she’ll have an attendant give her a chair.

“Do you want to sit here?” Louis said as he pointed to his chair.

“That’s all right. Actually, I’d like to sit at the end.”

She was sincere when she said she wanted to sit furthest away from the throne. She chose to stand by Louis purely because of the contract she made with him.

As Louis sat down on the chair he pulled out, her eyes met Baron’s, who looked her way with his arms crossed from the other side.

Seira smiled softly and tapped on her wrist at the straight and persistent gaze that was unlikely to go away. She mouthed a thank you, silently moving her lips, and he finally turned his head away with a smile.

Only then did she slowly look around the hall. She already knew it from the moment she entered, but she couldn’t see Aven.

‘He’s late for some reason.’

She was slowly beginning to worry because she couldn’t see him even as the meeting was about to start.

‘I hope nothing’s going on.’

Originally, she was going to leave after telling the news to Askan early in the morning, but she fell asleep and woke up in the carriage instead, so her plan was disrupted.

Even though she wondered if he’d arrive on time, it was hard to let go of her thoughts thinking it wasn’t like Aven to be late. He was always diligent.

“His Majesty has arrived!”

And eventually, as she had feared, Calrad arrived before she could see a glimpse of Aven. The door of the assembly hall closed after the chamberlain, who would record the meeting, came after Calrad. Now, she had no choice but to endure the meeting before she could meet Aven.

Calrad rose from his seat, walked past the nobles with their heads bowed low, and then stood in front of the throne.

“I would like to congratulate you all for your hard work gathering here today in response to my call. Let’s take a seat.”

With the ceremonial greeting, Calrad sat first on the throne and the rest of the nobles followed.

“But, Seira Askan.”

At his call, which never went unnoticed, Seira looked at Calrad with a sigh.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Your seat won’t be there. You must have been misguided.”

“I must’ve been mistaken,” she politely said, “It’s been a while since I attended…”

Seira answered him with a big smile.

“I’ll move my seat if you want. Can I sit next to Jeff?”

Calrad’s brow slowly twisted. Seira naturally continued to talk, ignoring his expression.

“But I think that seat at the end would be fine.”

“Your place is here,” Calrad said as she calmly got up from her seat and tried to move.

A sneer flashed across Seira’s face as she turned slowly and looked at him.

“You are too much of a joke, Your Majesty.”

The place he had pointed at was the seat next to him, which was solely for the emperor’s companion.