Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

Seira had to hold back her laughter at the look of a big puppy waiting for compliments. When she sat down in her chair, barely able to hold herself back, Baron also sat down on what was originally Louis’ seat.

“Do you like the seat I have warmed up, Duke Jeff?” Louis asked sarcastically with a smile on his face.

Baron responded mercilessly and ended the conversation, “Not really.”

“Let’s stop talking nonsense and just eat.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The dinner began in such a chilly atmosphere.

As Seira cut tomatoes into pieces and put them in her mouth, she turned her head at the plate someone had pushed in front of her. Aven, who cut food for her, belatedly realized his behavior and stopped his hand. Pulling the plate naturally, Seira turned to Calrad and asked.

“When will we leave the imperial capital?”

“The sooner the better. How long do you expect it to take to get ready, Baron?”

Baron, who had been watching Aven’s actions closely, replied as he pushed a hard-cut veal steak toward Seira.

“It will take at least a week.”

“Oh… It’d take longer than I thought.”

“The 11th subjugation took a month to prepare. Of course, we moved with an army then, but this time Your Majesty is also accompanying, so we’ll need to prepare more thoroughly.”

Calrad nodded at Baron’s words and turned toward Seira.

“If you don’t have anything else planned, why don’t you stay at the imperial palace until then? You don’t have to move from one family to another, choose any palace you like, or you can use the palace where you stayed in the past.”

“Thank you for offering… but I think I should go to Askan.”

Slightly furrowing his brows at her words, Calrad asked, “Why so?”

“I want to make a grave for my father before I leave.”

There was no one who couldn’t understand what Seira meant at the moment. The tomb of Nathan Askan in the imperial capital was grand in appearance but had an empty coffin.

“If it’s about recovering the remains of the former Duke of Askan, I’ve tried, but failed.”

Seira’s eyes widened with Calrad’s words. It was the first time she had heard him speak of it.

“His Majesty has tried to search…?”

“Of course. He is the empire’s hero and the father of my fiancée at the time. During my time as Crown Prince, I had searched Askan with Baron several times. I even took a wizard with me, but it wasn’t easy.”

Baron, who sat next to Seira, nodded silently.

“Is there a way?”

Seira, who was frozen in a daze at hearing the unexpected words, came to her senses and answered Calrad’s question.

“…Not sure. I’m just going to try hard to find it.”

She had planned to use her power to search for Illuminum, but she didn’t think there was a need to explain that to Calrad.

“I see,” he hummed, “Let me know if you need help. I’ll support you with troops or anything.”

“Thank you for offering. I’ll try to find it by myself this time.”

Calrad, who had been staring at her smile, answered with a short sigh, “Okay. Do what you like.”

In a slightly subdued atmosphere, Seira resumed eating dinner. As she munched her daintily cut pieces of steak, several plates floated up and settled in front of her.

“From what I’ve seen before, you seemed to like seafood.”

It was none other than Louis who even used magic to pass on food to her.

The plates had various kinds of seafood that were skillfully peeled off from their spikes and shells. It was ridiculous to think that he was trying to fight Baron in this childish manner, but Seira couldn’t ignore Louis’ favor, who pretended to be her lover.

“Thank you, Louis. I wanted to eat this too.”

She smiled at him and put the fish dish into her mouth as if it was very tasty.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I ate at the palace.’

The taste of the food almost didn’t change, as if the chef in charge of her meals as a child was promoted to cook exclusively in the imperial palace.

As she ate and listened at the same time to Baron and Calrad regarding the plans for the subjugation force, all her plates had become suddenly empty.

‘I should avoid this kind of position from now on.’

She didn’t intend to devour a lot of delicious food, but Seira felt a bit tired.

She expected that a gathering of alphas wouldn’t be peaceful, but there were more childish aspects she didn’t expect. Like arguing where she sat, and making it a competition who gets to serve her a plate of food.

‘Would it be fine to form a subjugation force with these people?’

Soothing her slightly bloated stomach with a refreshing lemon sherbet in front of her, Seira worried about something for a while. Although the emperor, Calrad, didn’t know, Louis and Baron were bound to argue with each other in every case.

“Seira.”

Out of the blue, Calrad called out to her. When she looked up at him, his blue eyes were slightly lowered as if avoiding her gaze.

“This. It’s something you especially enjoy eating.”

It turned out that the lemon sherbet had come from him. His earlobes were blushing, as if knowing his behavior was childish.