Flowers of Worship

Chapter 5

I thought she knew who I was.

While thinking about that, I thought I would be able to ask her, ‘Where am I, who are you, and why am I being treated this way. I know who I am. Can you send me back, I’m a Prince, I’m…’

But there was nothing I could say, instead I just burst into tears. Though, I should hold back my tears because the only thing I have is my pride.

I’m Eden, Eden Grossland.

The successor to the Grossland kingdom and the Master of a kingdom, so I must survive. There is no way I will lose my pride.

Every day I looked at the woman, repeating the words in my head to the point of vomiting.

“I am Cecilia di Sarian.”

She introduced herself as if she had heard my voice. I haven’t seen such a person in a long time. Someone who introduces themselves to a person like me. She was welcoming, and fearful to those who spoke about themselves without self-deprecation.

This person knows who I am. So what is going to happen to me?

“This is Hastred Castle.”

Shamefully, I couldn’t remember where I am or who this person was. It was a time when I had already forgotten everything I had learned a long time ago. I was just trying not to forget who I was. I’m Eden Grossland, and I’m the Crown Prince. I’m not in a position to face this kind of situation, and it is very difficult just trying to hold on.

“You’d better wash up and eat. It’s already lunchtime.”

She spoke in a tone as if I had overslept.

While covering the smelly, dirty, and shabby me, my stomach kept grumbling.

She provided me with a warm bath, an adequate guest room, and food that I expected not to be able to eat again. She left me in the guest room and disappeared, but the manner of the servants who had beaten and despised me was completely different.

Of course, those who used to treat me as a slave and whip me did not suddenly come to respect me. She told them to treat me as a guest, but I didn’t want to be treated that way. So I was willing to do jobs. While they treated me like a job, they chatted to their heart’s content.

“You really came back.”

“You’re so beautiful. I can’t believe you are a knight with a face like that.”

“Are you sure you really want to assume that from just the title?”

“So, we are going to have the first female Duke in our country?”

I listened quietly, leaving myself in their hands. Duke, There were only four Duchess families when I was a Prince. I can’t remember all of the names, but the Sarian family sounds so unfamiliar.

Hastred Castle… I think I’ve heard of the name somewhere, but it was a long time ago. Still, I desperately collect information in my head in order to find out something useful.

She is Cecilia di Sarian. The sole heir of the Sarian family. She is 26 years old, and a knight.

I was a little surprised to know the difference in our age. I thought it would only be seven or eight years at a minimum.

I never thought that we only have a five-year age difference. However, when I found out my age, I thought that more things might have been better suited to me than her. A woman who looks like a girl, but smiles like a wise man.

She held me up.

She didn’t show any grimace when I was dirty. And she’s going to be a Duchess as well.

“It’s already lunchtime.”

I peeped at her face while she said that. Whatever she might have thought, I stared at her face very hard at that moment.

When I found a tiny little negative emotion in her face, the look on her face was disappointment, no, it was actually relief.

They’re all the same. I’m sure they’re trying to find a way to use me. No matter how many times I get hit, no matter how many times I die, I will not allow myself to be taken advantage of. I would just grit my teeth and act like I don’t remember anything.

She didn’t say who I was, but she still treated me as the Prince. Instead, she was a little indifferent about me being a Prince and treated me like a child of any noble family.

So my heart throbbed. I thought she’d do something.

“Your Highness is calling.”

At the end of the day, I had to be dragged out when I was about to fill my own stomach.

I was hungry, but all I wanted to do was to go see her. I didn’t care about the meal since I might be able to regain my fate. She might be able to do that. I thought it’s all right to starve to death if I could live as the Prince again.

Phew…

What are they all doing? Why are they looking for me?

His fearful heartbeat was rising, and he was dragged halfway into the air by the hand of the servant.

There were a man and woman standing by her side. Soon, they were aware of my identity and distressed. Meanwhile, she just looked at me, and examined me, as if she was sorting her thoughts.

When my stomach growled, I felt truly humiliated.

While I couldn’t say anything, she kindly hugged me and asked me to dine with her. We really ate together. Not only me, but also her men proposed to have a meal together.

The Duchess, no matter how many knights she has, sits with her men and eats with them. I thought it was strange because we are not in the middle of a war.

She ate slowly. As if she doesn’t like the meal. The man under her command also didn’t seem very interested in eating. Though the woman liked it very much.

“As expected, the meals in Hastred Castle are delicious.”

She looked at it in admiration. And had an expression of envy.

It doesn’t matter if they remember my past as the Prince. When I first came here, I tried to identify who I was, and regain my rightful rights. However, the only thing I got in return was beatings and torture. So when I pretended to have forgotten who I was, everything stopped. Even if it was a long time ago, I could never forget it.

Before I knew it, new food was on my plate.

Only then did I realize that whenever I gobbled up the plate, the woman, who would become the Duchess, called the servant with her eyes and filled my plate with more food.

Suddenly I felt ashamed. Eating quickly and rudely was not part of my effort to hide my identity. I was just starving. And actually, I forgot almost all the manners I learned.

“I wish our castle’s meal was delicious, too.”

“A good cook costs money.”

“That’s true.”

The woman sitting next to me talked about the cook without any hesitation with her subordinate. I could see that the female subordinate had a title. Baron? A woman? I didn’t know how this was possible.

The man dined gracefully than the woman. He looked like someone who had learned table manners. I tried to eat moderately without showing off my table manners.

The salary is higher than any cook, but Mrs. Wells came to our castle, in fact, and even had a higher salary as a cook.

“Ah.”

“Yes?”

“My father offered to take charge of Tom Wells’ education himself.”

“Tom Wells, isn’t he Mrs. Wells’ eldest son?”

It is the common aspiration of all parents to leave their children’s education to a higher family figure.

The Duke offered to educate the commoner? Why do all these impossible things happen here? My head can’t absorb all the information I am hearing.

“Mrs. Wells is the pride of Hastred.”

This woman is strange. She comforts me as if I’ve seen through my feelings. She accepted her not because she is a commoner, but because she was a great cook. I was lowering my head without saying anything because I thought I was going to cry but the man suddenly talked.

This woman is peculiar.

She comforts me as if she has seen through my feelings. She accepted Mrs. Wells not because she was a commoner, but because she was a great cook. I lowered my head without saying anything because I thought I was going to cry but the man suddenly talked.

“I heard Mrs. Wells’ salary is more than any chef’s. Is that true?”

“It is hard to say that she is better than any male chef, but…”

She then held me up and looked at the Duchess curiously, her female subordinate shook her head with a tired look on her face.

“She’s a real gourmet.”

“You have enjoyed life at its finest. You’ve tasted everything, not just gourmet.”

“Drinking, Food, Women, War, Power, Knowledge, Gambling, Politics…You really have the luck of the century.”

The man mumbled something dimly.

He seemed envious of the Duchess’s father.

The Duchess’s father was the Lord of the castle, the dead man, and the one who kept me here.

He hadn’t come to see me since he’d been here last year, never introduced himself to me, and never revealed what he was up to. He didn’t try to conciliate me, nor spy on me. He just kept me in an abandoned stable and provided me with enough food and environment to not die.

Why did he do that?

If he’s not going to do anything to me, why did he bring me here in the first place? In the meantime, I was forced from place to place.

There is not a single place that I went to with my own will. Everyone bought and sold me like an object. They all forced me around for their own interests, but why did they do that?

Why didn’t anyone take me, the Crown Prince, to the Grand Duke?

Aren’t I supposed to be the best prize of all? I couldn’t understand it.

That is the biggest question that I couldn’t understand for years, I ponder as I am gobbling my meal.

I wondered why no one would help me, but I wouldn’t know the answer either.

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It was in the middle of the night that the Duchess came to see me, I was beaten, so I vented my anger and slept.

It’s brightening up. It’s natural that I woke up because I usually wake up just from a little rustling.

I was quite wary.

This clean bed and delicious meal, and their friendly attitude. I thought all of these things they provided as if they were asking something in return. So I wasn’t surprised when she visited me.

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