Don't Come to Wendy's Flower House

Seeing him lowering his head, Lard said, “Sir Dylan Lennox, you still haven’t learned the manners of an Imperial Knight. Didn’t you learn that it’s rude to stand like this in front of your boss? I think I pointed out the same problem with your courtesy at Jerus Hall. If you belonged to the 1st Knights Division, I would teach you about imperial courtesy right now, but let me give you another chance to learn about the imperial knight manners. This is my last warning. Do not show this kind of rudeness in front of me again.”

Lard had never spoken to anybody with such a cold and frightening voice. Even Lard’s deputies standing nearby were shocked at his unprecedentedly harsh voice. Jean glanced at him quickly because he had never seen Lard showing such blatant displeasure to someone.

“Olivia!”

Sitting under a lush tree, Olivia raised her head, hearing Dylan calling her name.

As soon as she put down the book she was reading on her lap, he jumped off the horse and quickly ran towards her. She felt his body was hot, with beads of sweat on his forehead.

“I sparred with master Lebelian and won for the first time! He said he did his best to beat me. Hahaha! Do you know how I feel right now? Today is a really historic day for me!”

So excited, the young man with sky blue hair grinned at Olivia cheerfully.

Olivia also smiled at him and pulled out her handkerchief.

“Wipe your sweat first. Sweat stinks! Did you run here without washing off first?”

“How can I wipe off the afterglow of my victory so easily? I’ve run to you as I was done sparring. Aren’t you happy, too?” Dylan jokingly said, with a mischievous look on his face.

“Of course, I’m happy. I know you have been looking forward to that for a long time, and you finally got it! Oh, I think it was good that I prepared this. Come on, let me give you this to celebrate your victory.”

Smiling at him, Olivia offered a package. Dylan glanced at the package, wondering what she was doing, and quickly unwrapped the package in excitement. When he opened it, there was a box made of mocha-colored royal foxglove tree. It was a flat and long box.

“What is this?”

“Open it.”

Olivia pressed him to open it as soon as possible.

Inside the box there were five large and small brushes. They were made by the famous craftsmen of the empire, made with the highest quality weasel hair and squirrel hair.

“… How do you know I would like this? ”

“Of course, I know because you have ink stains on your fingers and clothes all the time. I also saw you carrying canvas and brushes in your saddlebag several times. ”

“Didn’t you think I’m weird? ”

“Why?”

“I mean you know that I want to be a swordsman, but you see me drawing pictures. ”

“Well, do you think that’s strange?”

Olivia looked at the distant sky, speaking as if it was not a big deal.

“… Well, the weather looks weird to me today. I think I should go back. It looks like it will rain soon. ”

Dark clouds were already gathering from afar. Her round forehead shined brightly even under the darkening sky.

“When you have a chance, show me what you have drawn. Don’t hide your canvas like that. I’m looking forward to it.”

Staring at her blankly, he blushed. In no time, he took out one of the brushes out of the box and grabbed it in his hand.

“My master always told me that a sword was like a black fate to the swordsman. He told me the moment you touched the sword you would know it’s yours… As for brushes, it’s like a swordsman’s sword. I think I can know it when I grasp this,” Dylan said, chuckling like a boy. “Let’s go, I’ll escort you to the western field.”

He reached out to Olivia. Hesitating for a moment, she gently touched his hand.

Dylan squeezed her hand as if holding a brush.

“So, it’s like fate.” He muttered to himself.

“Huh?”

He just shook his head when she said she couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

She looked up at the sky again with a smile. It looked like rain anytime soon.

Tuk, tuk, tuk.

Wendy woke up at the sound of rain knocking on the window. It was still early morning.

She felt like she was wandering in a dream for a while, but she couldn’t remember what it was about. She stretched. As it was a dream, she didn’t care. She felt much better than the previous day, and she liked that.

Looking at the door quickly, she found the door securely locked. The Poison Teeth plant in the doorway opened its petals, asking for prey. She generously fed the Poison Teeth, recognizing its nice job of protecting her room throughout the night. Although she didn’t doubt the man on the first floor, it was the first time she spent the night with a man under the same roof, so she was on edge.

Besides, she kissed him last night.

Right at the moment, she dropped the tweezers on the floor, with which she was feeding the Poison Teeth. The kiss occupied her mind again.

“Oh my…what did I do last night?”

Wendy felt the sizzling heat of the midsummer sun shining on her cheeks.

She had a fever from head to toe at once. She vowed last night that she would forget all about it in the morning, but it was of no use. She picked up the tweezers and opened her eyes wide with frustration.

After getting dressed, she fidgeted and went down to the first floor with a lot of discomfort. She saw a neat-looking man sitting on the couch of the living room. He had already washed his face and got dressed.

“Did you sleep well?” She said, raising her chin conceitedly.

“I slept well thanks to your warm considerations. I used the first floor bathroom without your permission because I might wake you up. I hope you can understand me. ”

She nodded silently once. She was annoyed to hear him mentioning ‘thanks to your warm considerations,’ but she decided not to take issue with that.

‘Thanks to my warm considerations? What does that mean? Are you talking about what happened last night? Doesn’t that mean you slept well thanks to your own actions?’

Wendy chewed on the words, nervously thinking that his words had hidden meaning. She was nervous about saying too much.

‘Can you have a drink of water? Nothing happened between you and me! What do you mean you slept well because of my warm considerations?’

She tried to figure out if he had any other motivation behind his words. Each of his words now rubbed her on the wrong way.

Lard asked, “Can I have a cup of water?”

“…Let me bring it to you. Would you like to have a quick breakfast? Are you hungry?”

She said that out of courtesy as the owner of her house, hoping he would refuse it.

He replied with surprise, as if he didn’t expect she would make such a suggestion, “…Well, if you don’t feel bothered, please…”

She blinked at his answer a couple of times then nodded. Normally, she would try to make some plausible excuses to induce him to refuse her suggestion, but this time she went into the kitchen without saying anything.

Dropping a glass on the table, she hurriedly poured water in it. Her hand trembled slightly when she was pouring water.

She bit her lip, ‘Why didn’t I refuse him?’

She tried to pull herself together while pouring water, but she couldn’t for some reason.

For some time, she was cooking, blaming herself. Finally, she prepared a bigger breakfast than usual.

She diligently went to the front yard, picked a handful of vegetables, and took out the fine oil and pepper in the cupboard. Without her injured finger, she might have served a southern steamed dish chopped and wrapped in grape leaves with minced vegetables early this morning.

After persuading herself that it was to keep her pride at the table, she put her brain to work to prepare a delicious breakfast. Although she asked in passing if he wanted breakfast, she was now serious about treating him to the best breakfast she could.

He sat upright on the couch, hearing the sounds coming from the kitchen. He soon leaned back on the couch and relaxed. He felt good about the sound of her cutting something on the chopping board regularly. His smile was relaxed, despite his cold eyes.

Suddenly, he rose from his seat, waking up to the fact that his expression was relaxed.

Touching his chin, he felt strange that he could spend a night at somebody’s house so comfortably.

She saw him pacing up and down nervously near the kitchen, lost in thought.

Seeing his yellow hair shaking gently, she began to feel strange. It was very difficult for her to express that feeling. She had never felt that kind of feeling before.

In the meantime, Lard was carefully watching her cooking.