The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 12

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Eldest Daughter Walks the Path of Flowers Episode 12

Radis almost shouted at Hover to get lost.

However, she couldn’t do that.

Hover’s voice had been quite loud just now, and because of that, people around them were looking at them with quite interested gazes.

Radis hardened her expression.

She would rather be insulted than receive this kind of favor from Hover and have people see it – the feeling was more terrible than she had imagined.

Radis stepped backward.

“I must decline.”

“Why?”

“I told you I have things to do, didn’t I?”

“But weren’t you just standing in one place this whole time? Where are you trying to go? I’ll escort you.”

Radis pointed in any random direction.

“Over there!”

Coincidentally, that was the direction where the restroom was located.

At her words, Hover seemed quite flustered.

What could he do when she said she was going to the restroom?

While Hover was flustered, Radis quickly walked toward the direction she had pointed.

Her steps were so fast that she really looked like someone who urgently needed the restroom.

“I’ll wait here!”

She heard Hover shouting, but Radis pretended not to hear.

‘Robert… I think he went that way.’

Radis passed the restroom and walked along the arcade where the beautiful central garden was visible.

The garden outside the noisy banquet hall was quiet, but there were people there too.

Radis avoided their gazes and searched for Robert, moving between the pillars of the arcade.

But Robert wasn’t there.

“I must have seen wrong.”

Radis felt her energy completely drain away.

Of course Robert wouldn’t be here.

Considering his family background, it was impossible.

She probably mistook someone who looked similar.

As the tension released, her feet began to hurt.

She leaned against a pillar and lifted her dress slightly to look down at her feet.

Having stood for a long time in unfamiliar high heels and then moving hastily to shake off Hover, her toes were numb.

Moreover, the cheap leather of the high heels had scraped her heels raw, causing blood to form.

“Good heavens.”

Seeing the shoe leather pushing up her skin, she couldn’t tell if these were shoes or torture devices.

Radis gritted her teeth and took off the high heels from her feet.

Once she removed the shoes, blood finally seemed to flow to her feet.

She stood barefoot on the cold marble floor, silently glaring at the pink torture devices, then reluctantly put the high heels back on with the heels folded down.

“Phew…”

Her feet hurt a bit, but she had to wear these to return to the banquet hall.

House of Russel wasn’t a place she could easily come to.

If she wanted to gain something today, she had to go to the banquet hall even if it meant doing handstands.

She started walking with that determination, but soon began to stagger.

The resistance from the folded shoe heels was much stronger than expected. With each step, the folded heels bounced her feet around wildly.

“Ahhh…!”

Eventually, Radis fell flat on the spot with a scream.

‘Good heavens.’

Radis was so dumbfounded that she froze in her fallen position on the floor.

She had fallen.

She, who had been the vice-captain of the Imperial Monster Hunting Corps!

She who had trampled living vines wrapping around her ankles with horse hooves while running endlessly, who had even made it through the black marsh that devoured everything, had fallen because of cheap shoes!

‘Could these shoes be cursed with magic?’

With such reasonable suspicion, Radis tried to get up.

However, getting up while wearing layers of dresses was not easy.

Wearing uncomfortable high heels and an uncomfortable dress, Radis struggled to get up, thinking she had become like a clumsy animal.

That’s when it happened.

“Are you alright?”

Radis reflexively lifted her head with a start.

“…!”

Though it didn’t show outwardly, Radis was truly startled.

The man looking down at her with one knee slightly bent… was the most beautiful person she had met in both her lives combined.

His silver hair flowing to his shoulders was like luminous silver thread.

The face surrounded by that beautiful hair looked like a glass piece carefully crafted by an artisan.

The silver-haired man lowered his head to check her condition.

Then moonlight slid over his silver hair, creating a halo-like glow.

When he raised his head again, Radis could see the two most beautiful amethysts in the world.

At that moment, it seemed like bells were ringing above her head.

In time with the bell sounds, she could see vividly red lips moving.

Even his voice was beautiful like singing.

“Can you get up?”

His eyes were… clear.

It was a cliché expression, but that was the only way to describe them.

In his transparent violet eyes that resembled amethysts, no particular emotion was floating.

He wasn’t mocking her for falling disgracefully, nor was he amused by her ridiculous dress.

He was simply trying to help a fallen woman out of pure goodwill.

“…Ah? Oh, yes.”

“I’ll help you. Please hold my arm.”

Radis was barely able to get up with his support.

It was awkward.

Receiving someone’s support was a first for her since childhood when she couldn’t walk well.

Holding someone’s arm was also a first.

His warmth felt through his clothes was so vivid that Radis had to let go of his arm as soon as she stood on both feet.

“Th-thank you.”

Radis suddenly realized she was standing too close to him.

Just as she was about to step back, this time he grabbed Radis’s arm.

“…!”

Seeing Radis startled, a slight smile spread across his red lips.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. Here, you have dust on you.”

He took out a silk handkerchief from his chest and personally brushed off the dirt from Radis’s arm.

The touch of the handkerchief on her arm was soft like a feather, and every time the handkerchief fluttered, a sweet fragrance wafted over.

Radis felt like she was dreaming.

While brushing off the dust with his handkerchief, he spoke in a low voice, beautiful like singing.

“This must be a difficult day for you.”

Radis couldn’t tell if he was referring to her shoes, this dress, or something else entirely.

However, he didn’t seem to want an answer as he immediately continued speaking.

“But if you have courage, you’ll be able to gain something even on the most difficult days.”

He smiled gently while gazing at her with those clear violet eyes.

His smile was so beautiful that Radis didn’t even notice when he pressed the handkerchief into her hand.

He nodded slightly toward Radis in greeting, then returned to the garden, to his group, to the world he belonged to.

The people who had moved from the upper floor balcony of the banquet hall to the garden were gathered around one person, offering praise to curry his favor.

“The garden is truly beautiful.”

“To spend such a dreamlike time in this beautiful estate where you can feel hundreds of years of history! Thank you for inviting us today, Lord Russel!”

The person surrounded by people was none other than Eve Russel, the host of this splendid banquet and the master of Russel Manor.

“To be precise, this is the annex.”

His voice was utterly dry and emotionless, completely separate from the commotion of the people surrounding him.

Among the splendidly dressed nobles, he stood out distinctly.

Starting with his clothes.

Except for the shirt collar that was slightly visible, everything was pitch black—the thick vest covering his chest, the coat draped over his broad shoulders, and the tight-fitting pants.

Moreover, while most men applied pomade to slick their hair back neatly or at least swept their hair back to reveal their faces clearly, he let his disheveled black hair fall down to his nose bridge, covering half his face.

With his entire body clad in black and his eyes difficult to discern, Lord Russel appeared to be quite an eccentric person.

The terrifying rumors surrounding him also contributed to enhancing that atmosphere.

Horrible rumors that he had his soul stolen by monsters, that he was cursed, or that he was actually a monster himself.

His gaze, which had been wandering around as if he had no intention of continuing the conversation, stopped at one place.

The corners of Eve Russel’s mouth turned up.

He took a stance as if to step back and welcomed today’s true protagonist.

“Your Highness Olivier Arpend, 3rd Prince of the Cardia Empire, who is celebrating his birthday today, are you pleased with the banquet?”

On Olivier Arpend’s face as he returned to his place, there was no trace of the beautiful smile he had shown Radis earlier.

He looked like a glass statue with pretty purple gems embedded where his eyes should be.

“I am also very pleased. Since I spent last year’s coming-of-age ceremony quietly, I am all the more delighted.”

At that cold yet elegant voice, people’s attention immediately shifted from Eve Russel to Olivier.

“Your Highness, congratulations on your birthday once again!”

“Your Highness, how about spending your twentieth birthday next year here at Russel Manor as well?”

However, contrary to his sweet voice, even while receiving people’s congratulations, no emotions like joy or pleasure could be found in Olivier’s transparent eyes.

He was like a doll that makes sounds when you wind it up.

“Well, the evening party will begin soon, so shall we return to the banquet hall?”

At someone’s suggestion, people began moving toward the balcony again.

At that moment, Eve Russel, who had been observing Olivier with an interested gaze until now, spoke to him.

“Your Highness, was ‘that sort of thing’ to your taste?”

Olivier raised his transparent eyes to look at Eve.

It was the same gaze as when he had been listening to people’s congratulations earlier.

“I don’t know what you mean, Lord Russel.”

Olivier returned to the banquet hall surrounded by his followers.

A strange smile appeared on Eve Russel’s lips as he watched his retreating figure.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————