The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Eldest Daughter Walks the Path of Flowers Episode 48

Marcel, with dark circles that had descended to his chin, was reading through the thick bundle of reports in his hands.

“This is today’s report. The three squads of the Extermination Corps are currently stationed in Arpo, Lir, and Ogen villages respectively. Strangely, this year’s monster activity is significantly less compared to previous years. They said they would send more detailed reports once they reach areas closer to the forest. And the budget report for the flood control construction scheduled for spring is…”

“Marcel.”

“Yes?”

Marcel lifted his haggard face to look at Eve Russel.

Eve Russel, sitting by the window as the sun was setting, had his arm resting on the windowsill with his forehead in his hand.

His lips were hardened so rigidly that no emotion could be read from them.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have been lost in thought in that state all day whenever he had a moment.

‘Has some problem arisen? Perhaps related to the decreased monster activity…?’

Marcel waited tensely for Eve’s words.

Eve Russel slowly opened his mouth.

“Am I… immature?”

“…?”

“Am I pathetic…?”

Marcel almost shouted ‘What kind of nonsense is that!’ and slammed down the reports.

But his opponent was too frightening for that.

Marcel pressed his furrowed brow, worn down by fatigue, and suppressed his anger.

Having slept in the office yesterday without even going home, his emotional control seemed to be off.

‘I have to go home today!’

Marcel moistened his lips with saliva and placed his right palm on top of his left palm.

This was the stance for deploying his ultimate technique, ‘Serious Flattery.’

“N-no, Your Excellency! What are you saying? Though there are many nobles in the Empire, there is only one person in the world who inherited a marquis title at the young age of 8 and magnificently leads his family and estate – only you, Your Excellency!”

The most important point of this ‘Serious Flattery’ was that one had to deliver the speech so seriously that the listener would feel embarrassed.

“Your Excellency’s brilliance has been Ruair’s pride since long ago, and now it’s no different from our most precious asset. Politics, economics, strategy, socializing! What can’t you do? Moreover, Your Excellency proved your mastery of both literary and military arts by receiving knighthood at fifteen. Your Excellency. Pathetic, immature! How could you think such things!”

Marcel often deployed this ‘Serious Flattery’ on Eve Russel.

Not frequently, maybe once a year?

However, the amazing thing was that Eve Russel had never once been embarrassed by hearing such words.

“Right. I am excellent.”

Just like now.

“My bloodline is no less than the Imperial family’s, and I’m competent enough for my title. Besides, I’m quite handsome too.”

Marcel, who had never seen Eve’s face, couldn’t agree, but had to say this with his mouth.

“You speak truly, Your Excellency.”

“But maturity… Maturity…”

As Eve Russel fell into thought again, Marcel returned to his seat in despair.

‘Ugh. Making a living is damn hard. More importantly, Your Excellency… Aren’t you going to work? Did you hear my report? I can go home today, right…?’

Marcel’s desperate inner cry naturally didn’t reach Eve.

‘Let’s admit it. I’m originally excellent and competent, but in front of Radis, I strangely seem to lose control… Just like a child.’

Child.

When that word came to mind, Eve felt complicated.

He had never once been a child.

Losing his birth parents in his unmemorable early childhood, he also lost the right to remain a child.

To protect himself, he had to become a four-year-old adult, a five-year-old adult.

Acting submissive to his uncle, aunt, and cousins, but not appearing too inadequate.

And ‘that day.’

From ‘that day’ when everyone disappeared and only he returned alive, he had to become a marquis.

An eight-year-old marquis, a nine-year-old marquis…

A bitter taste filled his mouth.

Eve slowly rose from his seat.

“That’s enough for today. Marcel, go ahead and leave.”

“Gasp, thank you, Your Excellency…!”

“If you’re grateful, come early tomorrow.”

“…!”

Eve walked down the corridor lost in thought.

‘Radis, how did you endure it?’

Radis’s situation, which he heard through Allen’s report, reminded him of his own childhood.

Before meeting Radis, Eve had overlapped his childhood with Radis and imagined how she might be protecting herself.

If she had been craving affection from her family without even understanding her situation, it would have been the worst.

The sight of someone working hard for parents who abused them.

Eve couldn’t bear to watch such a scene with his eyes open.

Or there was the possibility that she was acting and waiting for a chance to escape, like Eve himself.

In that case, she would be easier to use than the previous scenario.

However, all his expectations were wrong.

Radis was just Radis.

Even when her hair was cut short, wearing her younger brother’s old clothes and confined to a small room like a closet, she was still Radis.

Whatever she wore, wherever she was, whatever she did, she was herself.

‘Radis, how could you do that?’

As he turned the corner of the corridor, Radis appeared as if in answer to his question.

She was sitting on the windowsill in front of his room, wearing a black wool cloak.

Seeing him appear, she jumped down from the windowsill lightly like a bird and walked toward him with heavy steps.

Radis hesitated a little before opening her mouth.

“What I said earlier, I’m sorry. I just said it because I was angry. Don’t mind it. I shouldn’t have done that. To someone who works so hard until this late…”

Eve silently placed the back of his hand against her cheek.

Seeing how cold her cheek was, she must have been here for quite a while.

“You waited here to say that?”

Radis smiled awkwardly.

“That too, and I also wanted to give you a gift from me that contains gratitude, apology, and encouragement to keep going strong.”

Radis took his hand and placed something on it.

Then, as if she didn’t want him to see it, she curled his fingers tightly around it.

“This is something I made… It’s nothing special, but just keep it as a memento.”

Radis looked up at him with a complex smile.

“Things are tough lately, right? Hang in there. I know because I’ve lived a bit – when you endure hardships, even when it seems like they’ll never end, they do end someday. Of course, the next thing comes right after, but that’s life, you know.”

Normally he would have given her a flick on the forehead saying ‘What do you mean you’ve lived a bit? You’re only sixteen,’ but today he couldn’t do that.

It was because of the black cloak draped over Radis’s shoulders.

Perhaps because men’s clothes were more comfortable, Radis often took out and wore clothes he had worn when he was young, and that cloak was one of them.

The clothes themselves weren’t a problem.

The problem was that it was black.

The sight of Radis wearing the black cloak reminded him of… the ‘Black Angel.’

‘No!’

Eve squeezed his eyes shut and trembled.

‘How can I think of that person when looking at this little one? Does everyone become an angel just by wearing black clothes? Get it together, Eve Russel!’

Radis, seeing Eve squeeze his eyes shut and tremble, thought it was because he was tired and said goodbye in a pitying tone.

“Lord Marquis, you’re tired, aren’t you? Sleep well!”

She waved her hand and bounced away like a deer through the dark corridor.

Left alone, Eve opened his hand.

In his palm was a black corsage.

Perhaps because Radis had been holding it tightly, her warmth remained.

“What’s this…?”

Eve looked out the window with a suspicious expression.

“What time is it? Why are the bells ringing?”

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