The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 64

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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 64

 

Feeling sorry for him, Radis picked up some firewood, thinking to add more to the fire.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Olivier, who had been so lost in thought that he didn’t notice Radis approaching, looked up.

 

In his eyes was reflected the image of a woman in fluttering lace pajamas and a cute pink robe, holding firewood in both hands.

 

At that absurd sight, Olivier almost burst out laughing despite being in such a flustered state.

 

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Radis added,

 

“The pajamas are Lina’s taste.”

 

Radis skillfully pushed aside the ashes with the firewood and neatly stacked the logs over the embers.

 

“Weren’t you cold? This should warm you up.”

 

“Ahem, thank you.”

 

“Do you have a sore throat? Should I bring you some warm tea?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Your voice doesn’t sound fine though. You must have been exposed to too much cold air today.”

 

Misunderstanding Olivier’s cracked voice from holding back laughter, Radis went to the kitchen and brought back a pot of tea.

 

“It’s lavender tea. They say it helps with sleep.”

 

“…Thank you.”

 

They sat side by side in front of the fireplace, holding warm teacups and watching the crackling flames.

 

As they sat there in a daze, something came to mind.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Earlier… I was going to ask but couldn’t. May I ask you something?”

 

Olivier turned his head to look at Radis.

 

Unlike before, his face was dyed with the color of flames and looked warm.

 

Radis swallowed nervously.

 

‘Your Highness, do you perhaps… me…’

 

At that moment, her reason, which had been quietly behaving, suddenly struck the back of her head with a hammer and shouted.

 

‘Are you cr-cr-cr-crazy? How can you ask something like that!’

 

Radis could only open and close her mouth like a fish before dropping her head.

 

Then Olivier spoke.

 

“…I don’t think I can answer what you’re about to ask right now.”

 

Radis froze like ice.

 

“Pardon…?”

 

“Who wants me dead.”

 

Looking at Radis, who was gaping like a fish, Olivier smiled faintly.

 

“Don’t worry. I won’t die that easily.”

 

Despite the weight contained in those words, his tone was infinitely gentle, like coaxing a child.

 

Looking into his kind eyes, Radis realized.

 

‘He’s trying to reassure me. Even though he’s the one suffering from that matter…’

 

Her slightly excited heart sank instantly, and her chest ached as if someone was pinching her heart.

 

She couldn’t help but crumble at the sight of him hiding his own pain to try to comfort her.

 

Her nose stung.

 

But she didn’t want to show weakness.

 

She couldn’t do that in front of him, who was trying to hide his wounds for her sake.

 

To hide her aching heart, Radis also forced a faint smile.

 

Was it because of the fireplace flames?

 

The air floating between them felt unusually hot.

 

Even Olivier’s usually cool violet eyes seemed to be tinged red, as if heat was flowing through them.

 

Radis could feel warmth even from his gaze touching her face.

 

That gaze was hot, and his breathing was trembling finely.

 

Radis couldn’t help but be surprised by this discovery.

 

How had she ever felt he was like a cold statue, a clockwork doll?

 

She felt a faint thrill.

 

Radis was seized by the impulse to reach out and touch his face.

 

His cheek, dyed not with cold pearl color but with the color of flames and showing a deep blush, looked warm and soft.

 

But she couldn’t do that. He was the 3rd Prince of the Empire. She couldn’t touch him as if petting a stray cat.

 

Radis realized.

 

Like breath and mana, emotions were similar.

 

No one could know what emotions were held in one’s heart until they were spoken aloud.

 

She slowly inhaled cold air and turned her gaze away from him.

 

Then Olivier spoke,

 

“Did God… send you to me?”

 

At those words, Radis widened her eyes and stared at him intently.

 

“Pardon?”

 

Olivier smiled shyly.

 

“It feels as if God sent you so that I could end my suffering.”

 

‘Your Highness, what do you mean by that?’

 

Radis wanted to say that.

 

But the faint heat she felt from Olivier’s gaze silenced her.

 

Radis could only gape again.

 

“That day, at my birthday celebration held at the Russel Estate… this suffering was shaking me then too.”

 

“…?”

 

Radis tried to recall him from that day in her mind.

 

Olivier that day was cool, beautiful, and perfect like a sharp disc made of silver.

 

Had he been suffering like this even in that moment?

 

Olivier swept his hair back.

 

His silver thread-like hair glittered as it caught the red firelight.

 

He took a deep breath and spoke.

 

“My birthday is the day I hate most.”

 

Those words somehow sounded like a confession.

 

After saying that, Olivier let out a long sigh.

 

It was the kind of sigh that unraveled something that had been tangled like thread in his chest, strand by strand.

 

After that brief confession, he leaned his head against the armrest of the sofa and continued speaking in a murmur with a relaxed voice.

 

“So… when I saw you, I could tell immediately. That you were in suffering just like me… Even if others couldn’t tell, I could. So… I wanted to see you smile…”

 

Radis couldn’t say anything.

 

If she had wounds, they would be covered with layers of scabs and calluses.

 

Had he recognized her pain that she had hidden so deep that even she didn’t know it?

 

Radis looked at him, swept up in strange emotions.

 

Whether it was the effect of the lavender tea or because his tension had relaxed, Olivier looked like he would fall asleep any moment.

 

Radis pulled down a blanket from the sofa and wrapped it around his shoulders.

 

When her touch reached him, Olivier smiled faintly and closed his eyes gently like a pleased cat.

 

When he closed his eyes, Radis thought it was rather fortunate.

 

Too many things had happened in one day.

 

When leading the Extermination Corps and frantically hunting monsters, she had to handle countless tasks with her body.

 

At such times, her body was tired but her mind became sharper and more alert.

 

But experiencing countless emotional upheavals like this was a first.

 

Her mind was in overload.

 

Everything that happened today felt as hazy as a dream.

 

‘Ah, enough. Let’s stop for today.’

 

Radis stopped thinking.

 

Instead, she stared blankly at Olivier, who was nodding off.

 

‘He’s cute.’

 

With her mind in such a state, all sorts of foolish thoughts seemed to come to her.

 

Radis chuckled softly.

 

But Olivier sleeping really was adorable.

 

When his eyes were open, he was a mature prince, but his sleeping face looked just like a child’s.

 

Random thoughts floated through her mind.

 

‘Everyone looks cute when they sleep… Even that dull Thierry and little Laszlo looked adorable when they slept snoring… I miss those guys…’

 

Radis also pulled the blanket over her shoulders.

 

She sat leaning against the armrest of the opposite sofa, watching Olivier’s sleeping face.

 

‘Right, that day… I wasn’t the only one suffering.’

 

That night in the splendid Banquet Hall, when she stood alone, cast out far from her family like some sick clown they didn’t want to be near.

 

If she had simply met death at the end of her previous life, she would have found eternal rest, but through some transcendent being’s machinations, she had been unwillingly brought back and thrown into a cruel life once again.

 

Not wanting to experience that pain again, she had struggled desperately to somehow survive.

 

But wearing that ridiculous dress and being torn apart by the stares of strangers, how could she not have suffered?

 

Margaret’s words telling her to know her place were like awls piercing tender flesh, and Margaret’s act of pushing her off to the vile Hover was like pouring salt on those wounds.

 

Even through all that, she had to endure.

 

Though her knees had lost their strength, she struggled desperately to somehow stand up.

 

To her in that state, he had extended his hand.

 

He had helped her stand again.

 

“Hmph.”

 

Eve Russel opened his eyes.

 

He stared with vacant eyes at his bedside, messily scattered with orange peels.

 

“Ah, I fell asleep while eating oranges yesterday…”

 

When he came to the Capital, he would often hole up in his Room like this for days at a time, eating and sleeping and rolling around like a bear in hibernation.

 

He could never understand those who found rest through travel, fancy banquets, gambling, and other indulgences.

 

To him, those things were merely extensions of work.

 

He was the type of person who thought rolling around in bed like this was the ultimate rest.

 

But at Luaire’s Viscountcy, where there were endless tasks and Vassals swarming everywhere, making it impossible to let his guard down for even a moment, he couldn’t do such things.

 

For him, Duras’s Townhouse was a kind of refuge where he could escape from overwhelming work.

 

Lina understood this too, which was why she generously tolerated his rest that could even seem indulgent.

 

Eve reached out from under the covers and flicked away an orange peel that had stuck to his pillow.

 

His throat was dry.

 

When he turned his gaze, he could see a fresh water bottle that someone had placed within arm’s reach.

 

Eve pulled only his upper body out from under the covers and poured water into a cup.

 

Normally, he would have stayed holed up in bed like this for days.

 

‘Radis.’

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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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