The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 89
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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 89
“Hmm….”
Radis went toward the fireplace and picked up a sharp poker.
And first, she checked whether the display cabinets with expensive ornaments displayed in them were safe.
Fortunately, the glass display cabinets were unharmed.
After that, Radis entered the bedroom while pointing the poker like a sword.
By great fortune, the silver candlesticks and golden vases were also keeping their places.
Radis lowered the poker and scratched her head.
“Not a thief then?”
She checked all the suspicious spaces, looking through the empty space behind the door and between the clothes hanging in the dressing room, but she couldn’t find even a single mouse, let alone a thief.
“Then what was that sound?”
There was no way she had heard wrong.
But no one was there. Realizing that fact gave her an eerie feeling.
As Radis was returning the poker to its place, something suddenly caught her eye.
“…Was that there before?”
The haunted sword.
It was placed conspicuously on top of the display cabinet.
Radis looked at that black sword with suspicious eyes.
She remembered deciding to throw it away several times, but since it was such an unpleasant object, she couldn’t easily discard it and had tossed it into a corner.
“Who took it out?”
As Radis looked at the sword with her arms crossed, something suddenly came to mind.
Radis returned to the desk and opened the dizzying book to examine the table of contents.
“Here it is. The Principles of Magical Tools.”
The pages flipped rapidly.
“Magical tools can be said to be the essence of magical studies in a word… Ugh, let me skip roughly. Mmm… Most magical tools can be used just by providing mana, but in extremely rare cases, some magical tools require more than that. Certain special magical tools sometimes demand a price from the user, and well-known examples include blood and… names.”
Radis put down the book and approached the black sword.
Actually, it was a name she had improvised and made up roughly, so she had forgotten it, but remembering the note she had written herself brought back the memory.
Radis grasped the sword’s handle and very slowly drew it from its sheath.
A sharp yet smooth sound rang out.
She held the sword upright and examined the blade.
Even though she had never maintained it since it emerged from that lump of rust, the blade was gleaming with a mysterious light as if freshly forged.
Radis tried calling the sword’s name with a “just maybe” feeling.
“…Regia?”
At her call, the blade seemed to tremble faintly.
But the vibration was so small she couldn’t be certain.
Radis spoke once more.
“Regia.”
Suddenly, a red light swept across the blade and unknown ancient characters appeared and quickly disappeared.
At the same time, something like a sigh could be heard from somewhere.
[Sigh….]
Radis widened her eyes and glared at the sword.
“You… you really can speak…!”
[….]
“Was it you who made that sound earlier too?”
[….]
“Are you going to pretend you can’t speak again? Want to get hit?”
[You, you’re mean…!]
Suddenly, sniffling sounds could be heard, and Radis almost dropped the sword.
Once the sword started talking, it didn’t stop and chattered on endlessly.
[H-how can you give me a name and th-then never call me by it? And pushing mana into me recklessly when my consciousness wasn’t even awakened? Th-that’s the same as assault!]
Radis, who had been listening to the sword’s complaints in a daze, came to her senses.
“How was I supposed to know I had to call your name, or that using mana was the same as assault? Setting up your own standards like that and… you were sulking?”
[It’s n-not just my standards! Kairos and Phainos are the same!]
When the sword caught her on her words, Radis was simply incredulous.
“Wait, is that why you rejected my mana? Because I didn’t call your name?”
[….]
“It was a potentially dangerous situation. Fine. Even if I concede a hundred times that I committed assault according to your standards—or whatever sword standards—does that mean a sword can put its owner in danger?”
[Uh, uuh….]
“Don’t just make sounds, if you have a mouth then speak properly… ah, you don’t have a mouth.”
[Huh, huuh…!]
The sword was visibly trembling.
[Y-you really are mean…!]
The sword let out a shriek and then went quiet.
Radis glared at the sword with disdainful eyes, then placed it back on the display cabinet and said.
“Don’t nitpick my words, apologize properly.”
[….]
“Regia!”
[….]
“Again? You’re not going to speak again?”
[….]
“Ha, fine. Do whatever you want.”
Radis picked up the sword and pushed it back into its sheath.
Then she put it in the deepest part of the wardrobe in the dressing room and said.
“This is a matter of trust. I can’t carry around a weapon that puts me in danger at crucial moments. Since you seem to like being quiet, stay there and behave. I’ll put in some air freshener occasionally.”
Radis slammed the wardrobe shut.
The dwelling of the 3rd Prince of the Empire, Olivier Arpend, was one of the most heavily guarded places in the Imperial Capital.
The reason was the frequent assassination attempts directed at him.
Therefore, not only visitors but even small letters arriving through messenger birds had to undergo thorough investigation.
Like now.
“….”
This was always how it was.
However, Olivier’s beautiful violet eyes looking at the letter envelope torn by a paper knife contained an unusually shocked light.
As if tenderly caressing a torn wound, he carefully stroked the ripped letter envelope and opened his mouth.
“Joel, from now on… only for letters she sends, you may bring them to me as they are.”
Olivier’s aide, Joel, was a soldier who had undergone extreme training.
But even he couldn’t help but be surprised by Olivier’s words.
Joel carefully spoke up.
“Your Highness, you have never made exceptions like this before.”
“Joel, you fool.”
The person who had been sprawled on the long sofa as if unconscious raised her head and spoke.
With the same dark brown hair and cool navy blue eyes as Joel, that woman surprisingly had exactly the same face as Joel, as if his appearance had been reflected in a mirror.
“Read the room.”
Joel slightly frowned as he looked at her.
“Yael, what do you mean? Are you saying I’m tactless?”
Yael made a heart shape with her fingers and showed it to Joel.
Joel’s navy blue eyes wavered.
Olivier let out a light sigh and opened the letter envelope that Joel had torn.
It wasn’t prettily dyed stationery nor was it sprayed with perfume—just ordinary paper—but that made it more like her.
From the intense handwriting pressed firmly into the paper, Olivier could vividly feel her presence.
He could hear Joel making excuses from behind.
“If it had looked like a love letter, I would have been more careful too. That absolutely didn’t look like one.”
“This is why men are like this. A woman’s heart is delicate. How could she openly write a love letter when sending it to the Imperial Capital?”
After reading the letter, Olivier thought Joel’s misunderstanding was reasonable and smiled faintly.
[Your Highness Olivier, have you been well? I have been doing well too.
I’m studying something new, but there’s an unsolvable problem that’s giving me such a headache.
But I thought that perhaps Your Highness might know the answer.
When I pinched my cheek in the carriage, it seemed like you showed me a hint of the answer.
I’m writing down the problem to send to you.
If you put this in, even mud and stones will move and come alive.
But it seems like special letters are needed.
What could those letters be?
It’s fine if you don’t know. Actually, I’m writing this letter because my head hurts so much.
I hope Your Highness will always live happily.]
Yael, who had been peeking at the letter from behind Olivier’s shoulder, asked.
“Your Highness, what does… that mean?”
“See? You don’t really understand either, right?”
Joel’s expression, who had been sending a slightly triumphant look to Yael, changed.
It was because of the pleasant smile that appeared on Olivier’s lips.
Yael, who was behind Olivier and couldn’t see his smile, continued to pester him.
“Your Highness, what’s the answer to that problem? Is it earthworms? Maybe fertilizer? Ah, it seems like fertilizer? Isn’t she asking what to put in fertilizer?”
Joel silently covered Yael’s mouth and dragged her away.
Left alone, Olivier read that enigmatic letter over and over again.
He traced the surface of the paper that her touch had reached with his fingertips.
The paper was as soft as touching the back of her hand.
Olivier closed his eyes and recalled the time when he had kissed the back of her hand.
When he held her hand, he felt a sense of vitality as if he were grasping the wing of a large bird.
At that vivid feeling that seemed ready to shake off its wings and fly away at any moment, he ended up gripping her hand more strongly than necessary.
“Radis…”
Her skin felt through the lace gloves was hot, soft, and sweet.
He couldn’t easily let her go.
Like a bee that enters a flower that has just burst into bloom, covering its entire body with pollen while sucking nectar, he frantically craved her skin.
Olivier’s lips touched the letter.
“…”
At the lukewarm texture of the paper and the smell of ink, he felt achingly lonely.
Olivier put down the letter and returned to his original self.
What Radis was asking about wasn’t about fertilizer as Yael had said.
She was talking to him about magic.
“Magic that makes mud and stones move…”
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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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