Don't Come to Wendy's Flower House

Duke Engre woke up with a short groan, covered in cold sweat. He wiped his forehead. The emperor’s angry rebuking rang vividly in his ears even though he was awake. He had been dreaming the same dream for the past several days.

‘Did he warn me that he would make sure I suffer even if he died as if he predicted his death?’

“Sir, are you okay?” As he put on a gown and came out to the parlor, his escort knight Sir Burleigh asked, checking his countenance. He seemed to have heard his moaning in sleep.

Instead of replying, Auguste asked him what he had in mind, “Is John Piaf still in the annex?”

“Yes, he’s still staying there.”

“Tell him I want to see him right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was dawn. Sir Burleigh left the parlor after glancing at the gray shade of the window. When he disappeared, Auguste took out a bottle of wine from the showcase on the other side of the parlor. He put his hand on a strong whiskey bottle first, but decided against it. He had to have a clear head. He sipped the wine. It was strong enough to help him forget the bad dream a bit.

Suddenly, he broke into laughter when he pondered over why he had such a bad dream repeatedly. ‘Should I feel guilty? Have I ever been such a delicate person?’

He was again reminded how he had walked this path so far. He had to erase all sense of sweet sentimentality to accomplish what he had. It was only a fleeing sentimentality like this sweet and sour wine. It would be forgotten once I woke up.

Crash!

He threw the glass of wine as if he were trying to dispel the unpleasant feelings in his mind. The colorful beige wallpaper was stained with red. He smiled in satisfaction, looking at the red color spreading on the wall.

“Duke Engre!” Upon hearing the loud noise inside, Sir Burleigh opened the door and jumped in. As if he anticipated the duke’s danger at the crashing sound, he was already holding his sword in his hand.

“There’s nothing to make a fuss about. Just a glass of wine was smashed… John, you stay here. Sir Burleigh, you may go out. ”

John, who followed Burleigh into the parlor, looked at the wine stained wall as if to check the situation. When Burleigh bowed to the duke and went out, John sat in the seat the duke pointed to.

“… Let me get the work done a bit earlier. It’s pointless to delay anymore. Go to Jopiern right away. ”

“Will do, sir.” John Piaf replied. He was a slender young man with sharp eyes without double eyelids. He was dressed in shabby clothes, a gray jacket and brown pants.

“Don’t worry about me. I will make sure that a support group joins you in time.”

“How can I have any concern about what you’re doing, sir?”

“I’ll give you half of the money I promised you when you leave for Jopiern tomorrow morning. That’s enough money for you to recover your forfeited field and rice paddies. Don’t worry about your brother. Since he is a talented young man, I believe he will be an excellent knight for my family. ”

“Thank you, sir. I will definitely repay your help.”

Bizarre rumors began to circulate the day after the coronation. Wherever people gathered, they gossiped about it. They were whispering that the black smoke of the burnt Cheddar Palace on the coronation day was a sign of bad things. As the rumor spread so quickly, people suspected it might be spreading on purpose. The rumor snowballed gradually and spread until people took it as a fait accompli that the black smoke on that day was an ominous sign from God.

Wendy, who visited the marketplace with Sir Pascal Dowain, could easily hear people whispering here and there amid the noisy surroundings. Dowain, who was watching an old man sharpening a blunt pruning shear, stood beside her and listened to them whispering among themselves.

“It’s a bad omen! How can we go through this again after the palace collapsed only recently? ”

“You bet. As I hear, the palace caught fire without any specific reason and burnt up.”

“Oh, I don’t think so!”

“Man, that’s true!”

“Well, it’s not a good sign anyway. Black smoke right next to the sacred beacon! I feel goosebumps. It’s the same whether someone set fire to it or it was just an accident.”

They sounded drunk.

They were talking, seated around a small table in a bar on the street, and slurring their words.

“Don’t you think somebody who didn’t want Emperor Issac’s inauguration was responsible for the fire?”

“Does it matter who did it? Whether those who supported the new emperor did it or even the new emperor himself did it, it doesn’t make any difference who becomes the emperor in this situation!” A man with a grimy beard screamed and poured the liquor into his mouth.

“Did you see the price of Montrapi go up today? Why is it even more difficult to live as soon as the new emperor takes office? One piece of bread is as expensive as gold! There is a reason why they’re saying that the new emperor was not anointed by God.”

With his nose red from intoxication, another man yelled the groundless speculation. In the end, Pascal lost his patience at the man’s blatant criticism of the new emperor and walked to them.

“Hey! Mind your language! Why are you so rude to the new emperor?”

They immediately stopped talking when they noticed a strong man with pruning shears in both hands raising his voice to them. As passers-by paid attention to him, Wendy pulled his arm.

“…Oh, I’m just talking about the rumors that I heard.” At Pascal’s raging anger, one of them made excuses.

“Hey, you bastards! Go back to work instead of talking about groundless rumors!”

The old man, who was still sharpening cutting scissors, screamed from behind.

At his ferocious shouting, the two laid down their glasses and left.

Watching them leaving the bar staggering, Wendy suspected that somebody might have manipulated the public opinion to spread the rumors unusually fast. She suspected Duke Auguste Engre more than anybody else.

“Tut tut… How stupid they are busy spreading rumors!”

The old man clicked his tongue while sharpening the scissors on the grindstone. Every time he rubbed the scissors back and forth, cloudy water soaked the blade. The blades stained with dirty water in several places looked like the messy political situation of the Benyahan empire.

“It looks like people are nervous about what happened on the coronation day,” said Wendy with a low voice.

The old man stopped sharpening the blade and raised his head.

“Well, it’s not just because of that alone. The prices of Montrapi today went up higher than last time. They expected that their lives would get better as the new emperor took office, but they find it hard to get by. Naturally, they have grievances about the emperor.”

Wendy and Pascal listened to the old man’s complaints, but didn’t respond.

“All done.”

The old man was done sharpening Wendy’s pruning shears for a long time.

The sharp blades of the scissors gleamed much more brightly than before. It’s because the old man wiped out all the dirty water on the surface of the blades.

After paying the old man, she turned around and wondered how she could get rid of all the chaos in the Benyahan empire. She felt it would be possible only after the ruler made cruel sacrifices just like the old man sharpened the dull blades.

She was in deep thought until she left the market and entered the main street. Everything ranging from the late emperor’s cigars to the fires of Cheddar Palace and Dylan’s burns distracted her. After letting out a sigh, she looked at the group of children playing from afar.

“That child is…! ” Right at that moment Wendy’s eyes widened in surprise.

Sophie, Sophie Derian.

She recited the name that she couldn’t forget for a long time.

She was the daughter of the man who tried to steal the Bahazman tree from Rajabude Museum. Yes, she was that very child that she remembered clearly.

Her cheeks, which were hollow when Wendy saw her first, were chubby. She was smiling broadly. Wendy smiled unconsciously while hearing Sophie breaking into cheerful laughter.

‘She has become healthy!’

It was because of the magical power that the fairy gave her.

She stopped walking and watched the girl playing lively for a while.

“Miss Wendy, do you know her?”