05. Different Days from Before (1)

In truth, there were many men who admired Adelia.

Adelia was such a stunning beauty that she would catch anyone’s eye wherever she went. So it was only natural for men to fall for her.

Among the many men who admired her, the reason I remember Lucas Aker is because of the confession incident he caused.

Two years ago, on Adelia’s eighteenth birthday, Lucas Aker had prepared an extravagant event to confess his feelings to her. However, his passionate confession ended in complete failure, as Adelia’s response was as cold as ice.

The reason it had to fail was that Adelia had already fallen head over heels for Calix, the moment she laid eyes on him. Compared to Calix, all the other men were mere pebbles on the road, and Adelia had no room in her heart for anyone else due to her unrequited love for him.

‘But after that, she seemed to be doing well in her own way.’

In truth, at that time, I was aware of all the circumstances in the novel, and I secretly cheered for Lucas Aker’s confession to be successful so that Adelia could have a good life with him. After all, if the Aker family succeeded, they would be on par with the Laverion family, and Adelia wouldn’t have to choose the difficult path.

So, while I didn’t directly assist, I did initiate conversations with Adelia when we met at the academy, making it easier for her to talk with others.

However, Lucas Aker’s confession ended in a devastating failure. Watching his painful experience from start to finish, I felt sorry and apologized to him a few times.

Fortunately, Lucas Aker, who seemed to possess a positive personality, quickly recovered from his wounds. Since his confession, he had completely put aside his feelings for Adelia and treated her as a friend.

‘But Kaelen knew about it too.’

At the time, when Adelia was not herself, Kaelen had ordered the servants to keep an eye on her and ensure that she wouldn’t do anything reckless…

But Kaelen wasn’t in the capital when it happened.

He had tried to come on time for his one and only sister’s birthday, but something had come up, and he couldn’t make it in the end. Adelia understood in her mind why Kaelen couldn’t come, but the fact that her only family member wasn’t there on her birthday made her quite melancholic.

That was why that incident was still vivid in her memory.

‘Well, from a brother’s perspective, it’s only natural to look down on a man who liked your sister.’

Thinking I understood Kaelen to some extent, I nodded to myself internally. However, I was taken aback by his words that followed immediately.

“Lucas Aker had feelings for Adelia?”

“…Yes?”

In shock, I looked up at him with my mouth agape.

“So, you… you didn’t know?”

Kaelen’s head moved slowly from top to bottom.

‘Ah…’

Why did my expression react like that?

I had assumed that he knew about the Lucas Aker confession incident when I mentioned it with an unusual expression.

But he didn’t know…

No, that wasn’t the issue right now.

The most serious matter right now was that I had blurted out not to mention it. In an instant, waves of guilt and self-reproach for my rash actions washed over me.

‘So why…’

No. There was no need to say such things to him, and it wasn’t his fault either. The current situation was entirely my doing. It was the result of my hastily guessing his expression and making unfounded assumptions.

“Duke.”

After composing myself, I addressed him with a somewhat determined attitude.

“Could you please forget what I just said? Adelia doesn’t like this topic very much.”

While asking him to forget what he had already heard wouldn’t erase the incident, it was the only thing I could say.

Driven by self-blame and emotional turmoil, I found myself unconsciously clenching my fist against my head. But just when I didn’t know how long had passed, Kaelen grabbed my wrist.

“I’m not bothered by Adelia receiving a confession.”

“Huh?”

I blinked in confusion at his words.

“You…”

With a puzzled look, I looked up at Kaelen, waiting for him to continue.

However, even after waiting for a while, no words came out of his mouth. He just let out a shallow sigh and gently released my wrist, which he had held earlier.

Due to the body heat I had felt a moment ago, my wrist, which had been held tightly, still felt warm and tingled.

Feeling a completely unfamiliar sensation for the first time, my attention was entirely focused in that direction. I only realized that he had boarded the carriage when I heard his voice.

“I’ll come to pick you up before we head to the palace.”

Kaelen, seated in the carriage, repeated the same words as earlier.

“You can wait comfortably.”

With that, the carriage carrying him quickly departed from the mansion.

I stared at his figure for quite a while with a vacant expression, watching the carriage disappear.

* * *

After graduating from the academy, my daily routine had been quite consistent for the past year.

In the morning, I would tend to the garden surrounded by my favorite flowers and then handle the affairs of my family.

In the afternoons, I took care of the garden work I had been doing for a long time, and only in the evening did I have personal time.

Most of my personal time was spent meeting Adelia, whom I loved, having tea together, chatting, or watching a play in the bustling city.

After my parents passed away, I had to take responsibility for my family in any way I could. When I was young, there wasn’t much I could do. Even if Kaelen paid off the debt I owed, I still needed to secure funds to maintain the family.

At that time, I was also attending the academy, and it was unimaginable to work regularly to receive scholarships every semester.

So, I had to find jobs I could do on holidays or during breaks. Fortunately, I had a talent for harmoniously and enchantingly arranging the plants in the garden, which I had developed over many years of plant research.

In fact, I discovered this talent more thanks to Adelia’s help than by my own efforts.

Once Adelia found out that I was responsible for our mansion’s garden, she immediately entrusted the Duke’s garden to me.

And whenever Adelia met people at parties, receptions, or tea parties, she always brought up the topic that I conceived, managed, and maintained the mansion’s garden, using it as a conversation starter.

The noblewomen of the Royden Empire considered beautifying their home gardens and receiving compliments from others to be quite important. As a result, many noble ladies from various families wanted me to use my abilities to transform their gardens. Not all nobles were like that, but at least those living in the capital were often incredibly vain, and their wealth was more than enough to satisfy their vanity.

Because of this, with Adelia’s word-of-mouth and the help of a merchant introduced by Kaelen, I was able to quickly elevate my business related to gardens. It allowed me to pay off my debt to Kaelen and sustain the family up until now.

The initial business involved visiting the mansions of nobles, determining the types of plants and flowers suitable for their respective gardens, providing guidance on placement and maintenance methods, and sharing knowledge step by step.

However, while it was manageable during the holidays, when I attended the academy, it was challenging to personally visit these mansions, so I couldn’t earn much money doing it.

As an additional business venture, I planned to sell tea and sachets made from flowers and plants in the garden. This was a business that could be managed while I was at the academy, as it only required instructing the servants on how to make the products.

This business not only brought in money but also unexpectedly helped me in another way: plant research and paper preparation. Investigating and cultivating the scents and plants preferred by city dwellers naturally accumulated research data and management techniques for me.

Furthermore, by selling these products and receiving reviews from customers, I no longer needed to grow each plant myself and wait for the results, unlike other researchers.

Anyway, today, after finishing my morning work and having lunch, I was on my way back from visiting Hayan Viscount’s estate for garden maintenance. As I looked out through the carriage window, we were just passing through a bustling city.

The city held many memories of Adelia for me.