PREVIOUSLY
"I've asked you multiple times not to do that too," Meera pinched her eyebrows. "Please, at the very least, warn me next time before you do this again." Then we reached the second floor. It was then I became wary. What was I wary for? It was my family. I currently don't have the time to entertain them. I wanted to entertain myself.
"Do you know where Brother Ivan is?"
"Lord Ivan is currently in the courtyard, training."
"Oh, I see."
Ain't that nice.
"And my royal mother?"
"I recall she went to the studies. She said something about having a massive breakthrough in the field of astro-magiks." She took a side-glance at me after she finished her sentence. I bet she was thinking something along the lines of 'like mother, like daughter'.
"Oh well, if it's my mother, it must be a pretty big breakthrough for her to rush into her chamber." Well, at least they won't be disturbing me.
"We're almost in the garden."
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A push of a door, and the smell of flowers entered my nose. Oh, no matter how many times I visited this place, the garden always left me so speechless. Numerous flowers sprouted on the ground, blooming in various colors. Pink, yellow, red, blue, purple, and white. There were also bushes decorated with tiny flowers, some of which I personally took the time to care for. Not only that, but this place was huge. It took quite a while, but with me and my mother's help, we could finally finish this garden after a whole three months. But that was still not the main attraction here.
The most eye-catching were the wisterias. It stole my breath the first time I saw them firsthand, when my mother presented it to me on my royal coronation as the Crown Princess. A lot of them were scattered about. Their purple color beautified the scene, somehow making it magical to behold.
I excitedly entered the garden and crouched down before a pink flower. I plucked one and moved it closer to my nose and smelled it. I remembered doing this in my memories once, but the flowers in my memories didn't smell that good. I just copied what people did when there were flowers, also curious what flowers would smell like since people seem to enjoy sniffing them.
Well, I can't say I was satisfied with the smell the first times I smelled flowers. In any case, not that great. But, when I smelled this flower, I was awestruck. A pleasant fragrance came to my nose, causing me to relax in it's scent.
"Crown Princess Eliza! It's dangerous to touch anything in this garden!" I suddenly heard Mera's panicked voice beside me. "I've told you many times that many of these flowers are enchanted, and rare!"
"Besides, what would your mother do if you carelessly plucked out one of her favourite-"
"Ah."I looked at the flower in my hand. It was too late now that I had plucked it. I stood up and looked at Mera with a concerned face.
"I already plucked it off…"
Mera also had a troubled expression. I couldn't just throw it around here, someone would still discover it. It may become one of those wasted and thrown away flowers. How could I forget the length and effort it took to take care of these prana-cultivated wisperias? My mother would kill me if she found out I plucked a wisperia out and simply threw it away.
"Ah."
I had an idea. I fixed back my hair, then placed the pink flower on my ear. With the flower on the side of my head, I smiled and waved my hand.
"What do you think, Mera?" I said so as I spun around, the skirt of my dress fluttered in the air.
I displayed myself to Mera with a beautiful flower decorating my hair. I must have looked stunning, I can already tell it from the stunned expression from Mera. I was quite amused by this.
"Mera?"
"U-Um, yes! Ahem, You look beautiful as always, Crown Princess Eliza."
I smiled, as I turned around to look around the garden once more. Since I can't just pull off a flower, I only lowered myself to smell the flowers. To my surprise, all of these flowers smelled wonderful, and as I got closer to the center, I could already faintly smell their fragrance in the air.
Each different colored flower even had different aromas. Does every flower here smell this good?
I touched a wisteria, the flower my mother's middle name took after, along with my grand-mother, and all the mothers before her. I wasn't one to miss the trend, so I had the middle-name as well.
Smelling a wisteria's fragrant scent made me remember the story my mother always used to tell me of how every Queen and princess of Valterra had wisteria as their middle or maiden name.
Once upon a time, there were two lovers. They loved flowers heartily. Thus, they planted different kinds of flowers at their home. But the most that caught their attention were the westerias. Captivated by their beauty as every flower illuminated under the moonlight, they fell in love with the flowers. And thus, they had their family name after the flower. Then, as people gathered more and more, eventually a kingdom was formed and the First Queen swore to name herself and all of her descendents 'Wisteria' for their maiden name.
It was a sweet story, but I knew of the truth as I grew of age. While I could say it's been severely dramatized, the original content was still sweet, but just a lot more realistic. Like, how the Wisteria was actually just a common flower that grew anywhere under the sun, which was the only reason the poor boy could afford to pluck them for his lover.
I stared at the wisteria.
How wonderful.
The smell and the beauty. The peace and serenity.
I began to adore this place and this scene. These flowers. I felt something strange within my heart. When I thought of the story of the two lovers, my heart began to ache for a certain gold-haired warrior who smelt and shone like the sun. Oh, how I miss her.
"Milady?"
Mera called out to me from behind in a somewhat concerned tone. I turned around and saw her worried eyes. Did she sense my emotion somehow? Not good. I can't just openly expose my emotions like that. That was a mistake.
"My apologies. I was just reminiscing about the times I was small enough to not care about anything but the stories my royal mother would tell," I said with a sad smile. "Wonderful memories don't you think?"
I smiled, erasing the emotions I just felt.
". . .Yes, it's wonderful."
She looked baffled. But I didn't think much of it. "Say, let's take a look around."
I continued walking amidst the beautiful garden. Petals of flowers fell and flew in the air in the gentle wind. A serene moment for me. It was like the flowers were celebrating the day my freedom was granted.
Mera and I went back to the entrance of the garden, being done with my errand.
"That was a wonderful trip." I said cheerfully as I thought of what I should do next.
I snapped my fingers. "Ah! Let's go to my brother!" If they were training, then it would be the perfect time to go humiliate my dear brother some more. Oh, the look on his face when I first beat him with a simple fireball back in the days. I wonder what the tally was now, after how much I'd beat him in all the friendly duels.
"You just want to cause trouble for Prince Ivan," Meera sighed. "But, as you wish."
I clapped my hands and gave her a big smile. "To my brother we go!"
***