When Will The Flowers Bloom?

A week had passed since Marguerite had given Lucien the tapestry embroidered by her own hands, and since they had both blushed after letting their true feelings slip.

Lucien was growing impatient.

‘I’ve reached my limit. I’ll confess, even if I have to force myself.’

As Lucien thought this with a fixed stare, Marron let out a threatening “Hiss!”

Last week, when Lucien had shown off Marguerite’s tapestry and explained the circumstances while asking for advice, Nicholas had grabbed Lucien’s hand and said,

“That’s perfect! See? You can do it after all!”

He had praised him like that.

“You just need to use more words. Make yourself the subject. Say honestly what you’re thinking.”

Nicholas understood how difficult that was.

Lucien had lived for so long acting exactly as Lady Yumila told him to, that he had lost any sense of self. Things he truly wanted, things he could not give up—such feelings were unnecessary for holding the ducal title or managing territory.

Only after becoming aware of his feelings for Marguerite did Lucien realize that such desires existed within him as well.

At the same time, those unfamiliar emotions sometimes swelled until they felt ready to explode—like at the Clavel family’s evening party, when he had needed time before he could even speak calmly.

“…Maybe it would be better to keep something like this hidden…”

“What are you saying now, of all times? …Ah, sorry.”

Covering his mouth after the words slipped out, Nicholas had continued,

“Only with Lady Marguerite. That’s fine, right? Be honest.”

Now, Lucien was remembering those words.

On the day he had received the tapestry, being honest about his feelings had given him a sense of reassurance.

That Marguerite did not dislike him—according to Nicholas, a realization that came far too late.

So this time as well, Nicholas must surely be right.

However, while Lucien had calmed down after a week, Marguerite remained the same. Every time she saw his face, she blushed and ran away.

‘Cute.’

Seeing her behave so differently than before made him think that, and once again he was surprised that he could feel such an emotion.

What was more, his face apparently kept smiling on its own, and whenever their eyes met, Marguerite’s face turned red again.

To be honest, she was so adorable that he found himself thinking he did not want anyone else to see that expression.

‘…I want to tell her.’

That feeling swelled and swelled, until he could no longer hold it back.

Meanwhile, Marguerite—

‘Whenever I stand in front of Lucien-sama, I start acting strangely…’

She sat in her room, clutching her head.

A short distance away, Anna was checking the dress Marguerite would wear the next day.

Frustrating as it was, Anna knew she could not compete. Lucien, too, seemed to have decided to convey his feelings.

Just as Marguerite had said, Anna’s feelings now were simply,

‘I’ll watch over Lucien-sama as he is united with the one suited to him…’

Anna optimistically thought that after Marguerite spent a little while blushing and acting awkward, she would accept Lucien’s love.

“—Marguerite-sama?”

Lifting her face, Anna noticed something strange about Marguerite.

“Marguerite-sama, what’s wrong!?”

“Anna…”

Marguerite wore a weak smile on a face drained of color.

“…It’s strange, isn’t it? I’m so happy. I should be happy, and yet…”

—You’ll be hated by everyone in the house and live without being loved by anyone!

Isabella’s words echoed in Marguerite’s ears.

She had never wished to be loved. Compared to her life at her family home, this environment could be called peaceful. As long as her livelihood was guaranteed, even while enduring petty harassment, that had been enough.

And yet now, she had been given a luxurious room and clothing, and could sit at the table smiling together with her parents-in-law.

Above all, her husband respected Marguerite and tried to grant her wishes.

“If I’m the only one who’s this happy, I feel like I might be punished for it…”

Everything seemed to move as if to bless Marguerite.

It was because she was too happy that she suddenly felt afraid.

From Marguerite’s perspective, her current circumstances had been granted to her all at once.

She could not possibly believe she had earned them through her own strength.

“Thinking that maybe I’m not suited to be the Duchess of de Broy after all…”

“Marguerite-sama…”

Only now did Anna fully grasp how deeply rooted the curse of House Clavel was.

What Anna had glimpsed were only the people of House Clavel at the banquet, and Isabella’s behavior when she had recently barged into Marguerite’s room, relying on Prince Noel’s authority.

Even so, it was more than enough to understand how much malice Marguerite had been subjected to while growing up.

Tears spilled from Anna’s eyes, one after another.