The guard's castle escorted Uta to the castle entrance, where a butler awaited her at the doors.

"Miss Uta, I presume?"

"Yes," Uta answered energetically, feeling unnecessarily anxious to be in such an opulent castle, especially this particular one.

It was her first time visiting a noble's castle.

"Our Lord has informed us of your imminent arrival and is expecting your arrival; please do follow me."

On these words, Uta was led by the buttler to a room where, standing up from the sofa he was seated on, he was there waiting for her.

"Lord Mael, Miss Uta has arrived."

"Thanks, Bart; you may now take your leave."

"Understood." Obliging Bart, the butler left, closing the room behind him and leaving only Mael and Uta inside.

"Good morning, Uta."

"Good morning, Lord Mael."

At a motion of the hand, he invited her to take a seat, an offer Uta politely accepted.

Taking a seat in the armchair facing the second sofa facing the one Uta was sitting at, she asked, "How are you doing?"

"Great, as you can see, Lord Mael," she said, flailing her arms wide open as if to persuade him.

"That is not what I was meant to ask? You and your friends went through something one could hardly but call a traumatizing experience, and though you don’t seem to be holding any physical scars, I am quite sure it might not be the case mentally after all you’ve been."

"I appreciate Lord Mael's concern for me, but I’m fine, and besides, no matter how I look at these events in the end, it remains an undeniable fact that it all happened because of my action. I put Edya, Ina, and even Miss Ana in harm’s way with what I did."

On these facts, Mael did not contradict her, as it was the truth.

"—had it not been for what you did, those abductions would have proliferated—"

"Still, the responsibility remains mine. Things could’ve gone wrong. And it did. But things could have gotten more horribly wrong. I myself had no assurance that any of my actions would bear a positive outcome."

"Yes, as you informed me beforehand, the one informing the abductor of their potential targets was among the people you had your doubts about. By making a bet and recklessly painting yourself as a target by pretending to be pregnant, you allowed Arte and I to discover who was responsible and put an end to their schemes."

On this matter, the Aristocracy and Arte weren’t the only ones to have their envoys sent to investigate the abduction matter; Mael too had someone. While Ana remained in the Rose Blanche more or less on behalf of Arte and Ina on behalf of the aristocracy, who also had their own purpose in investigating the matter beyond the mere resolution of the flower abduction case, this girl, Uta, was Mael's eyes and ears within the establishment.

"You're not going to blame me, even though you were against me doing this, and yet I still chose to do it behind your back?"

Uta had previously proposed to Mael the idea of having her pretend to be pregnant in order to lure out the person who was informing the Flower abductors and expose them as the traitor within the Rose Blanche. Mael had rejected the suggestion, deeming it too risky. However, as Uta had mentioned, she went ahead with the plan without Mael's knowledge, which eventually led them to identify the traitor but also resulted in three innocent girls being involved in the bet she took.

"This was a bet, and though I am not particularly fond of them, the fact that yours bore fruit and permitted us to have many lives makes it so that I can’t really blame you for what you’ve done."

"I don’t think... any of my actions were driven by such selfless thoughts."

"I never expected them to be. Now that you mention it, that falls conveniently well," Mael announced before standing to recover an envelope he handed to Uta.

"Lord Mael, what is this?"

"Truth be told, this is what I summon you here for instead of having it handed to you by Andriant. Open it."

Uta complied and opened the envelope to find a document embossed with the Edouard' and Aubrecht' sigils.

"This is…"

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"An act of property for a respectable plot of land within the inner quartier of Beaufort, close to the Faucher's noble district, along with a remuneration that you can claim at the bank in appreciation for your invaluable assistance. I cannot thank you enough for your help," Mael declared.

"This property, not to mention the sum of money, is astronomical. I cannot accept it," Uta protested.

"Yet you will. I refuse to take these back. Take these and build yourself a little jewelry shop to live off of for the rest of your days. Wasn’t it your dream? Wasn't it you who told me?"

These very few words made Uta's heart skip a few beats, as those words were indeed hers.

"You remember it."

"I have a very good memory."

Having a good memory, huh?

That was most certainly him being humble, just as these words were spoken of her two years ago, just after the water calamity, when she was, in his eyes, at best nothing more than a random injured girl he rescued from the debris, spouting nonsense from the wounds she sustained.

"I know you helped me for so long out of gratitude for what happened two years ago, so with these, I would like our debts toward each other to be cleaned up."

At these words, Uta finally came to consider Mael’s offer: "So if I accept this, I’ll have to quit being a flower... quit helping... you." She muttered in such a low voice that those words were inaudible to Mael. But nonetheless.

"Yes, you will no longer have to work as a flower..."

"What about the prince? What does he think of this?"

Many people in the Rose Blanche believe that Uta is the imperial princess Adriant's beloved mistress, but the truth behind their relationship is very different from what it appears on the surface.

"I already talked about this with Adriandt; he said it would be fine with him. To be honest with you, Adriant might be one of my closest friends, but I think I have abused his kindness by having him play the role of the courier between us, which is why I think this is a perfect opportunity to have him relieved of these rumors going around between you two, unless those aren't just rumors?"

"No, no, no," Uta immediately explained, "there is nothing between the Prince and me."

"I see. All the more reason for you to accept my offer, is it not? Although I know I am poorly placed to say this, the Rose Blanche is not a place I would want to see someone I care about working in."

"Someone you care for? Me?"

"Yes."

These few words filled Uta's heart with a warm and overwhelming feeling that she didn't show on the outside, but barely managed to contain within.

A moment passed before Uta, having made up her mind, stood up from her seat.

"Uta?"

"I will accept Lord Mael’s offer."

"Splendid!" he rejoiced, also rising from his seat.

"But can I abuse your generosity and ask two things from you?"

"Two things? What is it?"

"I cannot say. I just would if I could ask and get them out of you."

Mael seemed wary and suspicious of what Uta was asking, but after a couple of seconds of hesitation, he agreed.

"If it is within my power, I will have them for you."

"It should be," Uta said, taking a deep breath, and asking Mael for the first of two things: "I know I won't ever have the opportunity to call you that, but can I call you Mael, just Mael?"

Mael seemed surprised by the mundaneness of that demand, yet silently he nodded.

"Mael… Mael… Mael," she repeated for some reason. "Can you close your eyes for me."

Despite being unsure whether or not this was the second demand, Mael nonetheless obliged.

Uta approached, and facing Mael’s height of almost two meters, ventured a second demand, "Can you please lean in for me."

It took Mael longer this time to agree, but when he did, he felt a warm and mellow sensation pressing against his lips, and though it only lasted a couple of seconds, the feeling was strangely imprinted on his lips.

"Allow me to take this as my farewell gift."

Without having to open his eyes, Mael understood what that farewell gift was.

"You can now open your eyes."

Opening his eyes, Mael saw Uta blushing as red as a tomato.

"Mael, I think… I’ve done enough; I should now take my leave," she said, without letting Mael put a word to it. Her attempt to depart was so awkward that she almost forgot the first two gifts Mael had given her, before bidding a hastened farewell, "Sorry... bye."

Just like that, she was gone, leaving Mael standing in the middle of the room.

It was some time later that someone entered the room; it was not Uta, it was Ramia.

"What was that just now? What did you do to that poor girl to make her blush like that, you woman-eating monster?"

"I think the question is what she did to me."

"Hum? No way? Seriously?! Don’t tell me it was your first—it was? Hahaha! Good lord! What a day to be alive. That explains why she was in such a hurry to leave. In any case, don't let that lead you down a strange, feral path; I don't want to see something like what happened to my—

"I know. There are ways of doing things, and I am neither monstruous nor presumptuously brave enough to change them, so you’re nowhere near seeing something like that happen again, at least not from me."

"Good, I suppose. Anyway, I came to ask, up for a drink?"

"In the middle of the day?"

"Yes."

"To what occasion?"

"To melancholy. You see, I have to admit that despite how annoyingly sticky she was and how weirdly sounding her way of speaking was, I think she kind of grew on me.

"Nia, that is, I believe, her true name."

"Nia, huh? Well, for someone who introduced herself as the faceless one, she did just like "he," who, after merely three months, suddenly disappeared."

"She said it herself; we will meet again. I doubt it will take long before we hear her strange accent yet again."

Ramia laughed but did not respond, instead simply asking, "So, your response to my proposition?"

"Sigh. Well, for once in a while, why not?"