Chapter 15 – In which flowers bloom beautifully
“He healed him?”
The head priest Rasin raised an eyebrow when he heard his subordinate report.
Apparently, the indifferent prince went all the way to the infirmary to heal a slave.
‘Well, no matter how detached from reality you are, you probably care about your own life.’
It was the first time the saint came so close to death since he arrived at the temple.
It was embarrassing really, but Rasin couldn’t fathom how that assassin sneaked in.
‘The protection arrays were all corrupted and barriers had been nullified. It’s not the level of technology Rubrun or Flavun showed before…’
He suspected, of course, that Purplus’ sister states were conducting secret research to deal with the Purplus, but he didn’t expect results of that secret research to come out here and now.
It was too early.
‘Maybe it’s another trick of those bastards…? I’ll have to ask that assassin some questions.’
Rasin chuckled to himself when he thought about all the torture he is gonna introduce the assassin to.
The man will pay for trying to touch his things.
‘Ah, but I’ll need to introduce him to the public first.’
Amara usually didn’t show it, but he was a very soft person.
Nowadays, he stays indifferent to all earthly affairs, but when he was younger, he would sometimes suddenly decide to shower random people with blessings.
Rasin had to teach the kid very carefully that such unreasonable acts were inappropriate for a saint and can have very bad consequences.
Now, when the poor saint had clearly a lot on his mind, Rasin had to make sure that the public would remind him that anyone who dares to try to draw his blood must be punished at all costs.
In Rasin’s head, a draft of new propaganda was quickly created.
Behind the window, colorful flowers were blooming early.
*-*-*
“Young Lady, Lady Mimosa is here and wants to see you.”
Saffra paused her light arm exercise and glanced back at Citrie.
He silently returned her gaze.
She shifted to look at her three ladies-in-waiting.
They also returned her gaze in silence.
The room was very silent for a moment.
“Immediately fetch some tea, cookies and salt.”
She gave an order and then turned around, heading out of the room.
Her back looked like that of a general heading to the battle.
*-*-*
Through the window, Saffra could see unfamiliar people wandering around the mansion.
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‘I didn’t expect Mimosa to appear during the shit’s conference…’
But she also wasn’t too surprised.
If it was her, she would also boldly appear during her political opponent's major event to leisurely enjoy tea with her family.
She just didn’t think too deeply of what Mimosa would do, and therefore failed to predict her appearance today.
Well, Mimosa’s appearance here may be actually very helpful.
When she was checking if everything she asked for is on the table, the door opened…
And a woman entered.
She was tall. Her aura was powerful, daring anyone to approach her.
Tap, tap, tap.
Her footsteps echoed like glass beads falling on the floor.
Besides her aura and beauty, there was one other eye-catching thing about her.
She was wearing a wide-brim hat and sunglasses indoors.
That was Mimosa, Saffra’s older half-sister.
Mimosa didn’t sit down, she walked up straight to Saffra and looked her up and down, as if searching for something.
A few seconds passed without any of them saying anything.
“You have dark circles under your eyes. You didn’t sleep well?”
That was the first thing Mimosa said after entering the room.
Her voice and face were completely expressionless.
“Uh, just a bad night.”
Mimosa looked at her silently for a moment, and then quietly said:
“I’ll hit him after he comes out.”
She then turned around and went to sit down opposite of Saffra.
She poured herself cold tea with dry pomegranate and started to sip it.
Saffra did the same, only she added a pinch of salt to her tea.
Another moment of silence descended.
And then…
“... That’s new.”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t add salt to your tea before.”
“Ah…”
Saffra hesitated for a moment how to explain it and then said:
“I recently discovered it tastes pretty good, when I mistook salt for sugar.”
“I see.”
Mimosa nodded.
Then she put her teacup down, added a pinch of salt to her tea and picked it up again.
She paused for a second after the first sip.
“...”
Then she continued to drink her tea like usual.
Another minute of silence.
“How is your campaign going…?”
This time Saffra broke the silence first.
It was half attempt to start the conversation and half attempt to gather information about the current state of politics.
“Alright.”
‘What do you mean alright?!’
Sadly, Mimosa’s nature wasn’t very talkative.
When Saffra was contemplating how to dig for more information, Mimosa suddenly looked at her and said:
“If it wasn’t dangerous to stay at my side, I would take you with me.”
Saffra was momentarily stunned.
She knew of course about Mimosa’s protectiveness thanks to this body memories, but it was rare for Mimosa to display it so openly.
‘Did something happen which prompted her to say it?’
While she considered the possible causes, she replied:
“I know. Thank you.”
“... sorry…”
“I understand. It’s okay. Do you want raspberry jelly?”
Mimosa accepted the jelly, even though she didn’t seem particularly hungry.
She swooped the jelly in small bites.
Saffra decided not to ask anymore questions about Mimosa’s work and just enjoy her company.
When about an hour passed with them just drinking tea in silence.
Screams suddenly rang out from the main entrance to the meeting hall.
*-*-*
Citrie positioned himself so he could see the main hallway to the meeting hall, where the candidate to the General of Flavun Orche’s conference was taking place.
He didn’t look too suspicious, as it was within two meters from the door to the tea room where Saffra and Mimosa had their meeting.
It could be just considered him giving two ladies privacy.
There was a small problem though.
“Miss, are you going to stick to me for the entire day?”
One of Saffra’s ladies-in-waiting, Craya, was standing just a few steps away from him.
She glared at him with a cold face.
“Why were you looking at My Lady at night?”
“I already told you that she came out on her own.”
“Why?”
“She asked if there were any puppies.”
“Puppies?”
“Small, fluffy puppies.”
“...”
Craya’s expression turned thoughtful.
Citrie just sighed as he fixed his gaze on the hallway visible in the distance.
“Does your Young Lady suffer from nightmares?”
“Why are you interested in My Lady suddenly?”
“Damn it, I’m not. I was just surprised when she came out of her room suddenly to ask for puppies and tried to figure out a reason. Why are you glaring at me again?”
“Don’t you have better things to do, Sir? Stop thinking about My Lady.”
“Haa…”
Citrie sighed again.
Seeing he closed his mouth, Craya silently thought about his question.
‘Our Lady does suffer from nightmares sometimes…’
Craya remembered when she once found Saffra crying in bed.
She mumbled about fire and fog, the floor covered in blood and the odor of decaying bodies, and about lightning.
Saffra was afraid of lightning the most.
But when Craya tried to ask about it, Saffra said she didn’t remember having any dreams about lightning.
It seemed she forgot her nightmare.
Craya was taken out of her thoughts when a door to the meeting hall opened.
It seemed that the conference had just ended.
The rotten brat called Orche was at the forefront. Smiling gleefully, as if something good happened.
But his smile didn’t last long.
Just as he took the first few steps into the hallway, a black buzzing cloud raised from the flower bouquets.
Thousands of flies danced in the air.
And then a breeze, which was rare on that warm day, passed through the hallway, as if it was waiting.
When it reached Craya, her nostrils were attacked by the foul smell of rotting meat.
“Interesting…”
She heard Citrie mumble, but she didn’t pay any attention to him.
‘The flowers Our Lady planted bloomed just as she intended.’
People started to scream.
*-*-*
In the next few days, a rumor would spread throughout the entire Flavun.
The rumor said:
‘A garden of death bloomed at the doorsteps of the candidate for the throne, Orche.’
*-*-*
A similar thing happened in the other two states.
In Rubrun, a spark of fear and excitement jumped between people.
It held a rumor:
‘A crow of unlucky colors brought the fires of a new era to the mages community.’
*-*-*
In Purplus, terrifying news about their saint being almost killed at the hands of heretic shook the hearts of people.
The call for blood was loud and strong.
But in the shadows, in places completely unrelated to each other, from people completely unrelated to each other…
A quiet prophecy was heard:
‘Look up. The rain is coming. The lights shall rain on this land.’