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"Who are you planning to give this to?"
Is it for a woman?
Usually, people don't gift flowers to men...
Suddenly, one person came to mind.
"Idris. Do you have someone you like?"
The person who was the reason Idris had a contract relationship with me.
I don't know everything about Idris's every move, but so far, it didn't seem like he was going to meet that person.
Perhaps they couldn't meet.
'Is he perhaps going to meet them now?'
If that were the case, as his partner, I should congratulate him.
But...
'Why does my heart feel so uneasy?'
Strangely, a corner of my heart felt stuffy.
Is it because I haven't completely saved him from the future accident?
I tried to calm my anxious heart and entered the mansion.
"Idris."
Only then did Idris notice my arrival and greeted me.
"Did you have a good time meeting the little lady?"
"No. She didn't care about me and only looked for you."
"Oh, that's a shame. If I didn't have an unavoidable schedule, I would have gone with you."
"Let's go together next time."
Idris smiled instead of answering. It was a sign of agreement.
I took the opportunity to ask him indirectly.
"But it seems like you're going somewhere tomorrow too?"
"Tomorrow?"
"I was just talking about the bouquet earlier."
"Ah, I'm going to see my mother."
Ah.
Upon hearing his answer, the anxiety in my heart disappeared as if it were a lie.
Idris seemed to interpret my reaction as confusion and added an explanation.
"I mean my biological mother who gave birth to me."
Every time I saw his kind side, I was puzzled.
As the villain of the original story, he seemed like such a kind person.
I also couldn't believe that he tried to kill the empress, his legal mother.
Hiding my confusion, I naturally continued the conversation.
"Is tomorrow her death anniversary?"
"No. The anniversary has passed, but my mother liked hydrangeas. So I visit her once in a while around this time."
"You're a good son."
"I hope my mother knows that."
"She will."
Idris chuckled at my words.
Although he didn't say anything, his expression looked much lighter.
"If you haven't had dinner, let's eat together later."
"Okay."
As I headed towards the annex, I hesitated for a moment, then made up my mind and turned back.
"Idris."
Idris, who was climbing the stairs, looked down at me with a puzzled expression.
"Tomorrow, would it be okay if I went with you?"
It was the first time in a long time that I saw his surprised face.
The next day, we visited the cemetery as planned.
Idris's mother was buried in the largest public cemetery in the capital.
The empress, the emperor's formal wife, was buried in the royal tomb in the palace because she was royalty, and the noble ladies, the legal wives, were buried in their family's estates.
But his mother was a commoner and a palace maid.
"After receiving the title, I thought about moving her to the estate... but that seemed more like self-consolation than for my mother's sake."
Idris, who arrived in front of his mother's grave, swept away the fallen leaves on the tombstone and added an explanation.
"She was born and raised in the capital, so I thought it would be better to keep her here rather than in an unfamiliar land. Of course, she might not have only good memories in the capital."
"The place where she gave birth to you, raised you, and loved you was also the capital, so she will definitely prefer to stay here."
It was a sincere statement, but Idris looked at me with strange eyes.
"Why is my partner so kind today? It makes my heart flutter."
"I'm originally a kind person."
Idris burst into laughter at my brazen answer.
The low laughter carried by the blowing wind sounded pleasant.
"Why did you want to come here with me?"
"A lover visiting their mother's grave alone would seem heartless, wouldn't it?"
"That's true."
It was a joke, but Idris agreed so easily.
In the end, I voluntarily revealed my honest feelings.
"Actually, I came along because I thought you would be lonely if you went alone."
When I was young, I usually spent my mother's death anniversary alone.
My father, who brought a stepmother into the house as soon as my mother passed away, naturally didn't commemorate the anniversary.
The servants ignored my mother's anniversary because they were watching the new mistress, the stepmother.
What was I thinking every year when I went to my mother's tombstone alone and laid down flowers?
I don't remember exactly, but the feeling of that day is still clear.
Sadness and longing that I couldn't share with anyone.
Even the terrible loneliness of being the only one in the world.
I didn't want to send Idris alone because I knew that feeling better than anyone else.
To explain the origin of this action, I would have to talk about my childhood and my father...
'...I don't want to talk about that.'
It's not a pleasant story anyway.
But Idris hit the nail on the head as if he had read my mind.
"It seems you also spent your mother's death anniversary alone?"
I paused, but couldn't deny it.
"When is your mother's death anniversary?"
Not knowing the intention of the question, I blinked for a moment and answered a beat later.
"It's still a while away. Early autumn."
Idris's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then a sad light flashed across them.
"...That's why you couldn't come back then."
Then?
I tilted my head, not knowing what he was talking about, when Idris made an unexpected proposal.
"Let's go together this year."
Unable to answer easily, I stared blankly at him for a while.
'This person wouldn't know anything.'
His words felt like they were comforting the loneliness of my childhood.
Feeling the carriage stop, I opened my eyes wide.
'Oh, when did I fall asleep?'
After going to the cemetery and coming down, I seemed to have dozed off while riding in the carriage and looking at the scenery.
But when I woke up, I was sleeping on Idris's shoulder...
"Gasp."
Startled, I raised my body, and Idris's hand, which was approaching my face, stopped.
"I'm sorry. Was I heavy?"
"What's this much between lovers. Was my shoulder comfortable?"
"...Thanks to you."
I answered vaguely out of embarrassment and was about to get out of the carriage when Idris suddenly lowered his head towards me.
At the same time, a strange look was fixed on my face.
More precisely...
'...Lips?'
The moment I stopped breathing at the suddenly close distance.
Idris's lips, which were staring at me, moved.
"You were drooling."
What, what did you say?!
Horrified, I groped around my mouth, completely forgetting the subtle atmosphere a moment ago.
Then, Idris, who was looking at me, twitched his lips and confessed with a burst of laughter.
"I was lying."
This man again!
After getting out of the carriage, I poked Idris's side wildly.
"Ouch."
But unlike his groans, I couldn't poke him properly because of his muscles.
'I had a rough idea that his body was good, but I didn't know it would be this much...'
He's even more annoying because he's pretending to be hurt!
I stopped poking him, not feeling relieved.
Because I made eye contact with the butler who was waiting in front of the carriage.
'...Still, he's royalty, am I being too rude?'
Even in front of subordinates.
I hastily changed my attitude.
"Ahem, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I like being hit by you."
"...Don't say things that others will misunderstand!"
In the end, the butler burst into laughter when he saw us bickering again.
"It seems you had a good time."
"Was there anything wrong?"
"Ah, a letter has arrived for Lady Leticia."
Usually, letters come all at once in the morning, and letters that arrive late are sent to my room.
But the fact that the butler had it separately meant that it was an important letter in his judgment.
'Is it a letter from the imperial palace?'
Puzzled, I took the letter and hardened my expression when I saw the crest of the seal on the envelope.
The Cloel baronetcy.
It was a letter from my father.
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