Chapter 78 – Flowers in Bloom

They had a great first day, ate breakfast the next day, and left the accommodation together, walking along the street. Thankfully, the weather was nice today too, so there were no complaints about their walk.

“Let’s go look around the plants I mentioned yesterday.”

“Sounds good. I can’t wait.”

Holding Tiana’s hand tightly, Lucius smiled softly and kissed her forehead. She grabbed his face. He was shyly avoiding her eyes again, but when she kissed his cheek, he instantly turned red. What a cute guy.

She wanted to do it again, but there were too many eyes watching. He was also aware of the surroundings, so she just gave up on that and grabbed his hand again. As she crossed her arm with his and stayed by his side, Lucius’s face became redder; but instead of pushing her away, he carefully wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

The weather was great. They decided not to move around in the carriage but headed toward the botanical garden and roamed the streets walking instead.

On the way, it was nice to see the blooming flowers and the well-managed roads. They arrived at the botanical garden faster than they’d expected.

“Wow . . .”

It was bigger and more beautiful than they had imagined it to be. The sunlight projected on the stained glass shone throughout the botanical garden, filling it with bright natural light.

“Welcome, Lord Lucius and Lady Tiana.”

While the couple was waiting at the entrance, two men and one woman approached them. The man who appeared to be the oldest stepped forward as the leader and said hello. After receiving his greeting, Lucius introduced him to Tiana.

“The owner of this estate, Viscount Grassel. He is also the business representative of the joint venture.”

“Oh my, really? It is really nice to meet you, Viscount Grassel.”

“It is an honor, Lady Tiana. Thank you for coming all this way.”

The man had a polite attitude and a neat smile. He did look the oldest among the three of them, but he was younger than Tiana had expected. At first glance, she thought he’d be in his mid-thirties.

How could he be a CEO at that age? The standards might be different in modern times, but he looked great.

“Let me introduce these two. This is Lona Ezac, the director of the botanical garden and my business representative, and this is Kenil Bien, the assistant director and secretary of the botanical garden.”

“I am Lona Ezac. It is an honor, Lord Lucius and Lady Tiana.”

“I am Kenil Bien. It is great to meet the both of you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

As they greeted them with a smile, Tiana saw a sparkle in Lona’s eyes. To the side, Kenil looked at her and let out a breath of air. Lona wanted to say more, but Kenil made a gesture to restrain herself. Tiana kept looking at the two, who she thought seemed to have a strange relationship.

“Lona and Kenil will guide you from here.”

As the couple entered the botanical garden guided by the three, Baron Grassel stepped back, and Lona and Kenil stepped forward.

Lona, who seemed to have been holding something in until then, walked around excitedly with her face all smiling while guiding Lucius and Tiana to the botanical garden.

“This space has the greenhouse effect applied to it, for the plants that grow only in a warm climate. The plants here especially—”

“You’re pointing to the wrong place, Director Ezac.”

“Oh! I didn’t know . . .”

Kenil looked at her, who burst out laughing in embarrassment and let out a sigh.

“Here are various types of flowers growing in different colors. As many as ten species of flowers, each in five colors . . .”

“Twelve species of flowers, each in six colors . . .”

“I know! I had a slip of the tongue just now.”

“Please don’t have a slip of the foot.”

“Why would you say that in . . . Ah . . . !”

“Ugh . . .”

Somehow it was more interesting to see Lona sighing deeper and Kenil taking care of his partner than to see the botanical garden.

I guess we got lucky.

In Tiana’s view—and as an avid reader of romance novels—she felt that these two were not in a normal working relationship. Seeing them like that, she thought that they were not a couple yet, only flirting with one another. They might have been extras in the story since they had appeared in the original story, but seeing a man and woman with great potential for development raised her desire as a reader. Were they hiding something?

Tiana was focused on the relationship between them rather than the botanical garden, but she was able to look around the garden well enough.

Lastly, she followed Lona and Kenil, who told her that they had a place to show her. They came out through the entrance they’d come in earlier and went to the back of the botanical garden.

“This is the place.”

“Here . . .”

There was a much wider flower garden than what she’d seen inside the botanical garden. Different types of flowers were in full bloom, and in between them were buds that had not yet bloomed. And then there were kids.

“I heard that you bought a flower from a kid selling them yesterday.”

“Where did . . . ?”

“The story has already spread. You two have caught a lot of attention. One of the girls talked a lot about you yesterday.”

“Ohh . . .”

The little girl had said she would proudly tell her friends that she’d met a beautiful princess.

When Tiana smiled a little at the embarrassment, Lona said carefully to her, “Thank you for buying flowers from the kids.”

“I bought from them because the flowers they grew were pretty. I didn’t do it to be thanked.”

“But thank you nonetheless. The flowers they grow are prettier than the others, but . . . actually, those kids aren’t living too well.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is unclear where they are from . . . The kids here, especially the ones who sell flowers . . . they all live in a local orphanage . . . and they get discriminated against a lot.”

“They what?” Tiana was shocked at Lona’s unexpected revelation.

Lona made a bitter face and continued, “The children hired by the shops wear shirts with the company logos on them, a sign of ownership. However, the orphans sell flowers without any kind of logo. Because they’re called ‘kids with no logos,’ the hired kids exclude them from certain areas or the shop owners sometimes prevent them from selling.”

“How can they . . .”

“There are rumors going around that their flowers are dirty, they’re cursed, you’ll die if they touch you, stuff like that . . . So often they can’t even approach tourists. We’re cracking down, but they are hard to manage . . . They’re the only ones suffering here. They grow flowers with more care than anyone else . . . It is heartbreaking to hear that about them.”

Lona couldn’t take her eyes off the kids diligently going around the flower garden. How could someone be discriminated against for being an orphan? Apparently, it was grave discrimination that threatened their survival.

She thought, could that be fixed?

It might be difficult because it mainly concerned the land and shop owners, but Tiana was angry that she couldn’t fix it on her own. Those kids hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Lady Ti—Your Highness, I cannot thank you enough for buying those flowers. In their behalf, thank you again.”

Tiana choked up at the sight of Lona bowing her head.

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