After our carriage arrived at the Adolni estate, we were guided inside by their servants. Waiting to greet us in the entrance hall was the Adolni family.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m the fourth son, Ginorious. It’s an honor to meet you,” a young man politely said, introducing himself.
After that, I was surprised when he began talking about the weather. Up until now, the suitors hadn’t tried to pursue any conversation beyond what was absolutely necessary. This was my first time encountering someone taking the initiative to speak to me.
Even after chatting with him for a little bit, I saw no signs of him being repulsed by me. I suppose this is to be expected of someone who matured quickly enough to form their own company despite being so young. He’s a master at hiding his true thoughts.
Since he ran a merchant company, I’d imagined him to be someone who frequently smiled; however, he was the exact opposite. He was mostly expressionless. He had the aura of an engineer rather than a merchant—if someone had told me he worked in an intellectual field that dealt with numbers, I would have believed it more readily than his being in the sales trade.
He was tall with black hair, and he was very handsome with his calm expression and violet eyes. I completely understood why he had his own fan club. The origin of his nickname as the Black Ice Flower Prince also made sense considering the colors of his hair and eyes, as well as his disposition. It fit him perfectly.
Hm? He’s wearing a ring. That’s rare for men. His black, metal ring had a light purple stone on it that had the shape of a ten-pointed star—or a flower with ten petals. It’s in the style of the black ice flower. This might be the origin of his nickname. It was a wide man’s ring that matched his icelike beauty. He’s both exceptionally talented and handsome. I’m even more certain now. He has no desire to marry me
After our families finished our introductions, we all sat on the sofas in the drawing room, and it was finally time to begin the marriage talks. As was customary, we started off with our parents having a pleasant chat with each other.
This was inevitably when my suitors’ displeasure would begin to show through, and it was normal for them to not speak with me at all by this point. But Sir Ginorious wasn’t like them. He was very considerate. Even when the topic shifted toward something I wasn’t familiar with, such as managing the Adolni territory, he made sure to explain things to me so I wouldn’t be bored. In the times when I was only listening and not participating, he’d speak to me to try and include me in the conversation.
“You’re a very exceptional person, Ginorious. You’re so well-versed in managing a territory despite only being sixteen years of age,” mother said, a satisfied look on her face.
It looks like she’s very pleased with Sir Ginorious.
“Lady Anastasia’s equally as impressive,” he said. “Though she might not be jumping into the conversation very often, it’s clear she understands the subject well. I think she’s a wonderful lady for how humble she is to not flaunt her knowledge despite being so intelligent.”
“Oh my. What a charmer!” mother said.
She was in a great mood after Sir Ginorious complimented me. I couldn’t help but look down, my face becoming hot with embarrassment. In my previous marriage talks, men had avoided even speaking to me. Though he was simply being affable, I’d never thought I’d receive a compliment from my suitor.
He was not only considerate to those around him, but he really was a wonderful person for even giving an ugly woman like me lip service. It really feels good being treated like a human and not a goblin. Before I knew it, I was smiling.
“All right. How about we leave the young ones to get to know each other?” father said, leaving the room with my mother and Sir Ginorious’s parents.
Now, it was just the two of us.
“Would you perhaps like to take a stroll around the garden? It’s not nearly as impressive as the Sevensworth’s grounds; however, this is the perfect time to see the shethes. I don’t believe these flowers grow in the royal capital.”
I was taken aback. All the suitors before this might’ve been able to hide their displeasure while our families were present, but that act would disappear the instant we were alone. In the best-case scenario, they’d simply sit in silence, but others would criticize how they’d basically been coerced into marriage talks by the authority of my parents, while still others would verbally attack me.
I was prepared for any harsh words he might have for me, and I planned to apologize profusely as usual. However, contrary to my expectations, Sir Ginorious invited me to view the garden in order to prevent me from becoming bored.
He offered his hand to escort me. It’d been so sudden that I panicked. In all the marriage talks until now, there’d been many times that a potential suitor and I had been made to walk around a garden, but none of them had ever tried to escort me. They’d adopt a sulky attitude and walk in front while I silently followed them. It had always been a very painful experience, and I’d expected this time to be no different.
He’s such a wonderful person for being kind even to someone hideous like me. But that’s precisely why I need to make sure these marriage talks stop here. I want a wonderful man like him to find happiness with a wonderful woman.
As Sir Ginorious escorted me through the garden, we came across a fork in the path.
“The path to the right leads to a pond. It might be a little embarrassing to show to someone from the Sevensworth family, though, since it’s nothing too impressive. The left path has some unusual flowers. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many, so it might not be anything deserving of showing to you. Which would you prefer?” he asked.
I wasn’t used to men being so considerate, going as far as to ask me for my preference, so I was at a loss.
“In that case, I think I’d like to see the flowers,” I said.
“Then let’s continue down the left path. Do you like flowers?”
“Yes. I look at the flowers in our garden every day.”
“I’m sure the garden of the Sevensworth family must be very beautiful. What kind of flowers bloom around this time?”
He continued amicably conversing with me as we walked around the garden. Even though we were alone, he was still kind and brought up topics we could talk about. He was making great efforts to entertain me.
“Huh?” Just then, a sound of surprise escaped my mouth.
For an instant, he’d disappeared out of my field of view, and then he reappeared, crouched down in front of me. I very slightly lost my balance as the arm I’d been resting my hand on vanished all of a sudden.
“That was close...” he said with a look of relief.
When he stood up again, he held his hand out to me. In it was my necklace. Looking closer, I realized the fastener had broken. It appeared that Sir Ginorious had caught my necklace before it hit the ground. Wow, he moved so quickly. For a second it looked like his ring glowed, but perhaps that was just the light reflecting off of it?
Oh. This fastener uses mana. Mana fasteners were often used with high-quality products. But for some reason whenever I wore accessories with mana fasteners, it didn’t take too long before they broke. The servant in charge of my jewelry had recently changed, so most likely they’d ordered an expensive necklace with a mana fastener, not knowing about my condition.
“This is a fairly expensive necklace, is it not? It’d be terrible if it were to be damaged. Despite being in the middle of escorting you, I rudely moved away to catch it, and for that I apologize.”
“Oh, not at all! You’ve no need to apologize, especially since you caught my necklace. If anything, I should be thanking you!”
I was certainly glad the necklace I’d received from my father hadn’t been damaged, but this necklace was nothing more than one of the countless pieces of formal wear that I owned. I was in no short supply of them, so breaking this one wouldn’t have been that big a problem.
But more importantly, I couldn’t have been more over the moon about how thoughtful he was. It was unbelievable how kind he was being to a hideous woman like me. My heart feels so warm.
This was the first time that I’d ever had fun during the part of the marriage talks where it was just me and the suitor. As we continued our stroll, his kindness continued too and I realized it wasn’t just in marriage talks that this was the first time I’d been treated kindly. It was the first time I’d been treated kindly by a man, ever.
“Oh my.” I couldn’t stop my sound of astonishment as I was pulled from my thoughts.
Off the pathway were tens of shethes trees, lined up and dyed in purple. In the royal capital, there were trees called sakoora that produced pink flowers. The shethes trees, which were blooming profusely, reminded me of the sakoora tree in full bloom, just purple instead of pink.
Blooming under the majority of shethes trees were lisianthuses, which were producing flowers of emerald. It was almost like their placement had been fated with how perfectly they complimented the shethes.
I walked side by side with Sir Ginorious by the trees. The rays of sunlight that shone through the purple tree canopy made the emerald of the lisianthuses glow, and the wind that caressed our cheeks carried the fleeting sweetness of the flowers. Simply being able to experience this made coming here worth it. That’s just how wonderful the scenery was.
“Sir Ginorious? I’d like to speak with you about something,” I said after looking for a break in our conversation.
Looking at the beautiful flowers with the kind Sir Ginorious was incredibly enjoyable. However, this was the end of that time. I needed to break apart these marriage talks.
“Let’s speak over there. I’ll have tea prepared,” he said, guiding me to a nearby white gazebo illuminated by the rays of sun flitting through a blooming shethes tree.