novelDon't come to Wendy's flower shop (6)
| ← Ch.014 | Ch.016 → |
Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Don't come to Wendy's flower shop (6)
Wendy entered the room only a few moments after checking the name tag on the room.
Lard, who concealed himself, observed her actions through the slightly open hospital room door. As the room was so narrow, he had to hold his breath to not to be caught.
Inside was a girl who looked about six or six years old in bed.
Approaching her, Wendy eagerly tried to feed her. Although she was appeasing the child in a gentle tone, she repeated the word 'Oh boy, ' as if she was annoyed, as she refused to eat again.
"Seriously. It's really delicious."
"Are you not going to eat?"
"You will never know how hard I worked to make this soup."
Lard gently smiled at that. Obviously, she was an interesting woman to him.
"Won't you try this fruit anyway?
The food she recommended to the child last, who refused to eat, was a small red fruit. As soon as he saw the unique look of the fruit she lifted, he quickly recognized its identity. Bahazman!
It was the fruit of that tree that Jean Jacques had presented to him as evidence several times.
He recalled Jean Jacques's face, who said with regrets that if he could eat the fruit, he could forget his arthritis on rainy days, but Bahazman was a rare fruit that even the royal family members could not easily obtain. How come did that woman have the fruit?
Lard left before Wendy left the patient's room. Going up to the third floor of the building where Jean had been waiting, he asked a question as soon as he saw Jean with a sullen expression on his face.
"Hey, was the Bahaman tree in the botanical garden damaged by the accident?"
"Pardon? As I reported to you already, there was no damage to the property of the imperial family in the museum. There was no damage to the fruit or the leaves of the Bahazman tree. I checked everything, based on the previous record. The plant manager of the museum also confirmed that there was damage whatsoever."
Nodding at his reply, Schroder asked as if something flashed across his mind.
"You told me the daughter of Smith Derian, who committed the crime, was hospitalized in this hospital, right?"
"Yes, her name is Sophie Derian. She has been here for almost six months... Why are you mentioning her all of a sudden?"
Jean Jacques asked, trying to examine Lard's expression.
"...Oh, It's nothing."
Lard approached the window at the end of the hall and said nothing, with his eyes fixed outside the window.
The weather outside the window quickly changed, and it was raining now. It was raining heavily as if the sky was open.
"Captain, Edmonds asked you to stop by him before you left. He said he had something to give you."
At Jean Jacques's reminder, Lard walked away from the window, turning his eyes from outside. While heading for Edmonds' office, he thought about several assumptions. Did Wendy own the Bahazman fruit from the start? Or did she obtain it somewhere after she visited the botanical garden? Or if both assumptions were not true...
"Hey! Where did you run so quickly a little while ago? It looked like you had a crush on a woman at first sight. Hahaha."
Edmonds cracked a joke to Lard stepping into his office, looking at his face, but soon withdrew his smile when he noticed his expressionless face.
"Man, I can't even joke. You embarrass me all the time!"
He placed a silver envelope on the table. The words "Jerus Orchestra" were written in beautiful handwriting on the envelope.
"The Crown Prince has great expectations. I want you to attend his concert this time by all means. Isn't it his only hobby? It looks like he had been struggling a lot at the cabinet meeting these days. So, try to go and comfort him. If you can, bring your partner. Oh, you may come alone. Maryan says this will be his final musical stage. The Emperor won't allow him anymore."
He was talking about Crown Prince Isaac von Benyahan.
As it happened, every member of the emperor's family had their own tastes, and Crown Prince Isaac had been crazy about playing the violin from childhood.
They enjoyed music as part of culture, so it was extremely rare for a royal family member to play a musical instrument directly. However, the prince was so talented in music that he was praised by the music masters as the one and only musical prodigy in the Benyahan Empire.
However, it was not good for the crown prince, who was supposed to succeed the throne, to be deeply immersed in music instead of focusing on managing state affairs, and the emperor wasn't going to approve it anymore.
While opening the envelope, Lard recalled the images of the crown prince who threw away his sword. He punished the crown prince by hitting his head on the pretext of teaching him swordmanship, but the crown prince didn't show any interest in it. Lard never again taught him swordmanship. If it wasn't for the emperor's request, he wouldn't have tried to train him from the beginning. Although the crown prince was the next emperor that he had to serve, he was definitely lacking in sword skills.
Unlike previous emperors who dedicated all their attention and energies to learning swordmanship, Prince Isaac was fully into playing the violin.
"Remember! You have to attend his concert this time! He's going to feel sorry all the time if you don't appear again."
Edmonds spoke to him in a very strict manner, but it was not easy for him to persuade Lard with his meek impression.
Lard put the silver envelope into his jacket pocket and silently approached the window. Heavy raindrops strained his nerves. Cold rain was pouring down without any sign of stopping. There was a crowd of people at the main gate of Linus National Medical Center, which could be seen right from the window of Edmonds's office. They could not move because of the heavy rain.
A woman in bright yellow dress among the crowd caught his eye. He could not turn his head away from her. It looked like her yellow hair, now seen out of her robe, was screaming, 'I'm here. '
"Edmonds, lend me a carriage. Right now."
He spoke to his friend, disguising his feelings as reason. This time, too, he thought it was the command of reason to solve the question surrounding the Bahazman fruit that he decided to move toward her right now, but he was not sure.
Looking at the heavy rain, Wendy made a sullen face.
Normally, she would have returned home no matter how hard it was raining, but she would have pneumonia even before she got home in that rain.
She didn't know how long time passed in front of the medical center. Today, her shop was closed, but there was so much to do when she went home.
'First and foremost, let me have a good rest!'
Wendy already decided to lie in bed all day. After breaking with the daily life of a noblewoman, Wendy freed herself at least one day a week for full rest. Of course, it depended on her moods, but today was the day she really wanted to relax at home.
Even the black clouds gathering near the Rainy forest were coming nearer to the medical center as if to devour it.
Because of the black clouds everywhere, it was getting dark. While gazing at the black clouds and lamenting, she thought of the soup in her hand. Even though the soup was not appreciated by the child despite her sincere efforts, she vowed that she would eat it all out of respect for the food when she got back home.
At that moment, a black four-horse carriage drove through the heavy rain and slowly stopped at the main gate of the medical center. As the medical carriages were supposed to drive through a different gate, the crowds there looked at it with suspicion.
Wendy also wondered momentarily who came to the center in this heavy rain, and sadly looked at the horses exposed to heavy rain.
The horse was Wendy's favorite animal. She had been riding horses since she lived at Earl Hazlet's house, so she naturally loved horses.
Although she did not own a horse, she occasionally rented a horse at the Horseville horse-riding center and rode across the field. If she could have her way, she wanted to buy a horse, but it was a luxury for a commoner to own a horse. She had no space for a stable in her house, and she did not want to do anything that could draw others' attention.
While she was lost in idle thoughts, she was stunned to see the face of a man getting out of the carriage.
'How come that guy is here?'
She pulled her robe and lowered her head, wishing he would not find her.
She heard his steps across the wet ground and the stairs. While pretending to be indifferent, Wendy rubbed the back of her hands, feeling it was suddenly quiet around.
Unfortunately, the man's black shoes came into her vision. The raindrops that fell while he was walking from the carriage bubbled over the shoes.
"Miss Wendy?
| ← Ch. 014 | Ch. 016 → |