“Niall, Niall! Please help us!”
The chambermaids urgently sought out Niall. Grabbing hold of Niall, who was chopping firewood, they pleaded for his assistance.
“What’s the matter? Is there a fire?”
“It’s more urgent than that. Niall, do you know how to arrange flowers? Please come and help us.”
“Flower arranging? I don’t know how to do that. Wait a moment.”
Ignoring Niall’s words, the chambermaids grabbed his hands and dragged him along. Niall followed them with a perplexed expression.
“The steward of Elam’s estate requested that the fiancée’s room be decorated with flowers.”
“The tapestries are too dull, and the patterns on the bedcovers are outdated.”
“When he saw the dressing table, he asked if we had retrieved it from a tomb. He said it’s too old-fashioned.”
“We offered to replace them, but he refused. He said it’s fine as it is. He’d rather have lots of flowers for decoration.”
“Um, everyone, please calm down for a moment. How can I help?”
Niall asked in a helpless tone, but the chambermaids shouted in unison.
“Niall is from the Central region! He must be better than us!”
“But I’ve never done anything like flower arranging…”
However, Niall had already been dragged into the room filled with flower baskets by then. The chambermaids grabbed Niall and spread out.
“Please help us, Niall. You know what’s in fashion, like hats, and you know about lace for dresses.”
“The steward of Elam’s estate has been complaining all day that the North is cold, rustic, and rigid.”
“If I hear one more complaint about rusticness, I’ll break that steward’s nose!”
As the maids vented their grievances, Niall eventually raised both hands. He sighed lightly and then looked over the result of their flower arranging.
“…Alright, everyone. Shall we start by removing all the flowers that are already arranged?”
The people here didn’t know how to arrange flowers beautifully. Flowers were considered luxury items, so simply arranging a few in a vase was considered beautiful enough.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf oibkfgr jggjcufv ys atf mtjwyfgwjlvr kfgf nfgs rlwqif. Ktfs kfgf rbgafv raglmais ys mbibg—sfiibk klat sfiibk, ktlaf klat ktlaf—jcv jggjcufv lc njrfr jmmbgvlcuis. Ymmjrlbcjiis, atfs kgjqqfv rwjiifg oibkfgr jgbecv ijgufg bcfr obg j yla wbgf fifujcmf.
Mlgra, Rljii ujatfgfv atf yeiyber oibkfgr abufatfg jcv ibbrfis jggjcufv atfw lc njrfr. Pc yfakffc, tf oliifv lc klat rwjiifg, vfilmjaf oibkfgr, atfc mea ijguf, ygbjv ifjnfr ab vfmbgjaf wbgf iertis atjc atf oibkfgr atfwrfinfr.
“Wow.”
Rose, who had been watching, opened her mouth in amazement. Even though it was the same flowers and materials, when Niall handled them, they felt much more sophisticated. It’s hard to explain what was different, but it just was.
“Now, it’s roses.”
Next, Niall selected only orange and light pink roses, arranged them in a narrow vase, and elegantly twisted a blue line of delphinium around them.
Wondering what else to add, Niall took a few steps back, then finally tied a white ribbon around the stems. Adding sophistication to sophistication, Niall’s flower arrangement was now truly elegant. Rose applauded.
In this way, Niall had to do about fifty flower arrangements. Sometimes he made delicate ones by arranging roses and eucalyptus leaves, and other times he made bold ones by intertwining orange, red, and white delphinium.
After inserting the last leaf, Niall wiped his sweat and sat down on a chair. It was his first time, but even to my eyes, it looked quite decent.
“Alright, let’s move them now.”
The housekeeper clapped her hands. The chambermaids lifted the flower arrangements that Niall had diligently made and headed to the room where the guests were staying.
“What about me? Should I come too?”
“Of course, you too.”
When Niall asked at the housekeeper’s prompting, she just nodded and pointed to a wooden flowerpot placed behind. It was a schefflera with broad, colorful leaves.
“Please carry that. It’s too heavy for the ladies.”
“Oh.”
Niall wanted to refuse, but he had no excuse. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t carry it because it was heavy, but neither could he ask the ladies to carry it themselves. Helplessly, Niall lifted the wooden flowerpot, slightly smaller than himself. Indeed, it was so heavy that his upper body swayed.
Carefully avoiding tripping, Niall followed the chambermaids. However, there was always a gap between him, carrying the heavy plant, and the chambermaids, carrying the light flower vases. By the time he arrived at the guests’ room, everyone was coming out empty-handed.
“Haa.”
Niall sighed and entered the guests’ room. Fortunately, there were no guests from the Central region or the steward in the room. Niall had intended to quickly leave after leaving the flowerpot, but when he saw the haphazardly placed vases left by the chambermaids, he hesitated.
“That shouldn’t be placed like that. It’s not good to put small flowers and big flowers together.” Niall sighed deeply once again and began to rearrange the flower vases.
“Who are you?”
As he divided large flowers from small ones and separated light colors from dark ones to separate the space, he heard a strange voice from behind. When he turned around, there was a petite blond man standing at the door.
Quickly lowering his head and about to explain the situation, Niall made a sound of surprise. The man, draped in white fur, stared at Niall with eyes even whiter than his face.
Large blue eyes that seemed to pour out and tiny pink lips. Niall stared at the man’s face intently. Then, almost involuntarily, he pointed and exclaimed.
“Louis?”
“Niall?”
The man also called Niall’s name. Oh my goodness! Niall walked up to him and grabbed the man’s arm. Even up close, he was indeed Louis.
“Louis? Is it really you? What are you doing here?”
“Why are you here, Niall? This is Duke’s castle in the North.”
Louis looked perplexed.
“Yeah, this is Duke’s castle in the North. And this room is for the person who’s supposed to… engage with Duke…”
Niall stopped speaking and his mouth fell open. Then he scanned Louis from head to toe. A man wearing a sable fur coat, a golden necklace around his neck, and an emerald brooch on his chest. And a person who could enter this room without even knocking.
“…You’re Duke’s fiancé?”
Louis nodded. Niall released his hand from holding Louis and stepped back a few steps.
“Niall.”
Louis approached Niall with a sad face. Niall stepped back the same distance.
“I’m sorry. I behaved rudely to Duke’s fiancé…”
“Don’t say it like that!”
Tears welled up in Louis’s deer-like large eyes. He ran towards Niall and hugged him before Niall could push him away.
“I’m Louis. Your Louis, Niall!”
“Ellem’s… Prince.”
“I missed you, Niall.”
Louis looked up at Niall with teary eyes. Then, bursting into tears again, he buried his head in Niall’s chest.
Niall vividly remembered the first time he saw Louis. When he first arrived, Niall was six years old, and Louis was three.
Unlike Niall, who didn’t know who his parents were, he knew his name was Louis and remembered him having a mother. Romana once said that since his father never came looking for him, Louis seemed to be a nobleman’s illegitimate child.
Louis followed Niall exceptionally well. When he was young, there were times when he called Niall “mom.” Louis was timid, afraid, and kind. Louis was Niall’s little brother.
When he turned ten, Louis went back to his family’s embrace. As Niall returned from his work, he saw the carriage carrying Louis speeding down the steep road. Later, he heard from Romana that even as Louis got on the carriage, he only shouted Niall’s name.
“Until I turned eighteen, I believed that someday Niall would come looking for me. If I went missing, Niall could have found out where I went. Niall, why didn’t you come looking for me?”
To Louis’s tangled and gentle resentment, Niall lightly pinched Louis’s nose and let go.
“I know what the world of nobles is like. If I went to find you, I might have revealed that you’re a bastard. Then your position would have been shaken. I’m too closely tied to your past. It’s better for us not to meet.”
“What does it matter? I never wanted to be a nobleman’s son. I wanted to meet Niall and run away!”
Louis raised his voice in excitement. Niall quickly covered Louis’s mouth. Louis had become engaged to the Duke of Shirland as the omega son of Earl of Ellem. If his status as a bastard were revealed, it could escalate into a conflict between the two families.
Niall removed his hand from Louis’s mouth and quietly signaled him to calm down. Then, with reddened eyes, Louis said:
“I always wanted to meet Niall. Niall was my brother, my parent, and my friend.”
“I also regarded you as my brother. Very precious…”
“No, Niall. It’s not just that. I wanted to marry Niall when I grew up.”
“Louis…”
“The Earl’s son? They throw bastards into orphanages when they’re born. Do you want me to tell you how I was abandoned? The woman who gave birth to me was afraid of having her child taken away. She was running away, fearing that leaving me alone might cause trouble later. Ellem pursued that poor woman to the end, and when he couldn’t find her, he abandoned me to a wandering group to make sure that woman couldn’t find me. When they needed an Omega for such purposes, they found me again.”
“…”
“No one from the Earl’s people ever accepted me. They were all too scary and cold. I cried every night thinking of Niall. Someday, if Niall comes to find me, let’s hold hands and run away together. And let’s get married in a place where no one knows. That thought alone sustained me.”
Thud, a tear drop hanging from his long eyelashes fell. It emitted a fragrance. The sweet scent of an Omega.
wow what a twist 😆 never expected that😂
Damn that’s sad
damn this is complicated