* * *

Beyond the transparent glass walls, the setting sun cast a red glow. The Duke, who had been walking ahead, stopped.

He stared at the flowerbed where no flowers bloomed, just as I had. After a long silence, the Duke spoke.

“No matter what you say now, it won’t change anything. I’ve buried Mari in my heart. As a father who couldn’t even be by her side when she died, Marie wouldn’t even allow me the luxury of missing her.”

“I don’t think that’s true. She never resented you, not even for a moment.”

“What do you know…!”

The Duke’s breath grew ragged. I pulled out Marie’s pendant from her pocket and held it out. The Duke’s eyes flickered when he saw it. I carefully delivered my prepared words.

“Even when she was ill, Lady Marie wished she could see you again. She checked this pendant every day, hoping for a miracle.”

The Duke stormed over and slapped the pendant out of my hand. It rolled on the dirt floor.

Holding my throbbing hand, I watched the Duke’s face. He looked as if he were staring at an enemy rather than an adopted daughter.

“This is your last warning. Never mention Marie in front of me again. A miracle? There’s no such thing… How dare you speak of miracles to someone who’s lost Marie.”

“No.”

I answered firmly and met the Duke’s gaze. Then I smiled faintly.

“Miracles do exist.”

The Duke’s angry expression slowly turned to one of surprise.

As the sun disappeared completely and the moonlight took over, the buds that had been tightly closed began to bloom one by one.

The violet flowers soon filled the entire flowerbed. Attracted by the strong scent, bees and butterflies swarmed around the Duke and me.

The Duke murmured in disbelief.

“This… can’t be…”

When he reached out, a butterfly landed on his fingertip. A scene from the original story flashed through her mind.

Cedrick had been momentarily breathless at the sight before him. The flowers, which hadn’t bloomed since Marie’s death, were now in full bloom.

Once Cedrick understood the situation, he roughly grabbed Luke by the shoulder.

“How did you make these flowers bloom…? What kind of magic did you use?”

“No, it’s not magic.”

Luke gently removed Cedrick’s hand. His round eyes, filled with intelligence, softened into a smile.

“These are evening primroses. They only bloom after sunset.”

“…….”

“While it is possible to use magic to make them bloom during the day, they usually only bloom at night. Since you couldn’t bring yourself to enter the greenhouse after Marie’s death, you’ve never seen them.”

Cedrick’s red eyes flickered. Luke calmly continued.

“Cedrick, true love… must be able to embrace even loss. Even if it’s frightening and painful. If you can’t love loss, then it’s not true love. If you truly love Marie, then please, love her loss as well.”

It was the pivotal scene where Cedrick began to fall in love with Luke. There was a bittersweet atmosphere to that scene. It was the only time Cedrick, usually fierce, had smiled at Luke.

Though the person hearing the message had changed, the sentiment remained the same. The Duke, who had been looking around, murmured as if in a trance.

“This color is just like…”

“Yes.”

“…….”

“It’s a beautiful purple, just like Lady Marie’s eyes. Lady Marie told me to ask you to visit these flowers whenever you find yourself missing her.”

The Duke rubbed his face with a confused expression.

“What kind of magic is this? These flowers can only bloom for Mari.”

“It’s not magic.”

At that moment, Luke’s line from the original story overlapped with her thoughts.

Yes, this isn’t magic. It’s just a trick I’m playing, knowing the story’s plot.

Originally, I had planned to bring the Duke here at a different time on another day, but circumstances forced her hand.

In a way, I was lucky. If the flowers had fully bloomed before the Duke arrived, I wouldn’t have been able to create this scene.

‘But in the end… I’m just using Marie’s death to save myself.’

Guilt weighed heavily on my chest, but if it meant surviving, I could tell this lie a thousand times over. I hid my trembling hands behind my back and continued speaking.

“I know the Duke is greatly disappointed in me because all the prophecies I made to gain his trust were wrong.”

“……”

“The truth is, I’m ignorant and still don’t fully understand what a saintess really is…”

This too was a lie. I knew better than anyone what a saintess was.

A saintess was a being who could perform miracles, someone who could revive the dead and win unwinnable wars—a sacred being loved by the god Maya.

‘And… the one Jeanne had to become, even if only in pretense.’

After taking a moment to steady my breath, I looked at the Duke and smiled brightly.

“I just wished with all my heart for a miracle to happen.”

The Duke, who had been looking at me with disbelief, shifted his gaze to the flowers. The purple flowers swayed gently.

The Duke, who had been standing there in a daze, staggered and turned away. I called out to him in a startled voice as he moved away.

“Duke?”

He didn’t look back. I stared after him, still in shock. Even after he left, I stood there for a long time, feeling a sense of dread wash over me.

‘Could it be… is he angry because Jeanne mentioned Marie, who’s dead?’

My legs suddenly gave out. As soon as I was sure I had failed, my breathing grew ragged. I clasped my trembling hands together as if in prayer. The tears I had been holding back finally fell.

The Duke of Carlotte was right. There were no such things as miracles.

There never were.

✽ ✽ ✽

Carlotte stopped walking down the hallway, her face troubled.

‘A miracle? There’s no way that could happen. She’s the child who’s been wrong about every prophecy so far. I can’t be swayed. She must’ve learned some magic I don’t know about.’

Through the window, Jeanne was visible, collapsed on the ground. Her small shoulders were shaking pitifully.

A sudden surge of pity made Carlotte turn his head away hastily. The memory of Marie, smiling brightly the day she first succeeded with magic, flashed before her eyes.

“Father, look! I’ve succeeded with magic for the first time! This flower is the same purple as my eyes. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Marie was a kind child who even shared her food with passing stray dogs. A child with amethyst-like, beautiful violet eyes.

Why, even for a brief moment, did the image of that bright child overlap with the somber Jeanne?

No matter how hard she tried not to see it, she couldn’t help but glance back at the greenhouse where Jeanne was.

“She’s not Marie. She’s not Marie, so why…?”

“Duke, the carriage to the imperial palace is ready.”

The Duke, who had been muttering as if possessed by a ghost, turned his head. The moment he saw the head butler, his erratic breathing slowly returned to normal.

The Duke’s eyes turned cold again as she began to walk ahead. As he walked silently, he suddenly spoke.

“Butler.”

The butler bowed respectfully at the Duke’s call.

“Yes, my Lord?”

“Tell Kelly to clear out one of the dressing rooms tomorrow.”

“Why a dressing room all of a sudden…?”

“Jeanne’s clothes are shabby. You know that a lady’s attire represents the dignity of the ducal house. Or did you plan to tarnish my reputation?”

The daughters of noble families were expected to eat and dress in luxury, even more so if they were from the Duke’s household. Carlotte clicked his tongue.

‘How foolish, unable to even take care of herself.’

Jeanne, dressed in worn-out riding clothes, looked more like the daughter of a rural baron than a lady of the Duke’s household, and Carlotte found that strangely irritating.

The butler, bewildered by the Duke’s sudden change in attitude, bowed his head.

“But Lady Jeanne is to be sent in the asylum…”

“……”

“…I apologize. I’ll send a maid to assist her tomorrow.”

“No.”

A subtle silence followed. After a moment of contemplation, the Duke spoke again.

“I’ll accompany her myself.”

* * *