The Archduke’s Flower Is in Danger - Chapter 1

The drawing room was silent, with only the two of them remaining.

Steam billowed from the afternoon tea pot on the table. A hand gracefully holding the teacup’s handle moved silently. As the man placed the teacup on the saucer, he said in a low voice,

“It shouldn’t be a difficult choice.”

Leaning back leisurely, with his hands clasped together, the man looked relaxed. His eyes were like those of a predator cornering an easy prey.

“Whether to become the perverted Marquis’s sixth plaything or the Grand Duchess who will be free in three years.”

Idel flinched. She knew it was an easy decision that even a three-year-old could make, but somehow, the words wouldn’t come out easily.

His gaze was definitely different from the Marquis’s lustful eyes but the deep blue eyes staring intently at her seemed dangerous in another way.

“Do you need more time to think? It doesn’t seem like you have that luxury.”

Unable to hide her anxiety, she bit her lip lightly. Her light pink lips became a deeper red, as if paint was spreading.

As the slightly swollen lips parted, the man’s relaxed expression momentarily disappeared. As the instinct to devour those petal-like lips surged, the man clenched his teeth tightly.

“…I will. The contract you mentioned, Your Highness.”

Finally, the answer he had been waiting for came. Skillfully managing his emotions, the man returned to his usual nonchalant expression as if nothing had happened.

“A wise choice.”

The man’s face, with a languid smile of satisfaction, was breathtakingly alluring. The pounding of her heart echoed in her ears like a warning.

‘Is it really a wise choice?’

She felt like she was caught in an inescapable trap.

* * *

Idel decided to run away… no, to become independent.

It was the most important decision of her life, made after twenty years of living as a fake flower of the Fleure County.

She had been preparing for it for a long time, but at this moment, the decision became even more firm. As if reflecting her firm resolve, the slender hand holding the cutlery gripped it so tightly that the veins stood out.

“You’re happy too, aren’t you, sister?”

Roseline, with a smile as fresh as the rose scent filling the dining room, tucked her luscious auburn hair behind her ear and examined her sister’s complexion.

On the surface, she had an innocent expression, but the look in her eyes as she gazed at Idel’s expressionless face was subtly sparkling. It was as if she were an audience member watching her impending misfortune from a first-class seat.

“Well, it’s the greatest fortune for your sister. She’s going to be a Marchioness, after all.”

“That’s right. Even though my sister has a ‘flaw’,  she’s still very beautiful, so I’m sure the Marquis will like her.”

The Countess took a sip of wine, answering for Idel, and Roseline chimed in, emphasizing the ‘flaw’ that she loved to talk about the most.

The word ‘beautiful’ was not a genuine compliment to Idel’s appearance. It was merely a setup for what she was about to say next.

“What’s the point of being beautiful? She’s just a scentless fake flower anyway.”

“Still, a flower is a flower. My sister is still a Fleure.”

“Hmph! I don’t know…”

The Countess’s gaze towards Idel was filled with deep contempt. Her expression seemed to imply that she wasn’t even born into the Fleure County.

Even her sister Roseline’s face, watching the Countess’s expression with satisfaction like a well-fed cat.

This scene, which had been going on since childhood, had been repeated for over a decade like an old play with no end.

‘Here we go again.’

Idel chewed and swallowed the familiar humiliation along with the food in her mouth. After finishing her meal, she picked up the napkin she had placed on her lap and wiped her mouth with a calm expression.

The Countess, who had been watching her with displeasure, turned to Roseline and completely changed her expression. With a kind and affectionate smile, the Countess looked endlessly benevolent.

“By the way, our Roseline is blooming more and more every day. Her lovely rose scent is getting stronger and stronger, and the young men can’t get enough of her, can they? I’ve even had noblewomen with eligible young men begging me to bring you to tea time.”

“Oh, Mother! You’re embarrassing me. I’m not ready to be with anyone yet.”

“You’re eighteen now, so we need to find you a good match. I have no intention of sending you to just anyone. The empire’s best flower must rise to the highest position.”

It was a clearly different treatment from her own situation, being sold off to a half-century-old Marquis who had been married five times. The Countess and Roseline, smiling at each other, seemed to be in a different space.

As always, she was just an outsider in this family, not belonging anywhere. Perhaps that was her destiny, decided from the moment she was born.

It was a family secret that wasn’t known to the outside world, but the descendants of the Fleure County, whose distant ancestors were said to have received the blessing of the flower fairies, were born with the scent of their own birth flower.

Having their own unique scent without wearing perfume was one proof of being a Fleure bloodline.

‘Only I was born without a scent.’

For a Fleure child to have no scent was like being born with a disability, like having no arms or legs.

No, it would have been better if she had no arms or legs.

The fact that Idel, the Count’s legitimate child, was born without color or scent caused a great controversy in the family. In the end, the family branded her mother as an unchaste woman. She was bombarded with accusations of carrying a seed that was not Fleure, and her mother, who had been suffering, passed away less than a year after giving birth.

The arrows turned to the remaining Idel. There was pressure from the family to doubt her origins and send her away, but Count Fleure accepted her as his daughter because she was the child of the woman he loved.

Instead, as a condition, he took in a stepmother designated by the family, and that woman was the stepmother now in front of Idel. She gave birth to Roseline, who was born with a rose as her birth flower, as if to show off.

“My sister has to get married first before I can even think about marriage. Spring is coming soon, so it would be perfect for a wedding!”

Roseline said, clapping her hands with a childlike, bright expression. It seemed like a pure statement at first glance, but it contained the intention of wanting the marriage to proceed as quickly as possible.

“The Count said he’ll be back from his inspection of the territory around the middle of next month.”

Idel’s sharp mind clearly read the Countess’s intentions to quickly proceed with her marriage, taking advantage of the fact that her father was away.

“By then, the preparations for your wedding will be finished. I’ve been saying that you haven’t had your debutante because you’re a modest and virtuous lady, so don’t be rash and quietly focus on preparing for the wedding.”

As the Countess said, she had been confined and had not engaged in any external activities. It was partly because she was ostracized within the family, but also because she wasn’t interested in social activities like other young ladies.

“The head maid said that the light in your room was on late last night… were you reading again?”

“My sister is always reading. She uses the allowance Father gives her to buy books.”

Roseline scanned Idel’s plain dress. Her tone was filled with pity, but her eyes clearly mocked her for choosing reading over dressing up.

Since she was young, Idel had been holed up in the library. In a family where she had no place to belong, her only comfort was reading. She preferred new books to new dresses. The world she couldn’t experience directly was contained within them.

In particular, she was interested in books related to law and administration. It started when she wanted to have a conversation with her father, so she followed along and read the books he was reading. Her sharp mind quickly acquired knowledge, but she had no opportunity to show it.

“What good is reading anyway,  you should be learning more etiquette instead.”

The Countess clicked her tongue with a look of incomprehension. As she said, what society wanted from a lady of the noble class was not knowledge in her head, but etiquette and refinement learned through her body.

Most noble young ladies received home schooling or entered girls’ schools until the age of sixteen to acquire basic knowledge, and then entered society through balls and salons. There, they met a suitable partner or married someone chosen by their family.

Perhaps she should be grateful that she hadn’t been sold as a commodity in the so-called marriage market until she was twenty years old.

“The Shale Marquis family might visit before the wedding, are you going to dress like that then? Think of the family’s reputation and go to the dressmaker to get some clothes made.”

The Countess said with an even more displeased expression than before. Idel nodded quietly as if agreeing with her words. She just needed an excuse to go out of the house.

“Keep in mind that all the preparations must be completed before the Count returns.”

If it was her father, who was usually cold and indifferent but still fair, he might be able to stop this marriage that was proceeding without her consent.

But even if he could stop it this time.

‘It’s going to happen again soon.’

Even if she, who was already of marriageable age, stayed in this family, the only remaining option was to be sold off in marriage again.

So Idel decided.

Based on the academic knowledge she had accumulated through books, she would take the entrance exam for the Department of Public Administration at Jupiter Imperial University!

If she obtained a certificate of admission to the Imperial University, she would be able to postpone the unwanted arranged marriage, even if only for a while.

Her ultimate goal was to graduate from the Imperial University and become an administrator or scholar, and become independent from the family.

In the eyes of the world, it was not a path that a lady from the prestigious Fleure family would choose, but rather one for a commoner woman from the middle class.

But to avoid an unwanted marriage and escape from a family where she had no place to belong, this was the best option.

‘The exam results will be out around the time Father returns.’

Although she usually stayed hidden away, the pretext of preparing for marriage was a suitable excuse to go outside to take the entrance exam.

If she took the Imperial University entrance exam, which was coming up next week, and presented the acceptance certificate to her father, who had returned just in time, she would be allowed to enroll.

‘I will… definitely pass.’

Beneath her long eyelashes, her clear, light green eyes shone like solid glass with firm determination.

It was the moment she resolved to become a living flower that breathed on its own, no longer an artificial flower living as if dead.

However, she did not know at this time.

That Fleur’s flower, which had declared its independence, would be captured in someone’s grasp and become precarious.