Meeting the Crown Prince

Wearing a delicate lavender dress with ruby earrings and a necklace, hair tied in a simple braid, I walked out of my room. In the hallway, I came across brother Azure who is speaking with the butler. I don't know what they are talking about nor do I have any intentions to meddle with his affair. I only want to live a safe life and as much as possible, find a way to return to my world.

I continued walking but stopped because my brother called me.

"Rin, where are you going?" he had already finished conversing with the butler so he approached me.

"brother, the crown prince sent me a letter of invitation to the palace"

He took something from his pocket and handed it to me. I looked at a bracelet with a sunflower pendant in my hand.

"Take care of that. By the way, be careful on your way. If people did something wrong to you in the palace, fight them" he smiled and pats my head. Ahaha, I seem to know where the real Rina's habit of fighting immediately when someone argues with her came from. If this is the behavior of her brother who is close to her, maybe she was influenced.

"I will, thank you for reminding me, brother Azure" I continued walking down the stairs until I came outside of the mansion where a carriage is waiting. I stare at the two people in front of me. A knight and a maid. I have seen the maid here in the mansion when I first woke up as Rina. She's the one who made a ruckus saying I don't recognize her and started crying. Well, it was true but I'm not dumb to tell them 'hey the real Rina is dead and I'm a new soul occupying your lady's body.' It's like putting a knife in my neck. Luckily, the duke and Azure thought that Rina is mentally unstable because of the rumors circulating in the capital about how the crown prince loved Flory and Rina being an evil woman trying to destroy a pure love.

"Please take care of me today" the knight bows his head and Lily, my maid did the same.

"shall we go?"

"yes my lady" beaming a smile, I reached for the knight's hand escorting me inside the carriage. Lily sat in front of me silently as the carriage starts to move. If this situation continues without someone speaking, the whole ride will be boring. Sighing, I look out the window to see some shops I should visit after meeting the crown prince.

"Lily, do you recommend any sweet shops and restaurants?" surprised by my sudden question, she blinks her eyes twice before speaking.

"y-yes lady. The shop at the front of the bouquet store where you buy dresses serves delicious snacks and it's popular among the noble ladies in the capital. Also, the restaurant on the next street is famous for their steak and wine" I smiled watching her as she talked about the various stores in the capital. The carriage stopped and that meant we were already here at the palace.

"Let's visit the shops later," I said to Lily before stepping down from the carriage and looking at the knight who was with us.

"sir knight, may I know your name?" he paused for a moment, startled by my question.

"Herion," he said.

"It's a wonderful name" I utter. He averted his gaze but I can see his ears reddened. I know this kind of manner. An expression of the first time receiving a compliment.

"let's go"

A man was walking in our direction and stopped opposite me. He bowed in front of me.

"welcome lady Atelier. The crown prince is waiting for you. Please follow me" I looked at my companions signaling them not to follow and just wait for me at the carriage. It's a good thing that they easily understand what I want. I followed the man before me. We're walking to a garden filled with different kinds of flowers but almost half of it is filled with blue, red, yellow, and white colors of roses.

"Can we stop for a moment? I just saw a beautiful flower. I want to give it to the crown prince"

"the crown prince is waiting for you at the greenhouse" he replied.

"you go first, I know where it is" he bows and walks away. I went to the location of the flower I saw and grins while picking only one of it. I know the way to the greenhouse because, in the novel, Rina always visits the former empress when she was young. The former empress and her mother were friends. This is the reason why the emperor used this opportunity to engage the daughter of a powerful ducal household and the crown prince instead of Rina and his first son. However, when the empress died, the garden was left without no care. The crown prince discovers Flory loves the garden in the imperial palace, so he let her take good care of it although this garden holds no sentimental value to the crown prince because the former empress was not his mother.

Unfortunately, Flory is not that knowledgeable in the language of flowers. She only likes the wonderful view of the garden but doesn't know the meaning of some flowers planted here by the former empress.

'and you're planning to make someone unworthy as future empress of the empire. tsk, the crown prince is a fool, blinded by love.'

I marched my way to the greenhouse. Entering, it is a beautiful and relaxing place filled with so many plants. The only person that can make it like hell for me is the one sitting on a chair while drinking tea served at the top of the table.

"I greet your highness, the crown prince, son of the sun of empire" bowing courteously and smiling in front of a jerk is tiring.

"take a seat and have a cup of tea" I took my seat in front of him, staring at the tea before me.

"I didn't poison it" he crossed his arms and stares at me as if he was impatiently waiting for his prey to take the bait. Sliding my finger on the handle of the cup, I took a sip and carefully laid the cup on the table.

"I didn't expect that the crown prince is thoughtful towards his fiancé. How nice of you to prepare rose tea for me or perhaps, I'm the second person that visited you here and you don't have time to change it?" he winced for a second but regain his composure again. It's the same in the novel. He invited Rina for tea and she believed that the crown prince will reciprocate her love to the point that she didn't mind drinking the rose tea that was prepared for Flory who came into the greenhouse before her. She didn't even notice it because she was focused on this stupid man. However, things are different now and I will never fall in love with a jerk like the crown prince.

"Rina knows how to make funny jokes" so he took it as a joke. Ah, the crown prince is not an idiot. Well, whether he's dumb or not doesn't matter to me.

"aiya, if his highness like my jokes so much, I can tell you as many as you want" smiling widely at him, I continue drinking the tea.

"I don't want to trouble Rina for some insignificant matters"

How long does he intend to drag this conversation without getting to the main topic?

"don't make me laugh your highness. I came here not to enjoy drinking tea with you. Shall we discuss the matter in your letter?"

He smirks, placing his cup of tea on top of the table. Now, let's finish this talk so I can go home and rest.