* * *

The Marchioness, shocked that Lavi ventured outside of the mansion on her own, invited the children from nearby to come over.

In the garden full of flowers that her mother cherished, Lavi was sitting with an ambivalent expression on her face. 

There were six children around her, including Akkad: two girls of six, a girl of five, a boy of ten, and a boy of five, and with all of them talking, she felt like she was going to lose her mind.

The ten-year-old brunette boy was busy pretending to be like an adult, probably because he was aware that he was the oldest.

But whether she realized it or not, Lavi was spending all her time looking at Akkad.

‘There’s a flower among the flowers.’

Lavi smiled happily as she saw Akkad sitting among the blooming flowers, playing with one of the five-year-olds.

“So, Laviette.”

“Yes?” Lavi turned her head when she heard a voice calling out to her. The brunette boy was blushing, hiding something behind his back. “Why’d you call m–? Uh, I mean, yes, what is it?” ¹

The boy with brown hair had been saying from the beginning that he’d learned etiquette and respected her very much. However, if that was the case, he should’ve called her young lady Diaz or by her proper title. ² Instead, he’d called her by her first name even though she hadn’t given him her permission to do so.

“Because…I made this because I was bored… I don’t need it or anything.”

The brown-haired boy held out the flower crown that had been hidden behind his back. Apparently, he had made it after he was finished pretending to be a grown-up.

“A gift.”

The wreath made of white lisianthus flowers was a little bit roughly made, but pretty. ³Lavi glanced down at the flower crown, then looked up to Akkad. She thought it would look good on pink. Since the boy who made it said he didn’t need it, it would be fine to give it to Akkad.

Lavi rose from her seat and headed toward Akkad.As she approached, the child standing in front of Akkad was speaking in an eager tone.

“Make it quickly.”

“No. You can make it yourself.”

What was this situation? 

“I don’t know how to make one. I want it too.”

She was gesturing to the flower wreath in Lavi’s hand. Akkad gave her a look like he didn’t know why she was talking to him about it. 

“Why should I?”

The girl’s eyes filled with tears as if she were about to burst into tears at Akkad’s words. Akkad probably asked because he really didn’t know why he should have to do that. Lavi clicked her tongue and walked over to the child, placing the flower crown she was holding on her head.

“You were talking about this, right?”

The surprised expression on her face was so cute, as if she hadn’t expected Lavi to give it to her.

“Um, big sister, are you really giving this to me?” ⁴

 “Yeah, I’ll give it to you, so go play over there.”

“Thank you!”

Lavi, who was smiling and looking at the back of the child going to eat snacks with a flower crown on, turned toward Akkad. 

“What are you doing?” Akkad was plucking flowers.  “I gave her a flower crown. You don’t have to make her one.”

“Lavi’s.”

“Huh?”

“Lavi doesn’t have one because she gave it away.” After saying that, Akkad smiled brightly, revealing his dimples. “Just wait a moment.”

“I don’t need it. I was going to put it on you anyway.”

Lavi pressed her lips together, swallowing her regret that she didn’t get to see Akkad wearing a flower crown.

“… but.”

“Wait, why aren’t you wearing gloves at a time like this?” Lavi frowned as she watched Akkad picking flowers with his bare hands. Sitting on the ground facing him, Lavi took Akkad’s hand and brushed off the dirt. “Your palms are red.”

The stems were thin and without thorns, but it seemed they were still quite tough. Lavi pressed Akkad’s palm against her own and picked up the flower he’d plucked.

“Well, this suits you, too.”

Lavi placed the flower in Akkad’s hair and smiled with satisfaction.

“Eh? It’s weird.” Akkad tried to pull the flower away, perhaps feeling awkward.

“Don’t take it out. It’s pretty.”

“What about Lavi?”

“I like it better on you than me.”

A five-year-old boy sitting quietly nearby picked up a flower from the ground and placed it directly on his head.

“Sister, am I pretty too?” ⁵

“Mmm. That’s a pretty…… flower.”

Lavi nodded, thinking that he was very bright, though she couldn’t remember which family he belonged to.

“Sister, do it too.”

The child picked up the last remaining flower and reached out as if to stick it in her hair. 

“Don’t touch Lavi. Those flowers are mine.”

Lavi had begun to lower her head, going with the flow of things, but Akkad snatched the flower away.

“Akkad?”

 Lavi swallowed back a cry of emotion and looked at Akkad. 

When the child whose flower had been taken away burst into tears, the maid behind him hastily picked him up and began to soothe him.

“Akkad.”

Akkad glanced at her in confusion.

“Eh? I didn’t mean …”

“Good job. Do it just like that next time.”

Lavi looked proud when she saw that his flowers were not taken away from him and for earlier saying that he didn’t want to make a flower crown for the girl. Didn’t it seem like the hard work she was putting in with Akkad was paying off?

“By the way, Lavi.”

“Yes?”

“Is he prettier than me?”

Seeing Akkad holding the flower tightly and smiling with his eyes closed, Lavi answered without hesitation, asking if that was even a question. “It’s like I always tell you, you’re the prettiest.”

Lavi couldn’t resist and rubbed her own cheek against Akkad’s soft one.

Meanwhile, the girls who were playing a short distance away also began to cry. Lavi shook her head at the sight of the garden quickly becoming a mess.

“They’re no fun. As expected, I’d rather play with you, Akkad.”

“Then let’s go inside and play together.”

“Shall we?”

From the looks of things, it seemed like it would be difficult to play in the back garden any longer. Lavi yawned and grabbed Akkad’s hand to pull herself up.

“Jenny, I’m having a hard time and can’t play anymore. I want to go in now.”

“I’ll tell the madam, Miss. You should go in first, take a bath, and change your clothes.”

“Yes.”

Akkad walked after Lavi, throwing the flower he was holding onto the ground.

“Lavi.”

“Huh?”

Akkad took the flower out of his hair and stuck it in between Lavi’s braids.

“It’s prettier on Lavi.”

Allen, looking back and forth between the flower Akkad had thrown on the ground and the one in Lavi’s hair, followed after them with a complicated look on his face.

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T/N: I absolutely love how proud Lavi is of Akkad for saying ‘no’ in this section. And ahahaha, poor, poor Allen and his front-row seat to Akkad’s decades-long crush-in-the-making on his rather dense-about-romance young lady. This is a short section, but the next one is a doozy so I didn’t combine them.

1.  “왜? 아니, 왜요?” literally translated would be like, ‘why? No, why? 왜? is seeking clarification as to why the other person is calling their name or what the purpose of the interaction is. It’s a common response when someone is caught off guard or didn’t expect to be addressed at that moment. It’s more used in casual conversations among friends, family, or peers and is appropriate in informal or familiar situations. She belatedly adds the “-요” to make the question more polite and respectful (the kid she’s speaking to is older than her).  ↩︎
2. 영애/young-ae is a form of address for the daughter of someone of high rank. (It’s actually used for Lady Salome in first part of chapter 1 but I don’t think I noted it…) and literally is probably something like ‘esteemed daughter’ but fan translation has seemed to colloquially accept ‘the young miss/young lady of _’ or ‘young miss/young lady’
   
   Probably something I should have mentioned earlier because it will definitely come up again….but there are a lot of words in Korean without -en equivalents that are like, ‘respectful ways to refer to people with a specific relationship to you’
   
   For example: 삼촌/samchon = your father’s unmarried younger brother (in English, ‘uncle’), 작은아버지/jageunabeoji = your father’s married younger brother (in English, ‘uncle’), 외삼촌/oesamchon = your mother’s brother regardless of age or marital status (…in English, ‘uncle’)
   
   I may or may not remember to footnote them when I make substitutes. In any case…영애is one we’ll probably see again. ↩︎
3.  Lisianthus look like a mix of rose and a carnation in my opinion. Little bit like a peony. Though I guess I could also just link a picture lol. ↩︎
4. Little girl calls Lavi unnie (언니) it translates literally to big sister, but is used regardless of actual familial relation when you’re a female and talking to older females. To learn more about oppa/hyung/noona/unnie check here, ↩︎
5.  Little boy calls Lavi noona (누나) which also means sister in the same way as the note above, but is used by younger boys use when referring to older girls. Same resource above explains. ↩︎

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