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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Delus Flowers at the Mine
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Unlike what I'd expected for an exciting date, Akid and I arrived at the Ebisu Mine only to run straight into a snag.
The problem wasn't anything else—it was the massive field of Delus flowers blanketing the area right in front of the mine.
'Ooh! Mines everywhere!'
Recalling the terror from the seed farm last time, I clung tightly to Akid's sleeve.
I was scared because I thought my body might start hurting any second. Akid steadied me lightly and said,
"We should head to the office first."
"Yeah. That sounds best."
Akid reassured me once more, then quickly led us to the nearby office.
As soon as an employee inside spotted us, Akid scolded him in a voice laced with anger.
"Didn't you say there were no Delus flowers here? Did you actually check properly?"
"Pardon? Delus flowers?"
The employee peered out the window like he'd never heard of them before, then his eyes went wide.
"Ah, no way. When did those bloom?"
He looked genuinely shocked, as if he'd just noticed them today. He bowed his head low.
"S-Sorry! There really weren't any until this morning... I swear, none at all..."
He was sweating bullets, clearly flustered. His reaction made it seem like even he couldn't believe his eyes.
But that only came off as dodging responsibility, and Akid shot back coldly.
"So you're saying flowers that weren't there suddenly appeared? In just half a day?"
I flinched at Akid's icy reprimand. It was the first time I'd seen him treat anyone so harshly.
The employee's face drained of color as he kept stammering excuses.
"Th-That's the strange part for me too. I definitely contacted you when there were no Delus flowers, but now they're here."
None a bit ago, but now there are? What kind of nonsense is that, fart?
I was utterly dumbfounded by the ridiculous excuse. Akid looked just as incredulous, letting out a hollow chuckle.
"The flowers look way too healthy to have popped up out of nowhere. Did you really check properly?"
"It's true! There weren't any Delus flowers until right before the blizzard. Ah, no—this area's a mana stone mining zone, so we don't even plant flowers here. There really weren't any until this morning...!"
The employee ranted on, muttering about how wronged he felt. But with the sheer volume of Delus flowers outside, it was hard to take his word at face value.
It just didn't make practical sense for that many to sprout in half a day. Akid's expression turned frigid as he snapped,
"I'll hold you accountable for this later."
"Y-Young Grand Duke."
"You might think my words are light, but someone could die because of this."
"What? D-Die?"
The employee muttered like it was an overstatement, but Akid's next words left him no room to argue.
"Do you know why my wife was recently ill?"
"I heard she was seriously sick, but..."
"It was the Delus flowers. Does 'severe allergy' make it clear?"
"Gasp!"
Only then did the employee grasp the gravity of the situation and clap a hand over his mouth.
My Delus flower allergy was top secret. Being allergic to the symbol of Hadellus Territory was a major stain on a Grand Duchess Consort.
Akid ran a hand through his hair, then rubbed his dry face. He was clearly trying to rein in his anger.
The moment the employee realized the Grand Duchess Consort had nearly died because of it, he dropped to his knees on the floor and began begging forgiveness.
"I'm truly sorry! It's my fault! But I swear on my life, I wasn't hiding it on purpose. I really have no idea what happened..."
"Dodging responsibility right to the end."
"S-Sorry..."
"Even a carelessly thrown stone can kill a frog. I don't want to see you anymore. Get me someone else in charge."
Stunned by Akid's unyielding stance, the employee retreated with a dazed look.
Watching Akid brush aside a subordinate like that reminded me of him from the original story.
The version after the heroine abandoned him—he blackened, shut his heart away, and built even thicker walls than before.
Once he decided something was a no-go, he'd cut it off completely. It had seemed downright ruthless back then.
'Good thing I tore up those divorce papers.'
If I hadn't, I might've ended up divorced for real.
He'd only backed off because I'd refused so vehemently.
Just then, I spotted the retreating employee still wearing that aggrieved expression.
'Is he acting, or is he actually innocent?'
But with how close his screw-up had come to killing me, there was no room for sympathy. The Delus flower field outside was far too lush for me to buy his story.
Lost in such idle thoughts, I found myself staring blankly at the flower field.
'Huh? What's that?'
I tilted my head at the white shapes weaving through the blooms. The flowers swayed every time they passed.
But before I could figure out what they were, the white shapes vanished.
'Snow?'
Being white, I'd probably mistaken them for snow falling from the trees—or maybe snowflakes caught in the wind.
In the meantime, another employee burst into the office, barely hiding his panic.
"Sorry for the trouble. There's another path to the mine—I'll escort you that way."
His face was drenched in sweat, like he'd come sprinting after hearing about the previous guy. Akid handed me a handkerchief.
"Just in case, cover your mouth and nose. Or you could stay here in the office."
"We've come all this way—make me hole up inside again?"
"Fair point, but..."
"It's far enough away, so it'll be fine. Allergies don't kick in just from looking."
I held the handkerchief to my mouth and flashed him a bright smile.
With that, arm linked with Akid's, we set off for the Ebisu Mine.
After Roena and Akid entered the mine, the things she'd mistaken for snowflakes pushed through the Delus flower field and emerged outside.
Fluttering their delicate wings, they were unmistakably white butterflies. The butterflies hovered over the field, their wings wafting lazily.
Everywhere they passed, Delus flowers began blooming where none had been before.
Like magic, like a god shaping creation from the void—the empty spaces filled up as Delus flowers started surrounding the area.
This went on for quite a while. Then, as if they'd never been there, the white butterflies vanished.
Having filled the space right up to the mine entrance with thick clusters of Delus flowers.
The reason the Ebisu Mine employee had requested confirmation from Hadellus Castle was a massive wormhole they'd discovered inside the mine.
This wormhole was embedded with mana stones of a purity that put all previous finds to shame.
It was an incredible discovery, far exceeding their current output. That's why the employee had wanted the Grand Duke's approval before mining it.
"Wow."
The moment we descended into the wormhole, my eyes lit up at the kaleidoscope of glowing mana stones. It was like staring at a cluster of stars.
A star cluster, deep underground.
On top of that, the wormhole looked far larger up close than it had from above—almost like it was on the surface.
Yeah. We were deep underground, but it oddly felt like we were floating high in the sky.
Probably because of all the mana stones flickering with ethereal light all around us.
"This is on an enormous scale."
"Not far from the main mining site—how had it never been found before?"
"Yes. The blizzard caused a landslide that revealed it. Even the miners who pass through here daily had no idea it existed. It's like it popped up out of nowhere, almost like a spirit's prank."
Hold on. A spirit?
I gaped at what the employee had said as a joke.
'Now that I think about it, around this time in the original story, wasn't the Grand Duchess Consort's mine blessed by a spirit and turned into a goldmine?'
In the original, Elena got the mine from Damian in exchange for not making a fuss about Baron Rork's corporal punishment issue. And by sheer luck, that land received a spirit's blessing and became a jackpot.
'The mana stone output jumped several times over back then.'
Circumstances pointed to this being that very mine. As I mentally pieced together the original timeline, Akid asked,
"You didn't discover it earlier and hide it on purpose?"
"No way! How could we dare embezzle from Hadellus Grand Duke's property? We'd lose our heads if caught."
"Check the logs from the past three months anyway. Just to be safe."
"A-All of them?"
The employee's face fell—he'd thought we'd wrap up after just inspecting the wormhole, but now he had to dig out documents too.
Akid, already on edge from the previous manager's carelessness, cocked his head.
"Why? Is it a problem?"
"N-No, sir. Then we'll need to head back up to the office first."
The employee switched to full deference toward Akid. It was amusing, watching him squirm like someone who'd been caught slacking off by the boss's kid.
'This is exactly my husband's charm.'
After the earlier blunder, it was only natural for Akid to be extra thorough.
And honestly, discovering a wormhole this massive only now was plenty suspicious on its own.
You couldn't just blindly trust people in business—it wasn't that forgiving.
I watched proudly as Akid capably filled in for the Grand Duke. That was when I leaned in for one last peek into the wormhole.
Flash—!
Suddenly, the surrounding mana stones blazed with intense light, and I felt something yank me forward.
"Eek!"
"Roena!"
Before Akid could grab me, I was sucked deep into the bottom of the wormhole.
