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Real Look (3)
Ivan poured liquor into his mouth and then filled Lily’s glass.
“Come on, I didn’t know Madam could speak so well. I want to hear more, more.”
Lily smiled bashfully, looking no different from cherries served as her snack. “Actually, I’m a bit… you see…” She closed her eyes. “Even that day, Vlad said…”
Hans, who was standing next to her, leaned over while holding his glass. As he sat at the end of the table, he plummeted to the cold floor of the executive banquet hall.
He mumbled as he lay on the floor, “The devil’s dandruff…”
Lily tilted her head, holding her glass with both hands. “Dandruff…?”
“It is the nickname for snow that the knights use. As Madam saw, no matter how hard it snows, all the knights and administrators are ordered to work. The view is quite pretty, though.”
She nodded eagerly. “It was really, really pretty. I was with Vlad… However…” Lily breathed in and looked at Ivan. “Priest.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“I have a problem.”
“Say it. I’ll do anything it takes to help.”
Lily lowered her head as she placed her interlaced hands on her table. Her head felt like it was spinning. “Isn’t there a way to avoid marital relations?”
He spat the liquor in his mouth.
Silence echoed throughout the room.
(This is the continuation of the first scene in Chapter 43)
* * *
Lily was as accustomed to abundance as she was to poverty. Because she was, after all, an Isles.
How much money would be required to do this? She was more shocked because she had enough skill to tell at a glance.
If she had so much money, would she do something like this?
It was Lily’s review of what Vlad had made.
“It’s a glass greenhouse on the top of a mountain…”
Even on top of the mountains of Arcadia, where strong winds and blizzards do not cease.
Its scale was comparable to that of a mansion that is impossible to complete in a day.
Lily, who was sitting on the pure white chair, stared blankly.
It was snowing outside the canopy. It seemed like late spring or early summer. It was a different world with a transparent glass border.
Lily wore a thin dress with her hair braided to one side and had her shoulders exposed.
Vlad also wore a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of military pants, a comfortable outfit.
“To make this, I would have to sell a few mines…”
Glass was a luxury material. It was even more so with the transparent plate glass, not pieces joined together.
The raw materials required for glass processing were also expensive because even the process of acquiring them was complicated.
She had even heard that even a tiny glass greenhouse was too expensive for a noble who owned a mine.
Besides, it wasn’t the average pentagon greenhouse, it was a huge building with a domed ceiling.
It was clear that no one on the continent had the technology and funds to build this.
Sitting in a chair across from the tea table, Vlad poured black tea into her teacup. “It is still unfinished. The color combination is chaotic… I plan to fix it in the spring.”
“…No way. Did you do this yourself? These flowers…”
Despite his image being one of someone who would trample on flowers, he was the one who picked and placed each one…
Vlad nodded, and there was no hesitation or shame. “Nobody ever made me personally fill my castle.”
It was a resolute answer that could easily make Lily imagine how hard his subordinates must have suffered.
It must be because of his mood, but even as he said that, Vlad seemed strangely nervous. “I saw a lot of floral patterns on the items you picked from the catalog. I wanted to make a change. It’s still unfinished…”
“It’s not that…”
The greenhouse was dazzling as if all flowers from all over the world were gathered. It was like the shelter for fairies in a fairy tale, a spectrum of brilliant colors.
The path from the entrance to this place was an arched rose tunnel. There were also pink roses and precious white roses.
In flower pots hanging in the air, herbs dangled out green leaves, a balance in color.
All the layouts were quite meticulous.
“You look happy. Do you like it?”
Lily was puzzled. Who wouldn’t like this sight?
She looked around her.
An elegant fountain spouted water from the center of a round indoor garden lined with stone tiles. The sound of clear water tickled her ears.
Lily’s cheeks had a blush that was slightly reminiscent of the paradise-like scenery without worries or quarrels.
“I want to walk a little… Would it be okay?”
“Of course.”
Lily was amazed as she passed through the passageway of the indoor creek and into another area.
A twinkle flashed in her green eyes. “Almost everything here is something I’ve been wanting to see. There are so many flowers I’ve only seen in books…” Lily turned to him and smiled brightly. “It’s so, so pretty. Vlad.”
His breath caught in his throat, and there went his wayward heart, pounding and swelling at the sight.
She looked so brilliant that it overshadowed his anger.
Have I ever seen her so happy in front of me?