My eyes widened and my mouth left agape as I stared at the garden before me. Many flowers sprouted on the ground, blooming in various colors. Pink, yellow, red, blue, purple, and white. There were also bushes decorated with tiny flowers.

Not only that, but this place was huge. I couldn’t believe that they actually made a garden this large. But that was not the main attraction here. The most eye-catching were the wisterias. And they stole my breath the first time I saw them. A lot of them were scattered around. Their purple color beautified the scene, somehow making it magical to behold.

 I excitedly entered the garden and crouched down before a pink flower. Gently, I plucked one and moved it closer to my nose to smell it. People often smell flowers, also on TV shows. I tried smelling some flowers once, but they didn’t smell that good. I just copied what people did when there were flowers, also curious what flowers would smell like since people seem to enjoy sniffing them.

Well, I can’t say I was satisfied with the smell the first times I smelled flowers. In any case, not that great. But, when I smelled this flower, I was awestruck. A pleasant fragrance came to my nose. This almost smelled like perfume. Were all flowers in this world smell this good?

“Milady! You shouldn’t pluck flowers in the garden.”

I suddenly heard Mera’s panicked voice beside me.

“Ah.”

I seemed to have been caught in the moment and picked up a flower without thinking. I looked at the flower in my hand. It was too late now.

I stood up and looked at Mera with a concerned face. “I already plucked it off…”

Mera appeared to feel troubled. I couldn’t just throw it around here. Someone would still discover it. It may become one of those wasted and thrown away flowers. The gardener might get angry. Well, I was not that worried about that person. I was more worried about my parents. They might scold me. That would be bothersome.

“Ah.” I had an idea. I pushed back my hair and placed the pink flower on my ear. With the flower on the side of my head, I smiled and waved my hand.

“What do you think, Mera?” I said so as I spun around. The skirt of my dress fluttered in the air.

I displayed myself to Mera with a beautiful flower decorating my hair. Judging from her stunned expression, I must have looked good. How amusing.

“Mera?”

“U-Um, yes! You look wonderful, milady!”

“That’s great!” I giggled as I turned around to look around the garden once more. Since I can’t just pull off another flower, I could only lower myself to smell them. To my surprise again, these flowers smelled wonderful. Each different colored flower even had distinct aromas.

I reached a wisteria cluster. I could smell them too.

Does every flower here smell this good?

I touched a wisteria. Which reminded me, my surname was Wisteria. It was clearly based on the flower. I recalled the origin of this kingdom from Estelia’s memories.

There were basically two lovers. They loved flowers heartily. Thus, they planted different kinds of flowers around their home. But the most that caught their attention were the wisterias. Captivated by their beauty as every flower illuminated under the moonlight, they fell in love with the flowers. And therefore, they had their family name after the majestic flower. In the flow of time, people gathered, and the kingdom gradually formed.

Quite a sweet story, I think? But that was legit the origin of this kingdom named Wisteria. By the way, the wisteria here glows during the night. It was quite the beautiful sight in the memories.

Aaah, I should definitely see that during the night.

I stared at the wisteria.

How wonderful.

The smell and the beauty. The peace and serenity. I began to adore this place and this scene. These flowers. How could the world keep something hidden from me for such a long time...?

I felt something strange within my heart. Something that came from the realization that there were things like this that I had never experienced my entire life. It was a heavy realization. But, somehow, it made me happy to experience a glimpse.

“Milady?” Mera called out to me from behind in a somewhat concerned tone. 

I turned around and saw her worried eyes. Did she sense my emotion somehow? Not good. I can’t just openly expose my emotions like that. That was a mistake.

“Yes. This place is indeed wonderful, like always. Don’t you think so?” I smiled, erasing the emotions I just felt.

“... Yes, it’s wonderful.” 

She looked baffled. But I didn’t think much of it. I am just going to move on.

“Say, let’s take a look around.”

I continued walking amidst the beautiful garden. Petals of flowers fell and flew in the air in the gentle wind. A serene moment for me. It was like the flowers were celebrating the day my freedom was finally granted to me.