The next morning, Emilia dragged herself out of bed, still half asleep. She figured her life was about to get a lot busier starting today. She had stayed up the whole night before, plotting out what to do next.
Cardan was, admittedly, a terrible father. It was not until yesterday that she had even seen his face for the first time. Still, for the sake of never being abandoned again, she was going to have to work for it.
So she drew a little picture and left it behind as a note, saying that she had gone out to play, so that the nanny would not worry.
Once she finished drawing, she dashed outside to the garden as fast as her legs could carry her. She ran straight to the garden of pale purple flowers, the very spot where Cardan had once proposed to her mother. She had never imagined she would get to stand here herself. It was even more beautiful than she had pictured while reading the novel.
But this was not the time to admire the flowers. She had to quickly pick a few to bring back as a gift for Cardan.
Just as she was absorbed in picking flowers, a group of maids suddenly descended on her. They sneered.
"Isn't this the young lady? What business do you have here? It seems I've been far too lax managing this garden, letting just anyone wander in to pick flowers."
Even Emilia knew how to get angry. She was a proper young lady, after all. Yet these women dared to look down on her like this.
But they turned out to be even worse than she thought. They dumped an entire watering can over her head and laughed mockingly, pretending it had simply slipped from their hands. Two maids bent down, sneering.
"How adorable. She's turned into a soggy little mouse."
Emilia had had enough. The moment one maid leaned in, she grabbed a fistful of the woman's hair and yanked hard, making the maid yelp in pain. Seeing her friend get her hair pulled, the other maid immediately raised a hand to strike Emilia.
Just then, thankfully, Cardan appeared, demanding sternly what they thought they were doing.
Emilia had sprawled flat on the ground. She looked up, startled to find Cardan standing there. Why did she always have to run into him in such a pathetic state?
The maids scrambled to bow their heads respectfully to the Duke. Furious, Cardan ordered them to explain themselves at once, or he would have the knights drag them out for punishment.
Emilia guessed that he must be truly enraged. It made sense. This garden was filled with precious memories of him and Rainer, and now it lay in ruins.
Still lost in her own sympathy, Emilia heard one of the maids raise her voice, falsely claiming that the young lady had suddenly stormed in and trampled the flowers, and had even yanked her hair, frightening them half to death.
"We tried to stop her, but the young lady struck first."
How could Emilia just stand there and let herself be slandered so blatantly? Unafraid, she declared loudly that she had been wronged.
"I never started anything."
After a long silence, Cardan crouched down and asked Emilia, "So, what really happened here?"
Emilia answered quietly that she had only been picking flowers when the maid suddenly rushed in and dumped water all over her.
The maid snapped back, accusing her of lying.
Emilia was not lying at all, and she shot back, irritated, "Weren't you the one who threw water on me first?"
The maid stormed forward in a rage and grabbed Emilia's arm hard enough to hurt. But she suddenly yanked her hand back, crying out as if her whole arm had just been sliced clean off.
Emilia turned to see Cardan's expression darken. He had just used Order, the one magic only he could freely wield, a terrifying power beyond comparison to ordinary mana or divine power. Cardan was the first and only mage great enough to fuse and command Order.
But the novel had only ever mentioned Cardan using Order on the battlefield. Never in everyday life like this. That caught Emilia a little off guard.
Cardan coldly ordered the knights to haul the two maids away, charged with disrespecting nobility.
In the blink of an eye, the once grand garden was left with only father and daughter standing amid the wreckage of flowers. Emilia felt a pang of regret too. This place held so many happy memories of Cardan and Rainer, and now, seeing it reduced to this, he had to be hurting.
"Are you going to drag me off too?" Emilia asked softly.
Cardan looked down at the little girl before him, his tone flat. "Does she look any different from a lump of mud to you? Why are you standing here eavesdropping on my secrets?"
He did not press further. He simply walked past her and left, cold as ever.
Emilia felt a twinge of disappointment, thinking that he had not even bothered to ask whether she was hurt. Just as she was sinking into her own gloom, Cardan suddenly called her back and held out a flower.
Emilia blinked in confusion. For me?
"That's right," Cardan replied coolly. "If you only came here to pick these, you might as well go wash up now."
Emilia wondered to herself whether he was actually worried about her. She asked if he was the one who liked this flower.
Cardan only sighed and admitted that he used to. Then he told her to go bathe, and walked off without another word.
Back in her room, the worried nanny rushed her into a bath and dried her hair. Emilia found herself thinking that something felt different from everything she had assumed all this time.
She had always figured that Cardan hated her, which was why he kept avoiding her. Before he had left for war, she had not understood any of it, because her memories from her past life had only become clear after Cardan had already gone.
Then the nanny mentioned that Cardan had once sent someone to bring her medicine. A small flicker of hope stirred in Emilia's chest. Maybe she could truly become a family with him after all.
And so Emilia set her plan into motion.
First, she would prepare a bouquet of flowers as a gift. But those flowers were nearly impossible to pick, and she only managed to get one. That step was basically a bust. Looking at the now tidy garden before her, Emilia could not help but sigh. Maybe it was for the best that she stopped picking flowers.
Step two was finding Cardan, though Emilia had no idea where his study even was. She followed a servant into his office. There she found Cardan buried in paperwork.
Not wanting to break his concentration, Emilia tucked herself into a corner. After a whole day of walking around, her feet ached terribly.
As she sat there grumbling to herself, Cardan suddenly walked over, smiling. "Why are you here?"
Emilia happily held out the flower she had worked so hard to pick. He accepted the wilted little bloom with a sigh. Before he could say anything, Emilia blurted out, "Let's be close from now on. I'll bring you a flower every single day."
And before Cardan could even react, she had already dashed off.
She ran off happily, thinking to herself that this move should work. A little enticement always did the trick. He did seem rather pleased, after all.
So it seemed her plan to grow close to Cardan had already succeeded on day one. The thought filled Emilia with joy.