[“You’re amazing, Peter! How did you do it? Father is so scary.”] [“It’s nothing. Just promise not to do it again, and he forgives.”]

Peter usually brushed it off, but in retrospect, it was curious. Count Hessen, usually so strict, was always subdued by Peter.

[‘Father must have known Peter’s identity.’]

Count Hessen was a provincial noble, but not entirely disconnected from the royal court. Considering the time Peter spent in Count Hessen’s domain, it seems unlikely that the Count was completely unaware of Peter’s identity.

[‘Then why did Father rebel against the royal family?’]

Little is known about the downfall of the Hessen family. Count Hessen rebelled against the former emperor, who retaliated by burning down the Hessen mansion. Beyond that, information was so thoroughly concealed that even Operetta couldn’t find it.

After confirming the lack of detailed information, Lowell stopped wondering why the mansion was burned.

[‘What’s important isn’t why it burned.’] “It’s not about why it burned.”

It’s only about the fact that Hessen Mansion and everything inside it burned down. Nothing else mattered. The reasons for revenge don’t need to be specific. Digging into them only brings emotional turmoil. What’s the point in understanding the perpetrator’s circumstances deeply?

But at this moment, Lowell questioned for the first time.

“Peter spent a significant time close to Hessen, and Father knew who Peter was.”

But why did Count Hessen have to oppose the royal family after Peter left?

What happened that led to such a situation? Did Hessen really plot treason?

“Does Peter… know the truth behind this?”

Lowell plucked a petal from a rose beside her. The rose, preserved by magic, was still a vivid red without a single wilted spot. Staring at the red on her fingertip, it almost seemed as if blood was welling up from it.

The color of the conflagration. And the color of death.

“What was Peter thinking when he created this garden?”

Living in a garden covered in red, Lowell had come to detest the color.

Living in Operetta means encountering slaughter too frequently. Lowell, who grew up in a world unafraid of darkness, now couldn’t sleep in a completely dark room. The child who grew up without knowing even a small threat until fifteen, now knew how to be wary of homicide. The girl became a woman, and time changed much.

But in this garden, a return to the past, Lowell had thoughts beyond revenge for the first time.

The glass greenhouse, once evidence of Count Hessen’s immense love for his youngest daughter, now seemed to prove Peter’s affection for Lowell.

The petal from her fingertips drifted to the ground. Watching it, Lowell was seized by a strange emotion.

It felt like returning to the life of “Lowell Hessen,” a life she thought was gone and no longer existed.

It felt like this place was telling her she wasn’t the only survivor of that life.

That she had more than just this wretched life left, that there were still people who remembered her…

“…”

Lowell was confused. Without realizing it, she reached for the petal that had fallen to the ground.

But at that moment.

“……!”

The heavy sound of stone grinding together echoed again. The door was opening.

Realizing this, a wave of tension swept over Lowell.

There was only one person who could open a garden closed by royal decree.

‘Peter!’