How Are You Planning to Spend the Weekend?

Chapter 152

"Lord Cassian. Can't I stay just a little longer?"

"No."

I gently pushed Lily by the shoulder as she lay sprawled across the sofa.

"It's already pitch-black outside. Hurry home and get plenty of rest. I need to head over to the greenhouse soon, too."

"Tch……."

Lily pouted and reluctantly rose from her seat.

It was quite admirable that, no matter how disappointed she was, she never insisted once I firmly drew the line.

"Then, take care on your way. See you tomorrow!"

"Yes. Get home safely."

Creak. Thunk.

After seeing Lily off, I lightly loosened my neck and left the lab.

My destination was the garden in the Academy's Second Greenhouse.

It was time to meet Elysia to water the Moonlight Flower we had been growing for our Introduction to Herbology assignment and infuse it with mana.

Step, step.

My thoughts were churning as I walked down the hallway.

'I should tell her.'

It was a problem I had been pondering for several days.

My after-date with Sophia.

During this week's Introduction to Herbology lecture, I had smoothed things over when Elysia pressed me by giving the textbook answer that I had only gone out with her once out of courtesy.

I hadn't lied, but no matter how I looked at it, concealing the after-date we'd arranged was self-deception.

Perhaps because my mind had grown clearer since my transformation, that faint prick of guilt I had felt then was weighing unusually heavily on my chest.

'It would be better to tell her straight from my own mouth than have her hear it from someone else later.'

It wasn't as though I was doing anything shady enough to warrant hiding, either.

Creak.

I opened the greenhouse's glass door and stepped inside.

Amid the gentle glow of the magic-stone lamps, moonlight filtering through the glass ceiling illuminated the center of the greenhouse.

And in the spot by the window that received the most of that moonlight.

"……."

Elysia had arrived early and was waiting for me.

She stood in profile before the Moonlight Flower's pot, her silver hair cascading down her back.

I felt it every time, but her beauty was truly otherworldly.

Rustle.

Sensing my presence, she slowly turned her head.

Her violet eyes softened as they turned toward me, and that elegant smile of hers spread across her face.

"I was waiting for you, Cassian."

"I didn't keep you waiting again, did I?"

"Hehe. You arrived exactly on time. I simply came out a little early."

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head as I approached the flowerpot.

"Well, has it sprouted at all?"

"Yes. Would you like to see? With the moonlight shining on it, it had just barely poked its head out."

On the table.

A tiny, delicate silver sprout was shyly poking its head up from the black soil.

True to the notion that it grew by feeding on moonlight, I could see a faint fluorescence of mana rising from the surface of its leaves.

"I'll water it, so would you infuse it with mana today, Cassian?"

"Yes. All right."

Normally, I would have responded with a reluctant, 'Huh? Why me?'

But I had no reason to do that anymore.

Trickle.

Elysia carefully dampened the soil around the Moonlight Flower with a small watering can.

I reached toward the soil on the far side, away from her hand, and carefully channeled mana into it.

Perhaps because mana circuits had formed within me after my transformation, my sense for handling the mana within me had become explosively more sensitive.

It felt as though I had instinctively mastered how to control my strength so this fragile sprout wouldn't burst.

Fwoosh-.

At our touch, the Moonlight Flower's leaves trembled faintly as though breathing and absorbed the moonlight.

"Wow……."

Elysia's eyes sparkled as she let out a small exclamation.

"Your mana is so warm, Cassian."

"Does it feel that way? I couldn't really tell."

"That's how it feels to me."

She looked up at me and smiled sweetly.

We stood facing each other across the table and exchanged light small talk for a while.

We talked about our classes and gossiped about the professors.

As our peaceful conversation continued, I waited for an opening and parted my lips.

'Now.'

Just as I was about to clear my throat and broach the subject.

"Cassian."

Resting her chin on the table, Elysia stared intently at me and asked first.

"How are you planning to spend the weekend?"

'Oh, damn.'

The timing was so apt and natural that it was as if she had seen straight through me.

I was startled inwardly, but I lightly steadied my breathing, relieved that she had made it easier for me to broach the subject.

I met her violet eyes without looking away.

"I have…… one appointment this weekend."

"An appointment?"

Elysia tilted her head slightly.

"Yes."

I stated only the facts, without adding the slightest exaggeration.

"I'm going on an after-date with the young lady of House Rohanna I mentioned last time."

The instant I mentioned it, it felt as though the air in the greenhouse came to a standstill.

A ripple passed through Elysia's eyes.

I could see the fingertips of the hand holding the empty watering can tense until they turned white.

I quietly waited for her next reaction.

In the original story, whenever Elysia found herself in a situation like this, she would get angry and ask why I had hidden it from her, or turn away coldly, saying she was disappointed in me.

Just as she had done with the Crown Prince, perhaps she would have lashed out at me by now.

But.

"……I see."

After a brief silence, Elysia's lips curled upward in a gentle arc as she spoke.

She neither got angry nor showed any sign of hurt feelings.

Instead, she whispered softly.

"It would be better if someone were to have that steadfast goodness of yours all to themselves…… a little further in the future."

"……Pardon?"

I slightly furrowed my brow at her incomprehensible words.

What did she mean?

That it would be better for someone to have my goodness all to themselves sometime further in the future?

Had she interpreted my meeting Sophia as an act born not of ordinary romantic feelings, but of goodwill to help someone?

In other words, was this the subtle manifestation of a desire to control me—to keep me free and unattached to any one person for now?

Before I could grasp the true meaning of her words, Elysia asked again.

"Then, besides this after-date, do you have any other appointments planned for the weekend?"

"……Give me a moment. Let me think."

I quickly scanned my schedule.

Not to come up with an excuse, but to check my actual schedule.

First of all, Sophia's debutante ball, hosted by Viscountess Müller, was coming up soon.

I had agreed to serve as her escort there, and I had also promised to look after Lily.

But.

'That's a public business event.'

The word appointment Elysia was asking me about clearly referred to a thoroughly private, personal plan.

I shook my head.

"No. Other than that, I don't have any particularly personal appointments."

The moment my answer left my mouth.

"Then."

Elysia took a step toward me.

With the table between us, she leaned slightly toward me.

Her violet eyes shimmered mysteriously in the moonlight.

"Would you save your next appointment for me, your friend?"

"……."

Thump.

For a moment, it felt as though my heart had dropped straight to the floor.

'Friend.'

The relief that word offered, and this woman's cleverness in using it as a shield to edge closer to me.

Elysia was conveying, with remarkable elegance, that while she maintained the boundary between us, she had no intention of letting me go.

"The next appointment, huh."

I let out a hollow laugh.

I had no grounds to refuse.

I didn't even want to refuse.

"It would be a friend's request. I have no reason to refuse."

"Hehe."

Elysia beamed.

"Thank you, Cassian."

Moonlight filtering through the window scattered across her silver hair.

In the dark greenhouse, she alone shone brilliantly, like a flower in full bloom.

Bewitched by that beautiful smile, I could do nothing but quietly nod.

* * *

The next day's lunch.

The Argen Botanical Garden in the southern part of the capital.

The botanical garden's magnificent domed structure, built entirely from huge glass panels, glittered beneath the warm spring sunlight.

True to its reputation as a private date spot popular among the capital's nobles, thorough identity checks and tight security were in place from the entrance onward.

"Phew."

I leaned back against a bench near the main gate and casually checked my wristwatch.

Ten minutes before the appointed time.

Today, I was wearing a navy suit that Alfred had taken great pains to press, complete with a tie.

'Why am I getting nervous over something like this?'

I scratched the back of my neck and stole a glance toward the entrance.

And exactly three minutes before the appointed time.

A carriage rolled along the gravel path and stopped in front of the botanical garden entrance.

The carriage door opened, and someone lightly stepped down.

"……."

I rose from my seat and unconsciously widened my eyes.

A voluminous, bright-yellow dress.

Brown hair falling neatly over her shoulders.

It was Sophia.

Though her complexion was still as pale and haggard as it had been at the Grand Asteria Restaurant last time, as if she might collapse at any moment.

They say clothes make a person.

The bright forsythia-yellow dress gently complemented her pale skin tone, making her look much brighter and more vibrant.

"Young Master Farne."

Sophia spotted me, gathered up her skirt, and approached with quick little steps.

A shy smile had spread naturally across her lips.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I wasn't late, was I?"

"Not at all. You arrived precisely on time. Good afternoon."

When I gave her a light bow, Sophia looked me up and down, then her cheeks flushed slightly.

"You look…… very handsome today."

"Ah. Your dress suits you wonderfully, too. That yellow is perfect for spring."

At my straightforward compliment, Sophia covered her face with both hands and giggled.

Then she cautiously looked up at me and asked.

"Um. By any chance."

"Yes."

"Do I seem too excited today? Do I?"

She seemed worried that, despite her frail health, she might look inappropriately excited.

I chuckled and shook my head.

"You do look excited."

"Ah……."

"But I think it's perfectly natural—and a good thing—to be excited and thrilled about coming to see beautiful flowers in such lovely weather."

I slipped my hands into my pockets and added matter-of-factly,

"It's a hundred times better than walking around with your eyes fixed gloomily on the ground."

At my offhand words of comfort, Sophia's eyes wavered, then filled with a radiant light.

Seeing her smile on a day like this made her look healthy, and it was a lovely sight.

"Hehe. That's a relief."

Sophia's eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled brightly.

"Then, shall we go in?"