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🕑 Added 2024-04-27 18:03:42 +0000 UTC20: The Garden of Moon Lilies
There are things in the world in order for one to believe, they have to be witnessed and seen.
Telling Edith to grab her sword and suddenly tag along with Princess Charlotte to the Palace, that was the thing that Edith had to see in order to believe. It is an event that will probably wind up with Vivian's head on a spike, or so Edith thought.
Just what kind of confidence and power does Vivian have to do what she is doing?
The Princess looked happy with Vivian's presence but that surely isn't enough. The Princess is a minor and the fact that she left the palace and headed to Vivian of all people means serious business.
Thousands of thoughts were running on Edith's mind but it suddenly became empty the moment the carriage started driving into the Palace.
And it was the moment of truth.
The head nanny descended first while helping Princess Charlotte down the folding step followed by Vivian and finally Edith.
"Alright Princess, you should be the one leading the way." Vivian said, "Make sure to never cry and put on a stern face."
"Stern?" The Princess tilted her head.
"Yes. That face Lady Edith makes when she looks in my direction." Vivian taught the Princess.
Edith wanted to clarify the serious accusation but the Princess was already glaring at her. After looking for a second time, it seemed that Princess Charlotte was trying to capture Edith's serious face.
"I guess… It is very good." Edith had to compliment the Princess for the accurate attempt.
"Perfect, your Highness." Vivian said, "We will follow you and look stern as well."
"Yesss!" The little Princess clenched her fist in a pose of determination and returned to the stern look again before turning around and walking ahead, "This way."
Vivian turned to Edith and gestured to her to keep the act before she followed Princess Charlotte immediately. Edith lagged behind in utter confusion but the head nanny kept staring and waiting for her to tag along.
The group of four women walked through the palace and passed the outer boundaries and the main building where the council of the king gets to be held. They eventually ended up at the inner sanctum where the Royal Family resides.
No one enters this place without an invitation. Even the Blacks wouldn't dream of coming here and it is clearly the first time for Edith.
"Goodness! What am I being dragged into?" Edith couldn't help but scream in her heart and try to breathe deeply and calm herself down.
But it wasn't long until the confirmation they came for began.
"Open this garden, Sir!" The Princess ordered the Royal Guard who was stationed in front of the garden's gate.
The Royal Guard was aware of the trouble that was coming his way but wasn't aware of its amount. Not just a Princess but two Noble Ladies and the Head Nanny. Still, he won't walk aside just like that.
"By the orders of his Highness the Crown Prince, this Garden is to be sealed until the end of the Spring Festival day." The Royal Guard replied.
"I am ordering you." The Princess spoke in a higher tone as her confidence was boosted by the presence of Vivian behind her.
But she was doing it all wrong. The Guard stood his ground and didn't move a single inch as he repeated the same thing he said.
Orders are orders and no matter what Charlotte says, only someone higher than the Crown Prince in status can make those orders void. In other words, the King and the Queen, two of the most distant and aloof existences in the world. Even Charlotte would give up rather than asking them for assistance.
"See?"
Charlotte turned around to Vivian on the verge of tears. Vivian crouched down for the Princess and smiled at her warmly saying that things will be alright.
Edith could at least tell that Vivian cares about Princess Charlotte but it can also be an act. How the situation unfolds will certainly change the impression of Vivian in Edith's mind on any side of the spectrum depending on how she takes the next step.
However, Vivian was already brainstorming with her inner demons for a plan. While doing so, she couldn't help but notice something that bothered her and she turned to the Head Nanny asking her something now that they were at a distance from the garden.
"Dame Olivia." Vivian called, "This guard just said that the garden is sealed until the end of the Spring Festival, right?"
"Yes, that is what was said." The Head Nanny replied, "I kept telling her Highness that it is only a couple of weeks and she will get it back again."
"Yes, I thought the same thing." Edith followed up before turning to the Princess, "I think it is best to wait, your Highness. The Royal Gardeners will surely take care of the place until the Prince has no more use for it. Nothing in there will be harmed."
"NO!" The Princess immediately broke into tears and ran Vivian's embrace.
After all, only she can understand. And she just did.
"Tell me, Dame, is this the Garden of Moon Lilies?" Vivian asked.
"Yes." The Nanny nodded.
That was it!
The Garden of Moon Lilies. To Nadia and Vivian, this meant two different things but in both cases, it is what was bothering Vivian the whole time.
The Guard just said that access to the Garden is prohibited until the end of the spring festival. This meant the end of the academy year. This is the garden from the game's epilogue and the background of its main menu.
In the Crown Prince's Route, the Heroine gets her epilogue after the final exams in that garden. On top of that, she receives the final big reward.
What is that big reward? Four out of Twelve Rare Herbs, the same thing that would usually make this Matilda girl go complete nuts. That, of course, depends on the player's playstyle and which items complement which character build.
But that is not the problem here. There is a different value to the Garden of Moon Lilies that Nadia doesn't know about.
"It is the treasured garden of the late Mother Queen." Edith blurted.
The name was famous in the High Society. Before her death last year, the Garden of Moon Lilies was the Mother Queen's personal ground and where she received her guests. Those who were lucky enough to be invited in described the garden as a piece of Heaven placed on Earth.
If the Heroine takes Four of the Garden's precious herbs, the collection will be utterly ruined.
No one even thought that someone would touch the herbs inside that harden and take off them but only Vivian knew… and somehow, the state Princess Charlotte was in suggests to Vivian that she is fearing that situation.
"No!" Vivian woke up from her daze, "Over my dead body."
She is not just the friend of Princess Charlotte and the antagonist in the relationship between the Prince and the Heroine, she is a Medjay, a sworn protector of heritage and history.
The Garden of Moonlilies is not just a random garden but the most precious garden in the entire kingdom. It must be protected.
"What's wrong, Lady Vivian?" The Nanny asked.
"The Princess cherishes this place and it is wrong to keep it from her." She said in complete conviction.
"Yes, but it won't be a harm if…" The Nanny tried to say something and Edith seemed to agree with her but Vivian interrupted.
"Harm will fall." Vivian said, "Look at the poor child, she knows something you don't know."
It was a scolding to the Nanny who immediately looked down with guilt.
"Or maybe you do." Vivian followed up.
Edith was lost in this scene but if the Princess was afraid of anything, it surely falls along the lines of the garden getting harmed.
"But that's unthinkable!" Edith couldn't wrap her head around the situation, "Why would his High…"
Edith then stopped not because of anything other than the look in Vivian's eyes directed towards her. It was a plain "Shut the hell up!" as she seemed to be covering the Princess' ears.
"Princess." Vivian called, "Dear Charlotte."
She kept patting the Princess' back until the latter compiled and looked up.
"I will ask you a question that you need to answer to the best of your ability, you understand?" Vivian said.
The Princess nodded as the Nanny wiped her tears.
"Out of all the gardens, why do you spend time in this one the most?" Vivian asked.
The question wasn't that necessary in the eyes of Edith and the Nanny other than stirring some emotions inside the young princess.
"It is… it is because it is Grandmother's place." The Princess replied while still sobbing.
"Good." Vivian nodded as she already knew the answer, "But I need more. Think deeply, why do you need to keep that place?"
"Because…" Charlotte tried replying but she started sobbing.
"There! You're doing fine." Vivian seemed to have found what she wanted and she held the tip of it as she held Charlotte's shoulder, a serious offense to touch a princess but not in a needed moment.
"Because Grandmother told me so." Charlotte said while squeezing the tears off her eyes.
"Yes, I wanted to hear that." Vivian, on the other hand, was very delighted, "Please, don't cry. This is it. What did the Mother Queen say exactly?"
Charlotte seemed unable to continue but the one who replied was the Nanny.
"Her Highness the Mother Queen, may she rest in peace, asked the Princess to not forget about the garden and look after it. I was present during the last moments of her Highness."
"Grandmother was all alone." Charlotte said as she calmed down, "It was only me and her. Father, the King wasn't by her side when it happened… nor anyone else. Only I remained."
"The Mother Queen passed away with only the Princess by her side?" Vivian looked at the Nanny and asked.
"A full year ago around the Spring Festival." The Nanny said, "It was also during the summit of the League of Nations so the King and Queen weren't present. The Princes were in the finals as well."
This was part of the information that Vivian forgot after the transmigration.
"God!" She exclaimed.
This meant that poor Charlotte was the only one there during the passing of the Mother Queen's Will.
"Grandmother said that she raised the family like she raised the flowers in her garden." Charlotte said as her tears were now dry, "Only that she forgot that some of the roses carry poison. She told me to keep the poison off the garden and raise good herbs and powerful trees."
Such a statement!
If it was said to Charlotte at the final moments of the Mother Queen, it means that they mean the world to her and to the entire nation.
"You kept those words to heart, your Highness! The Garden of Moon Lilies is your domain and yours only. I heard all I needed to hear."
Vivian patted Charlotte's back and walked to the side gesturing for Edith to come.
"I am not sure what you are thinking but this matter is sensitive to the palace." Edith said, "I still think that such an important item is not to be neglected and it is a matter of days before the Prince's business is over with it."
"Many items of importance are being neglected, Lady Edith." Vivian replied, "Don't hide behind the facade of helplessness and help me see this through. I won't ask much of you to do. So long you are a bystander, I can act big and help poor Charlotte even a little bit."
Vivian's words were now void of her childishness and cunning wordplay. If Edith isn't so sure, this is the true Vivian Moore from the rumors, the known traditionalist conservative freak.
"Then I'll act as a bystander." Edith agreed, "However, I'll be watching and taking notes, my Lady. Everything you have done since we met this afternoon is going on record… Every. Bit. Of it."
"Fine." Vivian wasn't scared and steeled her nerves.
Her plan is already working out just fine.
"So, what will you do?" Edith asked out of curiosity.
"Simple." Vivian replied, "I'll save a Princess and get her Garden back."
