Don't Come to Wendy's Flower House

“At a time when peasants stormed the capital and dared to raise their voices, what the heck is the emperor doing? He is only hellbent on creating the legislation that will ignore the centuries-old civil state system and shake the foundation of the empire. This woman will be a symbol of the emperor’s policy. The execution of this woman is only the beginning of our great step forward. Think of the upcoming war!”

The duke’s speech seemed to have influenced the people standing there. At least, it seemed so in her eyes. Clenching her teeth, she stared at him fiercely. She first felt strong resentment about his meanness rather than fear. By executing her in front of them, he was once again trying to consolidate the legitimacy of their actions. She was a great propaganda tool for him before he started the coup.

When the duke raised one hand to signal to Sir Burleigh, he turned his eyes to Wendy.

As soon as she met his eyes, she began to run fast. She didn’t want to let them use her to achieve their goal. The river was very nearby.

Sir Burleigh showed her generosity as if he were a beast chasing a rabbit.

He watched her running as if she was ridiculous, then began to chase her.

He quickly caught up with her. He felt he could kill her with his sword, and he did.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Her screaming rang out. His sword cut through her back, and the rope that tied her hands was cut at the tip of the sword. Blood flowed into the water. As the dress turned red, her body plunged into the river.

The river was filled with red blood. Her body, which had sunk beneath the cloudy water, soon floated up and slowly floated down the water, revealing her deeply wounded back. Red blood covered her as she drifted down the river. There was nothing but death waiting for her.

Sir Burleigh, who watched for a moment, soon turned around and moved back.

He wiped the red blood off his sword casually. Blood on the sword turned into droplets and scattered as he wiped it away. The blue riverside of the Buttuwat River turned red.

“Did you kill her?”

“Yes.”

Bowing to the duke, he replied. Soon, he signalled to the soldiers to start.

The duke, who rode on the horse, looked at Earl Hazlet who followed him. His cheeks were exceptionally haggard. The duke cast a suspicious glance at his pale face.

The turbulent riverside soon fell silent. Only the dust was settling where the soldiers left.

Blood stains on the blue river also quickly went away. Wendy’s body floating on the river, bleeding from the grievous wound painted the scenery as one invoking a deep emptiness.

Right then, there was a change in the river. A dark green mass began to float on the water.

As if the air bubbles burst from the surface of the river, the leaves burst out next to the green mass. They grew tall quickly. The ball-shaped bulging green mass and its leaves were several meters wide. Such round masses floated on the water.

Wendy’s hung onto one of them.

“Cough, cough!”

Her wobbly shoulders shook. Her arms hanging from the ball-shaped leaf moved. Her trembling right hand managed to rest on the leaf. Her index finger touched it. It was her determination to survive.

Life was born on the plants with small vibrations. A new plant began to grow on the leaves that she depended on. The plant that firmly took root and grew branches and leaves soon produced fruits. It was the Bahazman tree. The plant was tilting its branches near her hand, as if pushing its fruit towards her. She managed to reach out and pick the fruit. Her face was so pale when she raised her head.

“Urgh… ”

After putting the fruits in her mouth and chewing roughly, she held back a moan. When she came to her senses a bit, she felt a sharp pain from the deep wound on her back, as if she had been burned.

Her body trembled again because of the unbearable pain. Then, she fell silent.

She took a breath and put a few more Bahazman berries in her mouth. She felt the pain subside a bit. The red color in her cheeks came back slightly. When she pulled herself together and looked around with her head up, the green mass covered the river more tightly than before. It was huge. She saw they already had flowers here and there, with the light purple petals floating on the water.

Petioles floating on the water like balloons, smooth leaves, and even the light purple flowers all pointed to the fact that the green plant was water hyacinth, commonly seen on the water. While she was floating on the river with cuts on her back, she thought of a plant that could save her at the crossroads of her life. A plant that could clear the water from her lungs. The shape of the plant that would push her up over the water came to her mind. It was a water hyacinth with round air pockets larger and stronger than a sturdy adult male. She couldn’t afford to hold something and put her index finger on it. She felt the river passing through her index finger endlessly. In the meantime, she has been recalling the water hyacinth.

‘Please, grow! Please, push me out of the water!’ She prayed earnestly.

As she wished, the plant pushed her out of the water, while drifting her down the river. However, she didn’t expect that she would have such a large number of plants on the river as her index finger touched the water.

She looked with a surprised expression at the water hyacinth that covered the river.

All the water that passed through her index finger became a fertile field, where the plants grew as her index finger wished. All she did was let the water pass through her index finger. That was her only wish.

She recalled the time when she fell from the cliff with Lard in the Brugonu Forest.

In order to survive, she constantly put her finger on the edge of a cliff and grew several wisteria trees on the steep cliff. Wisteria grew in the place where she put her hand, as if to prove the trajectory of her falling. The moment she fell down the cliff, she strongly recalled the shape of the wisteria that would save her.

However, she couldn’t grow such a large number of plants back then. Her determination to survive was not less than now. She recalled the images of a plant that could save her.

The only difference was in the object that touched her finger.

Water rather than soil. Wendy realized that if water touched her index finger, it could grow a larger number of plants than she dared to think, depending on the flow rate. It was a fact she had never realized before.

“Cough, cough!”

She let out a painful moan with a deep cough. She was in extreme pain as if she was dying, but she knew she would not. Her pain soon turned into her hatred of Duke Engre.

“Engre…You damned bastard! I will get even with you by all means.”

Lying on top of the water hyacinth, she murmured, opening her eyes slightly.

Dang dang dang dang!.

Bells and drums rang everywhere. It was reported that Duke Engre mobilized soldiers to attack the Imperial Palace.

“Only four units will remain here. All the rest of the knights, go back to the Imperial Palace! ”

Lard ordered sternly. Four units were not sufficient enough to stop the uprising peasants, but he left only a minimum of troops at Borams. The knights mobilized in revolt against the imperial family were already disarmed and imprisoned. Light fighting took place between them, but they were quickly subdued by the imperial knights without any damage.

As the massive number of troops led by the imperial knights retreated, the peasants expressed embarrassment. They still had no idea which way the wind was blowing.

They moved fast. As they experienced the death of the previous emperor, the imperial knights could not imagine the death of Emperor Isaac. Lard believed that the troops left behind in the Imperial Palace would fight well, but they were outnumbered by the troops mobilized by the Engre family. The speed at which their support arrived would determine the victory or defeat of the rebels.