Heaven's Curse

"More tulips?"

In the office, Tello Zan saw Sonia coming in with a bouquet of tulips in her arms and reached out to take them. Sonia smiled and said, "Your students asked me to pass them on to you."

"How fascinating. For the past few years, no students have ever given me tulips, but ever since you showed up at the Meteor Tribulation, someone asks you to deliver flowers to me every few days." As a Sword Saint, Tello Zan liked saying blunt things in a sarcastic way, much like her best skill, Hidden Hand Secret Blade.

"Oh, Sister Tello Zan~" Sonia hugged Tello Zan from behind and wheedled, "I'm your student too. Can't they be from me?"

Tello Zan had been researching a new Swordsmanship Miracle this year, and it happened to require petals as materials. When Sonia had studied under her a few months ago, she noticed that Tello Zan changed out her tulips every few days, so she learned what flowers her professor liked.

When Adele came up with the idea of selling Sonia's preferences for a little pocket money, Sonia said she liked tulips, then turned around and gave them all to Tello Zan. The flower-givers did not lose face, Tello Zan got something useful out of it, and thus a world where no one got hurt was born.

Tello Zan knew, of course, but she did not refuse. She really did like tulips. But perhaps because they clashed too much with her appearance and personality, Sonia was still the only one who knew this little secret.

As for what flowers the village girl herself liked... loving flowers was clearly a fussy hobby for city people. Every spring, she could see the woods outside town covered in brilliant reds and purples, and she had long since