"...I wonder if Miss Elegy would be interested."
"What?"
Flora froze for a moment. She had been a little distracted and had missed what he said, so she gave a light cough. "Ahem, you mean..."
Elliot did not answer. He merely smiled softly and turned to look outside.
Flora followed his gaze-
Outside the mansion, where deep night had shrouded everything, light and shadow now flowed. Carefully arranged lamps held up a corner of the darkness, beneath which flowers bloomed in silence.
It was a tranquil garden.
"Would you be interested in a stroll?"
Looking at that sea of flowers in full bloom, Flora could not help feeling a little dazed.
She had never looked at flowers at night before.
In her memory, night and danger went hand in hand. Even with her powers, she had to remain constantly alert to prying eyes in the shadows. She had never imagined that night could be so pure and beautiful.
Like a small animal accustomed to pricking up its ears and keeping its nerves taut in the dark, she cautiously stepped into that realm dotted with lamplight, a little bewildered and hesitant.
The carefully selected, precious flowers were like threads woven into this brief and beautiful dream. It bloomed only in this moment, and by dawn it would vanish without a trace, like morning dew.
Even with her aversion to everything aristocratic, Flora had to admit that the sight before her was breathtakingly beautiful.
By the time she came to her senses, her feet were already on the garden's soft dirt path.
The exquisitely shaped gas lamps cast just the right halos of gentle light, neither dazzling nor stealing the show, while tenderly outlining every petal. Amid the interplay of light and shadow, the garden seemed all the more secluded and serene.