Operation: Avoid the Crown Prince

10 | Better

Note: Oh my god! I honestly forgot it was Monday today! So sorry for the late update.

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Since Zedrif gave the go sign, I've started spending most of my free time in the garden. Right now, I'm seated on the blanket I laid down the grass, a basket filled with assorted flowers I recently picked was placed by my side as I twined them into a flower crown. Nearby, Zedrif sat on the bench beneath the wisteria tree, eating a box of pastries and just relaxing. Today is the Spring Festival but since we're still grounded, we can't go out and enjoy the festivities. Good thing that my order from Sir Keagan's shop has arrived earlier, now I just need to find the right time to give Kail his birthday gift. I really hope he'll accept it, I've sincerely planned for this event, you know?

"What are you doing?"

Zedrif suddenly asked from my left which really surprised me since I just noticed that he's now crouched near my blanket. Gods, I've been too distracted by my thoughts that I didn't even notice someone approaching. I must correct this dangerous habit soon, or else the Crown Prince might order my execution without me even noticing anything.

"I'm making a flower crown."

He narrowed his purple eyes at the thing in my hands, silently criticizing it. Hah, you can't say anything bad about my creation; I know how to make flower crowns and arrangements like a pro. How I learned this skill... Well, let's not talk about that right now.

"Hmph, what a waste of time. Why even bother doing something as useless as that?"

Ah, seems like I'm wrong. Zedrif has the innate talent to find faults at everything, no matter how trivial it may be. Sigh, can't you be a little less salty, dear brother? It's still so early in the morning.

"It's a very relaxing activity. I love doing things like these as I think about something."

"With your stupidity, I'm surprised you can even think."

Dear gods above, help me restrain myself as I'm about to commit murder.

"Today is Kail's birthday. Don't you have a gift for him?"

I opted to change the subject since I'm scared I might lose my cool and curse this brother of mine out loud. Zedrif sat on the edge of the blanket and dipped his hand into the basket, pulling out a handful of blue larkspur sprigs. When I asked the question, he looked surprised, as if he didn't expect me to know about Kail's birthday.

"I already gave him a new set of quill pen and a bottle of ink last week. He's not really into gifts so don't even bother."

He answered offhandedly as he tried twisting the small stems into a circle, the end result barely resembling a flower crown.

"Tch, a waste of time. Seriously, this is so useless."

Zedrif grumbled when he compared his work with mine, scowling and complaining about it being useless and whatsoever. Okay, I get it, tsun-tsun. You're just being salty again.

"Here, let's exchange. I quite like larkspurs, especially the blue ones."

Before he could say anything, I placed the white daisy flower crown on his head, snatched the poorly made larkspur one in his hand and placed it on my head. Seeing his face start to turn crimson (probably due to shame, you know them tsunderes) genuinely made me smile, which only served to darken the color seeping through his cheeks.

He abruptly stood up and pointed an accusing finger at me, face still beet red.

"Stop looking down on me! Just you wait, I'll be better than you in no time!"