Chapter 34

The embroidery thread I chose is a white one with more luster than the fabric of the dress.

I don’t have the time to stitch such large, flashy designs, but I kept thinking about the design I wanted to scatter all over the skirt while riding in the carriage to buy the thread.

The flower known scientifically as "mimosa" is also called "sensitive plant." Its flower language is "delicate," and it is a pale purple flower that blooms by the roadside.

When you touch its leaves, they droop as if bowing, which is why it is called the sensitive plant. However, I think this name was something my father thought up for me.

Lilies are also a flower name, and so is mimosa, but my mother was not particularly knowledgeable about flowers. She liked flashy things, and she might have known about roses, but she often complained that the pollen from the large lilies she decorated the entrance with would get on the servants' clothes and couldn’t be removed. Someone knowledgeable wouldn’t do such a thing and would at least ask the gardener for recommendations.

The viscount’s estate’s garden wasn’t that large, but it still had flowers blooming with the seasons to decorate the entrance and living room. There shouldn’t have been any lilies, so they must have been bought from a florist.

When there were guests, my father would have the gardener choose and secretly replace the flowers. He would say he accidentally dropped a flower and tell the servants to put it in his bedroom to avoid waste. My father and mother’s bedrooms were, of course, separate, but this was not unusual among the nobility, especially in arranged marriages.

I hadn’t really thought about the household much, but now, by thinking about it, I realize that I had been observing the house in various ways. I hadn’t yet properly replied to my father’s letter, but now that I’ve decided to do this embroidery, I feel like I can write back.

I will stitch the mimosa flowers. I will also make the leaves decorative and scatter the delicate small flowers.

If it’s not a continuous design, it won’t take too much time for each one. After scattering many flowers on the skirt, I will balance the placement of the fern-like leaves that bow.

I escaped into books and embroidery. However, I learned at the Chaltry earl’s house that this time was not wasted.

I want to be someone who can make a beautiful bow. Still, the flowers always face upwards. They are not flowers that cannot face the sun, so I want to live with confidence.

The white of the wedding dress also means that it will be dyed with your color. I will scatter the mimosa flowers my father gave me in the dress. They will all be connected, and I will live as Percival’s wife.

"Please give me this thread."

I was always nervous and would silently pay at the bookstore, but today, I could say "please" with a smile, holding a bunch of lustrous white embroidery threads in both hands.

It’s going to be tough from here, but it’s a step forward.