I Had No Complaints About This Marriage - Chapter 27

The women buzzed, but Esina was too absorbed in the floral perfume to care. Only belatedly did she register their murmurs—and their stares.

“Even if she’s ignorant, this is too much…”

“The flower’s meaning…”

“Is she mocking us right now…?”

Their whispers slithered over, a mix of faux concern and outright malice. Apparently, these flowers carried some problematic symbolism.

‘Well, I can always plead ignorance.’

Esina had long since stopped caring about such things. Perhaps from the day she realized love like that would never come for her.

‘It was all pointless anyway.’

Flower meanings, birth flowers—what did they matter? The man who’d memorized every petal’s symbolism for her had been busy impregnating other women with the same rehearsed charm. The one who wrote heartfelt birthday letters had simply been too cheap to buy real gifts.

After enduring such betrayals again and again, Esina had learned to accept flowers simply as flowers. No symbolism could touch her heart anymore. The same went for flowery declarations of love.

Love—a word as deceptively sweet as sugar-coated candy, yet so bitterly cruel. She no longer had the energy to care. She was done interpreting metaphors and dissecting hidden meanings.

What does the color of his feelings mean? What emotion lies behind this gesture?

None of it mattered.

‘Still…’

None of that changed the fact that she remained perfectly content in this marriage.

‘This is what real sincerity looks like.’

Proof that their clean, practical contract would hold.

Esina glanced down at the diamond necklace box in her hands. Material things like this—she didn’t mind them at all. At least they left something tangible behind.

Remembering how casually Herman had told her to buy such an extravagant piece, her heart pounded as if she’d fallen head over heels for someone. A rush of dopamine made him seem almost unbearably endearing.

‘I’m so happy. So satisfied.’

Sunlight streamed through the greenhouse glass, wrapping her in warmth. The deepening floral scent soothed her further. The fact that these blooms matched her hair made them even more endearing.

“Here.”

“Yes, Madame Young Duchess?”

“Could I have a few stems of these flowers?”

“…T-these flowers?”

“Yes.”

The clerk’s expression flickered strangely, but only for a moment. With practiced politeness, she bowed and assured Esina they would be packaged and sent to the estate. Another attendant quickly brought over a small bouquet, placing it in her hands. Esina lifted the blooms to her nose, inhaling deeply.

Then—

“…She really doesn’t know anything about flowers, does she?”

“I heard she’s clueless about household matters too.”

“How ignorant can she—”

A single, unexpected word hooked Esina’s attention.

“Does she even know her husband has a bastard child?”