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He was as Leona had left him, in their private garden, tending to the plants with a gentle hand. His companion animals scattered as Leona approached.
"So that's where you went."
Silver raised his head and smiled at the sight of his fiancé. "Were you looking for me?"
"Yeah, my favorite blanket disappeared." Leona hugged him from behind, laying his head on his shoulder. He rumbled when Silver shook with quiet laughter.
"Your meeting ended earlier than I expected."
"I'm baffled that they can be considered ministers with that skill level." Leona had no limit on how much he could complain about his brother's government, but he disliked bringing bad news to his fiancé. He raised his head to look at the pruning shears in Silver's hands. "Still not going well?"
"Another one withered."
He picked up the rose bud on the edge of the flower pot. The rose, naturally black all over, had turned grey with pale veins over the petals. The edges looked bitten through, as if insects had eaten them, but Leona knew they were only withered.
Silver poked the thorn. "At least they're still sharp."
"Is that something to celebrate?"
He held up his finger, a drop of blood beading. "It means the roots are alive."
Leona glanced at his face and murmured, "But for how long?"
It had been Malleus's idea to bring some Briar Valley native plants over to the Kingscholar palace. Leona couldn't exactly refuse a simple request from his whatever-in-law (if they were even in-laws), and he wanted to make this place comfortable for Silver too. It was him who had taken Silver from his golden path. The least he could do was reduce his melancholy.
"Don't worry. They're not so weak."
"Who said I was worried?"
Silver smiled silently. Leona admired the sight, then reluctantly stopped leaning on him and picked up the withered bud.
"What a shame. They were quite the sight in Briar Valley."
"Aren't they? My father said my birth place was covered in them when he found me."
"Yeah? They didn't turn white as snow just from your presence?" Leona joked.
"I had golden hair at the time. By your logic, they would have turned silver from my father's magic, not mine."
Leona twirled the rose bud between his fingertips. "Did he have any advice on how to keep them alive?"
"He said we should finetune the artificial climate until they're able to blossom. The soil and sun exposure are already satisfactory… Look." He pulled on a leaf. "The leaves are fine, it's only the flowers that don't survive."
"So the most important part."
Silver frowned. "What?"
"What's the point of flowers if they don't look pretty," Leona said.
Silver crossed his arms. "So you only like me because I'm pretty?"
"…Did Lilia teach you that one?" Leona groused.
Silver's stern frown broke with a chuckle. Leona's pretend scowl disappeared as well.
"If you have the time, could you help me with changing the artificial climate?" asked Silver.
"Don't be so polite, it's tiring." He yawned. "Fine, fine. If I must."
Silver thanked him and fetched the magic gem they used to power the artificial climate. The magic circle engraving had been done by Leona as well, with Silver looking over his shoulder in amazement. If there was one thing he didn't lack, it was praise from his fiancé. Leona had no idea what he'd done to trick Silver into seeing him as this amazing and kind man, but he wasn't keen on breaking the illusion any time soon. His sister-in-law joked that he should wait until after the marriage, once it would be more difficult for Silver to run away.
"Let's lower the humidity a little… How does that look to you?"
"It looks fine. We'll have to wait and see."
"Yeah. Can always make them blossom with magic if needed."
Leona lounged back, taking in Silver's gentle smile as he looked at the flowers. There was something melancholic in that smile, a little sad.
"You want to go back?" he blurted out.
Silver turned to him in question. Too late to regret it, Leona forged on.
"Briar Valley. You can go back if you want."
"Didn't we agree we would go in April?"
"I'm saying you can go back, if you wanna."
Silver seemed to finally understand what he meant, yet he resisted it even then, frowning. "Do you want to?"
"Doesn't matter what I want… I mean," he saw Silver's worsening frown and scratched his nape, "I'm fine either way. You can stay or you can go."
"Leona."
The light mood had completely vanished by then. Leona groaned and tussled his hair.
He suddenly empathized with his brother's courting troubles from a decade or so ago. If he'd realized just how difficult relationships were—and more importantly, that he would one day be worse—maybe he wouldn't have mocked his brother so much.
"You're right that a rose doesn't have to be pretty… What I'm saying is, you don't have to stay here with me. I'll come to Briar Valley when I can, and you can stay as the lizard's knight."
Silver grew even more upset. "You still think like that?"
"It's not like they'll mind taking you back. Your skills haven't deteriorated at all."
"Do you think that would make anyone happy?" Silver asked tersely.
Wouldn't it? Leona lacked sleep each night, remembering he'd stolen Silver's dream from him. Something as simple as "love" would and could never make up for that, Leona knew. To this day, he still resented his brother. What if Silver came to hate him one day?
"Just go back," he said.
"I won't."
"Don't try to spare my feelings," Leona sneered.
Silver crossed his arms. "So you admit that you would be hurt. Don't try to deny it now," he interrupted. "If you are hurt, then I am hurt. This wouldn't work for any of us."
Leona refused to admit it. He turned away as if to leave, but Silver caught him by the arm.
"I'm sorry, if I'd known you still worried about me, I would have said something." Silver's anger completely disappeared, leaving a compassionate sadness. "You misunderstand me. I didn't abandon my dream at all."
"Don't lie."
"I'm not lying. My dream was to pay back Lord Malleus and my father…" His head lowered with his habitual somber feeling about those two. "I wondered about it too when I entered a relationship with you. Even back in NRC, I knew it would mean coming to Sunset Savanna."
Leona had been the one to push for a relationship—though at the time he hadn't been all that serious about it. He hated to think of those days when he played with Silver's feelings while Silver sincerely worked for their relationship. In the end, he'd been ready to grovel to make up for his flippancy. If he'd realized what choice he was putting Silver through, would he have ever approached him?
"Father reassured me, of course, but it was Lord Malleus who helped me decide," said Silver.
"He must not have realized what you were talking about," Leona joked weakly. Malleus had nearly killed him when he found out they were dating.
"Right now, I can act as a liaison between Sunset Savanna and Briar Valley," said Silver. "I can help pave the way for better relationships between fae and humans."
"You mean beastmen."
"It's not how I pictured I would repay them as a child, but… I'm happy now. Sometimes, I even fear I'm being too greedy by grasping both of those dreams at once."
"…Both dreams?"
"My dream of repaying them, and my dream of being with you."
"…Ah," Leona said.
There was nothing he could say. All of his fears were expertly extinguished, replaced with a breathtaking dream.
"And don't worry about the flowers." Silver lifted a leaf-covered stem, revealing a hidden rose bud. "They will endure the hardships, and before you realize it, they will blossom."
"…Yeah?" Leona murmured.
Silver smiled, so beautiful and sincere that he turned the world blinding with light. "Yes. They will blossom, and become part of your home."