"Sigh…"

  Water splished and splashed beneath with every stomp, the last getting further frustrated than the previous one.

  "Argh! Dammit! I didn't come to this place to do laundry," the girl complained under her breath, but still it was loud enough for Ana and Charmy to wince in sympathy.

  The person complaining was none other than Lydia, who in that moment was stomping onto a foamy mélange. The three of them were in the backyard of the establishment, right next to a well, doing laundry in all evidence, a task that left all three of them annoyed, enough that even the aloof and mysterious one was audibly whining about it.

  Softly scratching an itchy pimple, Charmy said, "Come on girls, I know this is an annoying situation, but this couldn't be helped, so let's just—"

  "Couldn't be helped?" Lydia glared, raising her finger and pointing at Charmy. "This definitely could have been avoided, had you not run your damn mouth."

  "Hiiii," the girl ran to take cover behind Ana, "Scary!"

  Ana looked at the girl hiding behind her back and couldn't help but understand Lydia's annoyance. This was her fifth day in the establishment as a fake petal, or at this point, she was in fact a little more than a fake petal. Anyway, a few days had gone by since that meeting she had with Madam Datura and Madam Violet. The days following that were uneventful, in the sense that truly nothing had happened since, nothing except their room being verified by Laura as they finally learned was the name of the flower, who had them refer to her as Miss instead of Ma'am, them being delivered breakfast, lunch, and dinner at precise hours of the day, and last but not least, them being expected to be asleep at very precise hours of the night. It was the perfect combination for things to get boring, which led a certain person during one of these early morning inspections to ask if there was anything they could do, which made Laura suggest this ingrate task.

  Frankly Ana wanted to smack Charmy, but at the same time she couldn't bring herself to just blame her. "Come on you two... True, this could have been avoided but not anymore, so let's just do this."

  Begrudgingly getting back to the task, the trio took turns between stomping, drawing water, and handwashing the thick sheets they were cleaning. A couple of minutes of silent labour went by until a certain person commented, "This is boring."

  "You lit—"

  "Let's talk about something."

  Seeing nothing wrong about the suggestion, and in fact agreeing with it, Ana nodded and asked about what.

  "Hm, let's see," Charmy mused for a moment before coming up with something. "I know, tell us about your time serving a noble family."

  Ana frowned, because the question was clearly addressed to her. "My time serving a noble family?"

  "Yes, you said it, didn't you? When Madam Violet asked if any of us had interaction with a noble family and you said that as a child you were serving one."

  "Ah, I did mention that back then," Ana nodded in realization.

  That question was entirely justified, much like many of the questions Lady Violet asked during her interview. She explained her reasoning clearly. Although the gardens usually welcome a highbreed clientele, the Floravelle focuses on a narrower group. They aim for young highbreed who come to study at the Aethernum, also called the Arcaneum, as well as those who train in the Arena.

  The holy city belongs to the three faiths, each controlling its own territory as they do in every major city of the continent. There are only two places in this city where this rule does not apply, where the control is shared equally on an absolute sense. These places are the Aethernum and the Arena, two educational institutions attended by the best among the highbreed. In these two establishments the future leadership of each faith is shaped. The Arena forms the young who follow the paladin path. The Aethernum forms those who walk the scholarly path. Their studies include healing magic, holy magic, history, geography, and an intense education in politics. This last field even brings in highbreed with no connection to the faith such as noble families.

  Seen from afar it might look like a small group, yet the reality is different. Most scholars and paladins who attend the Aethernum or the Arena come from noble families. They are often the second or third sons who would only remain an extra wheel within their house and who choose to join one of the two institutions to build a future of their own. With this in mind it was perfectly logical for Madam Violet to ask whether they had ever dealt with nobles before and whether they knew what to expect. They were, indirectly, the primary audience she aimed for.

  "Well," Ana mused, weaving a lie as she smiled at Charmy, who was all ears. Noticing that while still vigorously stomping, Lydia was also listening. "I don't know what to tell... As I said to Madam Violet back then, I was still young when that happened, so my memories weren't the clearest."

  "Oh, come on, I'm sure you have something at least interesting to tell. Tell us what they were like, your lord, that's what you call them, right? Lord," the girl said seeming to romantize the idea of calling someone that.

  Ana chuckled at how childish Charmy looked in that moment, making her forget details this non-maiden nonchalantly revealed the other day. "Yes, Lord. We called them something like that. 'My Lord' for the father. 'My Lady' for the mother. And 'Young Lord' for their son."

  "Their son," Charmy's eyes beamed. "How was he like? Was he handsome? He had to be."

  Looking at the girl, Ana sighed. "He was at least three years younger than me, so I don't know about handsome, but he was sure cute back then with how shy he was. So shy I always had to invite him for us to play."

  "You played together? They allowed you two to play? I heard nobles don't let their kids play with people like us."

  "When they were visiting the mansion, they let us play together. But... now that you mention it, I remember. The Lady didn't want us playing together, it was as you said. She didn't want her children to play with the daughter of a mere servant in one of their many rural mansions."

  "Ow, so needlessly mean, you were just kids playing."

  "Yes... we were."

  "But then? What happened?"

  "Well, at first she was adamant, getting in the way, forbidding it to happen literally, but then,"

  "Then?"

  "She changed her mind."

  "About letting you play together."

  Ana nodded.

  "What changed her mind?" The one to ask the question wasn't Charmy, it was Lydia, who had been listening in silence.

  Ana reminisced about those days, then answered, "The young lord. He was shy, but he had a way of getting what he wanted."

  "Ow," Charmy marveled, "makes me want to meet your young lord. Where is he? I want to meet him."

  "That's—" Ana saw the discussion heading in a direction she didn't want it to, so she felt very relieved to see a certain person approach. The relief was short-lived, especially when she almost immediately noticed the thick sheet that person was carrying toward them.

  "It's alright to chat," she said, tossing the sheet on top of a pile, "but make sure this isn't just a waste of water and soap."

  "Yes, Ma'am," the three of them soporifically echoed.

  Instead of leaving, giving the trio the opportunity to relieve their annoyance by cursing her with all possible names, arms crossed, the flower stood there, apparently intent on overwatching the whole process. But then, after a few minutes, perhaps defeated by the silent atmosphere she herself had cultivated, she announced, "There are more sheets that need cleaning in our quarter. I need one of you to follow me."

  Such an offer, from someone neither of them were fond of, throwing more labor upon them, would have been answered with the three of them looking away and ignoring what she said. But Ana, seeing a little more to it than what it looked like, raised her hand and declared, "I'll go," following her.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Five days. Five days had gone by since the beginning of Ana's impromptu infiltration inside the organization known as the Floravelle. It was with great shame that Ana had to admit her investigation had yet to bring her anywhere. She was as clueless as the day she was mistakenly assumed to be an aspirant flower, and she couldn't really blame herself for it. Ana was a realist; she knew her limits. She had her ways of investigating and knew it was in her best interest to stick to them instead of freestyling something only to fall flat on her face. Unfortunately, her way of investigating was all too situational, requiring parameters that had yet to be offered to her.

  One such missing parameter was the fact that, since the beginning of this infiltration, she'd yet to interact in a close environment with someone she could extract important intel from. That's right: her status as a petal made it so that she was always around other petals, namely Lydia and Charmy, who, needless to say, had nothing interesting to provide when it came to what she came to investigate. She had been hoping to be put in a situation where she would be alone with either Madam Datura, Madam Violet, or Laura, but such a situation hadn't arisen, at least not yet. Until now, where Ana, in Laura's order, saw an opportunity.

  Following Laura, Ana was led down a corridor to, apparently, her quarter, the flowers' quarter. This was a unique opportunity. So far, as petals, they'd been kept apart from flowers; their entourage had mostly been made up of the tenders, young and old, the guards, and other assisting staff, but none of the actual flowers. So far, they had only met two of the said flowers: Uta, and the ever-bitter flower Ana was currently following.

  In that moment, after making it past the deserted corridor, this could have been her chance. As they began climbing a spiral staircase to the next floor, where apparently the flowers' rooms were, Ana saw this as her final chance. Removing her left glove, with a mental command she deactivated [Hidden Spark], an ability that allowed her, much like the more common but still rare skill [Anti-Appraisal], to keep her stats hidden. Except, this ability allowed her to flawlessly pass for a peon, masking her class, level, skills, and abilities. The only downside was that, while active, the ability removed her ability to use the said skills. So in that moment, as she deactivated it, all her skills came back to her, carrying her steps confidently up the stairs to stand before Laura.

  "What are you do—" before she could finish her sentence, Ana interrupted her by reaching for her cheeks. The reach was fast, the grab firm. Their eyes made contact, and Ana let [Tethered Will], another of her abilities, do its thing.

  Laura's pupils dilated, telling Ana she was ready.

  "I order."

  "I obey," the flower obediently responded, like she never would have otherwise.

  The sight brought a smile to Ana. Through the four days she had known this person, there had not been a day where Ana hadn't dreamed of this opportunity, to punish her or, at the very least, to fix her. But as tempted as she was, Ana was still objective enough to push that desire to the background.

  Activating [Falsify Memory] and locking eyes with her, the eyes being the tunnel through which the skill activated, Ana named her conditions:

  "For the next few minutes, you'll speak with complete honesty, without realizing anything is unusual."

  "You won't question why I'm asking, and it will feel perfectly natural to answer."

  "You'll believe this conversation was entirely appropriate, just a routine exchange."

  "And once it's over, you'll forget we spoke about this at all."

  "Is it understood?"

  Laura nodded.

  A large smile crossed Ana's face. She began, "I heard there were girls, fellow flowers of yours who had gone missing recently. Tell me what you know."

  Laura blinked, her head tilting a little. "Missing girls? I have not heard anything like that."

  "You're sure?" Ana tried again. "No one has mentioned any trouble? No rumors in the dorms?"

  "There might be rumor but I might have not heard about them."

  That's not very helpful Ana winced.

  "But if there were rumors about missing girls it would have made a lot more noise."

  Ana thought about these words, then realized that if true that that information must have been censored by the organization. How it was censored, she could only guess. So she rectified her question: "Do you know of any flowers who left the establishment in the past three months, for any reason—expulsion, resignation, or otherwise?"

  "Many," Laura replied.

  "Really?"

  "Yes. For flowers, especially Vines, many come and go when they get taken by a suitor."

  "I see. What are their names? Tell me all of them."

  "I don't know all their names. I wasn't close to most of them."

  "It's alright. Just tell me everything you can about each one. Be swift with it and, wait a minute."

  In that moment, Ana retrieved something she rarely ever separated from. She was wise to have brought it, even without planning to use it. Looking into her mirror, she reached to her neck with her ungloved hand, then looked into her own eyes through the reflexion.

  "I order," she said. "And I obey," she also said, "I will remember every detail of this conversation."

  Brought under her own influence, Ana told Laura, "Bring it on."

  And bring it on she did, at a speed that anyone would have had a hard time following. Laura named every flower who had left the Garden in the past six months, the ones she knew personally and the ones she knew indirectly, spilling everything her mind could recall. The process was messy, but Ana wasn’t worried. She might not have time now, but later she would sort it all out. So long as she remembered every detail Laura shared, she'd be fine. And she would remember it. While the use of such an ability on oneself could seem worrying, and it truly was, Ana knew how reliable it could be for a task like this.

  "...There was also that one flower. Her room was vacated three months ago. She was older than me as a flower, so I don’t know her name. As for friends, she didn’t really have any. She was a lone wolf. Had her own room, no roommate. She didn’t receive many visitors, but she did have a regular. Well, not sure if I could call him a regular. He was, as a patron, a visitor, not a Bookkeeper."

  There was a distinction in the Garden for their customers. Just like flowers are split between Blooms and Vines. Patrons split into two types: Visitors and Bookkeepers. The former were casual clients. The latter had signed exclusive contracts, effectively making the flower a Vine, meaning that the flower would only receive the patron’s visits and not any others.

  "Every time I saw her with a visitor, it was that man. I have no name for him. He was a scholar from the Aetherneum. Short, chubby, pampered-looking, but not all that wealthy. Weak presence. Always bowing to more prestigious visitors."

  "I see... Do you think she got trans—wait, you said he didn’t look that wealthy. Do you think he could’ve bought her contract?"

  "Patrons like him usually don’t. He didn’t even promote her to Vine."

  "That.... makes sense."

  "But it’s not impossible that he did."

  "Oh? Tell me more," Ana said, intrigued.

  "I didn’t know much about her, but I knew she was a low-performing Bloom, just like me. Also, she was older than most of us. So I doubt her contract was very expensive."

  "Oh, I see. So it was possible that... wait! Did you just say you’re a low-performing Bloom, Laura?"

  "Yes. I rank third last. Madam Hyacinth confirmed."

  "Waaah," Ana grimaced. "And you’re the one they sent to tutor us? Aren’t they afraid you’ll make us terrible flowers too?"

  "Overseeing you three was originally Uta’s task. A top performer. But news of her Bookkeeper’s return freed the position. I snatched it and will not relinquish it."

  "Waaah, how shameless."

  They had only interacted with Uta on the first day, but that was enough for Ana to know she made a better supervisor than Laura.

  "You’re clinging to this position, yet you’re still being an insufferable witch to us. Tch, tch, tch. You can’t do that, my dear Laura," Ana teased, poking her forehead. "I can’t allow you to—"

  Ana stopped herself. She had veered off course. This was still an investigation, not a personal roast.

  "Gotta get back to—"

  Unfortunately for her, she heard footsteps approaching from the base of the spiraling stairs. She would have to cut the session short.

  Reaching quickly toward Laura’s cheek with her ungloved hand, Ana looked into her eyes and issued one final instruction. Seconds later, she was putting her gloves back on when the owner of the footsteps came into view.

  "You…" Ana muttered.

  Following her gaze, Laura turned and asked, "What are you doing here?"

  With her usual composure, the girl, Lydia, explained, "Charmy thought there might be more of those thick, heavy sheets, so she said I should come help carry them. That’s why I’m here. Why? I shouldn’t have come?"

  Laura, as if holding no memory of her prior interaction with Ana, frowned, reaching for her cheek, likely still sensing Ana’s touch from seconds ago.

  "Whatever. Since you’re here," she said, continuing up the stairs.

  Ana and Lydia exchanged a glance and followed. For some reason, Ana never felt completely at ease around Lydia. Things weren’t as tense as during their first meeting, but suspicion still floated between them, both ways.

  Anyway, once the trio arrived on the next floor, the difference was blatant. A violent contrast. Though still part of the same castle, it was a world apart. Where the previous floor’s walls reeked of stone and mold, this one carried a lingering fragrance. The ceiling was high, adorned with chandeliers. The floors were polished marble. This was the kind of environment suited to nobility, and not just any nobles, but high-ranking ones.

  Ana was impressed. She cast a glance at Lydia and saw no reaction. It was as if she were witnessing something entirely ordinary. Once again, Ana’s suspicion stirred, but she let nothing show.

  Still following Laura, they turned into a large corridor and stumbled upon a group of girls. A single glance told Ana what they were: Flowers. Though the castle was almost exclusively populated by women, these girls stood apart. Their beauty, their dresses, everything about them screamed elite.

  "Oh," one of the girls from the group of five reacted, approaching.

  "Tch, not them." Laura grimaced.

  "If it isn’t Laura. And…"

  "Who do we have here?"

  Laura stepped aside, exposing Ana and Lydia to the quintet. Judging it right to show respect to her seniors, Ana bowed. "Hello, we are—"

  "You’re the new girls, right?" one girl asked, her voice excited. She reached for Ana’s hand.

  "Erm, yes," Ana nodded.

  "Yay, I knew it!" She pulled Ana into a warm hug, and another girl joined in, as if it were a call.

  "Then this one is Lydie."

  "It’s Lydia."

  "Oh right, but let’s call her Lydie. It’s cuter. Come here for a hug. I’ll be your big sister from now on."

  "Me too!"

  "Me too!"

  After Ana, Lydia was swarmed by the girls.

  "You’ve heard about us?"

  "Of course."

  "Uta told us about you. Where’s the third one?"

  The girls turned to Laura. "You brought them to introduce them to us, right?"

  Laura nodded, confirming the inaccurate assumption, making it clear to Ana that this girl was not someone Laura wanted to contradict the word of.

  "Then where’s the third one?"

  "She was… a little busy. I’ll introduce her soon."

  "Hmph. Make sure you do. I heard she’s the cutest."

  "Of course. With that, Dalya, doesn’t mean you’re not cute. You’re plenty cute," one girl reassured, throwing herself at Ana. She was joined by another. These girls were clingy, almost as clingy as Charmie, but where Charmie is just a little girl, these girl have more substance to them that made them a lot more suffocating.

  Ana wanted to call out for help. Neither she nor Lydia were comfortable with this level of affection from strangers. At least, that’s what Ana assumed? until she glanced at Lydia, who wore a blissful expression as she rested her head against the busty chest of one of the girls.