“Oh my!”
The second bouquet had of course been prepared for Ruth.
The chocolate that Koutarou had gotten on Valentine's Day had been made by both Theia and Ruth. So two bouquets were required to repay them.
“Isn't that great, Ruth?”
“Yes! Thank you very much, Satomi-sama!”
As Ruth received the bouquet, she held it against her chest, like a child that had been given a treasure. It was an unexpected present from the boy she had feelings for. And since Ruth hadn't expected to get a bouquet for herself, she was really happy. As large tears streamed down from her eyes, she repeatedly thanked Koutarou.
“Thank you, Satomi-sama! I will take great care of them!”
“Thank you, pleb. I am glad you didn't forget about Ruth”
“Y-Yeah...”
With both Theia and Ruth being grateful towards him, Koutarou couldn't help but be embarrassed. He was inexperienced when it came to events like Valentine's Day and wasn't used to people thanking him directly.
“I'm going on ahead”
”Satomi-sama?”
“What's wrong, pleb?”
That's why Koutarou took the luggage from Ruth as well and left the two behind as if he was trying to run away. He wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible so he could catch his breath.
“Fufufu... we were only thanking him. He should just boldly accept it...”
“But that's just what Satomi-sama is like”
“Yes... that's true...”
With a tulip bouquet in hand, Theia and Ruth stared at Koutarou's back as he hurriedly left. After he vanished around a corner, Ruth looked down on the bouquet in her hand.
“...Your highness, are you aware of the meaning of the tulip in the flower language?”
Upon hearing Ruth speak, Theia also looked down at her bouquet. The crimson tulips were beautiful. Sadly, since Theia's pupils were so moist, she couldn't fully enjoy their beauty.
“No. I only just learned what the flower looks like. I have never looked up the flower language”
Theia shook her head and tears streamed down her cheeks and spilled onto the tulips.
“The meaning of crimson tulips is true love”
“...True... love...”
As Theia repeated the meaning, she instinctively looked towards Ruth. And since Ruth was looking back at her, the two stared at each other. After a light nod, Ruth continued speaking.
“But since it's Satomi-sama, he probably didn't do it consciously”
Kenji might have been able to do so, but it was hard to imagine Koutarou presenting the two with tulips on purpose. He had only picked them because Theia seemed to have taken a liking to them. That's what the two believed.
“Even if he did chose them on purpose, it probably wasn't referring to the love between a man and a woman. But even then―”
“It is without a doubt true love, huh...”
Theia finished Ruth's sentence.
She put a little force into her arms, and the bouquets wrapping paper rustled.
“Yes. That is what I think”
Ruth affirmed Theia's words with a smile. That had been what she wanted to say.
“Seriously... what a difficult man...”
“...Master... thank you very much...”
Both Theia and Ruth knew that the flower language for these flowers being true love was just a coincidence. But they didn't doubt that this present had come from Koutarou's true love. They both felt that Koutarou really treasured them. They were a bit sad that it wasn't the romantic kind of love, but even then they were happy for his feelings.