The Villainess is Filthy Rich!

𝓣𝔀𝓮𝓷𝓽𝔂-𝓼𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 ➳ Did you forget?

"Why did you stop coming to the palace?"

Silence.

I unconsciously gulped. Mom suddenly went silent, however, her smile remained intact as if it had frozen in place. I wiped my sweaty palms on my dress. Sob... Mom, your smile is scaring me!

The eerie silence continued on for a while. I kept on wiping my sweaty palms on my dress every minute to the point that I've already had lost count. It was until I gulped down the slightly cooled tea for the nth time that Mother finally made a sound.

Mother placed her teacup back on the saucer with a clack. I released the breath that I didn't know was holding. I flinched when Mother suddenly stood up from her seat. My eyes carefully followed her movements as she stepped out of the patio, the cogs in my brain spinning aggressively.

"Uh...mom?"

I jumped in my seat when she abruptly turned around, her usual warm smile plastered on her face. "I received some seeds from the Pronos Marquisate yesterday, and I'm planning on planting them today. Would you like to join me, Alyn?"

Oh... I see. I stood up from my seat and walked towards her direction, smiling. "Sure, I would love to." Mother nodded and ordered some servants to get the seeds and the gardening tools.

Seeing that mother refused to entertain my question and diverted our topic back to gardening, I took it as a cue to stop pestering her about it. Haa... I should really be careful with my words next time.

After the servants brought the seeds and tools, Mother and I wore our gloves and apron over our clothes with the help of the servants. Mother scanned the whole area, digging up a few inches before grabbing a fistful of soil. She repeated this process until she stopped at a vacant area on the east side of the garden.

"This area should be good," She bobbed her head up and down before shifting her gaze toward me, "Alyn, can you bring the seeds over here?"

I nodded, taking the bag of seeds from the attendant. I placed down the bag between us and crouched down. "Shall we start?"

I gave her a nod and fished out my own shovel from my apron's pocket. "Alyn, just dig approximately 5 centimeters deep."

"Alright, but mom, what kind of seeds are these?" I queried, digging holes that are 10-inch apart. Mother stopped her movements and glanced up at the sky, mulling over my question.

"Hmm..." She glanced at me and smiled, "Well, I don't know. I just told both of your Grandparents to bring me rare seeds that I can plant in my garden, so they sent me these unknown seeds that they won from an auction."

"...so, we don't know whether these seeds are dangerous or illegal?" Mother nodded eagerly, beaming. "Wouldn't that be dangerous, Mom?"

"Hmm, I can't deny that... but isn't that one of the beauties of gardening? Wondering about what plant will sprout from the seeds we sowed."

"Well... I can't refute that. Mystery does bring the beauty out of it." Mother clapped her hands, smiling from ear to ear. "Well said, my darling. Now, let us start putting the seeds in each hole we dug or it will take us all day to finish this one."

"I'd rather not that happen."

Mother leaned in towards me and winked. "Neither do I."

A chuckle left out of my mouth as we started putting a few seeds in the hole and covering it with the soil we dug out earlier. We repeated this whole process until all of the holes were covered, along with casual chatter and banter.