The Rose Garden

After Ashley was finished with her breakfast, she stayed inside her room for an hour, hesitating if she would go out or not. In the end, she chose to go out. Maybe Ramier wouldn't get angry at her for going out of her room right? Moreover, her destination was the Rose Garden which was inside the palace's premise.

She mustered up her courage and went out the door. She remembered the path she took to the garden a few days ago and followed it. As she passed through the halls, the servants would look at her with observing eyes and would turn their heads elsewhere whenever she glanced back at them. They wanted to see who the source of sudden controversies in the whole palace was. Different rumours about her, which she was completely unaware of, floated among the servants.

One of the reasons was because she was known as the raven-haired legacy, that was the first living legacy that appeared from a box that was thousands of years old. Another, was the spitting incident; the servants referred to as ' The Royal Shower' .(A/N: credits to the servant who named this. LOL)

It also spread throughout the palace and most servants already had bad opinions of her.

Lastly, it was because she was the girl who the scary head court lady disliked so much.

Basically, the impression of Ashley from the servants' point of view was already unfavorable. Though she was a legacy, she was still a living person so it was quick to judge her. Ashley grew suspicious of those mindful stares she received.

Hello? She was right there. She wasn't stupid enough to not notice them. They didn't even suppress their curiosities towards her. Even the way they quickly turned their heads were suspicious.

'"It turns out it wasn't an enemy but enemies, eh?" she muttered under her breath.

She still wondered what she could have possibly done to gain so much haters???

She shrugged her shoulders and decided to ignore them. She didn't want to stress herself for something unnecessary. It wasn't like she wasn't used to this before. This happened all the time when she was still going to her university. Having haters was an inborn talent she possessed. Ashley forgot to remember that she was popular at that time. But this time, she had no followers.

After minutes of walking and enduring those infinite amounts of stares she received from both the servants and guards as she passed by, she was finally at the entrance of the garden.

She stopped in her tracks.

'Wow... Amazing.' she sighed in admiration.

The place is marvelous. The garden was decorated with white and red roses. There were even greek style columns made of white ivory and vines of dark green. Besides that, there were no other colors. She scanned the whole area and started to walk towards the white pillars that were covered with red roses. She reached to touch the rose and ran her hands around the pillars.

She fell in love at her new discovery. Roses are actually really pretty.She found it very common for people to like roses so she didn't really like them before. But now… she realized why. She considered changing her favorite flower from now on. It used to be lilies cause it was what Jamie used to give her. But she suddenly changed her mind when she saw this scenery.

She smiled bitterly at the thought of her lost love.

She cheered herself up and roamed her eyes around the scenery once more. The contrast between red and white was really stunning. The thick vines and well formed bushes made her appreciate the efforts of the gardener. She stared briefly at the bright sky and returned her attention back to the roses.

She was tempted to pick a flower but she knew this was a private property. She didn't have the right to pick one. She was also afraid that she'd kill the rose if she did. Well, she didn't know anything about gardening. She wasn't a green thumb either.

She saw a bench not far away from the pillar. She decided to settle herself there and enjoy the scenery. She sat down and looked around contentedly. She closed her eyes as she sniffed the rose scented air.

'Hmmm...Peaceful.'

For the first time in years, she felt content. She knew that she could stay here for hours and not grow bored just staring at the flowers and the sky.

She also noticed that there was a gazebo not far away from where she was. Next to the gazebo was a man-made pond. It looked beautiful and classy.

She really had to commend the landscape designer of this place. That place was really well-thought. It would pass as a rose paradise if one saw it.

Ashley stayed like that for an hour before deciding to walk around once again. When she grew tired from wandering around the wide rose garden, she sat on one of the seats inside the gazebo to rest. She looked at the pond beside her and didn't notice that she started to drift to sleep.