It had been a long time since I’d seen a fruit bloom. With a slightly nervous heart, I reached my hand out to the fruit.

Even though I hadn’t carefully chosen it from among several fruits, and it was more like a reward that had been waiting for me. What if it avoided me? If it came to me, I would treat it so well.

With a wish in my fingertips, I straightened the fallen fruit. The fruit trembled. It wasn’t a feeling of rejection. My calm heart began to pound fiercely, and a warm energy burst forth.

The energy gathering at my fingertips touched the fruit like a knock. When the sprout rustled its leaves once, for a moment I thought it was waving to me.

A bright light filled the greenhouse. A deep, subtle fragrance that calmed my entire body slowly melted into the space. It felt like I was in front of a cup of flower tea, its fragrant scent spreading on warm steam.

“Wow… oh my god.”

“The blooming scene is beautiful no matter when you see it.”

“In the end… the Marguerite’s choice is….”

The fruit, with its sprout wrapped in a bright halo, floated into the air and gradually grew in size. White flower petals, like the snow falling in midwinter that I had seen from Flora, scattered around me.

The petals kept piling up above my head, making me feel as if I were wearing a crown, and I felt no desire to shake my head and brush them off.

The growing light gradually faded as it took on a human form. Within it appeared a female dryad with a radiant appearance. She wore flamboyant clothes, comparable to an elder-type healer who doesn’t directly engage in combat.

Her beige-tinged white hair had an apricot hue toward the ends, braided into two strands and adorned with white flowers here and there.

On the wide, wavy brim of a white floppy hat, an apricot-colored ribbon was woven with plenty of small, egg-like flowers. It felt just like she had come out for a stroll.

The top was lavish, with both the neck collar reaching her chin and the sleeves touching the back of her hand wrapped in lace engraved with flower patterns, and over a voluminous white skirt, she wore a dress with green framework intricately intertwined. At the hem of the dress, which reached her calves, layers of white cloth resembling flower petals hung.

With a light landing sound, even the tips of her low-heeled shoes were adorned with white flowers, making her a dryad more unique than any other dryad, asserting with her entire body what kind of flower dryad she was.

A very lively and bouncy voice burst out from her.

“Hahaha. It makes me sad to see you make such a silly face. Were you planning to send me, someone so lovely, to another druid? My druid is so cruel. I tormented the World Tree so much just to reach my own ‘Truth’. I missed you so much. You’re my chosen ‘Truth’.”

When I felt the strong scent of flowers burrowing into my nose, Marguerite, who had somehow approached within arm’s reach, hugged me tightly and then let go. Then, just as Flora’s Marguerite had done, she created a handful of white petals in her palm and showered them over my head like a baptism.

She was a dryad with remarkably high energy. I thought she was on par with Zephyr’s Beggarticks among all the dryads I had seen so far.

“You came here on purpose for me? So that’s why you avoided Flora’s touch?”

Marguerite nodded eagerly at my words.

What kind of dryad is this? No, is there even a dryad that gets to choose where they’re born inside the World Tree? And on top of that, she says she tormented the World Tree. What is this dryad’s true identity? She’s truly an extraordinary flower.

Since she already knows me and acts so familiar from our very first meeting… this must be related to the effect that all the dryads within the World Tree are starting to feel my soul, right?

At this rate, am I starting off with a favorability buff for the dryads I’m about to bloom in the future? Thinking back to the Elder bloom, where our first meeting was far from good, I felt truly emotional.

“I never thought that one would show up.”

A voice, deliberately loud and full of displeasure, came from behind. Turning around, I saw Elder pressing the area around his eyes with one hand, wearing a deeply tired expression.

“If I have to go around with that scatterbrain from now on, I’m going to wither and die.”

Elder came up to me, pulled me into a hug with his long arm in one swift motion, and separated me from Marguerite. Then, in a voice tinged with pretended childishness, she grumbled.

Do you two know each other? You say you’re going to wither and die? If your beauty fades, it would be a worldwide loss.

“Just how much did you badger the World Tree? Even though it’s been a while since I last saw you, your hopeless personality hasn’t changed at all.”

“And your sour personality hasn’t changed either. You’re lucky too. How did you manage to meet my Truth so early and right away? They say it’s a lucky charm, but you must have used up all your life’s luck to connect with my Truth and soul. You’re now a useless flower with nothing but a strong scent. So let go of my Truth!”

“Calling a capable dryad like me useless? All you know how to do is pick petals.”

A heavy force struck my waist with a thud. It felt as if I was being pulled from my spine. A tug-of-war ensued between Marguerite, who had her arms around my waist, and Elder, who had his arms around my shoulders. The scents of two flowers that were hard to mix tormented my nose to the point of nausea.

“Stop.”

A short but powerfully assertive voice descended, slicing through the two fragrances. At Mesquite’s voice, the two dryads awkwardly pulled away from me.

“Your actions are still excessive. I think it’s too early for you to come out into the world, and I find it hard to believe the world tree’s judgment in willingly sending you to my master.”

“I’m all grown up. I’m a proper mature tree now.”

Marguerite addressed Mesquite with a very polite and courteous attitude, unlike how she treated me.

Should I say it’s natural? Just as Elder already knew of Marguerite’s existence, Mesquite also knew her.

“So Mesquite knows you too. Don’t tell me, did Mesquite raise you too, like Elder did?”

“As expected, my truth. How did you know? Does my truth have the ability to reveal secrets like I do? You can’t have too many abilities. All dryads will covet my truth. Be a little world tree just for me from now on.”

Oh, really? I had heard that Mesquite directly taught Elder and the other saplings at the world tree, but I never imagined Marguerite was one of them. There couldn’t be a more remarkable connection than this.

Marguerite seemed even younger than my Daisy, who was in a juvenile form due to the severed soul connection. Though her height was shorter than the flower tree dryads, she was still much taller than Daisy in her current state.

“This time, let’s really sever the soul connection. That flower is truly exhausting. The world tree must have made a mistake too. It might be looking for that runaway brat, so let’s send her back to the world tree’s embrace quickly. If that’s not possible, give that flower to the druid who wants her.”

Even though Elder prioritizes me above all, his attitude of suggesting that the world tree—which is virtually a divine being—could have made a mistake really leaves me speechless.

It’s often said that when a dryad dies, it returns to the world tree’s embrace. Yet, seeing Marguerite, who has just come into the world, to speak so bluntly—though the meaning might be a bit different—makes me think they must be quite the bitter rivals.

“My truth. You must not do that to me. I can really work hard for my truth. Don’t send me somewhere else. I’ll do really well. I’ll try hard.”

Following Elder’s words, fearing that I might actually sever the soul connection, Marguerite clung to me with a pitiful voice. Of course, I have no intention of severing it, but with their relationship this bad, I’m really worried about what lies ahead.

How would Flora, who had shown a strong will to take me herself, be seeing this? I suddenly wondered and looked at her, and saw her talking seriously with her own Marguerite Dryad. Feeling my gaze, she stopped talking to Marguerite and spoke to me.

“Master Jae, it seems that flower petal was indeed a Dryad not fated for me. However, the Dryad with my Marguerite’s petal said… since the flower appears to have only recently matured into a tree, its prophetic powers haven’t been refined yet, so it might be dangerous to use her abilities rashly.”

“Hmm… so prophecies can be dangerous, beyond just being right or wrong?”

Two Marguerite Dryads of the same kind, yet as similar as they were completely different, faced each other with contrasting expressions. Flora’s Marguerite was filled with concern, while my Marguerite wore a sulky look.

“As a foliumteller, I only use my Marguerite’s petals for divination to read people’s futures, but Master Jae, you’re planning to send that Dryad into battle as well, right?”

I nodded, already looking forward to the combat performance of a single support-type Dryad. Seeing Lantana’s abilities related to the seventh skill of Iris’s support Dryad and the life extension techniques of Notos’s support Dryad, the pines—unlike simple buffs, they all displayed very special skills in battle. What kind of prophecy-related techniques would Marguerite use in combat?

“Marguerite’s petals can use random abilities in battle through prophecies. However, depending on the accuracy of the prophecy, it becomes a double-edged sword. If the prophecy fails, you’ll receive the opposite power of what was predicted. A strong Marguerite can increase the accuracy of her prophecies, but she can also nullify the recoil of a failed prophecy.”

Flora explained Marguerite’s abilities to me with a voice full of concern.

“Conversely, if her power is weak, she’ll take the full brunt of the prophecy’s recoil. If it just ends as a dud, that would be lucky, but the negative effect could turn back toward the bouquet, so I’m telling you that you shouldn’t use Marguerite’s powers in battle rashly.”

“What kind of power do you use, anyway?”

“If my truth wills it, I can show you anytime!”

“Huh? No, wait!”

I asked because Flora’s explanation sounded too dangerous, but my Marguerite seemed to interpret it differently. She raised her hand to the air, and petals whirled around, revealing a thick book. A white hardcover book with gold trim flipped open and stopped at a random page.

“Right now, Elder Flower’s recovery ability will exert nearly double its power.”

“Hey!”

An angry cry burst from the elder. But his ability had already manifested. The light pouring from the book enveloped the elder. Just like when Flora had spread his Marguerite and Graft, several white cards with rounded edges unfurled around the elder like petals.

When all the cards save one disappeared, that single card suddenly turned to black ash and crumbled. At the same time, clumps of ash-like dust floated around the elder.

Anyone could tell that the ability had failed.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

At the elder’s scolding, Marguerite feigned ignorance, stuck out her tongue, and turned her head away. Flora sighed softly and spoke.

“Since Marguerite’s petals predicted a 2x healing ability, as a side effect, that flower’s healing ability might have been halved. But since her power is still weak, it probably hasn’t dropped that much. The side effect won’t last forever and will wear off soon, but in a truly dangerous battle, it could cause major chaos.”

So that’s what this meant. Clearly, Marguerite is a support type who can give random buff effects to the team, like me—no, even lower level than me, so her success rate is lower, and on top of that, if she fails, she gets a side effect. Unlike what I expected, I seem to have ended up with quite a troublesome burden.

But Marguerite couldn’t be scolded or punished for her ability’s failure, as she looked at me with sparkling eyes and an utterly adorable face.

She was a dryad I could never bring myself to hate.