17 — 1

When Noel woke, he could see the greenhouse roof where little rainbows of light danced.

He took a deep breath. It smelled of medicine.

(This place is… I see, Naranda’s sofa.)

Noel remembered that he had fallen sound asleep on the sofa in the greenhouse.

(What is this… My heart feels light. My body too. It is as though I spent about a month at a hot spring resort…)

Noel felt strength returning to his mind and body.

The potions he needed in order to fall asleep had gradually become stronger and stronger. At first, he had asked Naranda to prescribe them, but they had almost stopped working, and he was now taking something so potent that if he took anything stronger, it would practically be poison.

Even then, their effect only lasted a few hours, so having such a deep, comfortable sleep truly felt wonderful.

Above Noel’s head, a cute braided face suddenly popped out.

“Ah, Noel-sama, are you awake? You slept well.”

“Gyaaaah!!”

Noel was so startled by the face that had suddenly appeared that he screamed, but Beth did not pay it any mind.

“What, treating a person like a ghost! The tea is ready just in time. Let’s have tea together.”

Beth sat beside Noel, whose heart was still pounding, without asking permission, and began pouring fragrant herbal tea with a gentle gurgle.

“Here, hydration is important after waking up.”

(Honey, chamomile, and lilac… lavender, and then burdock? It smells like lemon, but what is it…?)

As he was urged, he brought the herbal tea to his lips, but by habit, he began analyzing the ingredients.

“It is delicious. This must be what they mean when they say it sinks into every organ of the body…”

It was not that the flavor was especially good, but Beth’s herbal tea tasted as though it was firmly giving Noel’s current body everything it needed from the very root, as if everything his body desired was being supplied.

Noel enjoyed the herbal tea in silence for a while, but eventually turned toward Beth.

“This herbal tea was brewed for me, was it not? What exactly is in it?”

Beth said,

“Lilac and lavender, then burdock and lemongrass, and since bees built a hive over there, I took a little honey from it.”

“Hey!!”

Noel choked.

Rodney had only just reported that a kind of bee called magic bees had built a hive in this greenhouse.

Magic bees were very weak individuals, so wild ones were rarely seen outside of laboratories.

Since he thought Beth would not really understand even if he explained anything complicated, he had merely told her this.

“These bees are rare, so leave the hive as it is and take good care of it. Very precious honey can be harvested from it, so manage any honey you collect carefully. The amount harvested will be your temporary income.”

Rodney had been looking forward to perhaps being able to harvest honey from the magic bees if things went well, but the amount of honey that could be gathered from a single magic bee was extremely small.

Honey taken from magic bees contained a great deal of magic power and could also become an ingredient for precious potions. Even so, it had been careless of him not to notice that the hive had already grown splendidly enough to produce honey.

And to use such precious honey for food was such an outrageous luxury!

“I heard that Noel-sama has a lot of magic power, but if you use too much of it, you still get tired, so come now, drink more.”

Saying that, Beth added plenty of honey from the little jar into Noel’s herbal tea.

Noel hurriedly stopped Beth.

“Hey, Beth, I told you this honey is incredibly precious, did I not? This honey is a precious thing worth more than the same amount of gold. It is far too wasteful to use it for something like relieving my fatigue! Your bonus will go down!”

Noel, terrified by the amount of honey in Beth’s little honey jar, panicked and practically shouted, but,

“Oh my, there is no use more important than relieving the fatigue of Noel-sama, who works so hard and is so tired.”

She declared that as though it were nothing, then smiled and said, Noel-sama, you work too much. Please take care of yourself. Please use your own magic power with care too. Then she added more honey again.

—Did I not say it was Beth’s temporary income?

Noel stayed silent for a while, but unconsciously, he felt one drop, then another, tiny drops of water travel down his cheeks from his eyes.

—Did I not say it was honey worth more than gold?

Without even moving an eyebrow, Beth had told him that Noel’s body was more important.

Ever since he had been entrusted with this research institute, Noel had worked himself to death.

Working was natural. Pushing himself too hard was natural.

Because…

—I have no value unless I do that—

(Your uselessly high magic power only brings disaster. At the very least, make yourself useful to the family, even if only by a single hair. Do you understand?)

(For a cursed child like you to survive… No matter how much you work to repay your debt, it will never be enough.)

The voices of distant memories that brushed past his mind burned his brain.

(My head hurts.)

Unable to endure the pain, Noel clutched his burning head.

(You are an unwanted child.)

(You are a nuisance.)

(Someone like you should never have been born—)

His consciousness grew distant. And just as he was about to be swallowed by those voices like a dark sea,

“Noel-sama!”

A voice came from far away. Then, inside Noel’s mouth, which tasted of blood, spread the taste of the honey he had only just told her was worth more than gold.