20 — 4

In the back garden of the Magic Institute, there was a large plaza used for magic practice and mock battles.

It was shaped like a plaza, but a strong anti-magic barrier had been spread through the air, so it was just right for testing new magic and the like.

“I had promised you for so long, yet I made you wait this long. I am sorry.”

“I am truly happy, Noel-sama. But are you all right when you are so busy?”

Beth reservedly peered into Noel’s face.

“I have only been relying on you, Beth, and when we first met, I treated you terribly. I want to apologize and thank you. Keep me company today.”

Noel showed Beth a gentle smile and looked very happy.

(It was true that at first, he never called me by my name and kept calling me a country girl.)

Beth smiled softly.

Noel had said that tonight, he would show her the magic that had appeared in Beth’s beloved book about a magician’s adventures, as he had promised for so long.

In the book, a magician traveling together with the hero confronted a great monster.

It was magic activated in the scene where he risked his life and unleashed great magic in order to protect the beloved, noble princess traveling with them.

Originally, the arrangement had been that because Beth helped with the work in this greenhouse, he would show her the magic from the book.

However, when Beth had first begun working in this greenhouse, Noel had almost never come near the greenhouse, and even afterward, when Beth saw how busy Noel was as he continued working while utterly exhausted, her concern for Noel had come before the magic, and she had not even intended to ask him to show it to her.

(He is not someone who would break a promise. It would be nice if he showed it to me eventually, and more than that, I wish he could somehow take a rest.)

At first, Noel had been an arrogant, hasty, and utterly inconsiderate, truly unpleasant man, but Beth had known from early on that he was a person who never went back on his word. And Beth had never seen Noel resting.

Despite his arrogant attitude, Beth had actually been impressed from the first day by how everyone at the Magic Institute paid extraordinary respect to Noel’s magical talent and character.

Also, although his attitude was certainly like that, Noel had recognized as facts that Beth was a commoner and that Beth had neither learning nor magical power, but he had never looked down on Beth for those reasons.

Even the sheltered Beth knew that among the priests and officials who sometimes came from the Royal Capital, there were people who distinguished others by such things, and Noel seemed to stand far, incomparably above those officials in both status and magical power.

“Because you often let me sleep well in the greenhouse, my daytime work has been going tremendously smoothly too. I can finally show you the magic I promised you. Rather, I am truly sorry it became this late. Leave today to me.”

It was true that after Noel had begun resting in the greenhouse at night, Noel’s complexion had become exceedingly good.

Beth thought that the reason he had always been irritated and arrogant was probably because he had been extremely exhausted.

Now that his excessive fatigue had lifted, Noel’s sincere, gentle, and originally upright nature slowly began to show itself.

He said he would show her the magic at night.

Noel, who had been sleeping and staying in the greenhouse this whole time lately, said that yesterday, he had gone back to his home near the research laboratory for the first time in a while to retrieve the special magic stone needed to activate the magic, but he gave a wry smile and said that, as expected, he had not been able to sleep a wink at home.

(If I cannot hear Beth breathing, then I am no good anymore.)

Today, he had gone to pick Beth up at the greenhouse early, but perhaps because he felt at ease after seeing Beth’s face, his heart had relaxed, and after that, he seemed to have fallen asleep on the greenhouse sofa right away.

His home, which he had returned to for the first time in a while, had been his own home, and yet it had felt as unsettling as someone else’s house.

Noel had lain his body down on the luxurious bed with a suffocating feeling and faced a sleepless night, and he had missed the greenhouse.

(There are no lively plants here that Beth has cared for. That arrogant stray cat is not here either. There are no insects. Beth is not here. No life at all is breathing.)

On the greenhouse sofa, surrounded by the greenhouse light and the breathing of happy lives, Noel had been dozing in a sense of happiness, but when he noticed, the sun had completely set, and Beth was no longer in the greenhouse.

When he searched for Beth in a great panic, sure enough, as expected, Beth was in the dining hall in the middle of heartily eating dinner.

If she were an ordinary subordinate, there would be no way she would leave a superior who had fallen asleep on the sofa alone and go to eat.

She would likely have been anxiously hovering around Noel as though handling something fragile, but the kind of girl Beth was had simply left Noel alone and prioritized the condition of her own stomach.

Beth said she liked the dining hall’s meals very much, and during her breaks, she was often in either the library or the dining hall.

The food is delicious, and I can read as many books as I like, so I am happy.

Naranda had just told him that because she always said that to the chef and the librarian every time she visited, they had grown quite fond of her.

When Noel sat beside Beth, who was happily eating, and apologized for accidentally falling asleep,

“It is all right. I am glad you were able to sleep.”

Beth said only that, smiled brightly, and happily continued eating dinner again.

Even though it was magic that Beth had looked forward to that much, and even though he had kept her waiting that long, Beth had left the sleeping Noel alone, and instead, she was purely happy that Noel had been able to rest.

The girl called Beth did not decorate her own words with aristocratic, useless ornamentation.

The words Beth spoke were the words of her heart.

There was no hidden side or public face.

Beth’s heart was exactly as her words said.

Noel felt so grateful for Beth’s existence that tears welled up in his eyes.

“…Thank you.”