8

It was the third stage.

The Immortal Lily’s growth after its roots emerged was fast, and it began to put out smooth green leaves before their very eyes.

“Starting today, I will stay overnight too and observe its condition.”

Beth said that with a slightly serious expression.

Beyond the green leaves, it had begun to show a small but hard bud.

By Noel’s order, as he wished for Beth to spend her time as usual, everyone seemed to be acting normally at a glance, but right now, in the Magic Institute greenhouse, fortress-level defensive magic had been layered over and over.

Various traps had been set so that everyone could activate attack magic immediately against intruders, and the stone statues casually placed in the garden were given their original roles as sealed golems.

There had been no successful example of raising it this far in the past hundred years.

The Immortal Lily, which had finally been moved from the washtub into a flowerpot, was already a national-treasure-class treasure at this point.

When the stray cat came closer, sniffing as if to check the lily’s scent, Noel had almost activated attack magic without thinking.

Within perfect protection, the Immortal Lily was quietly growing.

At night, Noel always fell asleep alone in the gentle darkness of this greenhouse. Noel’s severe insomnia had not relapsed, but perhaps it was the excitement and anxiety of having seen the bud. Tonight, his consciousness did not melt into the darkness.

As he waited restlessly for sleep to come among the medicinal herbs, what visited Noel from within the darkness today was not sleep, but the soft scent of eucalyptus.

“Beth?”

“Yes.”

It was said that there was a bundle of eucalyptus in the bath in Beth’s room.

Eloise had said that it smelled wonderful with the steam from the hot water. She must have just finished bathing.

The Firefly Grass, which had missed the breeding day, was still sending out several spores, beautiful even in the darkness.

Without saying anything, Beth sat on the sofa across from Noel and slowly picked up the pot holding the Immortal Lily, which gave off a faint light.

With her wet hair, Beth’s figure, lit white by the lily’s magic power in the darkness, was beautiful and fleeting, like a statue of a saintess in the Temple.

“Beth.”

That was all that came out of Noel’s mouth. More precisely, he could not find the words he should say.

“Can’t you sleep?”

Beth said only that to Noel.

At Beth’s few words, Noel’s heart began to loosen. Without thinking, a corner of his heart began to spill out.

“Yes. …I am probably afraid.”

Beth said nothing and quietly waited for Noel’s next words.

“Because of me, there is a life that has been cursed into a sleep from which she cannot awaken. If she does not awaken by the next red moon, she will truly enter an eternal sleep.”

Burning, stinging words spilled from the back of his throat.

“It is because I could not protect her. Three years ago, that person was attacked by a magical beast together with me. And of all things, only I survived. The potion refined using this flower is the only way to awaken her from the magical beast’s cursed poison. Since I woke up, I have spared every possible moment and tried every possible method.”

His breath caught. The words would not come out.

Instead of words, tears spilled drop by drop and turned into sobs.

“…If this flower does not bloom, if the potion cannot be made, that life will be extinguished because of me. And I will be stripped of my status and my title as magician, and I will probably be banished from my house, from the Magic Institute, and then from the Royal Capital too.”

He would have nowhere to go. He would not even be a magician anymore.

Compared to a human life disappearing, that should have been nothing at all.

But he was afraid. Noel felt nauseated by the ugly, sly version of himself at the bottom of his heart.

Even the heart of Noel, who behaved calmly, uprightly, and splendidly as the person in charge of the Magic Institute, was, in its true nature, weak, self-centered, pathetic, and sly.

Once he was no longer even the eldest son of the marquis family, despite having been oppressed, nor the chief magician of the Magic Institute, what value would Noel have? Noel was swallowed by his ugly, filthy, selfish thoughts.

“I… When I was born, my magic power was too strong, and I took the life of my mother, who was a saintess. E-everyone says, sniff, that someone like me, sniff, should never have been born. The only way for me to atone for the sin of having been born is to complete this potion. That is… sniff…”

Noel did not understand. Why had the emotions he thought he had thrown far away come now, after all this time?

Noel’s true nature was ugly and weak.

But in front of Beth, in Beth’s greenhouse, he was allowed to sob. Even if he spoke weakness, even if he complained tearfully, even if he showed his ugly true nature, he would be forgiven. When he thought that, the emotions he should have thrown away, his foolish and weak heart, came surging back.

Noel watched as tears flowed and would not stop from somewhere beyond his own will.

At some point, Beth had sat down beside Noel, who was quietly sobbing.

The soft blue scent of eucalyptus and the scent of soap calmed Noel’s heart.

Beth said nothing.

She simply stayed beside Noel as he sobbed.

How long had they spent like that in silence?

Suddenly, Beth spoke.

“If you are banished from the Royal Capital and are no longer a magician, what will you do after that?”

Beth did not say comforting words like, “The flower will surely bloom,” or “It is not your fault, Noel-sama.”

Before this girl who did not judge him, Noel spoke honestly.

“Once I am no longer a magician or a person of the marquis family, I will have no value at all. The truth is, I am truly at a loss about what I should do from then on.”

He had meant to say it self-mockingly.

But to such a Noel, Beth said leisurely,

“Then, if Noel-sama is banished, will you become a miller with me? It was a little too much work and rather hard for me to do alone. And it would help if Noel-sama repaired the broken parts of the waterwheel with magic from time to time.”

At Beth’s completely unexpected words, Noel was startled, and even the tears that had been running down his cheeks a moment ago withdrew.

When he reflexively stared hard at Beth’s face, Beth continued as though nothing at all was strange.

“There is no greenhouse, but there is a field, so I will hang a hammock beside the field so Noel-sama can sleep well. There is nothing there, but it is a quiet and nice place, and if Noel-sama came, I would be happy.”

“A miller, huh? Me?”

Noel tried to imagine it.

A life where the two of them lived at Beth’s Mill by the edge of the forest, ground flour, and grew vegetables.

Beside Beth, dressed like a farmer, Noel ground flour while reading books. As he looked at the wonderfully grown plants in the outdoor field Beth had made, Beth sometimes asked him to repair the waterwheel with magic.

The house and fields that Beth had arranged would surely invite Noel into wonderful sleep every night.

Since Beth liked birds, perhaps she would surely beg him to make a birdcage with magic.

And would Beth smile beside Noel?

“…That is true. A life using magic only for Beth’s sake would not be bad.”

In Noel’s head, heavy from tears, a simple life with a happy Beth now floated.

Then, after regaining his peace of mind, Noel smiled and said,

“Beth, but do you realize that you sound as though you are proposing marriage to me?”

“What?! Noel-sama, I didn’t mean it like that. Um, I really only meant that it would be fun if Noel-sama were there, or it would help a little, that sort of thing. Um, I absolutely did not mean it that way! Look, there is Grandpa’s room, so it would be just right. That was all!!!”

Beth’s face turned bright red, visible even in the darkness, and as Beth panicked over her own careless remark, Noel burst out laughing.

“Since Beth has gone to the trouble of saying that to me, I will endeavor to become a good husband to you. I must prepare the luggage I will carry to the mill.”

Laughing like that, Noel took Beth’s hand as though she were a noble lady, and dropped a kiss on her small fingernails.

Beth was so startled that it was as if her hair stood on end.

“Gyaah!!! Noel-sama!!!! Th-that’s why, Noel-sama! I only meant that I would be happy if Noel-sama stayed with me a little more, or that I would be happy if we could eat breakfast together like family, um, that was what I meant. I did not mean it as marriage or anything like that!”

The black, sludge-like emotions that had been tormenting his soul until a moment ago dissolved smoothly and vanished before the fluster of an innocent maiden.

(She is so cute…)

She was so surprised that she probably had not noticed she was unintentionally confessing all sorts of feelings for Noel.

Noel was happy.

He had met a girl who would sincerely tell him that even after he had lost his status, honor, and everything else, she would be happy to eat breakfast together with him like family.

Before long, the dark night was drawn into white light, and the morning sun illuminated the greenhouse.

Far away, a rooster announcing the time rejoiced at the arrival of morning.

(Morning has come again.)

Noel stood up and tried entrusting himself to the great morning light.

The sly, ugly, small Noel had not disappeared from his heart. But now, Noel did not dislike that sly, ugly, cowardly Noel so much.

(Beth accepted even that version of me.)

“Ah! It finally stopped. Now it will be all right.”

A blue butterfly came to rest its wings on the sprout of the Immortal Lily Noel was holding.

It was the butterfly Beth had put a straw hat on Rodney for and sent into the forest to catch.

“I do not know why, but this butterfly is absolutely necessary. That is what this child says.”

The butterfly fluttered its wings several times, and after generously dropping its beautiful scales onto the Immortal Lily, it vanished dreamily through the greenhouse skylight.